The Catholic Telegraph April 2022

MAGAZINE

191st year | issue 4

bringing faith into the home

april 2022 | the great outdoors | 1

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editor’s note

Loud, Vibrant & Beautiful There have been a few times in my life where God’s presence, abundance and majesty left me thunderstruck.

As a child of 10 or so, when my family went to the Gulf Coast, I would drag a chair out to the beach at night and sit under the stars. Even at that young age, the vastness of the night sky and space joined the infinite number of sand grains beneath my feet and the crashing waves of the ocean to stir my heart and soul’s recognition of God. My sister teased me, asking if I was sitting out there alone “meditating.” I guess in some ways I was, but mostly I was marveling, recognizing and existing with the Creator around me.

Later, as a teenager in the Methodist Church, I went on a confirmation retreat in the middle of the woods and our pastor took us on a hike. I was almost certainly the most obnoxious of the confirmands, picking up leaves and asking questions about every tree, leaf, bird and rock we encountered. Once again, nature’s great diversity overwhelmed me, striking a chord within my soul that spoke to the imagination and creativity of our Creator.

Much more recently, a friend and I took our young sons on a long weekend trip to Red River Gorge in Kentucky.

Although my initial thoughts centered on the many stories I’ve read about people toppling off its cliffs and all the safety protocols I’d need in place for my son, once we arrived and started hiking, most of that disappeared – I was completely

awestruck by the world around me. The whole area is like nature’s art gallery: from the striking natural rock arches, to the layers of colored sediment and the natural trails and caves, Red River Gorge is breathtaking.

Additionally, with cell service nearly non-existent, my friend and I learned a few hard lessons in starting and maintaining a campfire. We focused on using the bodies God gave us – to hike, start fires, hydrate – and on our boys and their pure joy over our natural surroundings.

Sometimes God is subtle with us, guiding us, nudging us to show He is there. But with nature, especially in more remote locations where technology doesn’t beckon us in, God is loud, vibrant and beautiful!

This issue of The Catholic Telegraph is all about God’s big beauty! Western and Southwestern Ohio have many outdoor spaces that are dedicated to prayer - through outdoor Stations of the Cross, nature centers that foster care for creation, and even the church bells that loudly announce the presence of Jesus to the outside world. We hope you accept this issue’s invitation to go outside, pray and allow yourself to stand in awe of God’s creation.

cteditorial@catholicaoc.org

THE CATHOLIC TELEGRAPH 191st Year No. 4 • April 2022 513-263-6635 • thecatholictelegraph.com

PUBLISHER Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr

EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Jessica Rinaudo

MEDIA SALES Deacon Graham Galloway

GRAPHIC DESIGN Emma Cassani

PHOTOGRAPHY Margaret Swensen

DIGITAL ENGAGEMENT Dominick Albano

NEW MEDIA EDITOR Greg Hartman

SOCIAL MEDIA Katherine Geiger

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National St. Anthony Shrine in Mt. Airy. page 26

april great outdoors

columns

18 HANDS ON LEARNING

7 QUESTION OF FAITH

KARY ELLEN BERGER

FATHER DAVID ENDRES

St. Gertrude School engages students with outdoor classroom

Evidence for God?

20 STATIONS IN SPRING

FATHER EARL FERNANDES

MATT HESS

Faith in the fields of Carthagena

news

contents

24 ENCOUNTERING GOD’S BEAUTY

12 A PRIEST’S PERSPECTIVE The Way of the Cross and public witness 15 SEIZE THE MOMENT NICHOLAS HARDESTY

The pen that doesn’t write

KARY ELLEN BERGER

8 BEACONS OF LIGHT DEACON MARK MACHUGA

Foundational principles: The Church 10 NEW PERMANENT DEACON CLASS MARK DANIS

14 BOOK REVIEW

Marianist Environmental Education Center 26 A CITY RETREAT BONNY VAN

National St. Anthony Shrine & Friary a place of prayerful solitude in Mt. Airy

JOSEPH BOTTUM

The Scandal of Holiness

28 CHURCH BELLS JOHN STEGEMAN

33 PLAYFULNESS IN THE SPIRITUAL LIFE

The soundtrack of faith

FATHER TIM FAHEY

From The Ultimate Guide to Lent

30 EARTH CONNECTION EILEEN CONNELLY, OSU

34 IGNATIAN VOLUNTEER CORPS

16 A CLOSER LOOK DR. KENNETH CRAYCRAFT

Dying every minute of our lives 36 THEOLOGY OF THE BODY DR. ANDREW SODERGREN

Original Nakedness: Receiving one another as gifts 37 KIDS’ CORNER St. Bernard 38 MAKING CATHOLIC MEMORIES WAYNE & MARIANNE TOPP

Connecting seniors with those in need

Sisters of Charity teach girls about spirituality & sustainability

40 OUT & ABOUT IN THE ARCHDIOCESE

32 CATHOLIC AT HOME

FATHER AL HIRT, OFM

KATIE SCIBA

Care for Creation: Nature and society’s relationship

PATRICIA MCGEEVER

ON THE COVER

The world echoes with God’s existence

St. Catherine of Siena 42 THE FINAL WORD

PHOTO BY: FRANTISEK ZVARDON

The outdoor Stations of the Cross and cemetery at St. Charles Center in Carthagena.

4 | THE CATHOLIC TE LEG RAPH

POPE FRANCIS’ PRAYER INTENTION FOR APRIL For Health Care Workers

We pray for health care workers who serve the sick and the elderly, especially in the poorest countries; may they be adequately supported by governments and local communities.

Seek the Lord ARCHBISHOP DENNIS M. SCHNURR

Our traditions have a way of bringing us together, uniting people from different regions, backgrounds and ways of life behind a common passion – the love of our shared faith.

Each year, we see an example of this as faithful Catholics from our archdiocese and surrounding dioceses gather to “pray the steps” at Holy Cross-Immaculata Church in Mt. Adams on Good Friday.

Events such as these can help us appreciate the profound, lasting unity rooted in our shared Catholic faith. Sacred Scripture teaches us of this unity; it is fostered through our participation in the Eucharist; and ultimately it is fulfilled in our shared redemption through Christ’s Resurrection.

Scripture often reminds us of how our faith unites us in Christ: “For as in one body we have many parts, and all the parts do not have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ and individually parts of one another” (Rom. 12:4-5).

God made each of us for some definite purpose. And although He granted us each a specific set of talents and asks us to discern our vocations accordingly, nothing we accomplish would be possible without sharing those gifts with one another. We each have a role to play in the Church, and the Church, as God’s Kingdom on earth, accomplishes Her mission only to the degree that we each contribute our unique gifts and talents for the good of one another. We need one another; this is why God gives us the Church. No one of us can return to the God who created us on his or her own. We have to make that journey together.

At every Mass we renew our awareness of Christian unity and strengthen the bonds of charity and faith which unite us in our common mission. The Eucharist – Christ’s Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity – is the source and summit of our existence as Christians (cf. Lumen Gentium, 11).

Everything we do and all that we are comes from Christ and His love for us, and we enter into that mystery most profoundly through the Church’s liturgy.

As the Catechism of the Catholic Church says: “Through the liturgy Christ, our redeemer and high priest, continues the work of our redemption in, with and through his Church” (CCC 1069). The Lord who has conquered sin and death lives gloriously with His Father in heaven, and He also lives and works through His Church. Together we are united to form the Body of Christ. And the heart of that Body is the Eucharist.

While the Eucharist remains the heart of the Body of Christ here on earth, the mystery of the Lord’s Resurrection unites the faithful in our redemption from sin and offers us a shared hope that we might participate in His Resurrection at the end of time.

Many things in this life foreshadow the joy of the perfect, lasting unity we will experience in heaven. Living in that joy, united together in our faith, is our great hope as Christians. This Easter, may we unite as witnesses to the risen Christ and share with each other the hope of eternal unity with God and, in Him, with one another.

S E E K T H E L O R D / APRI L 2022 | 5

Busca al Senor ARZOBISPO DENNIS M. SCHNURR

Nuestras tradiciones tienen una forma de unirnos, conectando a personas de diferentes regiones, orígenes y formas de vida detrás de una pasión común: el amor a nuestra fe compartida. Cada año, vemos un ejemplo de esto cuando los fieles católicos de nuestra arquidiócesis y de las diócesis circundantes se reúnen para “rezar las gradas” en la Iglesia Holy Cross-Immaculata en Mt. Adams el Viernes Santo.

Eventos como estos pueden ayudarnos a apreciar la profunda y duradera unidad arraigada en nuestra fe católica compartida. La Sagrada Escritura nos enseña de esta unidad; se nutre a través de nuestra participación en la Eucaristía; y, en última instancia, se cumple en nuestra redención compartida a través de la resurrección de Cristo.

Las Escrituras a menudo nos recuerdan cómo nuestra fe nos une en Cristo: “Porque, así como en un solo cuerpo tenemos muchos miembros con diversas funciones, también todos nosotros formamos un solo Cuerpo en Cristo, y en lo que respecta a cada uno, somos miembros los unos de los otros” (Rom. 12: 4-5).

Dios nos hizo a cada uno para un propósito definido.

Y aunque Él nos concedió a cada uno un conjunto específico de talentos y nos pide que discernamos nuestras vocaciones respectivamente, nada de lo que logremos sería posible sin compartir esos dones entre nosotros.

Cada uno de nosotros tiene un papel que desempeñar en la Iglesia; y la Iglesia, como el Reino de Dios en la tierra, cumple Su misión solo en la medida en que cada uno de nosotros contribuye con nuestros dones y talentos únicos para el bien de los demás. Nos necesitamos los unos a los otros; por eso Dios nos da la Iglesia. Ninguno de nosotros puede regresar al Dios que nos creó por su 6 | THE C ATHOLIC TE LEG RAPH

cuenta. Tenemos que hacer ese viaje juntos.

En cada Misa renovamos nuestra conciencia de la unidad de los cristianos y fortalecemos los lazos de caridad y fe que nos unen en nuestra misión común. La Eucaristía – Cuerpo, Sangre, Alma y Divinidad de Cristo – es la fuente y la cumbre de nuestra existencia como cristianos (cf. Lumen Gentium, 11). Todo lo que hacemos y todo lo que somos viene de Cristo y de su amor por nosotros, y entramos dentro de ese misterio más profundamente a través de la liturgia de la Iglesia.

Como dice el Catecismo de la Iglesia Católica: “Por la liturgia, Cristo, nuestro Redentor y Sumo Sacerdote, continúa en su Iglesia, con ella y por ella, la obra de nuestra redención” (CIC 1069). El Señor que ha vencido el pecado y la muerte vive gloriosamente con Su Padre en el cielo, y también vive y obra a través de Su Iglesia.

Juntos estamos unidos para formar el Cuerpo de Cristo.

Y el corazón de ese Cuerpo es la Eucaristía.

Mientras que la Eucaristía sigue siendo el corazón del Cuerpo de Cristo aquí en la tierra, el misterio de la Resurrección del Señor une a los fieles en nuestra redención del pecado y nos ofrece una esperanza compartida de que podamos participar en Su Resurrección al final de los tiempos.

Muchas cosas en esta vida presagian el gozo de la unidad perfecta y duradera que experimentaremos en el cielo.

Vivir en esa alegría, unidos en nuestra fe, es nuestra gran esperanza como cristianos. En esta Pascua, unámonos como testigos de Cristo resucitado y compartamos entre nosotros la esperanza de la unidad eterna con Dios, y en Él, los unos con los otros.

QU E ST IO N O F F A IT H

Evidence for God? God’s existence can be known using our minds. It is accessible to reason and therefore not necessary to believe in the Bible or the revelation of Jesus to acknowledge God’s existence. As the Catechism states, “By natural reason man can know God with certainty, on the basis of his works” (CCC, 50). This is to say, humanity has evidence of God through perceiving the created world, which leads to the question: Where did all of this come from?

are better or worse than others, having more of a certain quality than others. For there to be degrees of anything, there must be something/someone with an unsurpassable degree.

This is the maximum to which all others can be compared.

By consequence there must be a being that possesses a perfect, unsurpassable degree of perfection, goodness, etc., and this unsurpassed being we call God.

Philosophers and theologians have advanced proofs for God’s existence that do not require belief in divine revelation. They are called proofs not because they are scientifically provable — they do not involve telescopes or microscopes — but in the sense that they offer “converging and convincing arguments” (CCC, 31). Based in fact as well as a series of logical deductions, some of the arguments originate in philosophical thought that predates Christianity and from a time before the Bible was compiled.

Like any kind of philosophical proof, some are more persuasive.

Possible objections can be considered, and the arguments can be developed in much more detail as contemporary thinkers such as Peter Kreeft, Edward Feser and Matt Fradd have done.

But none of these proofs require religious faith. They show that a person does not need to be a Christian to believe in God. The existence of God can be derived from reason and humanity’s common experience. That humans are hard-wired to believe in God may be argued from the various religious traditions that posit the existence of the divine (even if they do not believe in the Judeo-Christian God).

PROOF FROM CAUSALITY

One of the best-known proofs begins with the question: Why is there something rather than nothing? Everything that is created has a cause, but since nothing can cause itself, there must be something/someone that is uncaused – and that uncaused being, from which everything has its source, we call God. PROOF FROM DESIGN

Governing nature are laws such as gravity, which do not appear to be random but conducive to the flourishing of life.

For example, were gravity a bit weaker or a bit stronger, stars would not have formed and life could not have begun. We can ask: Why does the natural world exhibit such regularity?

Why isn’t the world lawless and random? The laws of nature are incapable of explaining their origins, and so there must be a designer of these laws – and this designer we call God. PROOF FROM GRADATION

In the created world, attributes can be compared. Some things

PERSUASIVE PROOFS?

GOD REVEALS HIMSELF

God reveals Himself to His creatures. It is possible for an agnostic to come to believe in God while looking out from a high mountain, becoming overwhelmed with the beauty, intricacy and order of the world. Or parents at the birth of their child acknowledge that God must have a role in such an amazing creation as a new human life.

These realizations are not surprising. God does not want to hide. He has revealed and continues to reveal. Indeed, the maximal revelation possible occurs in the incarnation of Jesus.

But even for the person who does not believe in Him, there is reason to believe in the God who creates, communicates and can be conceived of, without relying on the Bible.

FATHER DAVID ENDRES is associate professor of Church history and historical theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary & School of Theology.

Q U E S T IO N O F F A IT H / A PRI L 2022 | 7

FOUNDATIONAL PRINCIPLES #3 THE CHURCH: LOCAL AND UNIVERSAL

BY DEACON MARK MACHUGA

In the context of Beacons of Light, each of these aspects of “church” has a special role: Church as a sacred space, Church as a local parish, Church as Christ’s universal body. The core principle for Church, as set forth by the Beacons of Light, incorporates all these elements:

This article is the third in a series covering each of the six foundational principles of Beacons of Light, the pastoral planning process of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati.

What does it mean to be a member of a church? The answer lies in how we define the word “church.”

“Each of us is called to actively participate as a member of a parish, the Universal Church and our local Church, led by our archbishop. Parishes continually deepen the bonds of communion with other parishes.”

In its most basic sense, “church” can simply refer to the building in which we celebrate the Mass and other sacraments. At a slightly higher level, it can be another form of the word “parish.” For example, “What church do Our local church does not you go to?” “I’m a member of Our Lady exist independently, but of Victory.”

“

is in union with the

We must remember, however, that our Universal baptism makes us members of a very special “Church – the Catholic Church.

This is the Church founded by Jesus Christ, formed by the Apostles and handed on to every successive generation for 2,000 years. Our local church does not exist independently, but is in union with the Universal Church under the authority of our archbishop and the leadership of the holy father.

8 | THE CATHOLIC TELE GRAPH

Church...

Our Families of Parishes will rely upon each other for success, recognizing the heritage of our past and embracing a common future. Several goals will make this possible.

THE LOCAL CHURCH IS ORGANIZED INTO DEANERIES: Our archdiocesan church operates

effectively by dividing into regional deaneries. Our new canonical parishes (i.e., “Families of Parishes”) will continue to follow that organizational model and benefit through the interdependency of each parish with the other.

ARCHDIOCESAN COMMUNION WITH THE UNIVERSAL CHURCH: In communion with the holy

father, the archbishop exercises leadership in the local Church.

EMBRACING SUBSIDIARITY: One of the Church’s

foundational social teachings is subsidiarity, which states that matters ought to be handled by the smallest, lowest or least centralized competent authority, and higher authorities should provide assistance to the lower authorities when appropriate. This enables decisions to be made at the local level wherever possible. Deaneries enhance regional subsidiarity, operating on a local level, which empowers Families of Parishes to cooperate with each other in all forms of ministry.

RESPECTING CULTURE AND HISTORY: In one Family of Parishes, the culture and history of our individual parishes are acknowledged, honored and, where possible, preserved.

Efforts seek to blend cultural and historical differences with compassion and compromise.

RECOGNIZING LOCAL & UNIVERSAL MEMBERSHIP:

The People of God understand that the parish comprises the people within a given territory, and therefore, they grow in

understanding themselves as members of Christ’s Body, the Church.

We should not lose sight of the fact that our churches were brought together into Families of Parishes. This is an intentional designation. Families pray together, share their lives with each other, encourage each other and celebrate together. Just as we nourish and sustain our own families, we should strive to do likewise for our new parish family. Pray for the success of our priests, our parishes’ staffs and our brother and sister parishioners. Share in each other’s joys, sorrows, struggles and dreams. Encourage one another in our personal and spiritual growth. Celebrate our parishes’ similarities and differences, brought together in our common Catholic faith.

Lumen Gentium, Vatican II’s Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, tells us “The universal Church is seen to be ‘a people brought into unity from the unity of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.’” As Church, we are the Body of Christ. As members of that Body we are on the journey of faith together – as one body, united in the Holy Trinity, for the good of our local church and the Universal Church. Our confidence rests in God that our parishes will truly come together as one family, one Church.

EMPOWERING FAMILIES Catholic Charities Southwestern Ohio‘s Family Development Services equips parents with the skills they need for the whole family to thrive. We promote family unity and healing, smart parenting and learning readiness for children.

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To learn more, visit ccswoh.org/family-development-services.

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Please make checks payable to: Catholic Charities Southwestern Ohio, Mid Pointe Tower, 7162 Reading Rd., Ste. 600, Cincinnati, OH 45237 PM | 9 B E A CO N S O F L IG H T / 2/28/22 APRI L1:47 2022

New Permanent Deacon Class NEW PERMANENT DEACONS WILL BE ORDAINED APRIL 23

BY MARK DANIS

The new permanent deacon class will be ordained on April 23 at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains in downtown Cincinnati. As a one of the 14 men in this class (and four others from the Diocese of Covington), I know the reasons that called each of us into this ministry are as varied as our sponsoring parishes. However, after three years of formation and seminary studies, many hours of community prayer and a great deal of reflection, there is one word that defines our future role in the Church: service.

The title “deacon” derives from the Greek term diakonia, which means “to serve.” Everything in our preparation for future ministry centers on rendering service to our parishes and to the entire Body of Christ – the Church.

The journey to diaconal ordination is not an easy path; formation requires commitment and sacrifice. We willingly chose to give up, or at least suspend, activities we valued and embrace a rigorous curriculum, something 1 0 | THE CATHOLIC TELE GRAPH

candidates may not have experienced since college. In our first year, we dedicated our time and energy to philosophy classes, understanding that this discipline is the critical foundation for later theological studies. We made it through other classes by learning to rely on one another, acknowledging our shortcomings and asking for help, and by relying on the continuous support of our remarkable spouses and families.

Throughout the three years of formation, we spend two weekends of every month at the seminary studying sacred scripture, Canon Law, spirituality, preaching and sacramental, moral and liturgical theology. Those unfamiliar with praying the Divine Office are instructed in these daily prayers of the Church. Deacon candidates pray, and periodically lead in community, both the morning and evening hours of these prayers and pray the Rosary together in the evenings.

Prayer, we understand, is essential.

We must demonstrate our ability to

I would appreciate prayers for my family as I start this new ministry. They have supported me for the last five years as I went through the Lay Pastoral Ministry Program and Diaconate formation. They will continue to be my foundation for my ministry as an ordained deacon.

I would also like prayers for an increase in the wisdom to discern God’s will in the situations that I will face as a deacon and the courage to carry out His will, no matter where He leads me.

– Jeffrey Little St. Joseph Church, Wapakoneta

As I and the other 13 deacon candidates near ordination, may the Lord continue to guide us in our ministry to always faithfully proclaim His Word, be attentive to the needs of the poor and faithful and make us good and humble servants to His Church.

CONGRATULATIONS

to the Permanent Deacon Class of 2022

– Mark Madden Our Lady of Lourdes Church, Cincinnati

serve as deacon at Mass, witness marriages, perform baptisms and preside over funerals and burial services. Because deacons are radically dependent on prayer, candidates should be able to lead the faithful in Eucharistic adoration and benediction.

However, not all formation occurs in the classroom or the chapel. We live, eat and socialize together at the seminary, with meals providing a wonderful opportunity to share our struggles, our opinions and a good deal of humor.

from the

Office of the Diaconate and the

Permanent Deacon Community

As we prepare for ordination, we are each aware of the profound commitment we are making for the rest of our lives. The sacrament of ordination, like those of baptism and confirmation, leaves an indelible mark on the human soul; it is something that can never be removed. Once a deacon, always a servant.

As we complete formation, each candidate is asked to reflect both on his experience and his vision for ministry as a deacon. From our studies and reflection, we know the deacon’s unique role is to serve, but in a particular way – we are to seek out the wounded, lost and forsaken in our Church and in our world. In modeling Christ, the Servant, our lives must echo the words of Isaiah 6:8. When the Lord asks, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” our response will be, “Here we are Lord, Send us.”

I ask the faithful to pray for wisdom to govern the thought of my heart, the word of my mouth, and grant me patience with the guidance of the Holy Spirit to serve as a deacon until God’s likeness be perfect in me.

– Osagie Victor Obasuyi St. Benedict the Moor, Dayton O R D IN A T IO N S / A PRI L 2022 | 11

A PRIE ST ’ S PE R SPE CT IV E

The Way of the Cross and Public Witness It has been nearly 20 years since my priestly ordination. My last year of seminary was marked by the horrific acts of violence and terror on 9/11 – the vivid image of the Cross at Ground Zero is unforgettable. I remember reading a newspaper article about lay Catholics walking and praying a Via Crucis (The Way of the Cross) across the Brooklyn Bridge, stopping at Ground Zero. Pope John Paul II even sent a message to that group. But many years passed before I again thought about that public procession through the streets of New York with the cross.

While living in Italy, I encountered a lay ecclesial movement called “Communion and Liberation” (CL), founded by Servant of God, Msgr. Luigi Giussani. Over the years, the movement and friends I made through it became a bigger part of my life, such that even now, their weekly School of Community meetings are held at my parish.

A significant tradition in CL is The Way of the Cross, which proceeds in silence to several stations, where are read Gospel passages, reflections from Giussani, and meditations from people like Charles Peguy and Paul Claudel. Sacred music plays, including Mozart, Pergolesi, Palestrina and the Crux Fidelis chant. All of this helps facilitate meditation on the meaning of Our Lord’s crucifixion and death. Amid the modern city’s hustle and bustle, there is something both ancient and new, something beautiful that provokes questions: Who are these people? What are they doing?

Who are these people? I suppose many people asked the same about the Apostles and early disciples when they first gathered near Solomon’s Portico, but curiosity occasionally leads to an encounter, opening the possibility of meeting Christ. So, these people are disciples of Christ, unashamed of His Cross.

The lay faithful disciples are a sign provoking the other question: What are they doing? The Way of the Cross is a public witness done in the streets of the community; these days, many people want faith to be purely private. It is true 1 2 | THE CATHOLIC TELE GRAPH

that faith is often personal and intimate, but as disciples we also give public witness to our faith. The public witness of carrying the cross through the city streets proclaims the truth of Christ’s death and resurrection; namely, that it is not a private matter of conscience, but the definitive event of history. It is also a missionary gesture, which offers hope for salvation and attracts others.

Two years ago, due to the pandemic, the Via Crucis was done virtually, but last year on Good Friday, through Father Ethan Moore’s hospitality, we publicly processed with the cross, from St. Monica-St. George Church around the University of Cincinnati campus. We hope to do the same this year, inviting others to join us in witnessing to the event of Christ’s saving Passion and Resurrection.

The Walking of the Steps at Holy Cross-Immaculata Church in Cincinnati also gives this type of public witness. It is one of the greatest signs of Catholicism’s impact on Cincinnati’s culture and city and a long-standing tradition that families share. It is also a means to attract people who do not regularly come to church or confess their sins, prompting them to reflect before God on their faith journey and inviting them to a deeper conversion to Christ.

As fewer people come to church, there is a greater need for bringing the Gospel to the streets through concrete gestures that attract and that announce the central message of the faith: in Christ Jesus, God draws near to His people in order to save them through His Death and Resurrection! Pope Francis exhorts us to be a Church that goes forth. Perhaps, it is time that we get beyond the walls of our offices and churches and be living witnesses in our neighborhoods and city streets for the God who saves us.

FATHER EARL K. FERNANDES is the pastor of St. Ignatius of Loyola Church in Cincinnati and holds a doctorate in moral theology from the Alphonsian Academy in Rome.

E

TE AS

R M ASS ES

in the Archdiocese

St. Michael Ft. Loramie Vigil 8 pm Sunday 8:00 am & 11:00 am St. Antoninus Western Hills Vigil 9:00 pm Sunday 9:00 am, 11:15 am Sts. Peter & Paul Newport, OH No Vigil Mass Sunday 9:30 am Historic St. Rose 2501 Riverside Dr 513.871.1162 Easter Vigil 8:45 pm Easter Sunday 7:30 am 9:00 am, 10:30 am, noon

Good Shepherd Montgomery Vigil 8:30 pm (No 4:00 pm Saturday Mass) Sunday • Church 8:00 am, 10:00 am, 11:30 am • Community Room 9:30 am & 11:00 am St. Columban Loveland Vigil 8:45 pm Sunday 8:00 am, 9:45 am & 11:30 am St. John Neumann, Corpus Christi Springdale Vigil Corpus Christi 8:45 pm Sunday • Corpus Christi 8:45 am & 10:45 am • St. John Neumann 8:45 am, 10:45 am & 4:00 pm

Holy Family Latin Mass Dayton daytonlatinmass.org Holy Thursday 7:00 pm Good Friday 3:00 pm Easter Vigil 10:30 pm Easter Sunday • 8:00 am (low) • 10:30 am (high) St. Aloysius, St. Jude Bridgetown Vigil St. Al’s 8:30 pm Sunday • St. Jude 8:30 am & 11:00 am • St. Al’s 10:00 am

Happy Easter!

E A S T E R / A PRI L 2022 | 13

BOOK REVIEW

The Scandal of Holiness Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints

by Jessica Hooten Wilson REVIEWED BY JOSEPH BOTTUM

With The Scandal of Holiness, Jessica Hooten Wilson has written a new and interesting kind of devotional. We often participate in the grace of holiness through practice, which typically begins with actual works of prayer and mercy in the world. But Wilson knows the whole person involves thought as well as action. She is a Catholic literary scholar at the University of Dallas and author of studies on figures such as Flannery O’Connor, Fyodor Dostoevsky and Walker Percy.

Here, Wilson focuses on the mind’s role in the Christian life and its center, which she believes is imagination: We need to create mental pictures of the communion of saints, the life of the Blessed Virgin and the sufferings of Christ.

She is hardly alone in this insistence on imagination. From St. Augustine to the Eastern Church Fathers, the role of mental images was always present, reaching a peak in St. Ignatius Loyola’s 1548 Spiritual Exercises, the great Jesuit instruction manual that teaches spiritual directors how to train their students’ imaginations through a month-long meditation.

In The Scandal of Holiness, however, the center is the literary imagination. Where St. Ignatius asks us to contemplate Christ’s road to Golgotha by smelling the dust and feeling the heat, in each of her eight chapters, Wilson asks us to understand a piece of fiction.

Make no mistake: This is a deeply Christian book, and the author ties her literary expositions to anchoring scripture passages and the saints’ lives. She establishes a reasonable question: Why should we try to form images of the pains and joys of Christian life when the greatest literary imaginations 1 4 | THE CATHOLIC TELE GRAPH

already did much of the work for us?

For example, Wilson looks at Walter Wangerin’s 1978 allegory, The Book of the Dun Cow, to imagine the spiritual communion formed by ordinary people. George Bernanos’s 1936 French novel, The Diary of a Country Priest, is proposed to clearly establish how high the stakes are when risking the loss of a soul.

Plot summaries drag a little, even as Wilson fleshes them out with discussions of her and others’ lives. It’s in those plot summaries that we see the challenge with this kind of book – a question of who it’s for. Books about books are caught in a double bind: If you’re well read, you don’t need them, and if you’re not well read, you won’t get much out of them.

Jessica Hooten Wilson meets this challenge with lively prose, a wide range of sources and a clear structure for contemplations in spiritual devotions. Her work motivates readers to take up the named books again or read them a first time. For the most part, The Scandal of Holiness succeeds as a work that Catholic reading groups and literary classrooms would enjoy.

Joseph Bottum is director of the Classics Institute at Dakota State University. His most recent book is titled, The Decline of the Novel.

The Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints by Jessica Hooten Wilson (Brazos, 240 pages, $35)

S E IZ E T HE MO ME NT

The Pen That Doesn’t Write I’m somewhat of a genetic weirdo. I’m a twin. The hair on my head is dark brown, but my beard is red. I’m also left-handed.

It’s frustrating to be left-handed in a right-handed world.

Scissors never cut right. When you hold a measuring cup in your left hand, you’re stuck using the metric system. When you put a tape measure in your left hand, the numbers are upside down. Remember those desks in school that had the writing surface attached to the chair? The arm rest was always on the right side, which meant lefties had to suspend their elbow in the air all day long.

BUT PENS ARE THE WORST.

Ink doesn’t flow out of a pen well when you use it with your left hand. When you’re right-handed, you pull the pen towards your hand as you write across the page, and everything flows in a smooth and easy fashion. But, when you’re left-handed, you push the pen away from your hand as you write, making the pen more likely to skip across the page. Also, your movements aren’t as fluid because, to keep from smearing the ink with your palm, you have to either float your hand over the page or contort your arm and approach each line from the top instead of the side. All of this affects the ink’s flow and makes writing more difficult.

For these frustrating reasons, I absolutely cannot stand a pen that doesn’t write. If I pick up a pen and it doesn’t write easily and readily, it goes in the trash. I’m not keeping it around. I’m not hoping it will write for me later. It’s gone.

This type of consternation makes me think about Jesus. After all, He had a lot to say about things that didn’t do what they were supposed to do. Branches that didn’t stay on the vine (Jn. 15:5-6), salt that didn’t keep its taste (Mt. 5:13), trees that couldn’t produce good fruit (Mt. 3:10) – it didn’t go very well for any of those things.

Sometimes, I wonder how well it’s going for me. How often do I frustrate God when He tries to use me? How many times has He been ready to write, but I wouldn’t let the ink flow readily?

How often has He desired to see me serve my purpose in the world, but all I could do was skip across and smear the page?

We’re all pens in the hand of a prolific writer. Every time He nudges us to introduce ourselves to strangers, every time someone asks us for prayer, every chance we have to help someone in need or patiently explain our faith, this is the author of all things picking us up and preparing to write. How often do we let Him down?

THANKFULLY, JESUS IS MORE PATIENT THAN I AM.

He’s the gardener who convinces the master to spare the barren fig tree. “Sir, leave it for this year also,” He says, “and I shall cultivate the ground around it and fertilize it; it may bear fruit in the future. If not, then you can cut it down.” (Lk. 13:6-9) We can imagine the master replying, “So be it.” He won’t dispense with us right away, but He also won’t wait forever. He will only forbear a fruitless tree for a year, and then that tree is coming down.

This lends some urgency to our growth as Jesus’ followers – now is the time to bear great fruit. Through the sacraments, prayer and His inspired Word, He cultivates the ground of your heart, enriching it and preparing it for growth. All that is left is to consent to be His instrument. Say yes to the (lefthanded?) Author of all things. Jesus is ready and waiting to write a masterpiece with you.

NICHOLAS HARDESTY is the associate director of Adult Evangelization and RCIA for the Center for the New Evangelization. | nhardesty@catholicaoc.org S E IZE T H E M O M E N T / A PRI L 2022 | 15

A CLO SE R LO O K

Dying Every Minute of Our Lives Death is a central motif in Christianity. In Catholic moral and spiritual reflection, death has a more dominant place than it does in most other forms of Christian theology.

Indeed, some forms of American evangelicalism minimize – or even practically ignore – Christ’s crucifixion, rushing straight to His resurrection. This partly explains why most non-Catholic traditions removed the corpus from the crucifix, displaying an empty cross in their churches.

“We worship a risen Christ, not a dead one” is the typical protestant rationale. It is a short step from minimizing the crucifixion to ignoring it altogether.

Find,” is a reminder of this essential Christian aspect of the moral life and makes very good Lent and Easter Triduum reading. (Alert: the following discussion assumes you have read the story, and it contains major spoilers.) The story’s two central characters are the self-important and irritating grandmother – whose selfish petulance sets off a chain of events that lead to the murders of herself, her son, her daughter-in-law and her three grandchildren – and “The Misfit,” one of three escapees from a nearby Georgia prison.

On a family car trip, the grandmother causes her son to crash on a backcountry road. When The Misfit arrives at the scene with his companions, the grandmother recognizes him as one of the escaped convicts. O’Connor implies that the three already committed multiple murders since their escape, and the grandmother attempts to negotiate her family’s way out of a similar fate.

Her faith was in This is a fundamental theological mistake for at least two reasons. First, resurrection without one cannot properly understand the crucifixion, which allowed grandeur of resurrection without her to indulge in her own considering the agony of crucifixion. self-centered and selfBypassing Golgotha for the empty tomb is to ignore the torture Christ seeking moral life without endured on our behalf. Second, and any sense of contradicting “You shouldn’t call yourself The Misfit more to the point of this column, her salvation. because I know you’re a good man at crucifixion has a central role in heart,” she declaims. “Nome, I ain’t a Christian morality. The Easter events good man,” The Misfit demurs. He explains that he was sent are about heavenly salvation, but they are also about how to the penitentiary for a crime he claims he cannot remember, we order our earthly lives. When we minimize or ignore although we learn that he probably killed his father. To this, the crucifixion, we forget that we are called to participate in the grandmother implores him to make his confession: “If that very execution. And, thus, we forget the foundation of you would pray . . . Jesus would help you.” But The Misfit authentic Christian discipleship. declines: “I don’t want no hep. . . . I’m doing all right by myself.” As his companions methodically shoot and kill all Flannery O’Connor’s short story, “A Good Man is Hard to 1 6 | THE CATHOLIC TE LEGRAPH

the other family members, The Misfit continues: “Jesus thown everything off balance. It was the same case with Him as with me except He hadn’t committed any crime.”

The grandmother descends into hysteria when she hears the pistol reports, turning to The Misfit and deliriously saying, “Why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children!” When she reaches out to touch him on the shoulder, The Misfit recoils “as if a snake had bitten him” and shoots her three times in the chest. “She was a talker, wasn’t she?” one of his accomplices says. “She would of been a good woman,” The Misfit replies, “if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life.”

The story is difficult to understand and subject to much debate. I omitted a good deal of dialogue that contributes to a deeper sense of the narrative. O’Connor, herself, said that it is a mistake simply to regard the grandmother as evil, despite the selfish series of behaviors that led to the violent end of her family. Nor, said O’Connor, is The Misfit some kind of morally superior “prophet gone wrong.”

Regardless of possible interpretive nuances, in my mind a clear metaphor of crucifixion emerges from the grandmother’s behavior and violent death and The Misfit’s speech after he murders her. The grandmother had a naïve and presumptive redemption theology, in which the crucifixion had little purchase over her. Her faith was in resurrection without crucifixion, which allowed her to indulge in her own self-centered and self-seeking moral life without any sense of contradicting her salvation. Or, to put it another way, she felt no need to participate in the crucifixion – to die to herself as the precondition for raising with Christ.

This is where O’Connor draws us into the story. We cannot make a claim on the peace of heaven without first confronting the violence of the cross. Like the grandmother, we can only be “good” people when, in the words of St. Paul, “our old self is crucified with Him” (Rom. 6:6); when we “die every day” (I Cor. 15:31). Only then can we say with St. Paul, “It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).

The Misfit teaches us that the violence of the cross is not incidental to the Christian moral life, but rather its necessary condition.

A Message from Archbishop Dennis M. Schnurr Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, During the season of Lent, we prepare for our Lord’s passion, death and resurrection by practicing the spiritual disciplines of prayer, fasting and almsgiving.

Jesus teaches us that some things can only be accomplished through prayer and fasting (cf. Mt. 17:21). As we consider what we can do in response to the horrors of war unfolding in Ukraine, we should keep our Lord’s instruction to his disciples in mind.

Please join me in not only praying, but also in fasting and offering up our sacrifices for peace and for all those suffering in this tragedy.

God of infinite mercy and peace, we pray for the people of Ukraine who are experiencing fear, violence and death. We entrust all their families to You, and we pray that they may not yield to discouragement or despair but be heralds of hope. Blessed Virgin Mary, Our Lady of Zarvaniza, spread your maternal mantle over all people of goodwill who live in the great nation of Ukraine. We pray in this moment of crisis that people throughout the world may reach out in solidarity to our brothers and sisters in need through prayer, fasting and almsgiving. Bring peace to all troubled hearts. We ask this through our Lord, Jesus Christ. Amen.

Please consider contributing to humanitarian relief efforts in Ukraine:

DR. KENNETH CRAYCRAFT is an attorney and the James J. Gardner Family Chair of Moral Theology at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary & School of Theology. | 17

HANDS ON

Learning

St. Gertrude School Engages Students with Outdoor Classroom

BY KARY ELLEN BERGER

Imagine an elementary school student sharing their day with, “We played on the playground, swinging, sliding, playing with chickens….” Wait, chickens? St. Gertrude School in Madeira is home to an outdoor classroom – complete with chickens – which is used by all grade levels.

“Around 2014, Sister Marie Noelle, a Dominican Sister of St. Cecilia, started the outdoor classroom with the introduction of hatching chickens from eggs and then having the second graders care for the chickens,” said Jeff Hileman, a teacher and the STEM Coordinator at St. Gertrude. “Every year since then, we have hatched new eggs with each second grade class.”

“Years later, the students remember how many chickens they’ve hatched, holding and playing with them in the classroom, what their names were, and hatching day where they all wear yellow and make fun chicken hats to wear,” Hileman said.

Around 2014, Sister Marie Noelle started the outdoor classroom with the introduction of hatching chickens from eggs...

18 |

A trail leads to the classroom near a wooded area. The original chicken coop has been renovated over the years, “including our current version that was an Eagle Scout project for a former St. Gertrude School student,” Hileman said. A new “mobile coop” enables chickens to be outside with students on the playground.

And St. Gertrude’s hands-on learning offers more than chickens. “[There is] an official monarch butterfly garden planted by Kayrn Dickman, a St. Gertrude School

teacher,” said Hileman. “Students hatch monarch eggs in first grade and set them free out by the garden.

[There is also] an outdoor seating area inside of a small wooded area to hold outdoor class, apple trees that unfortunately have yet to provide fruit, and a walking rosary that students use with our principal, Sister Maria Christi, when the weather is nice.”

Hileman noted that St. Gertrude offers several STEM programs such as LEGO Robotics, coding and more, which emphasize the school’s philosophy of promoting hands-on learning.

“It creates engagement that can lead to lifelong learning and create new hobbies and passions,” said Hileman.

“Giving students an opportunity to work with chickens can lead them to care for their own pets or raise their own flock. Growing lettuce and other vegetables can lead students to want to build their own garden and grow their own food. Currently, I’ve been working with our third graders doing hydroponics to grow basil and eventually create our own pesto sauce from this basil. This could encourage a third grader to become more interested in cooking and baking. The outdoor classroom is a wonderful tool to help invigorate our students to become lifelong learners.”

When school is not session, Hileman said parents pitch in and help: “None of this would even be remotely possible without the support of our school parents,” said Hileman. “They are the ones who help keep the chickens fed over breaks and water the garden during the summer. Without their support there would be no outdoor classroom to go to.”

Find joy here!

Attend Gate of Heaven Cemetery’s Spring Pre-planning Seminar, April 19th at 2PM and 6PM. Please RSVP to community@gateofheaven.org

The outdoor classroom illustrates that God’s natural beauty is found in even the most unexpected places.

“It has been said that nature is the art of God,” said Hileman. “Being able to be out in the outdoor classroom allows students to explore, observe, reflect and appreciate the natural order that God has created. Working in and with nature allows students to be part of His creation, to wonder in awe at what He has created and reflect on the beauty of it, and to appreciate the gift of nature.”

Mark your calendar for Monday, May 30th and attend Gate of Heaven Cemetery’s Annual Memorial Day Mass with Celebrant Archbishop Dennis Schnurr.

Memorial Service 10:30AM and Mass at 11:00AM.

gateofheaven.org

513-489-0300

T H E G R E A T O U T D O O R S / A P RI L 2022 | 19

Stations in Spring FA I T H I N T H E F I E L D S O F C A R T H AG E N A

BY MATT HESS

US Route 127. Today, it is a private residence for retired priests, brothers and lay people to live and pray together, but offers public worship space.

Spring is always a time of renewal, which we see in nature as the days get warmer and the grass turns greener. Catholics enter a period of spiritual renewal, often through prayerful meditation, as Lent begins, then culminates in the celebration of new life at Easter.

Meditation on our Lord’s passion has occurred in many forms; the Stations of the Cross are one of those traditional Lenten devotions. St. Francis of Assisi had such a great love for the Passion that his order erected Stations of the Cross based on Holy Land locations from the Via Dolorosa (Way of Suffering, Jesus’ path through Jerusalem as He carried His Cross). For those who could not travel to Jerusalem these 14 stops were a convenient pilgrimage in their own village or church.

Today, Stations of the Cross grace the walls of our churches and are prayed in community throughout the Lenten season. Outdoor opportunities also exist throughout our archdiocese, enabling the faithful to enjoy the spring days in sacred spaces. St. Charles Center in Carthagena is one such place.

Purchased and opened as a seminary by the Missionaries of the Precious Blood in 1861, St. Charles Center is a “rural castle” that appears out of the fields when driving north on 2 0 | THE CATHOLIC TE LEGRAPH

The Center’s cemetery, grotto and Stations of the Cross are beautiful outdoor spaces available to all. Locals often visit to pray for former pastors, professors and friends buried in the cemetery, which, with the Stations, pre-dates the chapel and main building. In 1901 the Stations of the Cross were installed at the new cemetery’s boundaries, where deceased members of the Missionaries of the Precious Blood are still being laid to rest. In the cemetery’s center is a large crucifix that reminds us, as Paul says in Ephesians, “In Christ, your Son through the blood He shed, we have forgiveness of our sins” (Ep. 1:7).

A niche houses each of the 14 Stations encircling the cemetery. White statues stand over two feet tall, set off by rusty red backdrops. Intricately detailed, the folds in the cloth, sharpness of the nails, and delicate hands on each piece give life to the story of Christ’s Passion. Even visitors without printed reflection pamphlets can find prayerful inspiration through the faces depicted in the outdoor Stations.

These historic Stations of the Cross at St. Charles Center in Carthagena are a fresh way to deepen your spiritual life during this time of the year. And the natural splendor and architectural attraction of St. Charles inspires visitors all year long. * The Center’s cemetery, grotto and Stations of the Cross are beautiful outdoor spaces open to the public, though facility managers ask that visitors not wander into residential hallways or paths leading to other areas of the property.

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Encountering

GOD’S BEAUT Y Marianist Environmental Education Center

BY KARY ELLEN BERGER

There is a difference between viewing God’s beauty and encountering it. Tara Poling, the Program Coordinator of the Marianist Environmental Education Center (MEEC), noted that comparison when discussing the property at Mount Saint John, named for their patron, St. John the Apostle. For more than 100 years, its 150 acres in Greene County have been owned and maintained by the Society of Mary (Marianists).

It’s home to Marianist brothers and priests, as well as MEEC, the North American Center for Marianist Studies, the Marianist Mission, the Bergamo Center for Lifelong Learning, Gallery St. John, Queen of Apostles parish and a nature preserve boasting 100 acres.

“Caring for the earth is central to Mount Saint John,” said Jeff Bohrer, Director of Mount Saint John Facilities.

“MEEC helps to guide environmental sustainability on the grounds and they help manage 100 acres of natural area. Our buildings and grounds are outfitted with LED lighting, energy efficient HVAC, and highly insulated roofs and walls where possible. We even have an electric riding mower to help with grounds care!”

Adorned with more than 140 varieties of trees, 11 sculptures and the Our Lady of Lourdes grotto, the property also houses nature trails, Queen of Heaven Cemetery and a native plant labyrinth.

“When I walk the labyrinth I pray with Job: ‘ask the plants of the earth and they will teach you’ (12:8). I am inevitably given a message back,” said Sister Leanne Jablonski, FMI, the Director of MEEC. Brother Mitch Schweickart, SM, said that the natural circle of life seen throughout the grounds is comparable 24 |

to the resurrection of Christ.

“When I walk the trails of Mount Saint John, I most often look for, and tune my nose toward, the fallen and rotting vegetation,” said Brother Schweickart. “This is where I find the fungi, insects, and worms that are often ignored or even destroyed by others who come to the property. These decomposers are the renewal agents of the varied ecosystems of Mount Saint John. They convert the dead matter into new soil and nutrients for the next cycle of growth. These humble and often despised species of the environment are the foundation for the health and welfare of all the other ‘majestic’ species of our ecosystems.”

Focusing on the grounds’ educational aspect, Brent Devitt, the director of the Bergamo Center for Lifelong Learning, shared that the annual Midwest Native Plant Conference is hosted on the property each summer, and many gladly experience the beauty Mount Saint John has to offer throughout the year.

“Hundreds of thousands in our Catholic community – and others – have made retreats at Bergamo Center over the past 50 years and enjoyed the outdoor features as part of their experience,” said Devitt.

Reflecting on both the property at Mount Saint John and all of God’s creation, Poling said, “The natural world isn’t a work of art for us to sit back and enjoy, but something that is integral to our lives as humans – it nourishes us, brings us closer to the divine, and is in need of reconciliation. I think all creation, including human communities, would benefit from an expanded view of what is ‘beautiful’ to be inclusive of the interconnected, intimate relationships that define and sustain ‘nature.’”

The Marianist Ministries of Mount Saint John Transforming society by building communities of faith that advance justice, peace, reconciliation, and the integrity of Creation.

Mount Saint John offers 147 acres of natural beauty and peace just east of Dayton, Ohio. In our Marianist family spirit, we extend Mary’s welcome to God and to YOU for prayer, restoration, renewal, learning and encounter. Owned by the Marianist Province of the United States (Society of Mary, Brothers and Priests).

Everything should help us raise our hearts to God. – Blessed Adèle de Batz de Trenquelléon | 25

{ step o u tsid e }

a city

R E T R E AT National St. Anthony Shrine & Friary a Place of Prayerful Solitute in Mt. Airy

BY BONNY VAN

High on a hill overlooking the city of Cincinnati, many find refuge and the ability to converse with our Lord at the National St. Anthony Shrine and its property. Brother Vince Delorenzo, OFM, its Guardian and groundskeeper, sees firsthand the impact of its surroundings on visitors.

“We have 60 acres and most of it is wooded. We sit up on a hill across the street from Mount Airy Forest, so we have lots of woods across the street from us, as well,” said Brother Delorenzo. “We’re in the city, but you would never guess that because we have all the grounds around us and we have woods around us.

So it’s very peaceful and quiet When people come here they up here, that’s why people love coming here. We have lots of always tell us it’s because animals - we have deer, turkeys, it’s so peaceful up here and some foxes, lots of birds. It’s a very peaceful place to be.” quiet. It’s kind of like an

oasis in the city.

According to Father Bill Farris, OFM, the newly-founded province of Franciscans built the St. Anthony Shrine and Friary “outside what was considered the boundaries of Cincinnati.” Since its 1888 origins, the Shrine has undergone numerous renovations. The Shrine, it was “outside what was considered the boundaries of Cincinnati.”

Although it is now well within city limits, the journey to it remains quite an adventure. “It’s on a rather long road that goes uphill for at least a mile,” said Father Farris. “It’s called Colerain Avenue, and now it’s a four-

2 6 | THE CATHOLIC TELE GRAPH

lane road, it’s very busy. But to get to the shrine, you’ll continue going uphill until you reach a point where you’re in front of the shrine building. Now the chapel is only part of the building-setting. There’s a large Franciscan residence, we call them friaries, attached to the chapel.”

The friary was originally used for novices in their early stages of training and formation to become Franciscan priests and brothers.

“It’s a time of solitude, being apart from normal society,’’ he said. “However, in 1969, the novitiate program moved out to Oldenburg, Indiana.”

The friary then became the brothers’ school, for both the ordained and nonordained. The non-ordained, said Father Farris, spent a year or more learning trades, including carpentry and plumbing.

During the 1970s, the friary also hosted an early Vatican II renewal community called the Community of Hope, featuring a “crowded and lively Mass” on Sundays.

From those busy years of formation and training to later years of ministries and movements, the shrine has remained steadfast in its mission and its community.

“We have nine friars who currently live there,” said Father Farris. “And we have a regular schedule of meals, prayers, community times, Masses and so on.”

And, there is a steady flow of visitors. Tour groups come to the shrine, whose chapel is open to the public from 6:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. They also spend time on the grounds where there are large statues of St. Francis, St. Anthony, Our Lady of Guadalupe, a large crucifix and a shrine to Fatima.

“You don’t have to knock to get in, you just walk in and the chapel is available for people’s personal prayers and they’re welcome to attend our Masses,” said Father Farris.

“Throughout the day, you see people stopping in, lighting a candle, saying their prayers and moving on with their day.”

And for those who can linger a little longer, the outdoors calls. As winter’s dormancy fades away, spring’s new buds spur the friars to action. Using his degree in landscaping, Brother Delorenzo plants flowers on the property, and other friars plant trees and hang bird feeders.

“It’s a special place for a lot of people, and that’s what we’re here for – to have a special place for people to come and pray,” said Brother Delorenzo. “When people come here they always tell us it’s because it’s so peaceful up here and quiet.

It’s kind of like an oasis in the city, if you will. And we hope to keep it that way.”

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In this place, above the din of activity, there is a refuge for the brokenhearted, the lonely, the anxious, the fearful and the hopeless, where God is waiting to converse with us. And if you visit, perhaps you will experience your own spiritual transfiguration.

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Church Bells

THE SOUNDTRACK OF FAITH

BY JOHN STEGEMAN

Perhaps the most subtle advertisement that a neighborhood has a faith community is the church bells ringing. It’s not in your face like a commercial or billboard, but the message is clear: We’re here and you’re welcome to join us.

If you’ve heard a church bell ring in greater Cincinnati during the last 175-plus years, there’s a good chance it was cast or serviced by The Verdin Company. Since installing Old St. Mary’s still-swinging bell in Over-the-Rhine to the present day, Verdin has been a leader in all things bells. Their legacy is one of note. To put its history in perspective, the company was founded just 21 years after the Archdiocese of Cincinnati was established.

Among The Verdin Company’s innovations are the electric clock winder invented in 1910 and the first electric bell ringer invented in 1927. It also claims the honors of creating the largest swinging cast bell in America and having the only traveling bell foundry in the world.

Speaking of history, the Catholic Church has been associated with bells to mark the hours and liturgical prayer schedules since the early 600s. After the Protestant Reformation, many non-Catholic churches continued the tradition. Today, bells are found across denominations, but there’s still a stronger market among Catholics.

Bob Verdin, CEO of The Verdin Company, said that of the nearly 2 8 | THE CATHOLIC TE LEGRAPH

Verdin’s Famous Bell Perhaps the most famous bell associated with The Verdin Company is Big Joe, the largest swinging cast bell in the U.S. at the time. Cast by the VanDuzen Company, which Verdin took over in 1955, its diameter is wider than nine feet at the base. With all of its equipment, the bell weighs over 35,000 pounds.

Big Joe still hangs in the tower of St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church in East Walnut Hills, but it is stationary. The story goes that when it was installed and rung for the first time on Oct. 30, 1895, its vibrations broke windows within a one-block radius. While Verdin said that story is likely an urban legend, it is true that the forces on the bell tower were too strong for safe usage, and the bell never swung again.

400 church bells they service in Greater Cincinnati, more than 60-percent are at Catholic churches.

The purpose of bells has changed over the years, but Verdin stands by their importance in communities. “Long ago the parishioners of Old St. Mary’s all lived all around the church in the neighborhood,” he said. “When the bells rang, people knew it was time for Mass… In the communities now, there’s a lot that the bells still tell. They still ring when someone passes away. They still ring when there’s a wedding. People do know what’s going on from them. Even if they live pretty far away, they can still hear the bells.”

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During the Covid pandemic, bells took on another role: reminding people that the church was still there. Even though Mass was suspended, many ministries continued.

“Clients would call and say, ‘we want to ring the bells more.

We want everyone to know we’re here for them. We want our neighbors to know, even though they might not be Catholic, that we’re here for them and we’re all in this together,’” he said.

While bells may be most often associated with churches, that’s not the only place you’ll find them. The Verdin Company has worked on memorial bell carillons and bell towers in various outdoor spaces, like parks and cemeteries. Of particular note is the Deed’s Carillon in Dayton’s Carillon Historical Park.

Other examples include a clock tower with a bell, honoring Veterans at Green Township’s Veterans Park and a carillon at Gate of Heaven Cemetery.

“Bells have been used as something to tell time, to tell people to pray or worship. Bells have been rung for the end of wars and celebrations of many things,” Verdin said. “It’s something that is everlasting. We work on bells cast in the 1600s. Many are from the early 1800s…. These bells are going to be here long after we are gone.They will be there and mark time for hundreds and hundreds of years.”

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T H E G R E A T O U T D O O R S / A PRI L 2022 | 29

earth

connection Sisters of Charity Teach Girls About Spirituality & Sustainability

BY EILEEN CONNELLY, OSU

Area Girl Scouts of all ages have been learning about our relationship to God’s creation and how to care for it through the fun and educational programs at EarthConnection (EC).

Directed by Sister Caroljean Willie, SC, EarthConnection is a ministry of the Sisters of Charity of Cincinnati and a center for learning and reflection. It seeks to integrate spirituality and sustainability through programs in sustainable agriculture, alternative energies, eco-justice and eco-spirituality.

In recent years, Sister Winnie Brubach, SC, master gardener, led the Sisters in examining programming to expand the center’s offerings. Her administrative assistant, Sue DiTullio, suggested helping the Girl Scouts earn their outdoor badges and patches.

Sister Willie embraced the idea with enthusiasm, saying, “The earlier we can expose children to the care for creation, the better. We need to show them the beauty of creation. It’s important for them to understand our world is in peril and that we really do need to take care of what God created.”

As of late February, about 20 Girl Scout troops visited.

Weather permitting, their time at EC began with an ageappropriate nature scavenger hunt, searching for bugs, leaves, and more. Sister Brubach then led a tour of the 3 0 | THE CATHOLIC TELE GRAPH

garden, during which the girls learned about the types of crops grown there and how donated produce reaches the Good Samaritan Free Health Center in Lower Price Hill.

The scouts also heard a presentation about solar and geothermal energy and the EC facility, which was constructed with recycled materials, including carpet made from recycled soda bottles, a curved wall constructed out of aluminum cans, and tiles made from recycled glass. The girls discovered that even the building’s furniture was made mostly from recycled materials.

Visiting Girl Scouts then do an art activity using recycled or natural materials. Recent troops fashioned animals out of fall leaves and made colorful vases using recycled bottles, tissue paper and a variety of flowers. Another troop created environmental art from Gelli plates and a variety of natural objects collected during their scavenger hunt.

“I’ve enjoyed working with the Girl Scouts immensely,” Sister Willie said. “They really get into the activities and seem to enjoy them. I’ve been impressed how even the younger girls are on top of things like composting and recycling and will say, ‘we do that at my house.’ Young people today are very concerned about caring for the environment and I think it’s important for them to have opportunities like this. It’s

important for them to see God as the author of creation and how incredible it is that creation is ongoing.”

Erin Andriacco leads the sixth grade Cadette troop at St. Antoninus School. She said they plan events that are educational, fun, age appropriate and affordable, all of which were components of EarthConnection’s program.

“Working with Sister CJ was great,” Andriacco said. “She was so engaging and informative. Our girls really enjoyed the experience. They learned what being a steward of the earth means and ways they can help.”

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Noting that her 13 participants fulfilled the Outdoor Artist Apprentice badge requirements, Andriacco said, “I’d love to take them back to do another program and badge, perhaps in a different season when the gardens are in full bloom.”

“It’s important for them to see God as the author of creation and how incredible it is that creation is ongoing.”

Melissa Tepe, also a troop leader at St. Antoninus, said her two daughters benefitted from the EC experience. Ellie, now in the eighth grade, first visited during second grade and then again this school year, while Gwen, a current sixth grader, was there in November. In expressing her appreciation for EC programming’s creative approach, Tepe noted that, in addition to learning more about caring for creation, the girls also gained insights into “how we can take better care of each other.”

For more information about EarthConnection and the programs offered, visit www.scearthconnection.org.

T H E G R E A T O U T D O O R S / A P RI L 2022 | 31

CAT H O LIC A T HO ME

The World Echoes with God’s Existence Some of my greatest experiences of peace came when wandering the woods as a child. My backyard was a lovely forest that boasted of nothing extraordinary. The foliage towered above my small frame when I hiked steep hills, grabbing rocks and branches so I could pull myself along. The environment was simple, where I could seize adventure or just sit against a tree to relax. Out there, I talked to myself, dug holes, collected rocks and felt such freedom.

Though I didn’t intend for retreats into the woods to be prayerful experiences, I recognize now that it was one of the very first places I encountered God intimately. At first glance, it’s easy to see that the Author of All Things composed each blade of grass and muddy ditch I stamped on and through, yet more fruitful and evident of His presence was the confidence and freedom I breathed. I felt relieved and calm and at peace.

BEAUTY, TRUTH AND GOODNESS

Many of us are familiar with the concepts of beauty, truth and goodness – the three transcendentals, the common characteristics among creation. You can dive into the philosophy behind each somewhere else, but here, I lay out simply that God is fully each one. He is goodness itself. He is truth, as well as beauty; and it follows that His creation, from the smallest speck of dust to Everest, is a reflection of Himself.

The sun rising for another day reminds us that His “mercies are new every morning” (Lam. 3:23); fresh buds reveal that God “makes all things new” (Rev. 21:5); the light of the sun, moon and stars illuminates whatever we do, pointing to the fact that His “word is a lamp unto [our] feet” (Ps. 119:105).

Truly, the whole wide world resounds with echoes of God’s existence. When we step outside for a hike, take in a refreshing lake or get some air on the front porch, we not only encounter the glories of creation, but also the Creator’s goodness in the peace and freedom that follow. Indeed, He is inescapable when we immerse ourselves in what His hands wrought.

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THE FATHER REVEALS HIMSELF

My friend Rachael was one of my biggest cheerleaders when I planned a solo trip to Iceland last summer. Having been there herself, she glowed as she told me, “It’s the land of the Father. You’re going to feel so loved.” Rachael’s prediction was exciting, though I was hesitant, even skeptical, to believe that I would have a major encounter with the Lord.

Driving along the Icelandic south coast, I spotted an enormous waterfall by the side of the road. I parked and walked away from it, waiting out a new swarm of tourists. A few hundred grassy yards from the main attraction, I happened upon a cave, and hopping from rock to rock through the narrow entrance, I saw the cave open to reveal another waterfall. Though much smaller than the sight that compelled me to pull over, this one was such an enchanting find that all I could do was stand there grinning, in awe at the surprise. With an overflow of delight, I knew I encountered the Father.

When I returned home, I took our kids to visit a state park with a small waterfall. I didn’t tell them what we would find, so when we turned the corner on a beaten path in the woods and discovered a creek cascading over a drop, they were absolutely giddy. They played in the waterfall, ducking behind it to watch it splash, and after wearing themselves out, everyone sat quietly on the dirt to just look.

The Father reveals so much of Himself to us constantly through His wild creation. His constancy, His eagerness to surprise us and His renewal all point to God’s truly great love for us. Open your eyes to the wonders right in front of you and realize how close the Lord is.

KATIE SCIBA is a national speaker and Catholic Press Awardwinning columnist. Katie has been married for 14 years and is blessed with six children.

Playfulness in the Spiritual Life from The Ultimate Guide to Lent

BY FATHE R TIM FAH EY

“Play” in the spiritual life makes me think of people dressed as clowns at Mass, or hand motions for grade school songs being imposed upon high schoolers, or the sort of unbearably sanguine exuberance that clashes with a sometimes sorrowful reality. I can think of all sorts of shallow and childish “play” that haunt the dreams of theologians and Dominicans: liturgical puppet shows, hoverboard processions, Benediction by drone – I shudder to continue. I would not describe any of those things as “important to the spiritual life,” nor desirable in any mode of life. Following those examples, playfulness and mirth seem best well-avoided.

jokingly threatening photographers with his cane.

There’s something healthy about St. Lawrence joking as he was being burned alive, telling them “I’m done on that side.”

Perhaps you think a mature, knowledgeable and pious Catholic would put behind such childish things as playfulness. The faith is serious. The faith is important. The salvation of souls is not a game.

That’s the kind of relationship I want to have with the Lord, one that fills me with trust, where I know I’m loved by the One who knows me best. One that blossoms in joy and play – in humor and in laughter. It’d be alarming if the saints lived joyless, mirthless, stoic and sad lives. It’d be alarming if our parishes didn’t give us joy anymore. It’d be alarming if the ones who seem closest to the Lord were profoundly unhappy. It’d be alarming if a Church full of people lost all emotion and feeling and laughter.

Friend, I would not argue with any of that. You and I should grab a drink some time. But, hear me out.

There is a sort of playfulness that manifests itself in a healthy relationship. Playfulness is a sign of trust and love, not something we can fake or construct on our own, but something that blossoms in an intimate relationship.

There’s something healthy about seminarians teasing each other. It’s what brothers do. It’d be a bit alarming if brothers didn’t laugh together. There’s something healthy about college students pulling pranks on FOCUS missionaries. It shows that they love and trust one another. It’d be a bit alarming if that play didn’t feel welcome. There’s something healthy about spouses hiding toy spiders in the shower, teasing each other about one another’s faults and laughing with each other. It shows your kids you love each other. It’d be a bit alarming if a couple didn’t have fun anymore.

There’s something healthy about Padre Pio pulling pranks on his brother friars (I’ve heard he used to hide behind statues in church and make people think that statues were talking to them). There’s something healthy about Pope St. John Paul II

There’s a story (maybe even true) about St. Theresa of Avila falling into a river and telling the Lord “If this is how you treat your friends, it’s no wonder you have so few.” That shows a playfulness with the Lord that may seem too bold or informal to some, but it comes from a healthy relationship. It shows a relationship of total offering to the Lord, a relationship where nothing is hidden.

Christ desires a profound relationship with you. He came to earth to be close to us, to seek and save the lost. Let that relationship be just as real, intimate and fun as any other relationship you have.

That kind of relationship ought to manifest itself in joy and humor and laughter and play. It’d be a bit alarming if it didn’t.

This article was taken from The Ultimate Guide to Lent, Week 4. The Ultimate Guide’s new weekly format means subscribers will get fresh and relevant content, right to their inbox, for free, every Sunday during Lent. For more, sign up to receive the guide at thecatholictelegraph.com/lent2022. | 33

CONNECTING SENIORS

Ignatian Volunteer Corps WITH THOSE IN NEED

BY PATRICIA MCGEEVER

Although Steve Hatke’s career as an electrical engineer did not prepare him to work with people experiencing homelessness, he has dedicated his retirement to helping those looking for a chance to change their lives.

“For me, it was a huge step out of my comfort zone because it’s so easy to turn a blind eye to the situation,” said Hatke.

“It’s taken a long time for me to get comfortable being there and understanding the situation and seeing that these poor people are just looking for help.”

When Hatke looked for a way to give back to the community, he became involved with Ignatian Volunteer Corps (IVC), an organization founded in 1995 by two Jesuits. Helping people over age 50 (mostly retired professionals) minister to others while growing spiritually themselves, IVC is now in 15 cities including Greater Cincinnati. Hatke volunteers as an office manager and maintenance manager at Welcome Home Collaborative, a nonprofit providing transitional housing and a life coach program for the homeless and working poor in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine neighborhood. That’s how he met Lutheran Pastor John Suguitan who runs Welcome Home Collaborative.

“The Holy Spirit guided Steve to us. So we are blessed to have him,” said Pastor John. “He’s really amazing. I can’t say enough superlatives to describe Steve.”

Jane Connolly is a retired school teacher who started with IVC as a tutor in a local school. When Covid prevented outsiders from entering the schools, she volunteered with her parish food pantry at Church of the Resurrection Parish in 3 4 | THE CATHOLIC TELE GRAPH

Bond Hill. She finds the experience very fulfilling.

“It really connects me to people,” Connolly says of IVC and her parish volunteer work. “It just really keeps me connected to that philosophy that God is in each one of us and you can find Him any time of day in any person. That’s just made a big difference in my life.”

Ignatian Volunteer Corps members agree to give eight hours a week of their time and talents to a nonprofit and meet monthly for Mass and to share their experiences. IVC works with eight nonprofits in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, and the Diocese of Covington and is working to expand.

Nonprofits pay IVC a fee based on the number of hours a volunteer will work.

Now recruiting new volunteers and nonprofits for IVC, Tom Conway had retired, lived on a North Carolina beach for five years, then moved back to Cincinnati in 2020. A friend told him his fundraising consultant background might make him the perfect region director for IVC. “It’s a challenge but it’s an exhilarating experience to see God’s work,” said Conway.

“It’s rewarding and challenging at the same time in this time of Covid. But the IVC volunteers are committed and they personally want to give their time and expertise to make the world better one opportunity at a time.”

For more information, contact Tom Conway at tconway@ivcusa.org or 910-685-5084.

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RETREAT, REFRESH, RECHARGE

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One in five Ohio children live in poverty.

For these children and their families, the necessities like food, clothes, beds, or even a safe place to live, aren’t always guaranteed.

This Easter season, help us provide the basics to neighbors in need. Your gift today will help feed a family, give a child a warm bed, or keep the lights on for a struggling neighbor.

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N E W S / A PRI L 2022 | 35

POPE ST. JOHN PAUL II’S THEOLOGY OF THE BODY

Original Nakedness: Receiving One Another as Gifts This article is part of an ongoing series on Pope St. John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body” (TOB).

Last month, I introduced Pope St. John Paul II’s concept of original nakedness. In that reflection, we saw that our first parents “were both naked, and were not ashamed” (Gen. 2:25).

According to the saintly pope, this lack of shame corresponded to a fullness of interior freedom they felt in one another’s presence. By virtue of original innocence, by which man and woman were untainted by sin and filled with God’s grace, they were able to behold each other “with all the peace of the interior gaze” (TOB 13.1). The pope was referring here to a capacity to “see” each other not only with physical eyes, but also – to borrow an expression from St. Paul – with the eyes of the heart (cf. Eph. 1:18). What precisely is this “interior gaze” or “heart vision” through which our first parents beheld each other? And what does it have to do with us?

Physical eyes see the exterior of things: light and dark, shape, colors, texture, movement, etc. When we look at one another only with this limited form of vision, we merely see the exterior of the body and fail to see the interior reality of the person.

This can lead us to treat the person as just one more object among so many in our environment. Like any other object we see, we begin to evaluate this object based on what it can do for me. How useful is it? Will it gratify me in some way or give me pleasant feelings? Is it what I want?

To avoid this objectification of the person, our exterior vision needs to be guided and informed by a heart that “sees” the true value of things and is disposed to receive them with gratitude.

Indeed, all of creation is a gift to man from our loving Creator and is meant to draw us back to Him. Everything that exists has a certain truth, goodness and beauty that reflects the infinite Truth, Goodness and Beauty that exist eternally in God. There is nothing in visible creation for which this is more true than the human person. Made in the image and likeness of God, possessing the capacity of self-awareness and selfdetermination, the human person is the most exalted creature in all of the visible world. A person is not just a “what” but a 3 6 | THE CATHOLIC TE LEGRAPH

“who,” another “I” like me. Each person is entirely unique, a son or daughter of God set in a distinct, unrepeatable relationship with Him. A person is capable, through freedom and intelligence, of truly human activity. We discover all of this through the human body if we have the interior eyes to see it, for the body reveals the hidden, spiritual reality we call “person.” The body makes the person present and is the “place” of encounter with the person.

Our first parents instinctively saw the fullness of the dignity of the person revealed in each other’s bodies. Indeed, they saw all of creation as a gift given by their loving Father to be cherished and respected, most of all with one another. They beheld each other as embodied personal subjects and not as mere objects to be used. They intuitively knew that this body reveals a person who must never be used and always respected with awe and reverence. I can never “possess” another person or treat him/ her as a means to an end. This attitude filled their hearts and enlightened their eyes. This is why they could be “naked” and not feel “ashamed.” There was no danger or threat for them in being completely exposed (physically and spiritually) before each other. They were totally safe in each other’s personaffirming gaze.

For us, wounded as we are by sin yet redeemed by Christ, we have to work diligently to grow into this capacity to always “see” and affirm the person. Even then it is not fully attained in this fallen world where threats to our dignity abound and the effects of sin are never totally blotted out. Nonetheless, pondering original nakedness underscores the dignity of the person and points to the incredible respect that every human person, revealed by his or her body, deserves. It is only in letting this vision take root in our hearts that we can hope to experience a glimmer of the intimacy with God and others for whom we are created.

DR. ANDREW SODERGREN, MTS, PSY.D. is a Catholic psychologist and director of psychological services for Ruah Woods. He speaks on the integration of psychology and the Catholic faith.

He and his wife, Ellie, have five children.

I lift up my eyes to the mountains where does my help come from?

Feast Day: May 28

St. Bernard of Montjoux St. Bernard of Montjoux joyfully welcomed and befriended villagers and travelers in the Alps mountains for over 40 years of his priesthood, serving the people and building schools and churches.

My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

Psalm 121:1-2

St. Bernard’s — named for St. Bernard of Montjoux!

With St. Bernard’s passions for the outdoors and taking care of people, he became the patron saint of mountain climbers, hikers and skiers. Pray through his intercession

Along the Great and Little Bernard Pass (for which he

to find God in the beauty of nature or when you need a

was named), he built two hostels to welcome travelers

little extra help along your own journey.

from near and far. Run by the monks, it offered shelter and lodging, warmth, food, water, safety and if needed,

Alps

medical attention.

Bernard

The Alps were treacherous for travelers, who faced wild

Hiker

animals, robbers, getting lost, avalanches and freezing to

Hostel

death. St. Bernard spent much time hiking around this

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beautiful mountain range while searching for those who

Montjoux

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Mountains

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Outdoors

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Rescue

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St. Catherine’s Wedding Ring Snack Supplies: • Salerno® Butter Cookies • Icing (any type) • Cookie decorations of your choice (i.e., sprinkles, candy pearls) Directions: 1. Give a cookie or two to your children.

2. Spread icing on the cookies.

3. Have fun decorating however you want!

4. Slip the cookie ring on your finger and remember that you are Jesus’ beloved.

Have you ever spent time thinking about your wedding ring? The deep meaning behind that circular band is so profound that, on the day we receive it, we are changed forever. We become one with the person from whom we received it, and through our marriage, we become witnesses of the deep, abiding love Christ has for His Church. St. Catherine of Siena, whose feast we celebrate on April 29, once received a wedding band from Jesus Himself!

In 1347, Catherine Benincasa was a twin born in the city of Siena, Italy, the 25th child of Jacapo and Lapa. Her family lived in relative comfort, though they experienced great loss, as only 13 children lived to adulthood.

From a very young age, Catherine was deeply devoted in her faith. At age 5, she climbed the house steps on her knees while praying a “Hail Mary” on each step. At age 6, she experienced her first mystical vision of Jesus giving her a special blessing, after which Catherine began an intense prayer life in her own personal “chapel” room provided by her family. Then, at age 7, she made a private vow to give herself entirely to Jesus as His spouse.

However, Catherine was expected to marry, and her family arranged for her to marry her late sister’s husband, but she had another mystical experience in which Jesus 3 8 | THE CATHOLIC TE LEGRAPH

came to her dressed as a bridegroom. He took her gently by the right hand, and placed a splendid wedding band on her left, reportedly with a gem surrounded by four pearls. It remained on her finger, though no one else could see it.

After relaying this experience to her family, her parents allowed her to live her promise to Jesus. She became a Third Order Dominican (a lay member of the Dominican order) and, through her union with Jesus, she received the stigmata of the crown of thorns, the nails in her wrists and the spear in her side, though these marks were not visible to anyone else.

Although she had no formal education, Catherine was one of the greatest theologians in the Church’s history.

She died at 33, having spent her life in service to the Church and to the poor in her beloved city. Centuries later she was recognized by Pope Paul VI as a Doctor of the Church because of her brilliant writings.

St. Catherine of Siena dedicated her life entirely to knowing Jesus as a real flesh and blood person who could truly love each of us powerfully and individually.

As parents, let us raise our children to know, as did St. Catherine of Siena, that the Lord Jesus wants us to be His and to return His love unconditionally.

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Join Us on a Pilgrimage to Strasbourg & Paris with Father Barry Windholtz

September 26 – October 5 For more info, contact St. Rose Parish 513-871-1162

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M A K IN G CA T H O L IC M E M O R IE S / A P RI L 2022 | 39

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OUT & ABOUT 1) LEHMAN COMPETES IN SCIENCE OLYMPIAD The Lehman Catholic High School Science Olympiad team competed in two virtual invitationals this year, along with teams from New York to California.

2) K OF C VOCATIONAL ESSAY CONTEST The Knights of Columbus Council 14995 announced the conclusion of its annual vocational essay contest. Participating schools included: Ascension, Bishop Leibold, Holy Angels, Immaculate Conception, Incarnation, Mother Brunner, Our Lady of the Rosary, St. Albert the Great, St. Benedict the Moor, St. Anthony, St. Brigid, St. Charles Borromeo, St. Christopher, St. Helen, St. Luke and St. Peter.

3) DOMINICANS BLESS ULTRASOUND MACHINE Father George Schommer, O.P., blessed a new ultrasound machine at Elizabeth New Life Center. This is the second ultrasound funded by the parishioners at St. Gertrude and the Archbishop Elder Council 1195 of the Knights of Columbus.

4) SCHOLARSHIPS AT CARDINAL PACELLI In a tribute to the founder of Our Lord Christ the King Church and Cardinal Pacelli School, academic scholarships are awarded to four sixth grade students each year. On Feb. 8, after the allschool Mass, Father Ed Smith announced the winners of this year’s Msgr. Quinn Scholarships: Jack Hebbeler, Abigail Jagers, Isabelle Payne and Emily Pickup.

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If you know him or his whereabouts, please call the Tribunal.

513-263-3397 or 263-3393

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ACROSS 1 Son of Jacob 6 Cyberzine 10 Way down the river 14 Join 15 You wouldn’t put one under a bushel basket 16 Buck ender 17 Judicial rulings 18 Bathing suit tops 19 Rivers in Spain 20 Consumed 21 Furniture wood 23 “The ___ of St. Mary” 24 St. Mary’s Cathedral is this New South Wales capital 26 Follows orders 29 Second person to be 30 Razes 34 ___ of the Holy Spirit 37 Kitchen top 38 Also 39 Topping in a tub 40 Lake in the Sierra Nevada 41 Thrust with a knife 42 Symbol of Confirmation 43 Uncovered 44 Persian kings 45 Outer vestment worn by a deacon 47 Decease

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www.wordgamesforcatholics.com

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THE FINAL WORD with Father Al Hirt, OFM

Care for Creation NATURE & SOCIETY’S RELATIONSHIP

Some years ago, St. Pope John Paul II named St. Francis of Assisi the patron of ecology, which inspired the Franciscans to add “Care for Creation” to our commissions of peace and justice. It is also a great reminder that our gardens’ St. Francis statues are a sign of this saint calling us to environmental awareness.

Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si, has inspired and challenged people around the world to look closer at the relationships between humans and all other life forms with whom we share this planet.

Some years ago, members of St. Monica-St. George Parish took particular interest in the roles our church and home gardens can play in caring for creation. I clearly remember an environmentalist’s presentation showing a beautifully landscaped yard. Then she showed a picture of how that lawn looked to birds – it was nothing but a brown, barren wasteland. None of the shrubs or other plantings was native to this part of Ohio, so there was no possible nesting or feeding spot. When we re-landscaped a garden along the church, we made sure that everything planted was attractive to bees and bugs and birds and butterflies! And it was also attractive to us human beings. We can work together.

Pope Francis helped us see that the earth is “Our Common Home,” writing in Laudato Si: “Ecology studies the relationship between living organisms and the environment in which they develop. This necessarily entails reflection and debate about the conditions required for the life and survival of society, and the honesty needed to question certain models of development, production and consumption. It cannot be emphasized enough how everything is interconnected… Just as different aspects of the planet – physical, chemical and biological – are 4 2 | THE F INAL WORD

interrelated, so, too, living species are part of a network which we will never fully explore and understand.”

In the next paragraph he writes: “When we speak of the ‘environment,’ what we really mean is a relationship existing between nature and the society which lives in it.

Nature cannot be regarded as something separate from ourselves or a mere setting in which we live.”

Practically speaking, people can take small steps to live in better relationships with all the species that surround us. If you are thinking of doing something different in your yard, consult landscapers who know which trees, shrubs and flowers naturally grow in our area. Besides being helpful to bugs, bees, insects and birds, these plants require less care because they are naturally adjusted to our part of the planet.

We need to pay attention to the fact that we need the bees to pollinate and we want to help endangered species of birds and butterflies. Can one yard make a difference? Yes! I currently live in Over-the-Rhine where our “yard” is a parking lot! Not having much opportunity to plant a garden or compost, my relationship to the natural world is somewhat limited, but wherever we live, we are encouraged to live in harmony with all the life that populates our part of the planet.

FATHER AL HIRT, OFM a Franciscan friar of St. John the Baptist (SJB) Province, is currently pastor of St. Francis Seraph Parish in Cincinnati’s Over-the-Rhine. He previously served at St. Monica-St. George Parish Newman Center, where, during his tenure as pastor, the Clifton faith community became the first in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati to use solar power for lighting parish facilities. This developed from a pilot project for Catholic Climate Covenant, an effort that sprang from Pope Francis’ encyclical, Laudato Si.

Can you help us preserve this magnificent basilica?

The Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains was built in 1845 as a tribute to the faith of immigrant Catholics. It was rescued from ruin in the 1950’s and today is a shining symbol of that same Catholic faith. But it needs your help if it is to remain that same impressive symbol and home to all Catholic people of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. Become a “Friend of the Cathedral Basilica” with your contribution to sustain and preserve St. Peter in Chains.

Help us preserve our archdiocesan treasure for future generations.

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100 E. 8th St. • Cincinnati, OH 45202

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