August 20, 2026 • Newspaper of the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis
TheCatholicSpirit.com
Kenyan commissioning
– Page 8
Celestine Nyabayo of All Saints in Lakeville joins other Kenyan women in a celebration at St. Alphonsus in Brooklyn Center Aug. 9 following a Mass of commissioning for 38 laywomen who are members of the Catholic Women Association in Kenya. The CWA is “an organization of Catholic laywomen founded in 1980 during Pope (St.) John Paul II’s visit to Kenya,” according to the organization’s website. A group of 38 local women were commissioned during the Mass by Bishop Henry Juma Odonya of the Diocese of Kitale in Kenya. The women belong to various parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
ONE IN CHRIST 5 | CRAFTING A MONSTRANCE 6 | SACRAMENTS FOR SENIORS 7 ANNUNCIATION ONE YEAR LATER 9-14 | SCOUTS LEADER 20
2 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
AUGUST 20, 2026
PAGETWO CELEBRATING ST. OLAF Auxiliary Bishop Kevin Kenney of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis processes out of Mass in Trondheim, Norway, July 29 after the feast day celebration of St. Olaf, king, martyr and patron saint of Norway. Trondheim Bishop Erik Varden is part of the procession but not visible in the photo. St. Olaf also is the patron saint of St. Olaf in Minneapolis, where Bishop Kenney is pastor. With permission from his doctors, Bishop Kenney made a pilgrimage to Norway with parishioners from St. Olaf before starting treatment this month for lung cancer. The pilgrimage included a “challenging yet renewing 72 mile walk through the countryside and small towns of Norway” from Stiklestad, where St. Olaf was killed in battle, to Trondheim, Bishop Kenney said in an Aug. 7 posting to Facebook. Bishop Kenney thanked everyone for their prayers in the face of his health challenge: “Throughout the journey, I realized how far and quickly the news of my cancer diagnosis spread. I cannot thank everyone enough for the thousands of comments and prayers I have read. Our world is truly blessed by all of you, and I am too. God bless you all!”
OVERHEARD We want people who hear it to be struck by the reality of God, the truth of his love for them, and the possibility of hope no matter what situation in life you find. Also, for people to be struck by just the delight of living in God’s creation — all the different ways that you can encounter the glory of God in the world. Father Jonah Teller, pastor of St. Joseph in Greenwich Village in New York City and a member of The Hillbilly Thomists, a band of Dominican friars whose music regularly hits the Billboard bluegrass charts, talking with OSV News about the release of the group’s sixth album, “Strange Land,” on streaming platforms July 27. The group is also on a tour across the United States. The album’s 10 songs continue the band’s embrace of the Roots Americana genre while introducing new sounds with an electric guitar and full drum kit. It includes everything from “Good Old Elvis,” a song that explores death in light of eternal life, to “The Providence Waltz,” a tune about dancing with God.
NEWS notes
COURTESY BISHOP KEVIN KENNEY AND A FELLOW PILGRIM
COURTESY KEN FOURNELLE
BASILICA’S NEW PASTOR From left, Father Ralph Talbot stands opposite of Archbishop Bernard Hebda during a Mass Aug. 15 at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis in which Father Talbot was installed as the 13th pastor and rector. The Mass took place in Teresa of Calcutta Hall due to renovations taking place in the main church. “I’m grateful to Archbishop Hebda for appointing me to serve as the 13th pastor and rector of The Basilica of St. Mary and look forward to leading this vibrant faith community,” Father Talbot said. “We eagerly await the completion of the historic renovation of the church and the opportunity to welcome all people to America’s first basilica.”
Practicing CATHOLIC Produced by Relevant Radio and the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, the Aug. 14 “Practicing Catholic” radio show on Relevant Radio 1330 AM included Archbishop Bernard Hebda talking about Blessed Stanley Rother’s life of faith as a witness and example to the Church today. The program also featured a rerun of a Practicing Catholic episode from 2017 featuring Archbishop Harry Flynn in an interview about Blessed Stanley Rother. Listen to interviews after they have aired at practicingcatholicshow.com 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. 31 — No. 16 MOST REVEREND BERNARD A. HEBDA, Publisher TOM HALDEN, Associate Publisher JOE RUFF, Editor-in-Chief REBECCA OMASTIAK, News Editor
Events Sept. 18-20 will celebrate the 50th anniversary of the dedication of the Jubilee Family Shrine at Schoenstatt on the Lake in Sleepy Eye. Founded in 1914 by Servant of God Father Joseph Kentenich in Germany, Schoenstatt is a Catholic lay movement that describes itself as striving “to live the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the example and guidance of Mary.” For the past 50 years, Schoenstatt on the Lake’s Marian shrine and retreat center have served Minnesota and the broader Midwest. Like other Schoenstatt shrines around the world, the Jubilee Family Shrine in Sleepy Eye is a replica of the original chapel in Germany, The Catholic Spirit reported last year. Schoenstatt on the Lake Retreat Center Director Ron Miller said the upcoming celebration is open to the public and will include a bonfire and evening prayer Sept. 18, a family retreat and “Marian Serenade” Sept. 19, and a solemn Jubilee Mass at 2 p.m. — officiated by Bishop Chad Zielinski of the Diocese of New Ulm — on Sept. 20, the main jubilee day. Meanwhile, according to Schoenstatt on the Lake representatives, jubilees celebrated this year along with the shrine’s 50th anniversary include 150 years of St. Mary Help of Christians in Sleepy Eye, and 100 years of the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary. To mark the celebrations, Pope Leo XIV has granted plenary indulgences for all who visit one of the Schoenstatt shrines, churches and chapels under the care of the Schoenstatt Sisters of Mary — including the Jubilee Family Shrine. A schedule of events and RSVP information can be found online at schoenstattmn.com. Catholic Charities Twin Cities expanded its number of shelter beds at its Higher Ground St. Paul shelter as the city of St. Paul began what’s expected to be a rolling closure of encampments, which started in early August. “Catholic Charities’ overnight shelters are consistently at or over capacity each night,” the nonprofit wrote, in part, in an update on its website as of July 30. “To accommodate anticipated additional demand, we’ve partnered with Ramsey County to provide 49 additional shelter beds at our Higher Ground Saint Paul shelter.” According to the nonprofit, this would expand total shelter capacity at the shelter to 281 beds, “timed to coincide with the first St. Paul encampment closure on August 5.” St. Paul officials estimated there were 140 people within an encampment in Pig’s Eye Park, the first that city representatives began closing on Aug. 5. However, community members who said they went to that encampment estimated the number of people to be in the hundreds. Public testimony July 22 and Aug. 4 before the St. Paul City Council, as well as written public comments submitted to the council, largely expressed concern about encampment closure effects and the proposed closure timeline. An apostolate for healthcare workers — Curatio — is inviting doctors, nurses and others in the field to join colleagues for a Sept. 25-27 retreat with Mass, confession, a series of five reflections, spiritual guidance and time with the Lord at Christ the King Retreat Center in Buffalo. Curatio founder Dianne Johnson, who is retired after a 44-year career as a registered nurse in a variety of healthcare settings, said healthcare professionals of faith are challenged in the workplace as they care for patients in the midst of debate and pressures around such issues as abortion, euthanasia and assisted suicide. Healthcare professionals who find Curatio often say they felt alone in trying to integrate their faith with their work, Johnson said. She founded Curatio in 2001 as she sought that kind of integration. “It can be overwhelming to stay the course for everyone, which requires faith, hope and charity and physical stamina and courage,” Johnson said. Healthcare workers can sign up for the retreat, titled Hope and Joy in the Valley of Tears, at curatioapostolate.com/2026/07/fall-retreat.
EDITOR’S note The Catholic Spirit is taking a late summer break. Please watch for the next edition Sept. 10.
Materials credited to CNS copyrighted by Catholic News Service. Materials credited to OSV News copyrighted by OSV News. All other materials copyrighted by The Catholic Spirit Newspaper. Subscriptions: $29.95 per year; Senior 1-year: $24.95. To subscribe: (651) 291-4444; To advertise: Display Advertising: (651) 251-7714; Classified Advertising: (651) 251-7714. Published semi-monthly by the Office of Communications, Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, 777 Forest St., St. Paul, MN 55106-3857 • (651) 291-4444, FAX (651) 291-4460. Periodicals postage paid at St. Paul, MN, and additional post offices. Postmaster: Send address changes to The Catholic Spirit, 777 Forest St., St.Paul, MN 55106-3857. TheCatholicSpirit.com • email: tcssubscriptions@archspm.org • USPS #093-580
AUGUST 20, 2026
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 3
FROMTHEARCHBISHOP ONLY JESUS | ARCHBISHOP BERNARD HEBDA
Builders of communion
I
n his recent encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas,” Pope Leo XIV insightfully writes that “the task that stands before us is that of being builders of communion, rather than architects of Babel” (no. 16). In a world that seems to be increasingly fragmented, the challenge is to find ways of strengthening the ties that unite us — with God and with each other. Whenever the opportunity presents itself, I have been choosing to pray at Mass the Eucharistic prayer entitled “The Church on the Path of Unity,” one of the options found in the Roman Missal. It’s a little longer, but I always love the portion when we pray: “Lord, renew your Church by the light of the Gospel. Strengthen the bond of unity between the faithful and the pastors of your people … that in a world torn by strife your people may shine forth as a prophetic sign of unity and concord.” You’ll notice that it’s from that prayer that our Lord, Renew your Church capital campaign takes its name. But what strikes me most about the prayer is its recognition that we need to plead with God to renew us — to strengthen the bonds that unite us — so that we might be the “prophetic sign of
unity and concord” that he desires and that the world needs. While that has been my fervent prayer, I also know that I must commit to collaborating each day with God in that work. We won’t accomplish that goal without God’s help, but he wants us to give ourselves over to working for that end as well. As presented in an aphorism often attributed to St. Augustine, we’re called to “pray as though everything depends on God and work as though everything depends on us.” How can we concretely work to be that “prophetic sign of unity and concord”? I like to think that the work that is going on in our parishes to promote small groups is supporting that goal. I also was really impressed by the deep listening that I experienced at our recent Partners in Mission gathering, as representatives of the various apostolates and ministries active in our archdiocese came together to pray, to share experiences and to look for ways to collaborate rather than compete. As we prepare for another academic year, I am also convinced that our Catholic schools present privileged opportunities for building communion. We frequently note that they are excellent in helping us to assist parents in forming their children to be open
to God’s grace, to develop their God-given talents and to know that they are beloved sons and daughters of a loving God; but our schools are also extraordinarily e!ective catalysts of communion. I was recently reminded of that when I attended a co!eehouse celebrating Providence Academy’s 25th anniversary. The talent was amazing, but what impressed me the most that evening was the frequency with which parents, alumni and faculty spoke of the school as a family. It’s hard to imagine a greater compliment being paid to any endeavor. Nowhere is that sense of family more evident to me these days than at Annunciation in Minneapolis. I was happy to learn that parishioners and school families had decided to gather again for a nightly 9 p.m. rosary on the front steps of Annunciation church. I love joining them when I can, as they pray for the families of Harper Moyski and Fletcher Merkel and for all the students, faculty and clergy who were impacted by last year’s tragedy. It’s a heartfelt prayer that sustains communion. Surely, they could pray the rosary at home, but there is something so healing in coming together, being together, even in grief. It’s difficult not to be impressed by how intentional and careful the Annunciation
community has been about respectfully discerning the best way forward for the school and parish. I can hardly imagine how difficult that work must be, but I am grateful that they are committed to being the “builders of communion” that Pope Leo challenges all of us to be. They are o!ering to me and to our community at large the “prophetic sign of unity and concord” for which I have been praying. While I ask that you continue to join me in praying for our Annunciation families, especially on Aug. 27, I also ask that you look for opportunities to be builders of communion in your own homes, parishes and communities. At the conclusion of his encyclical, Pope Leo challenges us to imitate the Blessed Mother, and in that way to become “weavers of hope” in our world, “sharing who we are and what we have, so that the presence of Jesus may grow among us and his Kingdom take shape” (no. 245). The Holy Father is confident that “(in) the humble fidelity of daily life, even the era of AI can become a time in which the Holy Spirit brings about the civilization of love in our lives.” As we commit our lives and our labors to the building of communion, may we see that work of the Holy Spirit in this archdiocese. Come Holy Spirit, come!
Constructores de comunión
que se atribuye con frecuencia a san Agustín, estamos llamados a “orar como si todo dependiera de Dios y trabajar como si todo dependiera de nosotros”. ¿Cómo podemos trabajar concretamente para ser ese “signo profético de unidad y concordia”?Me gusta pensar que el trabajo que se está realizando en nuestras parroquias para promover los grupos pequeños está contribuyendo a ese objetivo. También me impresionó mucho la escucha atenta y profunda que experimenté en nuestro reciente encuentro de Partners in Mission, cuando representantes de los diversos apostolados y ministerios que están activos en nuestra arquidiócesis se reunieron para orar, compartir experiencias y buscar maneras de colaborar en lugar de competir. Al prepararnos para otro año académico, también estoy convencido de que nuestras escuelas católicas ofrecen oportunidades privilegiadas para construir la comunión. Con frecuencia señalamos que son excelentes para ayudarnos a acompañar a los padres en la formación de sus hijos, para que estén abiertos a la gracia de Dios, desarrollen los talentos que Dios les ha dado y sepan que son hijos e hijas amados de un Dios amoroso; pero nuestras escuelas también son catalizadores extraordinariamente e!caces de comunión. Recientemente recordé esto cuando asistí a una velada de café para celebrar el 25.º aniversario de Providence Academy. El talento fue impresionante, pero lo que más me llamó la atención esa noche fue la frecuencia con la que los padres, exalumnos y miembros del cuerpo docente hablaban de la escuela como una familia. Es difícil imaginar un elogio mayor que se pueda hacer a cualquier institución. En ningún lugar he visto más claramente
ese sentido de familia en estos días que en Annunciation en Minneapolis. Me alegró saber que los feligreses y las familias de la escuela habían decidido reunirse nuevamente para rezar cada noche, a las 9 p. m., el rosario en los escalones de entrada de la iglesia de Annunciation. Me encanta unirme a ellos cuando puedo, mientras rezan por las familias de Harper Moyski y Fletcher Merkel, y por todos los estudiantes, profesores y miembros del clero afectados por la tragedia del año pasado. Es una oración sincera que sostiene la comunión. Sin duda, podrían rezar el rosario en casa, pero hay algo profundamente sanador en reunirse, en estar juntos, incluso en medio del dolor. Es difícil no sentirse impresionado por la manera tan intencional y cuidadosa en que la comunidad de Annunciation ha buscado discernir respetuosamente el mejor camino a seguir para la escuela y la parroquia. Apenas puedo imaginar lo difícil que debe ser ese trabajo, pero estoy agradecido de que estén comprometidos a ser los “constructores de comunión”que el papa León nos desafía a ser. Ellos nos están ofreciendo a mí y a nuestra comunidad en general ese “signo profético de unidad y concordia” por el que he estado rezando. Mientras les pido que continúen uniéndose a mí en oración por nuestras familias de Annunciation, especialmente el 27 de agosto, también les pido que busquen oportunidades para ser constructores de comunión en sus propios hogares, parroquias y comunidades. Al concluir su encíclica, el papa León nos desafía a imitar a la Santísima Madre y, de ese modo, convertirnos en “tejedores de esperanza” en nuestro mundo, “compartiendo quiénes somos y lo que tenemos, para que la presencia de Jesús crezca entre nosotros y su Reino vaya
tomando forma” (n.º 245). El Santo Padre está convencido de que “en la humilde !delidad de la vida cotidiana, incluso la era de la inteligencia arti!cial puede convertirse en un tiempo en el que el Espíritu Santo haga surgir en nuestras vidas la civilización del amor”. Al comprometernos a dedicar nuestra vida y nuestro trabajo a la construcción de la comunión, que podamos ver la obra del Espíritu Santo en esta arquidiócesis. ¡Ven, Espíritu Santo, ven!
E
n su reciente encíclica, “Magni!ca Humanitas”, el papa León XIV escribe con gran perspicacia que “la tarea que tenemos ante nosotros es ser constructores de comunión, en lugar de arquitectos de Babel” (n.º 16). En un mundo que parece estar cada vez más fragmentado, el desafío consiste en encontrar maneras de fortalecer los lazos que nos unen: con Dios y unos con otros. Siempre que se presenta la oportunidad, he elegido rezar en la Misa la Plegaria Eucarística titulada “La Iglesia en camino hacia la unidad”, una de las opciones que se encuentran en el Misal Romano. Es un poco más larga, pero siempre me conmueve la parte en la que rezamos: “Señor, renueva tu Iglesia con la luz del Evangelio. Fortalece el vínculo de unidad entre los !eles y los pastores de tu pueblo… para que, en un mundo desgarrado por las discordias, tu pueblo resplandezca como signo profético de unidad y concordia”. Notarán que es de esa oración de donde toma su nombre nuestra campaña de capitalización Señor, renueva tu Iglesia. Pero lo que más me impacta de esta oración es que reconoce que necesitamos suplicarle a Dios que nos renueve —que fortalezca los lazos que nos unen— para que podamos ser el “signo profético de unidad y concordia” que él desea y que el mundo necesita. Aunque esa ha sido mi ferviente oración, también sé que debo comprometerme cada día a colaborar con Dios en esa obra. No alcanzaremos esa meta sin la ayuda de Dios, pero él también quiere que nos entreguemos a trabajar por ese !n. Como dice un aforismo
OFFICIALS Archbishop Bernard Hebda has announced the following appointments in the Archdiocese of Saint Paul and Minneapolis:
Effective July 1, 2026 Reverend Joseph Wappes, assigned as temporary parochial administrator of the Church of Saint Joseph in West Saint Paul, while the pastor, Reverend Luke Marquard is on sabbatical until August 15, 2026.
Effective July 30, 2026 Deacon John Rogers, assigned part-time to the Institute for Diaconate Formation. Deacon Rogers is also assigned to diaconate ministry at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Saint Paul.
Effective August 1, 2026 Reverend Biju Mathew, assigned as pastor of the Church of Saint Jerome in Maplewood. Father Biju was previously assigned to the same parish as sacramental minister. Father Biju continues in his assignment as hospital chaplain.
4 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
AUGUST 20, 2026
LOCAL
Joyful Jesuits
SLICEof LIFE
From left, Noah Bock, Christian Goedel, Wilson Lombard and Robert Van Dyke react at the end of Mass for their first profession of vows to the Society of Jesus (Jesuits) Aug. 8 at St. Thomas More in St. Paul. The four men spent the last two years in the novitiate in St. Paul (next door to St. Thomas More) taking part in Jesuit formation. At the Mass, they professed vows of poverty, chastity and obedience. At the end of Mass, they were given their assignment for the next step, which is first studies. Each man is assigned to a two- or three-year period of graduate coursework in philosophy and theology, either at Fordham University in New York or at St. Louis University. A group of 16 men are currently enrolled in the St. Paul novitiate. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
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LOCAL
AUGUST 20, 2026
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 5
Trusting in God’s call to mission By Elizabeth Grant
For The Catholic Spirit Editor’s note: As the 100th anniversary of World Mission Sunday approaches Oct.18, The Catholic Spirit and the Center for Mission, which supports the missionary efforts of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, are collaborating on a series of stories about priests and religious from other countries who are serving in the archdiocese. This series highlighting the fruits of world mission will conclude Oct. 8 with coverage of the Sept. 24 beatification of Venerable Fulton J. Sheen, who led the mission-supporting efforts of the U.S. branch of the Society of the Propagation of the Faith.
Father Joseph Kureh, originally from Myanmar and now the associate priest of St. Bernard in St. Paul, has a blessed role in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis: He is a missionary to his own people as they make a new home in the United States. Father Kureh, 59, grew up in Karenni State in Myanmar and was ordained a priest of the Diocese of Loikaw in 1993. His home country has experienced much civil unrest in his lifetime, most recently a coup in 2021, which established the military junta that rules Myanmar today. “The whole country is su!ering, because the military tries to aggress (against) the people, bombing the schools and churches and clinics,” Father Kureh said. Large numbers of Karenni refugees have relocated to the United States in recent years, with a particularly large influx in 2009. Many settled in the North End neighborhood of St. Paul, where they were o!ered material and spiritual support at St. Bernard. In 2013, Father Mike Anderson, then-pastor of St. Bernard, wrote to the bishop of Loikaw and requested a Karenni priest to meet the needs of the refugee population; that priest turned out to be Father Kureh. “My bishop told me, ‘Father Joseph, go to the U.S.! … Go see your people, and stay with your people, and pray with your
COURTESY ST. BERNARD
Father Joseph Kureh, right, baptizes Rose Naomi Meh, one of 12 infants baptized June 27 at St. Bernard in St. Paul. From the left are godfather Pho Reh and parents Soe Reh and Kho Meh.
people,’ ” Father Kureh recalled. Like Moses upon hearing God’s voice in the burning bush, Father Kureh was initially anxious and unsure about this call to mission. “I said to my bishop, ‘You can send that priest, or that priest, or that one.’ … But he said, ‘Father Joseph, listen to me and obey me!’” Father Kureh’s rather unique role as a missionary has embodied Jesus’ great commission: “Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.”
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Many Karenni refugees wish to be baptized upon arriving in the U.S., Father Kureh explained. “When they arrive here, they think, ‘Here in the United States, it is better to be a Catholic and go to church,’ ” he said. Catholics make up around 1% of the population of Myanmar. Buddhism is the country’s predominant religion. “(Baptism) is the first priority,” Father Kureh said. He baptized 14 children in June. While ministering to the refugees of his home country, Father Kureh has navigated his own challenges as an immigrant to the
United States. “It was so hard for me at the beginning, but I said ‘God, according to your will, I will do what you want me to do,’ ” he said. By walking with the Karenni refugees in the archdiocese, Father Kureh believes that he is also serving the su!ering church in Myanmar, understanding them to be one in Christ despite geographic separation. This mission, he said, is only possible and fruitful when it remains rooted in Christ’s love: “I believe that (Christ) loves me so much, and that is why I can do his mission and serve his people.”
LOCAL
6 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
AUGUST 20, 2026
St. Therese of Corcoran residents create wooden monstrance By Josh McGovern The Catholic Spirit
A monstrance holds the consecrated host, Jesus Christ, and one crafted at senior living facility St. Therese in Corcoran holds additional meaning for its residents, said Deacon John Wallin. “It affects every person in this building,” he said, more than a year after starting the project. Deacon Wallin and his wife, Rose, were among the first residents to move into the St. Therese building when it opened in September 2024. Though there was a chapel, Catholic services were limited. There wasn’t Mass, but Deacon Wallin conducted a Communion service twice a week. One day he noticed that the chapel didn’t have a monstrance. He also noticed that more men moving into the facility appeared to be looking for a meaningful and productive way to spend their time. “They didn’t know what in the world they were doing here,” he said. “The question was, well, what did you do for hobbies before? There were a number of guys who said, ‘I used to have a woodshop. I used to work with wood.’” Fortunately for them, the facility had a functioning woodshop, though the machines and tools were disorganized. Deacon Wallin called two meetings with residents to decide how to set up the woodshop, but both meetings failed to reach a compromise, and many people gave up on the idea of ever using it. “I was trying to figure out how (to) get these guys to join,” Deacon Wallin said. He woke up one morning with an idea: “They need a project,” he said. “I want you to build something,” Deacon Wallin told the interested residents. “I would like a monstrance. They didn’t even know how to spell it. They said, ‘A what?’” Confusion continued when the residents learned a monstrance is a sacred vessel typically made out of gold or other metals. Deacon Wallin asked for one made of wood from different countries to represent the world “and their cultures, yet it would support Jesus Christ, it would hold Jesus up,” he said. “I know we were called to do it,” Deacon Wallin said. Fellow resident Guido Leutem drew a monstrance that matched what Deacon Wallin imagined. Together, they started the project in 2025.
Project delays
Immediately, Deacon Wallin and Leutem encountered the first roadblock: The woodshop lacked some of the equipment needed to properly carve the wood. “The woods we used were very hard. I was sharpening tools about every five minutes,” Deacon Wallin said. “I said, ‘This isn’t going to work.’ And as it progressed … we had delays because of machinery. We didn’t have the right stuff, the right tools. We had to work at all of that.” Leutem said the project came to a stop because they didn’t have a wood lathe to shape the wood. To keep the project going, Leutem suggested to Deacon Wallin that they whittle the wood by hand just to get it cut down. “We got it finally cut down to where it was a little bit more workable, but we still didn’t have a wood lathe,” Leutem said. The wood lathe eventually came from Leutem’s neighbor across the hall, Ken Schoenfelder. “It seemed like every time we went forward, then we had to take two or three steps back and we had to go into a waiting protocol,”
Deacon Wallin said. “These are old guys. I’m one of the youngest guys in this building, and I’m going to be 76. These are old guys, (ages) 92, 87, 86. You don’t do it in a day.” Finding the right tools wasn’t the only project delay. For four months, Leutem battled a severe illness, accumulating so much moisture in his lungs that he could barely breathe. In the woodshop, the men had to wear masks because of the fine wood shavings in the air. But that only worsened Leutem’s ability to breathe. Sharon Leutem said her husband lost 11 pounds of fluids in a couple of days. At one point, Guido Leutem didn’t believe he was going to see the end of the project. He gave Deacon Wallin detailed instructions on how to finish the monstrance without him. Deacon Wallin promised Guido Leutem that they would not continue the project without him. “I wanted to give him a reason to live,” Deacon Wallin said.
One year later
Patience was a virtue for Guido Leutem and Deacon Wallin who over time collected the proper equipment. Guido Leutem’s health improved after a heart bypass and a pacemaker. He could be in the woodshop for longer periods of time. Sharon Leutem supported her husband through the project. “We’ve been married for 66 years, and he values my opinion, which is very wonderful,” she said. “In every step of the way, he’d ask my opinion. … I helped him pick out the wood. We ran around this wood supply building … I don’t know how many hours, running around picking up pieces of wood, and I’m 85, he’s 89, and we don’t do a lot of running.” Several woods used in the monstrance came from Central and South America, including wenge wood, leopard wood, yellow heart, purple heart, and mahogany from Honduras. The monstrance also included wenge wood from Central Africa. “Some of the woods were very expensive … and only used for exotic furniture, that kind of thing,” Sharon Leutem said. “We wanted the best for (the monstrance). Then we wanted the (wood) to go together and so they looked good together on the different pieces.” Sharon Leutem said she would keep an eye on her husband to make sure he didn’t overwork himself. Another resident, Les Oare, cut some of the custom glass in the monstrance. Tony Ouellete, a former resident, worked on the decorative metal that with the glass houses the consecrated host. St. Therese provided for the luna, the sacred vessel that holds the Eucharist within the monstrance, as well as donations of raw materials and tools. “It was a team effort, really,” Guido Leutem said. “These guys (are) very gifted woodworkers,” Deacon Wallin said. After cutting the wood, Guido Leutem glued the pieces together, and Deacon Wallin sanded them down. They used a chainsaw to cut the circumference for the host. The men gave the monstrance a satin finish because “it shows the wood grain and the beauty of itself,” Guido Leutem said. When the monstrance was finished nearly a year after the project started, Guido Leutem said it was a great relief. “(Deacon Wallin and I) were both very elated that we finally got it done,” he said. “I was looking forward to seeing John carrying the monstrance in for adoration.” “The good part about all of that is when people here heard that this was … taking
COURTESY BARB HEMBERGER
Deacon John Wallin, left, and Guido Leutem, hold the completed wooden monstrance after adoration at St. Therese of Corcoran in Corcoran.
ARCHBISHOP HEBDA VISIT Archbishop Bernard Hebda visited St. Joseph the Worker for the parish’s 150th anniversary June 14. Deacon John Wallin planned to be at the altar with the archbishop, but he didn’t plan to bring the monstrance to St. Joseph. But word among residents of St. Therese of Corcoran spread that Archbishop Hebda would see the monstrance. “Word spreads around here like crazy,” Deacon Wallin said. “All of a sudden there are people saying, ‘I understand that the archbishop is going to see the monstrance.’ The telephone game, you know? So, I said, ‘OK, I can bring it over.’” Deacon Wallin brought the monstrance and put it in the sacristy. Archbishop Hebda walked in, greeted the other ministers, then saw the monstrance. “I have the monstrance just sitting on a counter,” Deacon Wallin said. “He started walking slowly towards it. And he said to me, ‘Is this what I think it is?’” “The archbishop was so impressed,” Sharon Leutem said. “He actually was able to hold it and everything, and he was just really impressed with it. … I’ve had people that just saw a picture of it, but then when they got to hold it, it was a whole different story.” Deacon Wallin told the archbishop how the monstrance was made. “He walked over to it, and he took his phone out and he took a picture of it,” Deacon Wallin said. “And then he said to me, ‘Why don’t you hold it, and I’ll take a picture of you with it?’ … Then he said to me, ‘This is a really, really good thing.’ He said we need this kind of stuff. We need to show people this.”
place, it was very young in its stage,” Deacon Wallin said. “This whole community, they were all excited that we were doing this thing for our faith, for this community.” This was more than a hobby, Deacon Wallin explained. This was an opportunity for the first residents of St. Therese of Corcoran to leave a legacy. “I think the more we get people to buy into that, this community is much more faithful, much more loving towards one another, accepting of one another,” Deacon Wallin said. On April 4, Holy Saturday, Deacon Wallin held adoration for the residents of St. Therese of Corcoran. He brought the monstrance into the chapel for the first time. Many people who aren’t Catholic came to see the project completed. “We christened it by having a Holy Saturday,” Deacon Wallin said. “That’s what I wanted. … This is the community of
believers. I thought it was very appropriate for Holy Week to be able to sit with Mary and the apostles and being in that quiet space of the gift that Jesus is to us.” “I wanted to produce this so it could display our Lord,” Guido Leutem said. “That was actually my goal with that, in doing that … so people can see our Lord in person.” “When I saw John walking down the aisle, we both got tears in our eyes,” Guido Leutem said. “With the monstrance displaying our Lord for people to see. … I finally reached a goal. That’s what I wanted to do.” Deacon Wallin said he believes it was the Holy Spirit leading the residents in building the monstrance. “It’s a godsend,” he said. “I’m glad I didn’t go out and try to get (a monstrance). … I’m glad we had the struggle. I’m glad we had the men here who said yes. And I’m glad we had the persistence to hold to it.”
LOCAL
AUGUST 20, 2026
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 7
Lay initiative helps Catholic elderly maintain vital link to the Church and sacraments By Susan Klemond
For The Catholic Spirit
Months after their father’s 2023 death from colon cancer, one of Theresa’s younger brothers was diagnosed in his mid-50s with tongue cancer. While he was both grieving and receiving his cancer treatment, her brother returned to the Catholic faith, said Theresa, who attends Holy Trinity in South St. Paul and asked that her last name not be used. As her brother’s cancer worsened, Theresa began to gently ask him about his preferences for receiving the sacrament of the anointing of the sick and for a Catholic funeral and burial. She wrote down her brother’s preferences in a “spiritual living will,” a type of advance directive that she hoped would give her brother peace in communicating his desires to his three children who were not practicing the faith. As the cancer made it more difficult for her brother to speak, Theresa said, “I’d have to ask the questions, but yes, he would shake his head, and he knew what he wanted. And the first thing he always wanted when he did get sick or when he ended up in the hospital was a priest. He knew that. He would ask for that.” When Theresa’s brother died at a Minneapolis hospital in January 2025, he received the Catholic funeral and burial he’d wanted, which might not have happened if he hadn’t made his preferences known, she said. “I think as much as you don’t like to talk about what’s going to happen at the end, you have to talk about it, and you have to sign things to make sure that you get what you want,” Theresa said. Talking with seniors, especially in senior care centers, about facilitating visits with clergy and helping them write spiritual living wills are two of the aims of Sacraments for Seniors, a lay initiative in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis that started in 2020. Run by parish and other lay volunteers, the initiative helps senior care facility residents receive the sacrament of anointing of the sick, the Eucharist and the sacrament of reconciliation by helping them set up priest visits and parish connections, leaders of the initiative said. The initiative’s founders say there is a great need to help seniors connect with priests, in
COURTESY MIKE KULHANEK
Juanita Kulhanek and her son, Mike, near the Santa Iglesia Catedral Basílica de la Encarnación in Malaga, Spain, during their 2024 pilgrimage to European holy sites.
part because many have immediate family members who aren’t practicing the faith. The problem intensifies when Catholic seniors in nursing homes and other senior care facilities can’t express their wishes to receive the sacraments, Sacraments for Seniors leaders said. There also are seniors like Theresa’s brother, who want to return to the Catholic faith but don’t know how contact a priest, said Patricia Daoust, a Sacraments for Seniors co-founder and parishioner at Holy Trinity in South St. Paul. Leaders of Sacraments for Seniors and a growing number of volunteers have helped seniors receive the sacraments and, in some cases, convert or return to the Catholic Church, group members said. Five Catholic friends from different archdiocesan parishes especially saw this need during the COVID-19 pandemic, as they were hearing in 2020 that nursing home residents could not have family visits and were prevented from receiving the sacraments, including the sacrament of
anointing of the sick when they were dying. The archdiocese responded to that crisis with an Anointing Corps of priests trained to safely enter facilities and administer the sacraments. “I think all the people that were involved at the beginning and now have felt very deeply a nudge of the Holy Spirit that many of our seniors have been faithful Catholics all their lives,” Daoust said. “Because some of them are now voiceless, they’re unable to advocate for themselves. We’re finding that, and it isn’t through any particular person saying you can’t do this or anything, but faithful Catholics are dying without the sacraments, some of them.” Sacraments for Seniors volunteers respond to requests from families on the organization’s website at SAC(A)EN,S-.(SENI.(S.C.), and they connect with residents by visiting care centers. The volunteers develop relationships with staff at senior care facilities and if residents want assistance, they help with spiritual living wills, said Mike Kulhanek, a parishioner at St. Mary in New Trier and a Sacraments for Seniors leader. Sacraments for Seniors has seen a lot of interest in spiritual wills, Daoust said. In June, she said she found many women interested in them at the “Widows Day of Re0ection” at Our Lady of Grace in Edina. By aiming to increase awareness of seniors’ difficulty in accessing the sacraments, educating the public about those needs and advocating for them, Sacraments for Seniors seeks “to be the conduit to connect seniors and resources and family members and resources,” Kulhanek said. They hope to set up volunteer teams at parishes to assist with those goals, he said. An important part of being that conduit is prayer, Kulhanek said. Sacraments for Seniors is seeking volunteers who will pray for the initiative’s mission and for residents. Kulhanek said he faced challenges while helping his mother, Juanita Kulhanek, receive the sacrament of anointing of the sick when she was suffering from COVID-19 in a Woodbury hospital in 2021. He was told his mother had only a day or two to live and she wasn’t able to talk to him in a video call. The hospital denied his requests for his mother to see a priest because of the COVID-19 lockdown. So Kulhanek contacted Teresa Peyton Tawil, a gerontological nurse practitioner who was then president of
St. Anthony-based Curatio, an apostolate of Catholic healthcare professionals, who knew the law about clergy visits. “They were able to call the administration and get my mom access to the priest, who anointed her and then she just dramatically recovered,” Kulhanek said. Tawil, a former president of Curatio, said that while she has assisted in establishing Sacraments for Seniors, the Curatio organization hasn’t been directly involved but would support the initiative’s mission. “The apostolate … recognizes the importance of helping patients and families receive the sacraments within the healthcare system, the inpatient systems or these facility systems for those that were unable to make it to their own parish,” she said. Tawil said as lay people, volunteers with Sacraments for Seniors can help priests who are more than willing to go out to facilities, “but they need somebody to set it all up, get the patients there, get the administration to agree to it and to kind of get the logistics done and also the safety.” Father Tom Margevi1ius, director of the archdiocese’s Office of Worship, provided some written guidance for the founders of Sacraments for Seniors and recognized the importance of the lay-led initiative, which is not under the auspices of the archdiocese. “I am grateful for the grassroots service provided by Sacraments for Seniors: identifying seniors who need access to the sacraments (confession, Communion, anointing), and connecting them to priests, deacons, and parishes to attend to their needs, said Father Margevi1ius, who also is pastor of Holy Spirit in St. Paul. “This is lay-led ministry at its best.” Sacraments for Seniors sought assistance from other healthcare organizations and the government as well, including Minneapolisbased nonprofit Healthcare Advocacy and Leadership Organization (HALO), which offers resources, advice and advocacy for the medically vulnerable at the end of life, Dauost said. The group received guidance from the state’s Office of Ombudsman for LongTerm Care as it worked with nursing home administrators, she said. PLEASE TURN TO SENIOR SACRAMENTS ON PAGE 19
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8 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
LOCAL
AUGUST 20, 2026
Faith, culture of Kenya come to life at Brooklyn Center parish Story and photos by Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit
Women wearing colorful blue dresses gathered at St. Alphonsus in Brooklyn Center Aug. 9 for a special Mass to celebrate their faith and culture. These 38 laywomen came for a commissioning to the Catholic Women Association (CWA) in Kenya. Bishop Henry Juma Odonya of the Diocese of Kitale in Kenya celebrated Mass and did the commissioning ceremony during this Sunday liturgy.
The women, who all came to Minnesota from Kenya, belong to various parishes in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. They have been meeting monthly since September 2025 to learn more about their Catholic faith and St. Monica, the patron of CWA. During the commissioning, each woman received a candle, rosary and head scarf. The weekend before the Mass, Bishop Kitale and some of the CWA members attended an annual convention in Atlanta for Kenyan Catholics. It takes place in different
cities every year. Minnesota was the host in 2023, said Esther Karanja, chairwoman of the St. Charles Lwanga Small Christian Community, a group comprised of Swahili-speaking Catholics, including Kenyans. Karanja, of Corpus Christi in Roseville, led a procession of Kenyan women at the start of the Aug. 9 Mass. They sang and danced up the aisle to the music provided by a special African choir. “It was very great,” Karanja said of the Mass. “We felt so blessed.”
Cate Kuria of Holy Name in Minneapolis receives a head scarf.
Esther Karanja, front, joins other Kenyan women in a cultural dance at the start of Mass at St. Alphonsus in Brooklyn Center Aug. 9.
Bishop Henry Juma Odonya, left, of the Diocese of Kitale in Kenya leads the commissioning ceremony during Mass.
Andrew Nyakiba sits with his mother, Vane Kong’ara Nyakiba at the Mass.
After receiving their head scarves, Catholic Women Association members pray during Mass.
AUGUST 20, 2026
ANNUNCIATION ONEYEARLATER
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 9
Annunciation School family moves forward in hope By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit
Molly Stommes was working from home the morning of Aug. 27, 2025, when she heard “very loud noises” coming from just across the street, where Annunciation Catholic Church and School sit. Two of her four children were inside the church in south Minneapolis for Mass, as was her husband, Matt Stommes, while their two youngest, both in kindergarten, were inside the school next door. All four children were excited for the start of the school year, which was kicked off by the opening Mass celebrated by the pastor of Annunciation, Father Dennis Zehren. Molly, a nurse practitioner, was in a virtual meeting inside her family’s home. The sounds were coming from Annunciation church. The Stommes family lives so close to the church that if Matt, a former offensive tackle for the University of Minnesota football team, were to throw any kind of ball across the street from his driveway, it could reach the grass of the Annunciation whiffle ball field adjacent to the church on the east side. “Probably a few minutes after the shooting, a neighbor yelled in my door that there was a situation outside,” Molly, 39, recalled. “I knew then what my instincts had been telling me, that something was wrong.” Matt, also 39, had decided to go to the opening Mass of the school year and was seated away from the students and teachers in a section reserved for parents. When the shooting started, he heeded the yelled instructions to get down. Then, he crawled over to a nearby steel door of the church to try to prevent the shooter from gaining entrance. Others did the same at different doors. After the shooting stopped, Matt began helping school leaders rush children to safety. During that process, he learned that all four of his children were unharmed — Charlize, now 13 and entering the eighth grade; Finnegan, 9 (third grade); and twins Etta and Esme, 5 (first grade). Outside near Diamond Lake Road, Molly chose to put her nursing skills to work. She hustled across the street after exiting the house to find out what was happening. What she saw spurred her to immediate action. “I came across the street and saw injured children being lined up,” she said. “So, I started assessing them.” As the minutes passed, Molly and others, including Matt, began “waiting for ambulances,” she said. Molly and Matt sat with a seriously injured student until paramedics placed the student into an ambulance. Later, she drove the mother of another injured child to Hennepin County Medical Center in Minneapolis. As the day wore on, Molly and Matt talked to other Annunciation families, with some of them coming to their home. It was a natural gathering place, but a surreal one for the couple. That day also included an encounter with Mollie and Jesse Merkel, who lost their son, Fletcher, in the tragedy. The Merkel and Stommes families had become friends, with Fletcher, a year ahead of Finnegan, teaching Finnegan how to fish and spending time with him on their combined family vacations at Grand View Lodge on Gull Lake near Brainerd. As the days passed, Molly and Matt Stommes visited with Mollie and Jesse Merkel and offered them comfort. That friendship and bond continue as the 20262027 school year approaches. The memories of Aug. 27, 2025, are vivid
and painful for Molly and Matt Stommes, especially as they approach the calendar date of the shooting one year later. “August is a very heavy month,” said Molly during an interview with The Catholic Spirit Aug. 17. “Our children have been so resilient, but this will be quite difficult for some of them. I think just going back to school and the anticipation of that can be exciting for some, but also difficult for others.” Just as Molly and Matt can rattle off details about what happened the day of the tragedy, they can just as easily list all the ways people around them have offered meaningful and practical support. More people than they can count brought over food, from snacks to full meals. “We didn’t cook for over two months,” Matt said. Molly added: “At a time when you’re not sleeping, you have no appetite, it was DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT immensely helpful.” The Stommes family gathers for a photo in the front yard of their home: front left, Esme, Etta and Finnegan; back left, Molly, Another blessing came in the Matt (holding Louie) and Charlize. form of a puppy the Stommes family received in February. They welcomed Louie into their home after someone who knew the family made arrangements with a dog breeder. “Obviously, raising a puppy is not the Longtime friends and Annunciation parishioners Sue DEACON CONNEELY: So, I want to switch gears easiest, but he has been a huge joy and very Wilson and Deedee Hall were seriously wounded in now and talk a little bit about 8/27, which is helpful, particularly for Finnegan,” Molly said. the Aug. 27, 2025, shooting during an all-school Mass hard. Deedee, you were coming to church, but After all the trauma their children went at the church. Nearly a year later, they remain steadfast you hadn’t made it into the church, right? You in their commitment to the Annunciation community. through, it was easy to embrace the idea of can say as little or as much as you want about having a dog to provide comfort. where you were and what happened. Together with Wilson’s husband of nearly 61 years, “Immediately after the shooting, our kids, Ron, who was also wounded, they spoke with Deacon HALL: I stayed home for 15 minutes (prior to Mass) particularly the three youngest, would insist Kevin Conneely, whose ministry includes serving because I had to make a phone call right at 8 o’clock. on going to the school and church to be with at the south Minneapolis church and school. Their I should have done it in my car, but I didn’t. I knew conversation, which includes how they struck up a the therapy dogs,” Molly said. “That was a I was going to be late, and I thought, well, children, friendship over 40 years ago as young parents talking the first children’s Mass, Father’s (Father Dennis daily occurrence. They wanted to be around after a Sunday Mass, is edited for clarity and length. dogs constantly.” Zehren, pastor) got to serve Communion to 200 kids, Another constant in the Stommes home is so if I’m a little late, it’s not going to matter much. DEACON KEVIN CONNEELY: Sue, do you the steadfast level of hope fueled by their faith So, I pulled in. The parking lot was fuller than usual. remember what Deedee remembers about and resilience. It was shown the day of the I had a hard time finding a place to park. I didn’t like that first meeting at a Sunday Mass? shooting and has remained to this day — even where I parked, so I went back and moved my car SUE WILSON: Actually, I don’t. I think you again. And I heard the sound. grown. (Deedee) made it up! But we found out that we “Our school’s Scripture verse for last year I did not know what it was. And then when I shared a birthday. For three years we’d say, “Oh, was chosen before this tragedy,” Molly said. “I heard it the second time and the windows were how’d you know it was my birthday?” And she’d think for many of us, it kind of helped carry shot out, I still did not know that it wasn’t a say, “Because it’s my birthday, too.” And then the us through — Jeremiah 29:11,” she said. The concussion until I saw this man with a gun. next year it was reversed. So finally, after three last words of that verse were embroidered on years, we got it together and celebrated our DEACON CONNEELY: That’s when you got shot. T-shirts worn by students, parents and school birthdays together with our husbands (Deedee’s You were shot in the leg, so you had to stay staff: “a future filled with hope.” husband of 62 years, George). down, right? “On the days where I feel the saddest and DEACON CONNEELY: That’s a recent HALL: I could hear the sirens. Very early on, first I low, I do have a lot of hope for our future, and birthday, isn’t it? Aug. 13? grabbed my phone, thought I’d try and call 911. I I know that God has a plan for all of us,” Molly DEEDEE HALL: Yes. heard sirens and I thought, OK, they’re already on said. their way. And I’m praying. DEACON CONNEELY: Well, happy birthday. “For me, it’s helpful to reflect on how Jesus When you came over from Visitation (in a tells us that we’re meant for his kingdom,” DEACON CONNEELY: How long were you in 2013 merger with Annunciation), was it easy the hospital, Deedee? Matt said. “This world is a gift, but it’s not the to slot into Annunciation? end. And I’ve been given so much hope and HALL: Yes, it was. People came up to us. I knew a HALL: Three days. encouragement from seeing everyone around few parishioners, so yeah, it was. DEACON CONNEELY: What was the nature of us within this community and broader take the injury to your leg? action and spend their time serving others.” WILSON: Well, (the late) Father Jim Himmelsbach had a buddy system type (of) thing Having seen last year’s theme come to life, HALL: Upper right thigh. Missed the bone, missed for us, and we had first friends when we came … they are now ready to embrace the Scripture the artery. There was a very smart EMT (emergency it was a very welcoming parish for us. Well, they verse for this school year, which is from Luke medical technician) who said, “I think she needs a found out we were volunteers and they always 1:79 and ends with this line: tourniquet,” and they administered a tourniquet. He welcomed the volunteers. Ron and I were greeters “… guide our feet into the way of peace.” at “Vis” (Visitation), and so we were greeters at “I love our Scripture theme for this coming PLEASE TURN TO THICK AND THIN ON PAGE 15 Annunciation. year,” Molly said. “That just reminds us that we are called to prayer and action.”
THROUGH THICK AND THIN
ANNUNCIATION
10 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
4 Annunciation leaders look to bring parish, s By Josh McGovern
F
The Catholic Spirit
our leaders had barely arrived at Annunciation in Minneapolis when they found themselves helping a wounded community to heal and find a way toward hope. A shooting during an allschool Mass that took the lives of two students and wounded others sent the Annunciation community reeling Aug. 27, 2025. The experiences these four leaders brought to Annunciation helped shape how they led the community in the aftermath. Father Dennis Zehren, ordained in 2004, was first assigned to Annunciation July 1, 2025, almost two months before the shooting. Deacon Kevin Conneely began his ministry — as a deacon and at Annunciation — in January 2024. Deana Clapp, the dean of school culture, came to Annunciation in August 2025. The school’s principal, Matt DeBoer, was the assistant principal at Annunciation and took over as principal three days before Aug. 27. Deacon Conneely believes he and other Annunciation leaders were there for a reason. Both he and Father Zehren were on the altar that morning. DeBoer was at the back of the pews where he usually sits during school Mass. “People say to me all the time how impressed they are. ‘Your pastor was new, and your principal was new, and all these people who were just arriving at Annunciation,’ and they say, ‘We’re so glad you were there,’” Deacon Conneely said. “I have to believe them that we were there together for a purpose. We were intended to come together and work as a team, and we didn’t have any history. We just had to make it happen because we knew we had to be a unified group leading the parish.”
Bringing experience to bear Something Annunciation staff have shared with each other is that “God doesn’t give you more than you can handle.” “Well, God has an awful lot of confidence in us here at Annunciation,” DeBoer joked. He added that sometimes “you have to laugh through trauma.” He believes God gives each person the right tools to honor their vocations. Annunciation has been blessed with that, DeBoer said. “I think we do all have the tools we need,” DeBoer said. “Sometimes you need a little more help to learn how to use the tools in your tool bag, but they’re there, and that’s why it does take the community. It’s not one person’s job to do it all.” To do his work, Jesus assembled a team of 12, DeBoer said. A team of four was quietly assembled at Annunciation before the tragedy. When Clapp was hired, she brought her 29 years of experience in education. Clapp was at Our Lady of Grace in Edina in 2020 during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. For three years, she was at Breck School in Golden Valley. She was at Blake School in Hopkins for 13 years. When Father Zehren arrived at Annunciation, he was the deacon’s third pastor in just two years. “Everything was new to me each year, trying to adjust to Annunciation, but I knew that it was an established parish in south Minneapolis with a school that had a strong reputation,” Deacon Conneely said. “I wanted
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Father Dennis Zehren, pastor of Annunciation in Minneapolis, pauses for a photo Aug. 11, nearly one year after a fatal shooting during an all-school Mass at the Minneapolis church. Father Zehren, Principal Matt DeBoer, Dean of Student Culture Deana Clapp and Deacon Kevin Conneely are leading the parish and school communities as they heal from the tragedy and find peace in Christ.
to, as a new deacon, be part of that whole culture, parish and school.” Before Deacon Conneely was ordained, he practiced law at a large law firm for 37 years. He was familiar with the fallouts that could arise from such a publicized tragedy, he said. On behalf of the parish, he used his experience as a lawyer to help protect the parish from “the outside world” and to advocate for it through contracts, publicity and other efforts. “I felt like my gifts as a lawyer helped me be ready to tackle all those things,” Deacon Conneely said. DeBoer said that he and Deacon Conneely were blessed to both even have a year at Annunciation under their belts. They had learned names and developed relationships. “(One) of the miracles of the year is we did have a ton of new folks in leadership roles, and we just had to kind of … learn by doing this job of recovery and guiding and navigating communities through it. I had the advantage of at least knowing people’s names,” DeBoer said. “There are so many people here, despite all the new leaders. There’s great retention here at Annunciation among the faculty and staff at the school, and in many ways the parish staff as well. While the public-facing leadership team was brand new, there (are) some real anchors and great dedication among the staff here at all levels. I can’t imagine what it would have been like to lead a team of teachers that were new or not rooted in the community.” The data speaks for itself, DeBoer said, with 100% of parish and school staff returning to work after the tragedy. New leadership leaned on this veteran presence and institutional knowledge. “That was the blessing,” DeBoer said. “The
reality is we had a new reality in front of us, and so I think that combination of institutional knowledge and tradition, as well as new energy, new leaders, new vision; it’s always striking that balance. I think we’ve all learned how to be better listeners in serving together.” Per the Washburn Center for Children — a mental health service in Minneapolis — Annunciation was prepared for a trauma response of best practice, Clapp said, meaning “they had a strong social and emotional curriculum where children were used to talking about their emotions and knowing themselves in space and time.” “If you walk into classrooms in Annunciation, you’ll see mood meters, you’ll see sensory corners, you’ll see all the best practices, and they’ve worked on that for years and years,” Clapp said. “And then a set of procedures when behavior arrives that you’re asking an adult for help and engaging versus a punitive system.” At Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, DeBoer was a business major. In 2005, while he was in college, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans. “I just felt called to be in that community,” DeBoer said. “I went down there a bunch of times during college.” DeBoer worked with Catholic Charities and Operation Helping Hands. Then he applied for the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and was placed in New Orleans at Good Shepherd Catholic School as a teacher. “I began my professional educational career in post-Katrina New Orleans and taught religion there in a community recovering from this collective trauma,” DeBoer said. “That’s where I learned how to be an educator. I
didn’t study education; I learned by doing in the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and then got my credentials afterwards.” DeBoer said his first professors were the children and parents of New Orleans coming out of Katrina. The community that welcomed him also modeled what healing looks like in the face of disaster, he said. “I think that those six years in New Orleans were really transformational for me and sparked my call to leadership,” DeBoer said. When DeBoer was 28 years old, he became the fifth principal in six years at a Catholic school in Seattle that had a “great deal of challenges.” The school was struggling with enrollment and its Catholic identity. “I just said, ‘Let’s show up and bring my best self ’ and go all in to try to transform that school. And it was a long eight years, but serving there in that community, I just learned a lot,” DeBoer said. “I learned about making mistakes. I learned about learning from mistakes. I learned about the need for that partnership between parents and staff to serve kids collaboratively with creative solutions.” In the Twin Cities, DeBoer worked for Cristo Rey Jesuit High School in Minneapolis and Totino-Grace High School in Fridley, two “very different Catholic high schools in our local archdiocese,” DeBoer said. “I learned a lot more about the local landscape,” DeBoer said. “And again, just meeting kids and people where they’re at.” DeBoer believes God sent him to several places, including mission trips to Ethiopia where he met his wife. “In every place I’ve served, there’s been challenges,” DeBoer said. “You just learn from people who’ve done amazing things, and
ONEYEARLATER
AUGUST 20, 2026 • 11
school into ‘way of peace’ 1 year after tragedy
COURTESY DEANA CLAPP | ANNUNCIATION
Deana Clapp
then I try to incorporate that ... here. God has sent me a number of places, and I do feel like that journey, my life, has been more of that spiritual chiseling to serve in this capacity at this time, at this place that nobody should have to serve in, but I do feel blessed that my prior experiences did prepare me to try to minister here to the best of the needs of the community at this time.” In an email to The Catholic Spirit, Father Zehren wrote that his years as a priest taught him that blessings come to a shepherd who “doesn’t run at the first sign of danger.” “As Moses told the people at the Red Sea, ‘Stand firm and you will see the deliverance the Lord will bring you,’” Father Zehren wrote. “If you quit in the middle of the story, you never see the happy ending that God brings about.” “It’s true that I was new to Annunciation,” Father Zehren wrote. “We hadn’t been working together long. It’s like the apostles — they didn’t have time to prepare before answering the call of Jesus. They heard His voice. They knew to answer without hesitating. Each had gifts for the mission.” During workshop week, when Clapp was supposed to start, she had emergency gallbladder surgery. She recovered at home until the first day of school, Aug. 25, 2025. “Of course, the first two days of school, all administrators overdo it,” Clapp said. “I had four incisions that I was caring for. So, Matt (DeBoer) said Tuesday night (Aug. 26), ‘I want you to rest tomorrow. Sleep in. We have Mass (in the morning) if you want to come in the afternoon. Take your time.’” Clapp was home the morning of Aug. 27. At 8:30 a.m., she heard sirens. “I’ve never heard that many sirens,” she said. That afternoon, Clapp hit the ground running. The first task was taking care of Annunciation’s families, children and staff, she said. “What I brought to bear is a variety of experiences working with many community stakeholders, a variety of experience in emergency procedure preparation, and a handful of low-level emergencies that we dealt with in (my) 29 years in education,” Clapp said. “I just felt like I was the freshest person, obviously without the trauma of that morning. I was just in a very different space.”
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Matt DeBoer
Larger than a parish Annunciation has always been a parish, but after Aug. 27, it became for some people a cause, Deacon Conneely said. It became “something to pray for, something to support financially, something to try to help heal, and so it really became something larger than a parish.” “Everyone knows about the tragedy, and people in my circle of friends or family, they will tell me how they heard about it, or who was praying for us, from all different states, all different faith backgrounds,” Deacon Conneely said. “It really has become something to rally around. People don’t want to see the evil win, they really want two things: They want this to never happen again, and they want us to be able to heal from what did happen.” Leadership at Annunciation wants the parish to remain known as a parish and not just one more name in a long line of communities dealing with the tragedy of a school shooting, like Columbine, Sandy Hook, or Uvalde, Deacon Conneely said. “We want to grow into something,” Deacon Conneely said. “One of the lines we use is that we don’t want this tragedy to define us; we want it to refine us.” Clapp and her husband have been parishioners at Annunciation for 20 years. They live in the neighborhood. When Clapp walks her dog on a school day, she hears children on the school’s playground during recess. When she applied for the position of dean of school culture last spring, it was exactly what she wanted. She could walk to work and be part of a close community. “Everyone that you meet in this neighborhood has a really strong connection to (Annunciation), whether they’re Catholic or not,” Clapp said. “My understanding of Annunciation was just always a really tightknit community and academically excellent for children.” “One of my colleagues says, ‘Grief and joy hold hands.’ I think Catholics really understand that hope is the opposite of despair. Joy is the opposite of grief. But both (can be) held together in a way that is
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Deacon Kevin Conneely
consecrated,” Clapp said. “This community, because of all that was really in place, very tight knit, very joy filled, we were able to share that story.” Part of the growing is a new preschool. Annunciation had been the landlord for an entirely separate preschool on its campus. Now, Annunciation has made it their own: Annunciation Preschool. “We had a really good cooperative relationship with the company that was running (the preschool),” Deacon Conneely said. “But the shooting tragedy just heightened our resolve to make Annunciation a place where even younger families could bring their kids, and that we could, so to speak, seed the classes coming up. Instead of entering at first grade, second grade, third grade, have preschoolers who are going to be the future students of Annunciation who weren’t impacted directly by the tragedy.” To DeBoer’s surprise, his words have made the front page of newspapers and filled news stories. Sometimes people around his Minneapolis neighborhood recognize him. But when a child recognized DeBoer while biking, and the child shared that he was friends with a student at Annunciation, DeBoer said that impacted him more than any other recognition. Still, he said he doesn’t feel like there’s anything special he’s done well or not well, but he continues to value the ministry of presence. Jesus was always present to whomever was in front of him, DeBoer said. “My model is to be present to the various needs of a family or a child,” DeBoer said. “We have an amazing team of adults here that shares in that. It’s not one person’s job. It’s our collective (responsibility) to be Christ to the kids. That’s our collective role in Catholic education. Just showing up for families in the darkest of moments and in the joys as well. That’s been the primary motivator for me, to continue to show up. Everybody deserves the gift of someone else’s presence.” There is no doubt that there have been challenges on the journey as a new principal in the aftermath of such a tragedy, but DeBoer said he is all in with Annunciation. “My three kids do go to Annunciation, and so in every sense of the word, I’m all here,” DeBoer said. “I’m here as a parent. I’m
here as a colleague. I’m here as an employee. It’s really just walking with people on the journey.”
Into the way of peace Every year, Annunciation School has a theme for the coming school year. In 2025, that theme was “A future filled with hope.” This year, the theme is “Guide our feet into the way of peace” pulled from the Canticle of Zechariah in the Gospel of Luke. The full verse — “In the tender compassion of our Lord, the dawn from on high shall break upon us to shine on those who dwell in darkness and the shadow of death, and to guide our feet into the way of peace” — hits home, DeBoer said. This verse shows that “God is our guide, and that light from above that we’ve talked about in all our recovery work, and that light will guide us, will lead us forward.” “It gives us a little more clarity about what that destination is. It’s peace,” DeBoer said. “Peace within ourselves, peace within our community, peace in the world, and so there’s a lot that we can do with it. We’re also trying to lean into more service-learning work in our school year. So, what does it mean to be a peacemaker?” The theme’s logo will feature a star — a tribute to the star of Bethlehem that’s “bringing the Prince of Peace into our world,” DeBoer said, and also because Minnesota is the North Star state. “Who is our guide? God, that light,” DeBoer said. Hope, Deacon Conneely said, is sometimes talked about “in physical terms and transactional terms;” many hope that things go well. But the theological virtue of hope is one that “tells us that regardless of how the world treats us, regardless of how evil appears, regardless of how we are challenged in life,” there is a life beyond this one. This hope “girds” people in times of tribulation. “We know that there’s a life beyond this life, and (hope) allows us to accept things we otherwise don’t want to accept,” Deacon Conneely said. “That’s the real hope, and I PLEASE TURN TO ANNUNCIATION LEADERS ON PAGE 12
12 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
ANNUNCIATION LEADERS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 11 think sometimes we can all get lost in the false hope of presuming that life’s going to be OK.” Deacon Conneely said that God was “Always there, always present, always looking out for us,” even in the face of evil, and “especially in those days and weeks after the shooting.” He saw God in the expertise people shared after the tragedy “without ever blinking.” “Whether it was social workers, police, archdiocesan representatives, city representatives — everyone brought their expertise, and I could really see God in their work, and we had to come to rely on those experts very heavily,” Deacon Conneely said. Deacon Conneely felt blessed to be matched with a trauma counselor the day following the shooting. “He helped me on a personal journey of recovery and reframing the events so that I could continue to ful!ll my role as a deacon,” Deacon Conneely said. “God sent us the experts that we need, and for me in particular, in the person of my trauma counselor.” “I don’t wish this on anybody,” Clapp said. “But I’ve also met amazing professionals.” The past year has been challenging for DeBoer’s faith, but for him, faith is the driving force of who he is, what he does and how he does it. It’s hard for DeBoer to imagine his life without that faith. “At the end of the day, (with) my professional experiences prior to this day, I do feel prepared to be present to the challenge in front of me professionally,” DeBoer said. “The comfort of my prayer life
ANNUNCIATION ONEYEARLATER gave me that one thing I could control: these 10 minutes every morning, and the wisdom that comes from the saints and even other scenarios of faith communities throughout history that have had to navigate things.” Serving in a faith community allowed Annunciation to progress in recovery in a more meaningful and communal way, DeBoer said. “Imagining navigating this without a faith center, it’s hard to really fathom that, and there’s not exactly the model of a Catholic community going through this before, but there’s other faith communities, and I think that’s what we’ve heard throughout this,” DeBoer said. Deacon Conneely said this tragedy could either send him on one path, reserved and withdrawn, or open and “ready to carry the new cross” given to the Annunciation community. “I think that answer is still being discerned,” Deacon Conneely said. “I’m not sure where God wants me, but I do know … that I’m supposed to be a deacon, and I’m just supposed to do whatever God wants me to do. And at the same time, I have my own healing to do, and I have to take care of my married life and my family’s well-being … and that’s the biggest balancing act in this whole thing is keeping the faith, keeping my !rst vocation intact, my marriage, and then being the kind of deacon God wants me to be.” A day after the shooting, two brother deacons came to the Annunciation campus to visit with Deacon Conneely. Together, they prayed evening prayer with him and one of them prayed over Deacon Conneely a “special blessing for victims of a crime” found in the Book of Blessings. “That was just a beautiful gesture of
fraternity that he did for me, and in the months that have followed, my deacon classmates have set up a Zoom call early in the morning so that I always have someone to pray morning prayer with,” Deacon Conneely said. “Again, that fellowship has just been huge in lifting me up over these past months.”
Forward motion
Clapp said her faith life has grown exponentially, in depth and breadth, this past year. The biggest contributor is joining the Annunciation school community. She said when she signed her contract in April 2025, her plan was to be in a faith community where schooling and faith are intertwined. “It was very important to me to reclaim the church space, and I am excited for the journey of worship at Annunciation,” Clapp said. “I’m grappling personally with an omnipresent God and the notion of free will and how evil emerges.” One of the joys of Clapp’s job is that she gets to be present in the cafeteria during lunch every day. Those 25 minutes before recess, Clapp said, are an important part of each student’s day. “I get to see the very real day-to-day of how a child is doing,” Clapp said. “I get to see every child and notice their patterns. … It’s also when the structure gets loose. That’s when we know children are going to show different behaviors. They’re not getting a grade on it, so they tend to push boundaries. And a lot of that’s all very normal.” A few weeks following Annunciation’s return to school after the tragedy, Clapp said, she was in the cafeteria during lunch. “So, we’re back. We’re full days. We’re full weeks. It’s all of the things that we’ve been
AUGUST 20, 2026 praying and asking for. And out of the corner of my eye, I see a cheese stick fly across the lunchroom,” Clapp said. “I’ve never been so happy, because that’s what kids do when they’re pushing the cafeteria boundary in every place I’ve ever worked. It’s so normal. It was so great for a middle schooler to try that, and to have those really normative experiences take place along with the recovery work.” Clapp said she was honored to be the person to walk over and gently remind the student not to do that. Annunciation staff want children to be children. Knowing the children experienced “something really challenging and are experiencing deep loss,” Clapp said she is honored to serve them. Before Aug. 27, Deacon Conneely said that he believed he could be a self-su$cient, successful, problem-solving person. But what he learned from that day was that evil, pain, death and loss can strike anywhere at any time. “The response to that isn’t discouragement,” Deacon Conneely said. “My response has been resolve, and a word we use all the time in Annunciation is hope. And hope has really become a new facet of my faith that I didn’t fully appreciate before 8/27, and now it’s one of the biggest things we rely on, and that I rely on personally. “The message that I’m receiving, and that I have received over the past year, is that the darkness of that day and the evil that came into our sanctuary is never going to win, and there’s always going to be more light, and more love, and more goodness,” Deacon Conneely said. “Father Zehren said it in his !rst homily post-8/27: We just have to wait and see what Jesus is going to do.”
Hope and Healing Fund update
HOPE & HEALING FUND
THROUGH
AMOUNT
By Josh McGovern
Total Gift Amount:
Aug. 14, 2026
$ 4,812,171
As of Aug. 14, nearly 10,000 individual contributions, totaling $4,812,171 had been made to the Catholic Community Foundation (CCF) of Minnesota’s Annunciation Hope and Healing fund for Annunciation in Minneapolis. CCF is a nonpro!t that “stewards the charitable gifts of individuals, families and Catholic institutions,” according to its website. The Annunciation Hope and Healing Fund was created “in response to the tragic shooting during the school Mass at Annunciation in Minneapolis,” the website read. Donations to the fund “will provide !nancial support to the Church of the Annunciation for the needs of the church and school and to provide support to those affected by the tragedy.” Deacon Kevin Conneely, who ministers at Annunciation, said $1,891,722 has so far been used across four areas of need. For educational programming, this includes renovations and investment in the newly organized Annunciation Preschool and “tuition-free summer school for students,” Deacon Conneely said. For trauma response in the school, money will be used “under a comprehensive, multiyear counseling solution from our partners at Washburn Center for Children,” Deacon Conneely said. For year-end direct !nancial support, funds will address “needs of the over 60 teachers, administrators, and all parish staff to address fatigue and trauma.” Funds will also be used to help support the diverse needs of individuals and families affected by the tragedy, “where the need could not be met, on a timely basis, by possible insurance coverage, government grants or other sources,” Deacon Conneely said.
Total # of Gifts
Aug. 14, 2026
9,983
Gift Processing: (Credit Card Fees)
July 31, 2026
$ (37,000)*
Investment Custodial Fees
July 31, 2206
$ 0.00
Investment Gains
July 31, 2026
$ 84,095
Grants to Parish
Aug. 14, 2026
$1,891,722*
H&H FUND Balance
Aug. 14, 2026
$ 2,967,544
The Catholic Spirit
*Subject to timing adjustment
The Annunciation Hope and Healing Fund has received gifts from all 50 states, and many were received within 24 hours of the fund’s launch. Sophia Forchas’ Greek Orthodox church, St. Mary in Minneapolis, and its community helped gather donations and funnel them into the fund. One family with !ve children over one weekend held a lemonade stand raising money for Annunciation. The current Annunciation Hope and Healing Fund balance is $2,967,544.
Acts of service, remembrance to mark Aug. 27 in Minneapolis and beyond The Catholic Spirit
Annunciation leaders are encouraging acts of service to mark one year since the Aug. 27, 2025, fatal shooting during an all-school Mass, and the city of Minneapolis plans to hold a community remembrance event. “We have moved from this past year’s school theme of ‘A Future Filled with Hope’ to this year’s ‘Guide Our Feet into the Way of Peace,’” said Matt DeBoer, principal of the Minneapolis school, in a media advisory issued by Minneapolis o$cials. “We believe our own service in the world and the actions
we take, with our faith at the center, will make a difference for years to come.” Details for the Aug. 27 Minneapolis event were being worked out, city o$cials said. Archbishop Bernard Hebda mentioned Annunciation’s call to serve others and offer acts of kindness in his Aug. 3 Together on the Journey video. “Now I’ve learned that later this month, the families of Annunciation will be marking the !rst (remembrance) of the tragedy by encouraging each other to engage in acts of service,” the archbishop said. “How amazing!” The archbishop reflected that grief will
always arise from the loss of 10-year-old Harper Moyski and 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel “and the trauma on the part of so many, of having experienced such senseless violence, at Mass, no less.” As Catholics, the faithful also remember the victory won by Christ through his suffering, the archbishop said. “It’s hard to imagine a community that knows the cross more intimately than Annunciation,” he said. In solidarity with Annunciation’s wishes one year after the tragedy, staff at the Archdiocesan Catholic Center in St. Paul will
be invited to engage in service projects on that day of remembrance, the archbishop said. “Might you want to do that in your parishes and communities on Aug. 27 as well?” the archbishop said. “Might that be a day for praying the Stations of the Cross? “However you embrace that day, may the Passion of Christ be your strength, and indeed be our strength, especially as we prayerfully remember Harper and Fletcher, their families, and all whose lives were impacted by the shooting,” Archbishop Hebda said.
ANNUNCIATION ONEYEARLATER
AUGUST 20, 2026
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 13
Annunciation’s pastor: ‘We open ourselves’ to God’s great graces
By Father Dennis Zehren For The Catholic Spirit
It has been one year. Annunciation has journeyed around the sun. We have traversed 584 million miles on a planet going 67,000 miles per hour. We have felt every bit of it. The g-force has been intense — yet we are coming to see more clearly that the force we have felt all along the way has been nothing less than the mighty love of God. I don’t deny that throughout this past year I have “hit the wall” many times. I am reminded of Ernest Hemingway. Whenever he would encounter writer’s block, he would resolve to write just one true sentence. Then things would begin to flow. Each of those times when I felt I had reached my limit, I was shown just one good or beautiful thing — in prayer or in my encounters with the people. It carried me forward. There is a quote from the Austrian poet Rainer Maria Rilke: “The purpose of life is to be defeated by greater and greater things.” We have been overcome here at Annunciation. We open ourselves now to be overcome by ever greater things — greater grace, greater encounters with our Lord’s love, and all the greatest powers of heaven. Harper and Fletcher will continue to be like a catchy tune
that plays over and over in our spirits to be the soundtrack for our pilgrimage of hope. Those who still struggle most among us will inspire us with their faith and courage. We will urge one another on. Children love stories. They are storytellers. I try to help them to see that they have a sacred story to tell, especially because of what they have been through. It’s up to them to decide how the story is told. I hope I can live long enough to hear what stories the children will be telling years from now about the courage, faith and hope at Annunciation back in 2026. Each day I come to our church space and pray. I can’t imagine there will ever be a place more sacred to me. Before Easter, we celebrated the Holy Thursday foot washing rite in our church. The Holy Thursday foot washing rite is a liturgical ritual celebrated during the Mass of the Lord’s Supper on Holy Thursday. It commemorates Jesus washing the feet of his disciples at the Last Supper (Jn 13:115). At that Mass, I washed the feet of several of the first responders who were present to help us on the day of the shooting. I washed the feet of the police chief, members of the Minneapolis police and fire department, and the nurse manager who was on duty at the hospital where many of the
victims were taken. It was a gesture to give thanks and to serve those who served us. As the season of Lent was beginning, one of our religion teachers had the children “bury the alleluias.” Burying the alleluia is a Catholic custom and a symbolic way of marking the Church’s transition into the penitential season of Lent. “Alleluia” is a joyful acclamation. Catholics don’t use the word during the penitential season of Lent. We set the word aside for the season. This instills a sense of longing for Easter and the Resurrection. The children each drew a brightly colored picture of the word “Alleluia.” The teacher put them in a lock box and hid them away. When Easter arrived, the teacher brought out the lockbox. The children “raised up” their alleluias and plastered them all over the trees in the school yard, the door of my house, and all over the door and walls of the church. With its return at Easter, the “alleluia” is more powerful because it had been absent. The custom reminds Catholics that the Christian life has seasons of both celebration and penance. Joy is never lost but always anticipated. The “burial” is a way of preparing the heart so that the proclamation of “Alleluia” at Easter expresses renewed wonder at Christ’s victory over sin and death. Father Zehren is pastor of Annunciation in south Minneapolis.
Transitioning to high school takes special care By Rebecca Omastiak The Catholic Spirit
As the Academy of Holy Angels (AHA) welcomes students — both new and returning — to its Richfield campus, Father Mike Tix hopes the school feels “like home away from home.” It’s an important Academy of Holy Angels staff effort, that students “know that it’s a place where they’re known, they’re safe, they’re valued, and with an opportunity to learn and grow to their fullest potential in whatever direction that means,” said Father Tix, chaplain at the Academy of Holy Angels and vicar general for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The Catholic high school will welcome 645 students in grades 9-12 for the 2026-2027 school year; efforts have been underway since the end of last school year for students to make connections, Father Tix said. “(I)n the high school years, friendships are huge, connections are huge, and those happen in lots of ways in the social settings” as well as the “classroom experience” and “extracurricular activities and various interest groups,” he said. Meanwhile, roughly 80% of newly enrolled Academy of Holy Angels students come from a Catholic elementary and/or middle school. One of the efforts to guide incoming freshmen is the 9th Grade Academy. In an emailed response, President David Sorkin and Principal Heidi Foley jointly described this homeroom experience’s objective as helping freshmen “transition to high school and learn the principles of schoolmanship at AHA; that is, how to do high school at AHA. “For example, ninth grade homeroom teachers will be intentional about guiding 9th graders through skills such as organization, time management, goal-setting, and self-advocacy, along with learning the machinations of AHA culture, including mission, Catholic social teaching, the AHA Way, and the cardinal virtues,” they stated. Father Tix described the AHA Way as: “a way for us to be at Holy Angels.” “(It’s) to try to help get everybody on the same page, in a sense, of: This is who we are, this is what we do, this is what we believe, this is how we act,” he said. One of the AHA Way values, Father Tix said, is “care for the dear neighbor, which goes back to the founders of Holy Angels, the Sisters of
St. Joseph (of Carondelet) … recognizing the dignity of each person and the respect that goes along with that.” Other values include students helping each other “to be successful, to have a good experience, to grow in God’s love,” he said. Among the new students learning the AHA Way for the 2026-2027 school year at the Academy of Holy Angels will be 19 incoming freshmen who graduated from Annunciation Catholic School in Minneapolis this past school year. With the two schools roughly two miles apart, there has been a history of Annunciation graduates becoming Academy of Holy Angels students. Father Tix said Academy of Holy Angels staff spent time listening and learning “from the Annunciation students’ experiences of last year” — following a fatal shooting Aug. 27, 2025, during an all-school Mass at the church — and adhering to trauma-informed counseling guidance to help students in their transition to Academy of Holy Angels. “They went through a lot last year, a lot that we can’t even begin to imagine,” Father Tix said of the students. “(N)ow, how do we help those teens as they’re transitioning to high school with a lot of that experience that nobody would wish upon anyone?” Sorkin and Foley jointly shared that the Academy of Holy Angels “has a dedicated counselor for all Annunciation students. “Additionally, teachers and staff have received special training to better understand and serve students coming to us from Annunciation,” they stated. To accompany these new students, Father Tix said there’s great importance in “looking to the example of Jesus” who met people “where they were as they came to him. We’re called to be able to imitate that,” Father Tix said. “This year calls us to imitate that in a whole new kind of way, as we recognize people who have experienced trauma,” he said. “How do we be that presence of Christ for them, to accompany them? I like to go back to the words of Pope Francis. As he talked about it, we’re called to be able to encounter, engage and accompany. And that’s what we do.” Accompanying, Father Tix said, involves walking with students “in a way that helps them to be able to recognize the good that surrounds them; recognize the gift of God’s love that supports them; and helps them, accompanies them, to be able to grow again to that greatest potential.”
SCHOLARSHIPS FOR ANNUNCIATION GRADS Dan and Therese Kosch, who are parishioners of Pax Christi in Eden Prairie, wanted to find ways to help after talking with their neighbors next door, an Annunciation family with three children, two of whom were in the church on Aug. 27, 2025. “(H)earing them reflect on it, and what they’re going through, and the impact it had on their kids and their family” as well as “how important it would be for their son to be able to go to a Catholic high school and stay with the friends that have been through this” planted a seed for Dan and Therese Kosch, Dan Kosch said. “(T)hat is what got us thinking of … what could we do, potentially, to help him and that family and then others to, potentially, try to help stay together coming out of eighth grade at Annunciation, having gone through everything that they had been through,” Dan Kosch said. For the Kosch family, “our perspective of Catholic education is there’s nothing better,” Dan Kosch said. “(T)he community, the faith, similar values — it’s like a big insurance policy relative to your kids,” he said. “And friends that we have that came out of Catholic education, we still have, that are really good friends of ours because of that community. … (W)e’ve always said it’s one of the best investments we’ve ever made.” The couple connected with the Annunciation leadership team, which approved the concept of a scholarship fund, to assist students who wanted to continue their Catholic education into high school. The leadership team pointed Dan and Therese Kosch to the St. Paul-based Catholic Community Foundation (CCF) of Minnesota. CCF ultimately held and administered the scholarship fund to the recipient high schools, waiving its fund management fees. “It couldn’t (have) happen(ed) without them and their willingness to manage it, to make it available, to make it technically work, to publicize it, and then to distribute the funds to the high schools,” Dan Kosch said. Staff at businesses near Annunciation Church and School in Minneapolis and at various Catholic churches in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis publicized information about the scholarship fund. Dan Kosch said he and Therese felt “grateful for all the support that people had for the initiative to begin with.” Many contributions “came from people that we didn’t know, that just really were struck by the cause, if you will, the initiative, (of) supporting these eighth graders to stay together and to keep their Catholic education going,” Dan Kosch said. The scholarship fund, having raised just under $4,200 per student, distributed 31 scholarships to three Catholic high schools — the Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield, DeLaSalle High School in Minneapolis and St. Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights. “The high schools were just great to work with as well,” Dan Kosch said. “I had the opportunity to work with each of the presidents and their development directors and everybody was so great.” Asked whether the scholarship fund would continue, Dan Kosch said “it was intended to be, indeed, something for this particular class at this particular time.” One thing that struck Dan and Therese Kosch amid the fundraising effort was the “sincere appreciation that these families had, for people to be caring about them and to be helping to make it happen, that their kids were indeed going to Catholic school.” He said that he and Therese are “so grateful for all the people that helped make this happen.” — Rebecca Omastiak
ANNUNCIATION ONEYEARLATER
14 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
AUGUST 20, 2026
Ribbons in Our Lady of Grace fresco offer lasting tribute to Annunciation hope By Aviana Kasal
For The Catholic Spirit
At first glance, two ribbons tied around a water jar in Mark Balma’s fresco of the Annunciation above the altar at Our Lady of Grace (OLG) in Edina appear to be a small artistic detail. But the ribbons — one blue and one green — have a much deeper meaning. They serve as a permanent tribute to the community of Annunciation in Minneapolis, which is marking one year since an Aug. 27, 2025, shooting during an all-school Mass claimed the lives of 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski and injured others. Painted into the fresco in July, the tribute was not part of Balma’s original design. The Annunciation fresco is part of a broader project at OLG, with Balma working on a second fresco depicting Mary at the foot of the cross, which is expected to be completed in November. “When the design process started to happen, Father Kevin (Finnegan, pastor of OLG) said to me, ‘Is there any way we could do something that would honor Annunciation school?’” Balma said. “I said, ‘Certainly. I’ll think about it.’ ” Father Finnegan said the idea grew from the close relationship between the two parishes, which are six miles apart, and OLG’s charism of hospitality. “Our Lady of Grace is not just one parish. We’re part of the larger community,” Father Finnegan said. As the fresco’s design evolved, so did the idea. Balma chose to portray Mary not simply seated, as she often appears in traditional depictions of the Annunciation, but carrying a water jar, reflecting the ordinary work women did in first-century Nazareth. “I decided to put Mary in a situation where she was actually doing something on a daily basis, like going to the well,” Balma said. Once the water jar became part of the composition, Balma realized it could become a place of remembrance. Using the blue and green ribbons — Annunciation’s school colors — that people tied around trees and posts as signs of support throughout the community after the shooting, an assistant to Balma wrapped the ribbon around a vase so the artist could study how it naturally draped before painting it into the fresco. “There is a direct connection between Annunciation school and church and Our Lady of Grace. During the tragedy and after it there were many people from Our Lady of Grace who helped out in the situation at Annunciation,” Balma said. That connection began almost immediately after the shooting, Father Finnegan said. Our Lady of Grace quietly offered its facilities and logistical support as a safe gathering space for Annunciation students and their families, faculty, friends and staff. Counselors, priests and organizations — such as the Salvation
Army providing food — offered their support. For Balma, the artistic tribute grew deeply personal. As he painted the ribbons, he wrote Fletcher’s and Harper’s names on the cuff of his shirt. “I wanted to kind of bring that together,” Balma said. The ribbons soon came to represent more than the school’s colors. “I almost thought of the two colors, the green and blue, like two souls,” Balma said. Just days before painting them, Balma said, he met Fletcher’s grandparents, who spoke with him about the role art can play in healing after tragedy. Their conversation reinforced the importance of preserving the memory of the children and the community’s journey forward. “The ribbons will probably disappear from the trees and the lamp posts and places where they tied them around last year,” Balma said. “But they’ll be on the fresco for centuries.” Father Finnegan said the ribbons will help people remember Annunciation and serve as a reminder that the relationship between the two communities will endure. AVIANA KASAL | FOR THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT “Our community is always going to be linked to this other community, Artist Mark Balma stands Aug. 13 in front of the fresco he painted of the Annunciation at Our Lady even when the memories fade,” he said. of Grace in Edina. After the fatal shooting during an all-school Mass at Annunciation church, Balma Balma described the painted included two ribbons in the blue and green of the school in Minneapolis. ribbons as “a marker in time,” “a marker in history” and “almost like a visual time capsule.” The symbolism extends beyond the ribbons themselves. Balma noted that Mary was likely a young teenager when the angel Gabriel appeared to her. As he painted the fresco, he found himself reflecting on the connection between Mary’s youth and the lives of Fletcher and Harper. “I thought there was a connectiveness in that early image of Mary as a young girl,” Balma said. Balma said he hopes the fresco also reminds visitors of the strength found in sharing both sorrow and hope. “I think it brings people together,” Balma said. “When you can share in each other’s pain as well as each other’s joy, there’s something really lasting about that.” COURTESY ALLY RINGATE “We started out with a fresco that was honoring Mary,” he said. “Somehow, I think Mary would share In this July 16 photo, blue and green ribbons adorn the water vase Mary carried that with these children too.” to the well in Balma’s fresco.
An evening with Annunciation parents By Joe Ruff
The Catholic Spirit
Healing, grace, hope and peace were some of the themes of an evening discussion with Annunciation parents to be hosted by Our Lady of Grace (OLG) in Edina Aug. 19. The faithful of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis were invited to the forum, which was preceded by the parish’s 5:30 p.m. Mass. Archbishop Bernard Hebda was to preside at the Mass, said Father Kevin Finnegan, pastor and moderator of the discussion that was to follow. Four panelists were expected to share their experience of the Aug. 27, 2025, fatal shooting during an all-school Mass at the Minneapolis church, including a recent graduate of the school, said Joe Eiden, an Annunciation parent and parishioner. Eiden said his wife, Laura Eiden, a kindergarten teacher at Annunciation, and
parents Tara Keegan and Dan Brady were on the panel. “We see this event as explaining how people can find hope and resilience, and faith plays a big role in that,” Joe Eiden said. “This conversation is not about having all the answers, but how faith and prayer and community come together for healing.” The Eidens have three children at Annunciation and a 2-year-old at home, he said. Recovery has been a journey, with some days better than others, and they are grateful for the support of their parish, school, mental health professionals and friends, Eiden said. Referencing the African proverb cited by Annunciation Principal Matt DeBoer — “When you pray, move your feet” — the Eidens also are members of Annunciation Light Alliance (ALA). ALA is an organization of parents, community
members and advocates that grew out of the tragedy, seeking an end to such violence and helping organize the event at OLG. ALA members are willing to be part of similar forums at other parishes, wherever that might be helpful, Eiden said. “The purpose of our group is to try to make change, to prevent something like this from happening,” he said. “To transform what happened into hope.” At least 200 people were expected at the OLG event, which was titled An Evening with Annunciation Parents: Faith, Hope, and Resilience. In the spirit of action, commitment cards were prepared for people who might wish to take home personal pledges to promote positive change, which could range from praying to checking in with someone, calling lawmakers or learning about gun safety, Eiden said.
ALA PARENTS Annunciation Light Alliance has produced eight videos of Annunciation parents sharing their experiences of the tragedy and their desire to bring change, including the parents of 8-year-old Fletcher Merkel and 10-year-old Harper Moyski, the two students who were killed in the shooting. Social media reels being released in August through early September encourage people to watch the videos in their entirety at annunciationlight.org. “My mantra … has been if I can do anything to make this not happen to one other family it will have been a success,” Fletcher’s father, Jesse Merkel, shares in one of the videos. “Because what we have been through and what we are going through is something no family should ever, ever have to go through.”
ANNUNCIATION ONEYEARLATER
AUGUST 20, 2026
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 15
THROUGH THICK AND THIN THICK AND THIN CONTINUED FROM PAGE 9 saved my life. I wasn’t aware of it. There must have been a time when I was out of it because I don’t remember some of those things. I remember waking up and seeing the stuff hanging, and I realized I was getting a transfusion. I kept saying, “How are the children? How are the children?”
DEACON CONNEELY: Of
course. You had a long road of recovery with your leg. Have you had more treatments after you got out of the hospital?
RON WILSON
HALL: I have to go every six months because there’s a lot of damage to
the leg, to the nerve endings. And they take a long time to heal. I’ve been back twice and I still go every six months, which may be for the rest of my life.
DEACON CONNEELY: I’m going to turn to you now, Sue and Ron. Because I was with you in the church. We know what happened, but if you don’t mind, Sue, just saying as much or as little as you want to say about how you got to church that morning, what you remember, and then how you were cared for.
WILSON: I guess (Mass started) a little bit late, a couple minutes
delayed, which I think saved us. I don’t believe in coincidence. If we were about to stand up to sing, I think a lot more of us would have been injured. Anyway, we heard the glass shatter. Probably saw it easier than you because you were up on the altar. And Ron automatically went over on top of me. He really saved my life because the police said that the bullet that (skimmed) the top of his head was slowed down by doing that, because then — when it came above my (left) eye, right above the eyebrow — it stopped before the brain.
DEACON CONNEELY: Most people don’t know that your lovely husband, Ron, who’s sitting to your right, was also hit by that bullet that grazed his head.
WILSON: He does have a shirt from his daughter that says, “Best hero
ever.” When we got outside the church doors, I looked over and there were probably 30 of the younger children sitting on the steps with the first responders. They were comforting each other, because I think some of those first responders had children the same age. I want to keep that memory always. I don’t have to remember the other stuff.
DEACON CONNEELY: Speaking of comforting each other, can
you tell us what happened in the ambulance with you and Ron and that young girl? You were present to that young girl, like you said, as though you were her grandparents.
WILSON: A little girl was already in the ambulance when we got (in),
and she was strapped down to the gurney, and she had (wounds). Ron would lean over and say, “It’s going to be OK.” I mean, we acted as grandparents. ... I gave her my phone, and she called (her parents), but they didn’t pick up because they didn’t recognize the number, but then they did recognize the voice, and she said, “I’m on my way to the hospital.” We were in the right place at the right time. Not a coincidence.
DEACON CONNEELY: How has your recovery been?
Faith Belief is a Journey!
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
Sue Wilson, left, and Deedee Hall stand outside Annunciation Catholic Church and School Aug. 15. Both women were seriously wounded in the Aug. 27, 2025, tragedy at the church in Minneapolis.
WILSON: (My skull) has shrapnel in it. They couldn’t get all these things, and they are coming out yet. I go in just for checkups. I opted not to have plastic surgery. No big deal. I just wear my hair down a little farther.
DEACON CONNEELY: There’s a great deal of sadness around this,
but I want to know, out of the darkness, where you see — in the last 12 months, at Annunciation — the light, and where you see how your faith has been impacted by what happened to everyone on 8/27.
WILSON: We came back to church the Sunday after I was released, and
I started seeing those ribbons (Annunciation colors blue and green, tied around trees, lamp posts and bridges). I mean, I hadn’t — I don’t cry easily, but those ribbons suddenly meant community, community that cared. And they were all over, they were on bridges, well, you know, they were all over the place. And I found that very, very moving to see the physical sign, because at first I thought, who cares about a ribbon? But we did care. And it showed they cared. I really was moved by that.
DEACON CONNEELY: Beautiful. How about you, Deedee? DEEDEE: I’m just so thankful all the time and every day. I didn’t really
need to change too many things. I got my walker; I could get to church. We love it.
DEACON CONNEELY: Have you both been able to go back in and worship in the church?
HALL: We have. The first time I did, it was bringing goodies. It was my
turn to bring stuff, so I think I went down the side aisle over to that room where we were serving. Yes. And we cleaned up, it was time to go, and then I — my friend was going to pick me up at the front of the church, so I went over and I went to the church and I started bawling. I just cried all
Jeri o ris ian Journeys e ele ra e a a no s no a e li i e er you re or your ourney a ers ur il ri a es are ou fully esi ne o s ar on er ee en your fai an onor e ery a er of life e elie e a ro in ol er an ee en e ri ness of your s iri ual al an i s ne er oo la e o e ra e a en ure e s al is sa re a o e er
the way down the aisle. Just — that was my first experience back in. That was really beautiful.
DEACON CONNEELY: Thank you for sharing that. It shows what
a journey it is and how it’s different for everybody. With the tragedy that happened and trying to recover from it in that space.
HALL: My experience is so different from everyone else’s. I mean, I was not in there when this all happened. But the impact is still there.
DEACON CONNEELY: Of course it is. Thank you. How about
looking past Aug. 27, the one-year remembrance? How about every day for the next year? What are your hopes and prayers for Annunciation as we walk forward together?
WILSON: I want to see some strengths in the young parents. I keep
remembering the (young people) have not gone through the loss of friends, or well, now they have, but they haven’t gone through the loss of, in a normal way, of grandparents dying and, you know, growing with each of these experiences. And we’re old enough that we’ve both lost children and that life, you know, that the faith life really does pull us through this. (The Wilsons lost a daughter in her childhood, and the Halls’ forgiven the shooter. That was a positive, that I had to forgive him. Not what he did, right, but — and to be sorry for his family.
DEACON CONNEELY: That’s beautiful. How about you, Deedee,
looking ahead over the next year or so, what are your hopes and dreams for Annunciation?
HALL: You know, they’ll stay strong. They just will. They just will, and they will, and they will. It’ll never be the same, but it’ll always be great. We’re just so thankful we’re in that parish.
— The Catholic Spirit
fai
isi our e si e eri o ris ian ourneys o ail aureen aureen eri o ris ian ourneys o
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16 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
AUGUST 20, 2026
FOCUSONFAITH SUNDAY SCRIPTURES | FATHER TROY PRZYBILLA
The keys to the kingdom of heaven Several years ago, when I lived in another rectory, I was given a master key that could get me anywhere on campus. I was aware of the responsibility and didn’t want to lose the key because I knew the consequences. We would have to pay thousands of dollars to change the locks around campus or live with the looming thought that someone out there could have access to every building on campus and do great harm. But one day someone broke into my car. I had my key in a bag in my car with my identification. Not only did they have my master key, they also knew where I lived. Because of this, we decided to spend thousands of dollars changing the locks around our campus. I tell this story because possessing a key carries with it a certain power and authority, but also a great responsibility. Keys give us the power and authority to enter a building or home while preventing others who may want to do harm from doing so. Because of this, we don’t just give our
keys to anyone. In the Gospel for this Sunday, Jesus gives the symbolic keys of the kingdom of heaven to St. Peter, the first pope. By doing this, he is giving him a certain power and responsibility to bind and to loose; in other words: to lock and unlock. The authority to bind and loose was not only given to St. Peter but to all his successors. Pope Leo XIV is the successor of St. Peter. Every pope receives the keys of the kingdom from Jesus. If you look at the Vatican flag, which is in most Catholic churches, you’ll see two keys: one silver and one gold. The silver key represents whatever is bound or loosed on Earth and the gold key represents whatever is bound or loosed in heaven. Some people may think this is giving too much authority to the pope or that this seems too authoritarian or unloving. But we need to remember that Jesus gives the keys of the kingdom to the pope for a reason. Every parent locks their doors at night. They do this to protect their family from people who may want to
do harm. Or the parent may need to take away the keys from a family member for a grave reason. No one would say this is too authoritarian or unloving. In fact, it is the responsibility of parents to exercise this authority to protect their children. It would be unloving and irresponsible not to do so. Similar to my experience of losing my master key, as the pastor and spiritual father of the parish, I thought it was best to spend a lot of money re-keying the campus to prevent a potential thief from doing harm to my parishioners or parish. Similarly, the Holy Father has a responsibility to exercise his authority out of love for God’s children. The keys of the kingdom are used to protect the family of faith from grave error and sin from outside and inside the Church. When we think of the keys of the kingdom in this way we can thank God for giving them to St. Peter and his successors so they can help unlock and open the gates to the kingdom of heaven for us. Father Przybilla is pastor of St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony.
COMMUNION AND MISSION | FATHER JOHN PAUL ERICKSON
Love in the flesh
Catholics recite the creed at every Sunday Mass and solemnity. While the Apostle’s Creed is indeed a legitimate liturgical option, most parishes that I am aware of utilize the Nicene Creed, a longer and more detailed statement of faith than the one we recite at the start of the rosary. This ancient formula reminds us of what exactly we mean when we say “I believe,” and is an important manifestation of the unity of believers. Much has changed since the first few centuries after the Church’s birthday on Pentecost, but these words have not. If you want to know what it means to be Christian, at some point you must become familiar with them. A large chunk of the Nicene Creed is a detailed declaration of the divinity of Jesus. Arising out of controversies concerning the nature of Christ, the Nicene Creed makes a concerted effort to alert the one reciting it that Jesus is God. “Light from light, true God from true God, begotten not made … .” It is within this substantial second section that we are reminded that in the fullness of time, the Son of the Father “came down from heaven, and by the Holy Spirit was incarnate of the Virgin Mary, and became man.” On most days on which we recite the Nicene Creed, these words are accompanied by a profound bow. It seems to me that this physical gesture is a reminder of the humility of God, who
himself bowed low to become one of us. It is also a sign of the awesome mystery upon which we are invited to ponder — infinity dwindled to infancy. But on two days within the Church’s calendar, the believer is instructed not to bow for the words of the Incarnation but rather to genuflect. They are the feast of the Annunciation on March 25 and then, nine months later, on Christmas, Dec. 25. It makes sense that on these days our ritual gesture is a little bit different than on others — they are feasts of the Incarnation. Genuflecting is the same gesture we as Catholics use when we pass in front of the tabernacle, wherein God remains with us as he promised. We worship not just with our minds and souls but very much with our bodies. They are, after all, a kind of sacrament of our person. They are physical signs of invisible realties — not the totality of what we are, and yet the precise location or locus of our whole being. When you point to someone’s body, you are pointing at them, even as we acknowledge that there is so much more to them than flesh and blood. Our ritual gestures in the Mass, whether standing, sitting, bowing, genuflecting, processing, singing, speaking, eating and drinking — they all flow from a truth that we all know intuitively — we are bodily beings. It is right and just, therefore, to worship with our bodies. Love of neighbor is also a bodily thing. It cannot merely be kept inside the heart or in our thoughts. It must be shown in the flesh. It must be incarnated. It must be announced by
the genuflection seen in lives of service and forgiveness and compassion. The Word of the Father, by becoming flesh, has entered into the whole mystery of being human, which includes the mystery of suffering and dying. Some of the more moving scenes of the Gospel to me are those in which Jesus reaches out to touch the sick and the suffering. He is not always content to merely speak his healing words. At times he is compelled to feel the suffering one against him, pressed against his own flesh. This sign of compassion and love would have been particularly striking to Christ’s contemporaries. The ancient world had strict laws regarding human touch and the dangers of familiarity with the sick and stricken, especially the leper. And yet Christ touches the one who is suffering, announcing to them that he is present and will not abandon them. So, too, it is in our own lives. We must also be willing to touch and to be touched by the other, to be affected and to feel their pain as best as we can. And to be present to the other in the flesh. Sin seeks to isolate and separate us. But love seeks communion, never just in theory or in speech but always in service and with the sacrament of the person that is the body — with our time, our sacrifices and our presence. May the truth of the Incarnation inspire us to love as we have been loved — in the flesh. Father Erickson is parochial vicar of the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul and interim chairman of the Archdiocesan Liturgical Commission.
DAILY Scriptures Sunday, Aug. 23 Twenty-first Sunday in Ordinary Time Is 22:19-23 Rom 11:33-36 Mt 16:13-20 Monday, Aug. 24 St. Bartholomew, Apostle Rev 21:9b-14 Jn 1:45-51 Tuesday, Aug. 25 2 Thes 2:1-3a, 14-17 Mt 23:23-26 Wednesday, Aug. 26 2 Thes 3:6-10, 16-18 Mt 23:27-32
Thursday, Aug. 27 St. Monica 1 Cor 1:1-9 Mt 24:42-51 Friday, Aug. 28 St. Augustine, bishop and doctor of the Church 1 Cor 1:17-25 Mt 25:1-13 Saturday, Aug. 29 Passion of St. John the Baptist 1 Cor 1:26-31 Mk 6:17-29
Sunday, Aug. 30 Twenty-second Sunday in Ordinary Time Jer 20:7-9 Rom 12:1-2 Mt 16:21-27 Monday, Aug. 31 1 Cor 2:1-5 Lk 4:16-30 Tuesday, Sept. 1 1 Cor 2:10b-16 Lk 4:31-37 Wednesday, Sept. 2 1 Cor 3:1-9 Lk 4:38-44
Thursday, Sept. 3 St. Gregory the Great, pope and doctor of the Church 1 Cor 3:18-23 Lk 5:1-11 Friday, Sept. 4 1 Cor 4:1-5 Lk 5:33-39 Saturday, Sept. 5 1 Cor 4:6b-15 Lk 6:1-5 Sunday, Sept. 6 Twenty-third Sunday in Ordinary Time Ezek 33:7-9 Rom 13:8-10 Mt 18:15-20
Monday, Sept. 7 1 Cor 5:1-8 Lk 6:6-11
Friday, Sept. 11 1 Cor 9:16-19, 22b-27 Lk 6:39-42
Tuesday, Sept. 8 Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Mic 5:1-4a or Rom 8:28-30 Mt 1:1-16, 18-23
Saturday, Sept. 12 1 Cor 10:14-22 Lk 6:43-49
Wednesday, Sept. 9 St. Peter Claver, priest 1 Cor 7:25-31 Lk 6:20-26 Thursday, Sept. 10 1 Cor 8:1b-7, 11-13 Lk 6:27-38
Sunday, Sept. 13 Twenty-fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time Sir 27:30–28:7 Rom 14:7-9 Mt 18:21-35
AUGUST 20, 2026
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 17
COMMENTARY ABIDE IN HIM | ANGELA JENDRO
Mary’s unique relatability
Mary has uniquely experienced every state of human relationship with God except sin. Because by grace she was conceived without original sin, she began her existence in a state akin to Adam and Eve before the fall. As a Jew, she grew up part of the people of God living in the Mosaic covenant. At the Incarnation, she became the first Christian and part of the New Covenant instituted by Christ. Everyone can find in Mary a relatable example of receptivity and faithfulness to God. Like each one of us, Mary grew in knowledge and virtue by learning and practicing over time. Her relationship with God grew through prayer and obedience, requiring repeated acts of faith, hope and love. God leads by his supernatural wisdom, so following him requires trust in his providence over one’s natural judgment. Adam and Eve were tested by this at the tree of knowledge of good and evil. Even the angels were tested to make an act of faith, by which some fell away. When the angel Gabriel appeared to Mary revealing God’s will for her to be the mother of God, she was presented with a pivotal decision. Unlike the fallen angels or our first parents, Mary chose humble trust, “may it be done to me
JESUS’ REVOLUTION | COLIN MILLER
The Church as Catholic social teaching Last month, we noted Jesus poised on the mountain, ready to give his famous Sermon on the Mount to the new Exodus people — the Church — just like Moses had given the law from Mount Sinai to the original Exodus people. While the Sermon on the Mount comprises three whole chapters (Mt 5-7), it is actually the first of five blocks of extended teaching that Jesus gives in Matthew. By breaking it up into five sections (Mt 5-7; 10:5-42; 13:3-52; 18:335; 24-25), Matthew is making the point that Jesus’ teaching is the new five books of Moses (the first five books of the Bible), which form the basis of the new covenant, just as those books formed the books of the old covenant. Before we get into the details of this new
according to your word” (Lk 1:38). Mary’s age at this event corresponds to young adulthood for her time, and though God’s request to her was unique, everyone encounters pivotal choices that determine which foundation they will build their life upon (cf. Mt 7:24-27). Still, Mary was not yet in the beatific state, meaning she would have to continue to choose loving obedience every day in the ordinary, the extraordinary, temptations, joys and sorrows. Many times, being the mother of Jesus meant not understanding fully, but trusting fully as we see recounted in the Gospels. This culminated in her most difficult act of trust and obedience to the Father’s will at the foot of the cross. Here she shared the greatest sorrow, pain and darkness we can experience. She chose to remain steadfast in her love of God. Speaking at his papal general audience April 2, 1997, St. John Paul II praised the significance of Mary’s experience as that which would be shared by believers going forward: “Mary’s hope at the foot of the Cross contains a light stronger than the darkness that reigns in many hearts: in the presence of the redeeming Sacrifice, the hope of the Church and of humanity is born in Mary.” From the cross, Jesus made Mary mother of the Church. With Jesus’ followers, she experienced the waiting and silence of Holy Saturday, the joy of the resurrection on Easter Sunday, the waiting for the Holy Spirit in the Upper Room, and the full outpouring of the Spirit on Pentecost. She
Torah, it’s important to remember how we came to this point in our investigation. Why are we talking about Jesus and his movement at all, and what does any of this have to do with Catholic social teaching? I started writing about Jesus many months ago because we were looking at the shape of our poor world. We decided that the only solution would be a revolution in the way we do things. So, I set about starting to make the case that as Christians we do not have to wait for a secular revolution, or to throw our weight behind this or that political party or social program, because we already have a social movement — the Church. In other words, the Church doesn’t have a politics, the Church is a politics. Put differently still, the Church doesn’t just have Catholic social teaching, we are Catholic social teaching. God’s revolution is already underway, and we are it. To see how this is true we went back to Jesus and the Gospels. There, Jesus announces that the kingdom of God is breaking in through his ministry, fulfilling the Old Testament promise that God would raise up a unique people, a community, whose unique way of life together would be the way his salvation would
come to the world. Jesus went around Galilee gathering small cells of disciples who would live this way of life right now and be a foretaste of the kingdom of God. This is the Church as Catholic social teaching, and we are called to join this Jesus movement today as much as they were back then. As the center of their lives together, Jesus gave his disciples the Eucharist. He had, we’ve seen, subversively claimed that his movement was the new temple, built on the new “rock,” Peter. As the new temple the Church was the fitting place for the celebration of this repurposed Passover meal, the climactic liturgical celebration of the old temple, and of Israel’s political and social identity. By infusing his movement with this same identity, Jesus was establishing them as God’s Exodus people, with the Mass at their heart. Here’s where real liberty is to be found. This is the revolution we’ve all been waiting for. And we can all start living it, right now. What is so revolutionary about it? That’s what we are about to get into, because that’s what the Sermon on the Mount and Jesus’ other teaching is about. In giving the new Torah Jesus is giving definitive shape to the
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mothered the early Church until her life on Earth reached its completion. Finally, the Lord brought her into glory, assuming her body and soul into heaven — where faith turned to sight, hope to possession and love burst into full freedom and ineffable depth. In this she is unique, as Pope Pius XII dogmatically declared in 1950: “She, by an entirely unique privilege, completely overcame sin by her Immaculate Conception, and as a result she was not subject to the law of remaining in the corruption of the grave, and she did not have to wait until the end of time for the redemption of her body” (“Munificentissimus Deus,” 5). Mary continues to mother the Church today. Although we cannot relate to her heavenly glory yet, we look to her example with hopeful anticipation of the resurrection of our bodies in the joy of heavenly union with God and the saints. The remarkable dogma of the assumption of Mary celebrated in the solemnity of the Assumption of the Blessed Virgin Mary Aug. 15 provokes awe as we consider her human relationship with God, to which we can all relate, and her extraordinary cooperation with grace by which she excels us in every way and draws us to an even higher faith, hope and love.
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new Exodus people. These are the details of what the kingdom-community looks like. Here are God’s politics in action. This is what I mean when I suggest that the Church is, or should be, Catholic social teaching. Our first task is to be the society that Catholic social teaching talks about — to be a witness to the world of the life we are made for, but the world cannot yet imagine they could become. If as Catholics we have political views that we express in conventional terms to governments or by activism, that’s fine, and even sometimes necessary. But our first task is always to be that politics ourselves by the way we do life together as small cells of disciples. That’s what “Christian community” is: not just hanging out at coffee shops or having donuts together after Mass. It’s a specific shape of human togetherness. That’s what the Sermon on the Mount is all about describing, and that’s what we’ll jump into the details of next month. Miller is the director of the Center for Catholic Social Thought at Assumption in St. Paul. He is the author of “We Are Only Saved Together: Living the Revolutionary Vision of Dorothy Day and the Catholic Worker Movement.” Editor’s note: Please watch for Laura Kelly Kanucci’s column “Faith at Home” online this month at thecatholicspirit.com. Deacon Gordon Bird’s column will next appear in the Sept. 24 print edition of The Catholic Spirit.
PIVOTAL PECS “Brought me closer to God, Jesus and Mary. Discussions go deeper into faith and provide meaningful learnings.” Carl Werner, 64, St. Hubert, Chanhassen
Archbishop Bernard Hebda is encouraging the faithful to experience the small-group model Parish Evangelization Cells Systems (PECS) in their parishes. Designed to strengthen parish life through small groups and encourage parishioners to share their faith and hope in Jesus Christ with each other and then the broader community, it is having an impact. At last count, there are about 2,000 small groups and more than 16,000 participants in 138 parishes across the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. See the opportunities to join a small group at archspm.groupvitals.com/groupfinder.
18 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
AUGUST 20, 2026
AUGUST 20, 2026
THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT • 19
CALENDAR For updated information on parish festivals, please see the online parish festival guide at thecatholicspirit.com/festivals
in Waconia. Featuring Mass with Archbishop Bernard Hebda, a concert by Marie Miller and special guest Jeff Cavins. tinyurl.com/axmwum6u Women’s Midweek Retreat — Sept. 8-10: 6 p.m. Sept. 8-1 p.m. Sept. 10 at the Minnesota Franciscan Catholic Retreat Center, 16385 Saint Francis Lane, Prior Lake. Step away from the busyness of daily life and encounter Christ. Women’s retreats offer private rooms, inspiring conference talks, Mass, guided morning prayer, one-to-one spiritual direction, reconciliation, anointing of the sick, adoration and time in nature. tinyurl.com/mrxtrjp5
PARISH EVENTS
CONFERENCES
For all calendar items, please visit
thecatholicspirit.com/calendar
PARISH FESTIVALS
Sts. Joachim and Anne’s Mom and Pop Invitational Grass Volleyball Tournament — Aug. 29: 9 a.m. at Shakopee Area Catholic School, 2700 17th Ave. E., Shakopee. Join us for a funfilled, grass volleyball tournament fundraiser! The tournament’s name, Mom and Pop, is a special nod to our parish patrons, Sts. Joachim and Anne, the parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Assemble your team and sign up. Participants must be at least 18 years old. ssjacs.org/grass-volleyball-tournament
WORSHIP+RETREATS
WINE in the Vineyard — Aug. 30: 4-8 p.m. at Sovereign Estate Winery, 9950 North Shore Road, Waconia. WINE in the Vineyard is an enchanting evening of faith, fine food, wine and music for men and women at the beautiful Sovereign Estate Winery
Worldwide Marriage Encounter One-Day Experience: God Chose You for Me — Sept. 12: 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. at St. Hubert, 8201 Main St., Chanhassen. A one-day experience where couples rediscover the holiness of their marriage and create a prayer as a couple that lasts a lifetime. God Chose You for Me helps couples unlock the spiritual depth of their sacrament and reflect deeply on their love story. northmnwwme.org/enrichment.php
SCHOOL
The Back-to-School Event You Don’t Want to Miss with Dr. Leonard Sax — Aug. 31: 5:30-7 p.m. at St. Maximilian Kolbe Academy, 235 S. Second St., Delano. Parents, grandparents, educators and clergy are invited to join Dr. Leonard Sax at St. Maximilian Kolbe Academy for this back-to-school event
SENIOR SACRAMENTS CONTINUED FROM PAGE 7 Initiative founders first envisioned creating a directory that would identify nursing home chapels, available priests and other resources, Kulhanek said. But they discovered it would be too difficult because resources changed constantly, he said. Sacraments for Seniors is now focusing on developing working relationships with three initial nursing homes and three initial parishes: Holy Trinity-St. Augustine in South St. Paul, Our Lady of Grace and St. Michael in Farmington, to create prototypes for other parishes and institutions, Kulhanek said. The goal is to contact every parish in the country, he said. “Eventually we want to have a toolkit for smaller parishes and mid-size and larger based on the resources that they
designed to help you navigate the cultural pressures and attractions that threaten the happiness of our children. stmaxkolbeacademy.org
CALENDAR submissions
SPEAKERS+SEMINARS
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.
Discovering Benedictine Values — Aug. 20: 7-8:30 p.m. Zoom event hosted by St. Paul’s Monastery. The last in an online series featuring a different speaker each week highlighting a foundational Benedictine subject: deep listening, humility, hospitality, community, stewardship, justice, respect for persons, stability and others. $20 per individual session or $140 for all sessions. tinyurl.com/ms5azeyt
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.
OTHER EVENTS
Red Bird Ministries Monthly Meetup — Aug. 27: 6-7 p.m. at St. Joseph, 1154 Seminole Ave., West St. Paul. Parents who have lost a child, from pregnancy through adulthood, are invited to join the St. Paul and Minneapolis Chapter of Red Bird Ministries in praying a Seven Sorrows rosary. We will meet in the parish library near the adoration chapel. tinyurl.com/ykmetvp5 “Shine On” Breakfast for Rise and Shine — Sept. 11: 7-9 a.m. at 5801 Opus Parkway, Minnetonka. Together, we can make a difference. Your support at the Shine On Minneapolis Breakfast will help the students of Ghana access a world-class education that empowers them to rise into the world and shine brightly. tinyurl.com/45pchtex
have,” Kulhanek said, adding that someone who contacted the Sacraments for Seniors website is starting a program in Atlanta. Sacraments for Seniors leaders have especially been active with Our Lady of Grace, Kulhanek said. The parish has more than 3,000 registered families, according to the archdiocese, and three pastoral care staff and a funeral and grief support coordinator. “We agree that the mission to bring the sacraments to those in long-term care facilities is of great importance,” said Jennifer Beutz, Our Lady of Grace’s pastoral care director. Parish volunteers regularly bring the Eucharist to residents in the parish’s canonical, geographic area of responsibility, and the parish’s priests offer Mass, hear confessions and anoint patients who are ill, she said.
TheCatholicSpirit.com/ calendarsubmissions
Kulhanek said Sacraments for Seniors invites donations, and it is in the process of becoming a nonprofit organization. Its website is a primary location for information, he said. The group also has helped nursing home residents connect with others in their home to pray, Daoust said. At one Inver Grove Heights nursing home where parish volunteers started a rosary group, residents who had fallen away from the faith later asked to see a priest, she said. “The priest would provide confession and everything, but evidently they needed an advocate because one of us made sure that the priest came in,” Daoust said. “That’s just one tiny example, but that could happen in every parish if we had a few people.” “Nursing homes can be transformed into powerhouses of prayer.”
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20 • THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
AUGUST 20, 2026
THELASTWORD
Serving and staying in ‘St. Small’: ‘We are connected’ By Christina Capecchi For The Catholic Spirit
M
ike Fratto has spent a lifetime saying yes — to Scouting, to service, to daily Mass and to all the little nudges that have drawn him deeper into his faith. Now 79 and retired from his job as a management analyst for the state of Minnesota, Fratto looks back and sees the cumulative effect. “I guess the seed had been planted, and the various invitations watered those seeds,” he said. “One thing is certain: God is pushing me into greater communion with him.” Fratto belongs to Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Maplewood. He and his wife, Jenifer, live in St. Paul and have three sons.
Q Where did you grow up? A I grew up in Gladstone (a neighborhood in
Maplewood), just a quarter-mile east of where I currently live. I’ve lived there for years. I’ve stayed connected with Presentation. You get used to an area. I don’t like moving. Q What was it like growing up as the oldest of 10 kids? A We grew up in a three-bedroom rambler. We had bunk beds. One of the things I think about (in) that kind of situation for larger families is that we learned to share, even though reluctantly. “This is your sibling — you’ve got to deal with it.” It almost forces you to develop the ties that twins have. Q And then, as a teen, you absorbed a lot of humanity by working at the Minnesota State Fair, selling tickets for rides. A Right, I did tickets for rides back in high school. I’ve done a lot of volunteering at the fair. I’m a Tommie and I’ve worked one or two shi!s for (the University of ) St. Thomas (in St. Paul) every year. My cousin worked for Giggles’ (Campfire Grill) on the fairgrounds, on what used to be called Machinery Hill. We were always there because they had walleye on a stick and all these brews, so eventually I applied. I worked there for a couple years pouring beer. Tim Weiss (the co-founder) would come out at least once a day and start singing “Sweet Caroline,” and then of course everybody started singing. It was a great group of people. I still get up there regularly. All these people who work for Giggles are Cretin (Derham Hall high school) guys and there are some STA (St. Thomas Academy) guys in there. My friend Jim Daly, a Cretin guy, calls St. Paul “St. Small.” Q That’s sort of a mindset, isn’t it? A It is. We are connected. Unfortunately, too many of us ignore the fact that we are connected. But we are. Q Does your Catholic faith inform your thinking on that, reminding you to look for the dignity in each person? A I try. I try to find out what’s interesting in other people. There’s that quote: It’s better to be interested than interesting. You’re interesting, but even more importantly, I can tell you’re interested. I never thought I was interesting. The irony of it is I always felt le! out. Maybe I didn’t have the social skills to be part of the in-group. I lettered in several sports, but they were individual sports. So, I just got involved with a variety of different things and, in some cases, ended up leading. But even if I was leading the organization, it doesn’t mean I necessarily felt part of the organization. Q Tell me about Boy Scouts. A I joined Scouting in 1957, when Troop and Pack 461 were first chartered. I was 10. I think
learning new things was the key to staying involved. I remember my first summer camp at Tomahawk Scout Reservation, probably summer of 1960 or ’61. I was totally unprepared for the experience. I did get to shoot a .22, and I earned my mile swim badge. Q How did that experience influence you as an adult Scout leader? A I look at that as a teaching moment for me as an adult leader. The older Scouts didn’t seem to be connected to the younger Scouts. And one of the roles they should be playing is helping the younger Scouts move ahead with the things they should do. Q You’ve served on the National Catholic Committee on Scouting and helped our Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. A My involvement in Scouting and, especially, the Archdiocesan Catholic Committee on Scouting, has expanded my knowledge and awareness of youth and where they are in their faith journey. By the time a Scout reaches the upper ranks and goes before a board of review, they’ve had to learn leadership. They’ve had to learn how to plan and how to execute, things that I didn’t learn even with a master’s degree. It’s like a light goes on: “Oh, yeah, that’s how it works!” We get seminarians to come and join Scouts as they do their exercises. In every case, the seminarian had been a Scout. In most cases, they were Eagle Scouts. It tells me that the work the Catholic committee does within Scouting programs helps plant the seed. Q Does your faith compel you to serve? A The simple answer is yes. Our Catholic tradition calls us to serve. To me, that means getting involved in organizations that help others. Q You even help at funerals, as the sacristan. A I’ve done almost everything — except consecrate at some funeral Masses — including cantor! The cantor didn’t show up, and I was at the altar, so I did the Alleluia! Someone did an interview with Bishop Mike Izen and asked about the time he got called to become (auxiliary bishop). He said: “I didn’t even think about it. I just said yes.” That’s sort of like me. I say yes. Q One of those yeses led to meeting your wife. A I served on the deanery council, and I was chairing it. I was preparing a meeting at Presentation, and I got there early and went across to the fireplace room because (at that time) Sister Helen (Welter) was sitting there getting ready to do her RCIA (now OCIA, Order of Christian Initiation of Adults) program, and I’d been a church sponsor for a couple years. I walked in there, and Sister Helen introduced me to the church sponsors who were
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
there. Jenifer was one of the sponsors! She sent me a Valentine and invited me to lunch. Q Does that feeling of being left out still strike? A I feel it frequently. There are times I don’t get the invitation (for a social gathering). The invitation I always get: Can you help with this? Can you do that? But when I go to the Y in Woodbury, I feel really included there. And Father Peter (Ly, the pastor) makes me feel included. Q You began attending daily Mass during Lent in 1985. How did that happen? A I would do Lenten Masses at St. Mary’s (Catholic Church in St. Paul) at noon. The YMCA opened up in October of ’84. When Lent showed up in ’85, I thought, “You know, if I went to six weeks of daily Mass, I would stop going to the Y.” So, I found a 6:45 (a.m.) Mass at St. Louis. Holy Week came and went, and then I thought: “You know, I’ve been doing this six weeks. I guess I can continue doing this.” So I did. Q I bet you’ve quietly set an example for others. A Back when I was working, on a holy day someone would come to me: What time is Mass? And then I’d have someone come to me and say “I was told to talk to you. I’m Catholic, but I’ve fallen away and I want to get back.” Q What does your daily prayer life look like? A My morning starts with my Morning Offering, a prayer to the Holy Spirit and Creator God. I then pray a couple of Serra prayers for vocations. Then I pray three prayers for priests, identifying those close to me by name. I pray the rosary every day. I participate in the Intercede app of novenas, where I pray the Divine Mercy Novena and the Holy Face of Jesus daily. Q Do you feel those prayers for vocations working? A I do. I wouldn’t be continuing to pray if I didn’t.
Q How has your spiritual life deepened over
the years? A I like to think that I was doing OK spiritually. Then I was invited to do a Cursillo weekend (a Catholic retreat). A while later, a coworker introduced me to Sister Faustina and the Divine Mercy. Then came Scouting and the Catholic Committee. The seed that was first planted has been watered many ways. Q What have you come to understand with time? A I’ve come to realize that, regardless of our faith tradition, we are all called to follow the teachings Jesus proclaimed during his life that were recorded by the writers of the New Testament. While we have Commandments in Exodus and church precepts, Jesus said the greatest commandment is to love the Lord thy God with your whole heart, soul and mind and to love your neighbor as yourself. As he explained in the parable of the Good Samaritan, we are all neighbors — regardless of ancestry, skin color or class status. Q What do you know for sure? A Jesus is present in the tabernacle at a Catholic church. I am loved by God, and all of my errors in life are forgiven by Jesus’ life, death and resurrection. I also know that I have been blessed with many graces and talents, some that I am not aware of. When I’m doing my evening prayers, I thank God for what he’s given me this day, even those graces I’m not aware of. Because I don’t know. I feel like I fell in a dung heap and came up smelling like a rose. What did I get that I don’t know? Q Does having that awareness make you feel hopeful? Or grateful? A Anxious. Because recognizing the fact that I’m not aware of a talent makes me think I am not giving God what he expects of me. I know I’m going to purgatory. My hope is it’s shorter than I expect it to be.