Cluster munitions cannot discriminate between civilians and fighters. Unexploded bomblets may kill civilians weeks, months, or years after a battle.
Mary Ellen O’Connell, a professor at Notre Dame Law School who specializes in international law and conflict resolution, telling OSV News that “the Catholic Church is in full support of the total ban on cluster munitions” due to its effects on civilians, including long after the conflict. President Joe Biden recently defended what he called a “very difficult decision” to provide cluster munitions to Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion of that country. O’Connell suggested that the U.S. and its allies dig deeper into their own stockpiles of artillery shells, because an “unlawful weapon is never permissible to use because of military necessity.”
Archbishop Bernard Hebda celebrated a Mass June 29 for the repose of the soul of Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul. An ice cream social was held afterward. The Mass was originally scheduled for Jan. 4, but was postponed due to a snowstorm. The Mass included a piece of music composed by Jacob Flaherty, director of sacred music at Holy Family in St. Louis Park, that was inspired by Pope Benedict’s reported last words: “Lord, I love you.” After several musical performances Dec. 31, the day the pope died, Flaherty set to work composing a piece to pay tribute.
BASKETBALL SKILLS Transitional Deacon Christopher Yanta shows his basketball skills to participants of a basketball camp offered this summer by St. Vincent de Paul Catholic School in Brooklyn Park. The students pictured will enter first or second grade this fall. Deacon Yanta, whose home parish is St. Timothy in Maple Lake, is serving St. Vincent de Paul this summer. He was ordained May 13 at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.
Set for July 19-23 at the DoubleTree Hotel in Bloomington, the theme of the 84th annual Tekakwitha Conference is Gathering for Healing Through Living Waters and it’s expected to draw hundreds of attendees from North America and beyond. The event will feature keynote speakers and workshops that inform and facilitate healing and renewal, said Shawn Phillips, who is co-chair of the upcoming conference. Phillips said the conference is an opportunity “for everybody” to attend and learn; Michele Beeksma, co-chair of the conference, said, “It’s the idea of coming and learning and listening.”
On the July 7 “Practicing Catholic” radio show, host Patrick Conley interviewed Vaunae Hansel, president of Elevate Life, who discussed recent Minnesota abortion legislation and how it impacts pregnancy resource centers. Also featured are Tom Cassidy, a registered nurse at Our Lady of Peace Residential Hospice in St. Paul, who described his 35 years caring for those in hospice; and Father Jon Vander Ploeg, director of spiritual formation at The St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, who provided insights on grieving. Listen to interviews after they have aired at PracticingcatholicShow com or anchor fm/Practicingcatholic-Show with links to streaming platforms.
In stories honoring priests celebrating milestone anniversaries in the June 29 issue, Father Kyle Etzel was incorrectly identified as a member of the Companions of Christ; he belongs to a group of priests at St. Mary in St. Paul’s Lowertown neighborhood aspiring to form an Oratory of St. Philip Neri in St. Paul. And the late Father James Zappa, Jr., was pastor of Mary, Mother of the Church in Burnsville while Father Peter Richards was an associate there, not the late Father Eugene Tiffany.
RURAL LIFE SUNDAY An estimated 350-400 people attend Mass celebrated by Archbishop Bernard Hebda June 25 to kick off Rural Life Sunday at the Amy and Tim Leonard dairy farm near Norwood Young America, which has been in Amy’s family for five generations. The event, which affirms the rural way of life, also included food, music and children’s activities, such as seeing some of the farm animals.
ON THE COVER: Brother Conrad Richardson of the Franciscan Brothers of Peace in St. Paul stands during Mass May 14 at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul as religious men and women are recognized for their milestone jubilees. Brother Conrad is celebrating his 25th jubilee with the Franciscan Brothers. The Mass honored jubilarians who, over the last three years, did not come together for the event because of COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.
Anniversaries are wonderful opportunities for taking stock of what God is doing in our lives and recognizing how he has blessed us and our Church. I recently had the opportunity to celebrate Mass at our Cathedral with couples celebrating significant marriage anniversaries and their families, and I was overwhelmed by the love and commitment that was present on that occasion. More recently, in the course of our biennial presbyteral assembly in Winona, the priests serving in our archdiocese had the opportunity to celebrate the priest jubilarians among us. Three of our brothers shared reflections from their particular vantage points, after 10, 25 and 50 years of priestly service, acting in the person of Christ and in the name of his Church. As I listened to their wise words, I couldn’t help but sense the same sense of commitment and love that was so evident at the Marriage Anniversary Mass.
This issue of The Catholic Spirit focuses on another segment of our local Church celebrating anniversaries: our sisters and brothers in the many different forms of consecrated life. While they were particularly honored at a celebration in our Cathedral this past May 14, I’m grateful that The Catholic Spirit is allowing us to recognize again the phenomenal contribution that they have made to our archdiocese in living out their lives of consecration. We need to be reminded to pray in gratitude for our jubilarians in consecrated life and to ask the Master of the Harvest to prompt more of our sisters and brothers to discern and accept these beautiful vocations. The listings of our jubilarians, and a reflection on the breadth of their apostolic work or contemplative presence in this archdiocese in accordance with their own
Los aniversarios son oportunidades maravillosas para hacer un balance de lo que Dios está haciendo en nuestras vidas y reconociendo cómo nos ha bendecido a nosotros ya nuestra Iglesia. Recientemente tuve la oportunidad de celebrar Misa en nuestra Catedral con parejas que celebran importantes aniversarios de matrimonio y su familias, y me sentí abrumado por el amor y el compromiso que estaba presente en ese ocasión. Más recientemente, en el curso de nuestra asamblea presbiteral bienal en Winona, el sacerdotes que sirven en nuestra arquidiócesis tuvieron la oportunidad de celebrar las jubilares de los sacerdotes entre a nosotros. Tres de nuestros hermanos compartieron reflexiones desde sus puntos de vista particulares, después de 10, 25 y 50 años de servicio sacerdotal, actuando en la persona de Cristo y en nombre de su Iglesia. Como escuché sus sabias palabras, no pude evitar sentir el mismo sentido de compromiso y amor eso fue tan evidente en la Misa de Aniversario de Matrimonio.
We are blessed therefore not only by what they have accomplished but also by who they are. By their very identity, they inspire the rest of us to live out our baptismal callings more faithfully by being more intentional in our imitation of Christ.
charisms, should prompt in all of us a special sense of indebtedness.
The Catechism of the Catholic Church notes that consecrated life is “one way of experiencing a ‘more intimate’ consecration, rooted in Baptism and dedicated totally to God. In the consecrated life, Christ’s faithful, moved by the Holy Spirit, propose to follow Christ more nearly, to give themselves to God who is loved above all and, pursuing the perfection of charity in the service of the Kingdom, to signify and proclaim in the Church the glory of the world to come.” We are blessed therefore not only by what they have accomplished but also by who they are. By their very identity, they inspire the rest of us to live out our baptismal callings more faithfully by being more intentional in our imitation of Christ.
I do not doubt for a moment that it was the witness and joy of the religious sisters and brothers who taught me in my youth that inspired me to say “yes” when the Lord finally made it clear to me that he wanted me to serve as his priest. Even as a bishop, I continue to turn for inspiration to the many consecrated women and men who continue to enrich my life. I will always remain grateful for the ways in which they supported the archdiocese with
Esta edición de El Espíritu Católico se enfoca en otro segmento de nuestra Iglesia local que celebra aniversarios: nuestras hermanas y hermanos en las múltiples formas de vida consagrada. Mientras ellos fueron especialmente homenajeados en una celebración en nuestra Catedral el pasado 14 de mayo, estoy agradecido que El Espíritu Católico nos está permitiendo reconocer nuevamente la contribución fenomenal que ellos han hecho a nuestra arquidiócesis al vivir su vida de consagración. Necesitamos que nos recuerden orar en agradecimiento por nuestros jubilares en la vida consagrada y pedir al Dueño de la Cosecha para impulsar a más de nuestras hermanas y hermanos a discernir y aceptar estas hermosas vocaciones. El listados de nuestros jubilares, y una reflexión sobre la amplitud de su trabajo apostólico o presencia contemplativa en esta archidiócesis de acuerdo con sus propios carismas, deben suscita en todos nosotros un especial sentido de endeudamiento.
El Catecismo de la Iglesia Católica señala que la vida consagrada es “una manera de experimentar una consagración “más íntima”, enraizada en el Bautismo y dedicada totalmente a Dios. En el vida consagrada, los fieles de Cristo, movidos por el Espíritu Santo, se proponen seguir a Cristo, darse a Dios amado sobre todo y, persiguiendo la perfección de la caridad al servicio del Reino, para significar y proclamar en la
their prayers as we formulated a local response to the abuse crisis and as we discerned the path for our Archdiocesan Synod. I am particularly appreciative, moreover, that our consecrated women and men continue to challenge me to a more generous and loving response to those living on the peripheries of our society and Church.
Throughout all the years that I have been in the archdiocese, I have benefited from the sage counsel of Sister Carolyn Puccio, a Sister of St. Joseph of Carondelet, who has served as my delegate for consecrated life. Having entered her congregation more than 60 years ago, Sister Carolyn, a native of this archdiocese, has keen insights into the joys and challenges of consecrated life. As she now retires from that position, I find myself overwhelmed with gratitude for her willingness to share with me and the consecrated women and men of this archdiocese not only those insights but also her considerable “people skills,” honed in her decades of work in parish ministry and counseling. I have relied heavily upon her in creating a program for women in the archdiocese hearing the call to consecrated virginity in the world and I trust that the Lord will reward her greatly for her willingness to walk with our discerners and their archbishop.
Allow me to express appreciation, moreover, to School Sister of Notre Dame Lynore Girmscheid, who over these past years has successfully coordinated for our archdiocese the annual national collection for retired religious. She too has asked to step away from her work at the Archdiocesan Catholic Center. Sister Lynore and Sister Carolyn have been a positive presence on our staff and will be greatly missed. May the Lord continue to call such fine women and men to consecrated life and may they all persevere in living out their important vocations.
Iglesia la gloria del mundo para venir.” Por lo tanto, somos bendecidos no solo por lo que han logrado, sino también por quienes ellos son. Por su misma identidad, inspiran al resto de nosotros a vivir más nuestros llamados bautismales fielmente siendo más intencionales en nuestra imitación de Cristo. No dudo ni por un momento que fue el testimonio y la alegría de los religiosos y hermanas que me enseñó en mi juventud que me inspiró a decir “sí” cuando el Señor finalmente me lo dejó claro me dijo que quería que yo fuera su sacerdote. Incluso como obispo, sigo recurriendo a la inspiración a los muchos consagrados y consagradas que continúan enriqueciendo mi vida. Siempre permaneceré agradecidos por la forma en que apoyaron a la arquidiócesis con sus oraciones mientras formulamos una respuesta local a la crisis de abuso y cuando discernimos el camino para nuestra Sínodo Arquidiocesano. Estoy particularmente agradecido, además, de que nuestras mujeres consagradas y hombres continúan desafiándome a una respuesta más generosa y amorosa a aquellos que viven en la periferias de nuestra sociedad e Iglesia.
A lo largo de todos los años que he estado en la arquidiócesis, me he beneficiado del sabio consejo de la Hermana Carolyn Puccio, una Hermana de San José de Carondelet, quien ha sido mi delegado para la vida consagrada. Habiendo ingresado a su congregación hace más de 60
años, la hermana Carolyn, oriunda de esta arquidiócesis, tiene una visión profunda de las alegrías y los desafíos de vida consagrada. Como ella ahora se retira de esa posición, me siento abrumado con agradecimiento por su disposición a compartir conmigo y con los consagrados y consagradas de este arquidiócesis no solo esos conocimientos, sino también sus considerables “habilidades con las personas”, perfeccionadas en su décadas de trabajo en el ministerio parroquial y consejería. He confiado mucho en ella para crear un programa para mujeres de la arquidiócesis que escuchan el llamado a la virginidad consagrada en el mundo y confío en que el Señor la recompensará grandemente por su disposición a caminar con nuestros discernidores y sus arzobispo.
Permítanme expresar mi agradecimiento, además, a la Hermana de la Escuela de Notre Dame Lynore Girmscheid, quien durante estos últimos años ha coordinado con éxito para nuestra archidiócesis la colecta nacional anual para religiosos jubilados. Ella también ha pedido alejarse de su trabajo en el Centro Católico Arquidiocesano. La hermana Lynore y la hermana Carolyn han sido positivas presencia entre nuestro personal y lo extrañaremos mucho. Que el Señor siga llamando a tan buenos mujeres y hombres a la vida consagrada y que todos perseveren en vivir su importante vocaciones.
Mary Beth Hess, music director at St. Jerome in Maplewood, puts her fingers to the keys of the church’s new organ July 5. The organ was donated as a replacement for the former, failing organ. Hess found out about the organ April 3 (Monday of Holy Week) when she made an unplanned trip to St. Jerome to check on music equipment. A parishioner happened to walk in while she was there and told her that LifePoint Church was selling an organ. Hess called LifePoint but learned that a church in Baltimore had agreed to buy the organ for $45,000. The next day, someone from LifePoint called Hess back to tell her that the church council met and agreed to donate the organ to St. Jerome instead. It was brought in and installed April 17. “A lot of things had to line up in order for this to happen,” said Hess, who has been playing the organ at St. Jerome for the last 24 years and has been the music director for the last eight. “If I hadn’t come here at the exact time that this parishioner was here, none of this would have happened. So, it was definitely a Holy Spirit moment. … Every time I tell the story, I get goose bumps.” She added, “It was a miracle.”
By Dave Hrbacek The Catholic Spirit
Sisters Carolyn Puccio and Lynore Girmscheid worked side by side for several years in their roles at the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, with their workstations next to each other at the Archdiocesan Catholic Center in St. Paul. Then, they stepped down from their posts together at the end of June.
Sister Carolyn, of the Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, was the delegate for consecrated life for 10 years, while Sister Lynore, of the School Sisters of Notre Dame, was the coordinator of the Retirement Fund for Religious for five years. Both have helped create growth in their respective ministries, and both are joyful as they move on to new challenges and give others a chance to keep the progress going.
Sister Carolyn was appointed to her role in 2013 by Archbishop John Nienstedt, who has since resigned. Archbishop Bernard Hebda continued her appointment after arriving in 2015. It is a three-year term, and she continued through more than two renewals before deciding to step down.
“I served as the archbishop’s representative to all the religious priests, brothers, sisters, members of secular institutes, societies of apostolic life, consecrated virgins living in the world, and hermits,” said Sister Carolyn, 80, describing the scope of her role. “The position is one of service — service to the archbishop as his representative, service to the men and women in consecrated life, and service to the archdiocese in making this particular vocation known and valued.”
One of her goals was to increase familiarity and fraternity among all the different religious orders and organizations, to ultimately strengthen consecrated life and draw others to it. To that end, she created the Archdiocesan Commission for Consecrated Life, which began in 2019 with 14 members representing various forms of consecrated life.
“Through their interaction, and their advice to me, which has been invaluable, they have grown to appreciate one another and learn about one another’s particular vocation,” she said. “And that has spilled over, I think, into the archdiocese, where there’s much
more appreciation among the different expressions of consecrated life.”
Sister Lynore had a practical, concrete mission in her role with the Retirement Fund for Religious — raise funds to help care for religious men and women after their many years of faithful service to the Church. Under her leadership, the archdiocese remained one of the top contributors in the country, holding steady at between $450,000 and $500,000 a year in donations to the fund.
The theme she has carried through her five years of service to the fund is “generosity inspires.” These words are on the cover of a card she sends to every donor, with this message from her on the inside: “Through your gift,
you have helped hundreds of religious communities meet their pressing retirement needs, even as they continue to serve the People of God. Your generosity inspires me; many thanks on behalf of all those who have given a lifetime!”
Sister Lynore, 77, is one of several School Sisters of Notre Dame who have held this position over the last 20 or 25 years.
“It’s been a blessing for our community to have been part of this,” she said. “And it’s just been really overwhelming to keep being aware of the generosity of the parishes and individuals who, since 1987, have
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The Catholic Spirit
Cynthia Bailey Manns, one of the original members of the Lay Advisory Board that advises Archbishop Bernard Hebda and adult learning director at St. Joan of Arc in Minneapolis, is one of 10 non-bishop voting delegates chosen by Pope Francis to represent the North American region at the first general assembly of the Synod of Bishops on Synodality in October. The delegates were announced July 7 at a Vatican news conference.
Bishops appointed to attend include Bishop Robert Barron of the WinonaRochester diocese.
The theme of the Oct. 4-29 synod in Rome is For a Synodal Church: Communion, Participation and Mission. Synod members are being asked to continue a “process of spiritual discernment” that began in 2021 and will continue with a second synod assembly in October 2024.
Bailey Manns, 65, said she is humbled and excited about the prospect of experiencing the Holy Spirit “as we do this sacred work of vulnerable sharing, deep listening and discernment regarding important issues impacting us individually and collectively.”
For Bailey Manns, the work has included being one of six archdiocesan representatives in the continental phase
of the pre-synod preparations. That stage spanned the globe and produced seven continental reports submitted to the Holy See in March. For its part, the United States and Canada held 12 virtual assemblies — seven in English, three in Spanish and two in French — between December 2022 and January 2023. Those assemblies included 931 appointed delegates and 146 bishops.
“It was wonderful experiencing this with a large group of people,” Bailey Manns said of the continental stage’s Zoom sessions, which included discussions and discernment conducted in small groups. Anticipating something similar, but held in person in Rome, Bailey Manns said she found the structure “really geared to have a chance for people to utilize their voice and to be heard and to be seen.”
Concerns Bailey Manns said she will bring to Rome include creating space in the Church for the marginalized to feel invited, welcomed and have a sense of belonging. The marginalized often includes members of the Black and LGBTQ+ communities, the economically oppressed, women in the Church and those concerned about caring for the Earth, she said.
“I hope we are willing to look in those spaces and ask, ‘What does it really mean to love each other in the way Christ wants us to, in a way that is the embodiment of Christ?’” said Bailey
Manns, who has a Doctor of Ministry degree in spiritual direction. “The challenge for us is to get out of the way and let the Holy Spirit do what it does so well. I expect there will be a lot of lives changed at the end of the process. I hope I will come out different, too.”
In a statement July 7, Archbishop Hebda said, “Pope Francis has honored our Archdiocese with the appointment of Dr. Cynthia Bailey Manns as one of the voting participants at the Vatican’s Synod on Synodality, beginning this October. … I have come to know and respect her for her significant contribution as one of the original members of the Archdiocesan Lay Advisory Board constituted in 2018. Not surprising for someone with years of experience in parish ministry and spiritual direction, Dr. Bailey Manns is a superb listener and articulate dialogue partner, skills that will serve her well at the Synod.”
The archbishop said Bailey Manns also represented the archdiocese at his request on the Twin Cities-based team that worked with the World Council of Churches and the Dicastery for the Promotion of Christian Unity to draft international materials for the 2023 Week of Prayer for Christian Unity.
“I am grateful that her voice, grounded in the lived experience of our local Church, will be heard at the Synod,” the archbishop said.
uAdult learning director, St. Joan of Arc, Minneapolis, since 2016
uMember of Archdiocesan Lay Advisory Board
uBoard member of Catholic Community Foundation of Minnesota since 2022
uAdjunct professor in spiritual direction certificate program at ecumenical United Theological Seminary of the Twin Cities
uPast coordinator and lead faculty in the spiritual director certificate program and co-director of the Lilly Endowment Initiative for Contemplative Discipleship at St. Catherine University in St. Paul
uFirst lay spiritual director in campus ministry at Seton Hall University in South Orange, New Jersey, which included spiritual direction for men’s and women’s basketball teams as well as university faculty and staff, 2007-2010
uContributing writer in the anthology “Embodied Spirits: Stories of Spiritual Directors of Color”
uArticles in bimonthly journal Ecumenical Trends and in peer-reviewed journal Presence: An International Journal of Spiritual Direction + Companionship
By Barb Umberger The Catholic Spirit
After five years as executive director of Mendota Heights-based The Catholic Cemeteries, Joan Gecik is retiring Oct. 4, the feast of St. Francis.
The date is no coincidence, Gecik said, as she was a Sylvania Franciscan sister for 13 years before moving to full-time parish ministry as a layperson.
As a sister, she served in Ohio, Michigan and at Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Maplewood. “I was at the school, in music ministry and on the justice committee — whatever else came up that I … stepped into,” she said.
Gecik’s work in parish ministry included serving at St. Richard in Richfield, the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul, then-Holy Redeemer in Maplewood (before its 2007 merger with St. Peter in North St. Paul), Lumen Christi in St. Paul, and St. Thomas the Apostle in Minneapolis.
“I’ve always been a Franciscan at heart,” she said, and continued to live out Franciscan values, such as caring for creation, at the cemeteries.
During her time at the cemeteries — which include Calvary in St. Paul, Gethsemane in New Hope, Resurrection in Mendota Heights, and St. Anthony’s and St. Mary’s in Minneapolis — Gecik, 69, is most proud of work done related to the environment, calling it a big issue for the Church.
“I thought cemeteries need to be involved in this also,” she said. “We have that stewardship responsibility. I think it makes an impact not just on the cemetery, but on the world.”
Examples of environmental stewardship include Resurrection’s natural burial area, a prairie with no pesticide use or irrigation.
One challenge during Gecik’s tenure was providing services while keeping staff safe during the COVID-19 pandemic, she said. “It was day-to-day decision-
making on what we were going to do that particular day, week.”
Gecik’s successor is Carol Bishop, who has served the Church for more than 20 years, most recently as
parish director of Pax Christi in Eden Prairie since December 2020. Her role there, which she left
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June 30, was “taking care of the business and the operations of the parish,” she said, with parish staff reporting to her.
Gecik described Bishop as well-rounded “in knowing administration, but also having such a good sense of people and pastoral care for people.”
“She has proven her leadership in the archdiocese,” Gecik said. “I think it was an excellent choice.”
Much of the executive director’s role is being strategic, Gecik said, keeping up with trends and looking at what cemeteries could become.
“We’ve continued some of the … high-impact programs such as fetal burial, but then we started the amnesty program,” which enabled people to bring cremated remains from their home to the cemetery for a minimal price, Gecik said. “Cremated remains are still the body and should be respected, have a permanent place and be memorialized, which is offered affordably in a special place in the chapel mausoleum.”
Gethsemane and Resurrection cemeteries started quarterly grief retreats using an indoor labyrinth as “kind of a walking prayer,” Gecik said. She hopes an outdoor labyrinth will be completed this summer at Resurrection.
Gecik said The Catholic Cemeteries also provide education via videos and webinars, and in May offered two watercolor classes “to show that the cemetery is also for the living.”
“It’s a place of beauty, a place to walk, to reflect, to pray, to enjoy,” she said. “And it helps us to pray.”
A cemetery is more than simply a place to bury people, Gecik said. “It is a call to a specific kind of ministry, and I think the staff … all understand that, and their actions reflect that call.”
Pastoral ministry occurs on a number of levels, from the field workers offering help to cemetery visitors to how people are treated when they call the office.
“That ability to listen beyond maybe the issue that is being brought up, that ability to go a step further than expected,” Gecik said.
Bishop previously worked at two parishes that had cemeteries: Holy Name of Jesus in Medina and St. John the Baptist in Excelsior. She has lost “a lot of people” who were important in her life, including her mother and younger sister. “So, I have a great deal of compassion for grief and loss,” she said, which is where she believes her “commitment to cemetery work” is rooted.
Cemeteries are thought of as places for the dead, but they’re also very much for the grieving, Bishop said. “It’s a place to go to honor your loss, to be, in some figurative sense anyway, with your loved one. It’s … a place to go where you really can honor that.”
“From a management perspective, obviously the operations and management of the cemetery and stewardship of resources is critical to the well-being of the cemetery itself,” she said.
Bishop said the cemeteries’ “stewardship element” is very important to her.
“We are caretaking, we’re taking care of the deceased, we’re taking care of the property, we’re taking care of the equipment and the buildings … There’s a great element of stewardship to it, and at the same time, it’s also ministry,” Bishop said. “I love that intersection.”
Bishop recalled days leaving her job at Holy Name, driving past the cemetery, and seeing those buried as people who built and supported the parish. “I saw them as a little community … and connected to us through the communion of saints,” she said.
One reason Gecik feels the time is right for retirement is that her mother, 94, lives in Ohio and she wants to see her more often. “And I think it’s the right time to have a new set of eyes and another person that can maybe take a look at things in a new light so that we’re always relevant,” she said.
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contributed to this appeal.”
She is especially proud of the way people have responded during and since the COVID-19 pandemic, which presented significant challenges to fundraising. With the opportunity to do in-person campaigning curtailed, Sister Lynore and others working on the appeal turned to producing videos as a way of reaching donors and potential donors.
It worked. Donations have held steady over the last few years, and this year’s total should be right around $500,000, she said. Along the way, the Catholic Community Foundation became a supporting partner in the effort, and parishes also participate by holding collections at designated weekend Masses. Sister Lynore calls it “a great privilege to help facilitate” the annual campaign. Money collected from each diocese and archdiocese goes to the national retirement fund office in Washington, D.C. Then, it is distributed in a grantbased system to individual communities based on need.
“The need is huge” overall, Sister Lynore said. “I don’t know exactly what that looks like throughout the United States, but I do know the communities that are really in need are really in need.”
As Sister Lynore and Sister Carolyn pursue new opportunities with their respective communities, they expressed gratitude for the chance to work side by side and collaborate with one another in their roles. For a time, Sister Carolyn was Sister Lynore’s supervisor, but it was a relationship of mutual respect.
“It’s been a great collaboration,” Sister Lynore said. “Both of us have said this — that it’s been a great blessing,” Sister Carolyn said, noting that she appreciates “the fact that we’ve been able to work together as well as we have and enjoy one another and appreciate the gifts and skills that each of us brings to this kind of ministry.”
75 Years
† Mary Angeleen Brill
Mary Catherine Dundon
Mary Joyce Merten
Mary Faith Parkinson
Mary Magdala Winter
70 Years
Louise Marie Benecke
Catherine Marie Brandt
Helen Bronner
Evelyn Dangel
Monica Grathwohl
M. Paulanne Gruber
Janis Haustein
Aloyse Hessburg
Mary Paul Holdmeyer
† M. Agnes Claire Krogman
Mary Alyce Lach
M. Yolanda Latessa
Grace Marie Mueller
Joyce Ploch
Carol Polzyn
† Sylvia Provost
Mary Ancilla Sakaguchi
Gladys Schmitz
M. Petrann Sieben
Dolores Marie Siebenmorgen
Deceased in 2023
Mary Adelyn Vokal
Anastasia Wehner
Marion Welter
60 Years
Mary Hope Billing
Rosemary Bonk
Frances Buschell
Mary Ellen Doherty
Jean Ellman
Joyce Engle
Carol George
Joanne Hanrahan
Dana Marie Heffner
Ruth Hinderer
M. Gloria Hirai
Rose Rita Huelsmann
Mary Canisia Hyodo
M. Evangela Imamura
Susan Jordan
Nicolette Karcher
Miriam Thomas Kessens
M. Lauretta Rose Koscielniak
Dorothy Land
Rosalyce Mercurio
Reina Marie Quiroz
Barbara Rupp
Del Marie Rysavy
Shannon Marie Scallon
Lynne Schmidt † Laura Jean Spaeth
Loriann Stanton
M. Anita Takagi
Margie Ann Thole
M. Jeannette Toyosato
JoAnn Volk
Sharon Waldoch
Jane Frances Wand
Marcia Mary Zofkie
50 Years
Dawn Achs
Catherine Bertrand
Linda Marie Bos
Jean Ersfeld
Jeanne Goessling
Patricia Gravemann
Patricia Gunn
Gayle Hurban
Madeleine Lane
Mary Ann Osborne
Janet Tanaka
Mary Martha Waligora
Karen Warren
40 Years
Anna Marie Reha
Elizabeth Ann (Betty) Uchytil
Jubilee 2023
The U.S. Supreme Court issued significant decisions in the final days of June. Below is a summary of four issues the high court debated.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 29 that institutions of higher education can no longer take race into consideration for admission, a landmark decision overturning previous precedent supported by many Catholic universities and colleges. As it has been used in higher education, affirmative action includes admissions practices that purport to increase the number of students admitted from historically marginalized groups, such as Black and Hispanic students. Colleges and universities that take race into consideration have argued that doing so is only one factor in a broader admissions process, which also includes a student’s grades, test scores and extracurricular activities. Supporters of affirmative action policies argue that it is one method of helping to address the lasting impact of racism in American society. Opponents say race-based admission policies harm students who should be judged on their merits as students alone, with some arguing that Asian American students were disproportionality rejected in favor of white, Black and Hispanic applicants. Chief Justice John Roberts wrote the 6-3 majority opinion, arguing admissions programs at Harvard University and the University of North Carolina violated the Constitution’s equal protection clause. The Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities, which describes itself as the collective voice of U.S. Catholic higher education, said in a statement the high court’s ruling is “more than disappointing as it ignores the morethan-apparent effects of continued racism in our society.” It said the association’s members would “continue to create paths by which those in society who do not have opportunity find it at our institutions.”
The U.S. Supreme Court issued a unanimous decision June 29 in favor of a former postal worker who said he was denied a religious accommodation
to observe Christian precepts on keeping holy the Lord’s Day by his former employer. The case Groff v. DeJoy concerned Gerald Groff, an evangelical Christian and former U.S. Postal Service worker, who was denied an accommodation to observe his Sunday Sabbath by not taking Sunday shifts resulting in the loss of his job. The Supreme Court found that federal law requires workplaces to make appropriate accommodations for their employees’ religious practices unless those practices cannot be “reasonably” accommodated without “undue hardship.” The court’s 1977 precedent in Trans World Airlines v. Hardison found that the “undue hardship” standard is met even at a minimal cost. But in Groff v. DeJoy, the court threw out that standard and ruled that an employer denying religious accommodations must show the burden of granting an accommodation would result in substantial increased costs. “Faced with an accommodation request like Groff’s, an employer must do more than conclude that forcing other employees to work overtime would constitute an undue hardship.
uCatholic leaders call for prayer, action after wave of July 4 holiday shootings across US. Catholic leaders throughout the U.S. are calling for prayer and action after gun violence scarred the long July 4 holiday weekend in 18 states plus the nation’s capital. The rampages between June 30 and July 5 left 25 dead and 145 injured. Mass shootings were reported in Washington, D.C., California, Florida, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Texas. “The U.S. bishops join with others throughout the country in offering prayers for the support and healing of the communities impacted by these violent shootings,” Chieko Noguchi, spokesperson for the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, told OSV News. The Church’s witness to life amid the shootings is more crucial than ever, Father Eric Banecker, pastor of St. Francis de Sales Parish in Philadelphia, told OSV News.
Consideration of other options would also be necessary,” Justice Samuel Alito wrote in his majority opinion. The Supreme Court’s ruling sends Groff’s case back to the lower court for reconsideration.
The U.S. Supreme Court June 30 rejected President Joe Biden’s $400 billion plan to cancel or significantly reduce federal student loan debts for millions of Americans. The Biden administration’s student debt forgiveness program would have canceled $10,000 in such debts for individuals making less than $125,000 or households making less than $250,000. Pell Grant recipients would have been granted an additional $10,000 in debt forgiveness. The Biden administration had argued the plan was lawful under a 2003 law called the Higher Education Relief Opportunities for Students Act, or HEROES Act, which permits the government to provide some relief to recipients of student loans in a “national emergency,” to ensure borrowers are not left in financial difficulty as a result of such an emergency. But Chief Justice
The Philadelphia shooting in his parish boundaries took five lives, and the priest told parishioners in an email to engage in prayer and penance because “we have a unique responsibility to respond spiritually to this terrible event.” Following the shooting in his city, Baltimore Archbishop William Lori issued a July 2 message imploring both prayer and action. “Consider how all of us can support neighborhood and community efforts that work to end violence in our streets,” he said.
uVatican offers indulgence for visiting elderly, celebrating grandparents day. Catholics who celebrate the World Day for Grandparents and the Elderly July 23 can receive a plenary indulgence, which is a remission of the temporal punishment due for one’s sins, the Vatican said. In a decree issued July 5, Cardinal Mauro Piacenza, head of the Apostolic Penitentiary, said that a plenary indulgence will be extended “to grandparents, the elderly and all the faithful who, motivated by
John Roberts, writing for a 6-3 majority, rejected that argument, stating that the court’s precedent “requires that Congress speak clearly before a department secretary can unilaterally alter large sections of the American economy,” and arguing the Biden administration overstepped its authority. After a more than three-year, COVID-era pause, borrowers will have to resume payments on their federal student loan bills this fall.
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled June 30 in favor of a Christian web designer who argued she had a First Amendment right to refuse to provide services for same-sex marriages despite a Colorado law prohibiting discrimination against people who identify as LGBTQ+. In a 6-3 decision split down the court’s ideological lines, justices found the First Amendment protects Lorie Smith, a website designer who said her Christian faith requires her to decline customers seeking wedding-related services for same-sex unions. The court ruled that for Colorado to force her to do so, against her religious convictions, would be unconstitutional compelled speech. “Colorado seeks to force an individual to speak in ways that align with its views but defy her conscience about a matter of major significance,” Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in a majority opinion for 303 Creative LLC v. Elenis. In a dissent, Justice Sonia Sotomayor countered, “Today, the Court, for the first time in its history, grants a business open to the public a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class.” Kristen Waggoner, president, CEO and general counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom, the public interest firm which represented Smith, said in a statement the Supreme Court “rightly reaffirmed that the government can’t force Americans to say things they don’t believe.” She added, “The ruling makes clear that nondiscrimination laws remain firmly in place, and that the government has never needed to compel speech to ensure access to goods and services.” The chairman of the U.S. bishops’ religious liberty committee praised the ruling, saying, the government cannot “force us to support, by our words or actions, behavior that we believe is wrong.”
the true spirit of penitence and charity,” attend Mass or other services to celebrate the world day and that the indulgence can “also be applied as suffrage for the souls in purgatory.” The decree states that the indulgence will also apply to “the faithful who dedicate adequate time to visit in person or virtually, through means of communication, elderly brothers and sisters in need or in difficulty” such as the sick, abandoned and disabled on July 23. To receive a plenary indulgence, a person must show detachment from sin, go to confession, receive the Eucharist and pray for the intentions of the pope.
uRussia launches ‘barbaric attack’ on civilians near Ukrainian Catholic University. A Catholic university community in western Ukraine is reeling from a July 6 missile attack on the city of Lviv,
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located less than 50 miles from the Polish border. Russian military launched 10 Kalibr missiles at the Lviv region from the Black Sea overnight, with Ukraine’s air force stating it had intercepted seven. The remainder slammed into more than 300 homes and apartments, killing at least five and injuring some 37. Emergency workers are continuing to retrieve victims from the rubble, with the specific number of casualties yet to be determined.
The missiles struck within some 600 feet of Ukrainian Catholic University, which sustained minor damage to four of its campus buildings. No one on campus was injured, the school said in a statement. UCU president Metropolitan Archbishop Borys Gudziak of the Ukrainian Catholic Archeparchy of Philadelphia, who had just presided at the school’s commencement activities last week, said in a statement to OSV News that “the attack of innocent civilians by Russia is unconscionable” and “barbaric.” The university provided shelter in its campus church, St. Sophia, while staff and students assisted the injured and helped clear the debris. The university is also “preparing lodging for those who have been forced from their homes, who have lost everything,” said Archbishop Gudziak. “I can say that Ukrainians are holding strong. But the danger is daily and real, the trauma is deep, and it behooves the entire free world to respond in support of the brave defenders of freedom and justice.”
uNewly named ‘venerable,’ Sister Lucia spread Fatima message throughout her long life. Venerable Lucia was only 10 years old when she and her two younger cousins told their friends and family that they had seen the Blessed Virgin Mary at Fatima in 1917. Mary first appeared to Lucia, 9-year-old Francisco Marto and 7-year-old Jacinta Marto May 13, and the apparitions continued once a month until October 1917. The Catholic Church has ruled that the apparitions and the messages from Our Lady of Fatima were worthy of belief. On June 22, Pope Francis declared Sister Lucia “venerable,” with a decree recognizing the Fatima visionary’s heroic virtues. Pope Benedict XVI waived the standard waiting period for Sister Lucia’s cause, opening it in 2008. The Diocese of Coimbra, Portugal, completed its investigation and forwarded documentation to the Holy See’s Congregation (since renamed Dicastery) for the Causes of Saints in 2017, the apparitions’ centennial year. Three months later, Pope Benedict XVI canonized Francisco and Jacinta.
uNew parish named for Knights of Columbus founder in town he first served. A priest on the road to sainthood, who has united millions of Catholic men across the world, is drawing faithful together in the town where he first served. The Archdiocese of Hartford announced it will merge seven parishes in New Haven, Connecticut, into the newly created Blessed Michael McGivney Parish, named for the Waterbury, Connecticut, native who founded the Knights of Columbus fraternal order, which counts some 2 million members globally. Effective July 1, the parishes of Sts. Aedan and Brendan, St. Anthony, St. Martin de Porres, St. Mary, St. Michael, Our Lady of Guadalupe and St. Stanislaus “united as one parish under the patronage of Blessed Michael McGivney,” said Hartford Archbishop Leonard Blair in a July 3 joint statement with the Knights of Columbus and Catholic leaders from the New Haven area. Father Ryan Lerner, pastor of St. Mary — the oldest Catholic parish in New Haven, and site of Father McGivney’s tomb — will serve as the new parish’s moderator. “I feel profoundly moved and so very excited that our unified parish will be named for and entrusted to the patronal care of Blessed Michael McGivney,” said Father Lerner. Supreme Knight Patrick Kelly said the Knights of Columbus were “honored that the new city-wide parish has adopted Blessed Michael McGivney’s name,” pointing to the priest’s pastoral dedication “amid a society that frowned upon Catholic immigrants.”
Archbishop Blair described Father McGivney as “an exemplar of charity and steadfast devotion to Christ” who is “still today inspiring millions of people to action for the common good, in the name of God.”
uU.S. bishops praise expansion of family reunification processes for migrants. The U.S. Department of Homeland Security said July 7 that it would implement new processes for eligible nationals of Colombia, El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras. The expanded program, which began July 10 and was praised by the bishops on the same day, permits migrants from those countries to travel to the U.S. and gain work permits if they have family members who are U.S. citizens or legal residents, and those relatives filed visa applications on their behalf. Parole would be determined on a case-by-case basis, officials said. In a statement, Bishop Mark Seitz of El Paso, chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ Committee on Migration, said the bishops “welcome this effort to provide a realistic opportunity for attaining family unity and reunification, which are foundational to the U.S. immigration system and central tenets of Catholic social teaching.”
u’Right to life’ at stake: Catholics react to high court’s ruling on Navajo water rights. After a 5-4 Supreme Court decision struck a blow to the Navajo Nation’s request for federal assistance in securing water for the reservation June 22, Catholics who minister among Native Americans shared their thoughts on the historic water crisis facing the Southwest U.S. and the Indigenous populations who live there. “People line up at a community well and fill up their water containers to take out to their homesteads to be able to have water for their families for the week, sometimes for days. If it’s an older couple, it might last a little longer,” said Dot Teso, president of St. Michael Indian School in St. Michaels, Arizona — which was founded by St. Katharine Drexel in 1902. Arizona v. Navajo Nation came before the Supreme Court when the Navajo Nation asked for the courts to require the federal government to identify the Indigenous nation’s water rights and needs and provide a way to meet those needs. Seeking to protect their own interest in access to the Colorado River, the states of Arizona, Colorado and Nevada intervened in the lawsuit. The Navajo Nation argued that the
1868 Treaty of Bosque Redondo establishing the Navajos’ reservation requires the federal government to secure water for the tribal nation, making a “breach-of-trust” claim. But Justice Brett Kavanaugh in writing for the majority stated the treaty “does not impose a duty ... to take affirmative steps to secure water for the tribe,” adding that there were other explicit impositions on the government in the treaty. The day after the Supreme Court’s ruling, Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs appointed four tribal representatives to serve on the Governor’s Water Policy Council, which develops policy recommendations focusing on assured water supply and rural groundwater policies. Among the new appointees are the governor of the Gila River Indian Community and the legal counsel to the president of the Navajo Nation. “Our leaders long ago fought for our right to our precious homeland between our Sacred Mountains and that included the water right, the right to life,” said Navajo Nation Speaker Crystalyne Curley in a statement. “Today’s ruling will not deter the Navajo Nation from securing the water that our ancestors sacrificed and fought for.”
— OSV News
CSJ St. Paul Sister & Consociate Jubilarians
These
75th ANNIVERSARY
Rosalind Gefre
Patricia Pfeifer
70th ANNIVERSARY
Diane Hunker
Laurie Kelly
Mary Lang
Brigid McDonald
Ramona Rademacher
Donna Sklar
65th ANNIVERSARY
Clare Belisle
Jeanne Stodola
Linda Taylor
Jean Wincek
60th ANNIVERSARY
Betty Adams
Susan Hames
Char Madigan
60th ANNIVERSARY
Joan Mitchell
Katherine Rossini
Catherine Steffens
40th ANNIVERSARY
Sharon Howell
25th ANNIVERSARY
Teresa Kim
Monica Lubitz
20th ANNIVERSARY
Linda Crosby
Kathleen Olsen
Margaret Post
Elizabeth Scott
Mary Anne Seaton
Kay S. Welsch
10th ANNIVERSARY
Cheryl Behrent
Lois Berns
Jeanne Jones
Brianna (Bree) Lloyd
Serphine Achola Mambe
ASinsinawa Dominican sister who has dedicated her life to bringing Christ to young people in Catholic schools in Minnesota and five other states, and a Jesuit priest who has ministered in more than 60 countries through retreats, talks and teaching are highlighted as The Catholic Spirit celebrates those in consecrated life marking milestone anniversaries. In addition, the adjoining page lists men and women as provided by their religious communities who are celebrating jubilees this year and have ministered in the archdiocese. Thank you to all men and women in consecrated life!
To have us still in their presence almost 160 years later, it was a gift to have been there.
Sinsinawa Dominican Sister Mary Margaret Murphy said witnessing the religious sisters’ joy and hospitality served as inspiration for her own path.
Sister Mary Margaret said she “was raised at St. Albert the Great parish in south Minneapolis,” where she was baptized and attended its former elementary school. Its Catholic grade school was combined with four others in 1993 to create Risen Christ Catholic School. She later attended Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield. Since its beginning, Dominicans staffed St. Albert and it continues to be served by Dominican priests, Sister Mary Margaret said. When Sister Mary Margaret was attending grade school, Sinsinawa Dominican sisters taught there. “I found them to be very good teachers,” she said. “I only lived two blocks from the school, (and) often in the 1950s, they would go out for walks in twos,” she said. Sometimes the religious sisters stopped to chat with her family on their porch or in their yard, she said. “The sisters were friendly, very joyful and very hospitable,” she said.
That inspiration led to Sister Mary Margaret, 80, celebrating 60 years as a member of the Dominican Sisters of Sinsinawa, based in Sinsinawa, Wisconsin; Sister Mary Margaret moved to its motherhouse there two years ago. She has worked in the facility’s library and supports other retired sisters, saying, “you never really retire when you’re religious.”
Sister Mary Margaret served in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as principal of Most Holy Redeemer in Montgomery from 2002 to 2010 and as administrative assistant at Bethlehem Academy in Faribault from 2010 to 2021. Her religious order founded Bethlehem Academy in 1865, the order’s first mission away from the motherhouse, she said.
Her time at Bethlehem Academy was “filled with a lot of history,” as she interacted with people who represented the fourth generation of attendees, Sister Mary Margaret said. “To have us still in their presence almost 160 years later, it was a gift to have been there,” she said. She recalled “wonderful support” from school families and the community.
The idea of religious life had always been at the back of her mind, she said, and it was something “not totally foreign” to her family. “My father had brothers that were Christian Brothers in Ireland, and my mother had relatives that were clergy,” she said. Her teachers were “nice human beings, friendly ladies that, as a kid, I thought ‘I could do this,’” she said. “I decided after high school to give it a try.”
She went on to a 50-plus-year career in education in Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota and Texas, in addition to Minnesota, both teaching and in administration.
Looking back on her career, which included teaching math for many years, she said she loved when a child had “an aha moment” and said, “‘Oh, I finally get it.’ It’s like, ‘oh, thank God,’” she said.
One highlight of being a school administrator was mentoring new teachers, “helping them become stronger and … in some cases, more at ease with sharing their faith,” Sister Mary Margaret said. “Even though they weren’t necessarily teaching religion. But in a Catholic atmosphere of a Catholic school, it’s everywhere,” she said. “It has to be.”
Preaching is part of the Dominican charism, Sister Mary Margaret said, and preaching also takes place “in our lives.”
Asked what that looks like, she said treating everyone with respect, which in her life has included pastors, parents, students and teachers.
Citing her many experiences with various groups around the country, she said, “And that’s what I’ve tried to do, is to walk humbly, and justly and model that for people.”
By Joe Ruff The Catholic SpiritAsked as he celebrates 50 years of priesthood what drew him to religious life and international retreat work that integrates physical, emotional and spiritual healing, Jesuit Father Matthew Linn didn’t hesitate.
“I just thought the happiest people in the world were people helping others,” he said. Still, the road to the priesthood from growing up in Minneapolis at Resurrection (now Our Lady of Peace) parish and school, with his parents, the late Leonard and Agnes May Linn, and his siblings, Dennis and Mary Ellen, wasn’t altogether straight. He first wanted to be a doctor. “But at the time I was pondering this, a cousin who was in residency in an emergency room urged me to consider how I might help keep people out of harm’s way in the first place,” he said.
“The majority of his emergency room patients were from abusive or addictive situations and so were constantly cycling in and out of the hospital. My doctor cousin said, ‘We are just patching up knife wounds, but they keep returning until we treat the hole in their soul.’”
Desiring to help others with that kind of healing, and hoping to live in community, the then-18-year-old Linn explored 12 religious orders. He landed on the Jesuits, a global order that encourages its members to be doctors, teachers or other specialists, as a means to helping others. He also was attracted by the Jesuits’ two-year novitiate, which helps those interested in formation look closely at their lives, so they discern how God — as Father Linn says, the Divine Lover — is moving them to share that love.
He entered the Jesuits in 1960 and was ordained a priest in 1973. Since 1970, he has taught courses and given retreats on healing in every state and in more than 60 countries. He has lived in 17 different Jesuit communities throughout his
ministry. Now, he lives in the Markoe House Jesuit Community in Minneapolis. He helps train people as spiritual directors through Sacred Ground Center for Spirituality in St. Paul, following the tradition of St. Ignatius of Loyola, who helped found the Jesuits.
His brother, Dennis, entered the Jesuits two years after he did. But his brother was called to marriage. Now, together with Dennis and his wife, Sheila, who live in Colorado, they have formed Linn Ministries, giving talks and retreats on healing. They are co-authors of more than 20 books with titles that include “Healing of Memories,” “Healing the Greatest Hurt” and “Good Goats: Healing Our Image of God.” The books have been translated into about 25 languages. Their best seller, “Healing Life’s Hurts,” describes five stages of forgiveness based on Kubler-Ross’s five stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. The Linns have found that the grieving process heals emotional wounds of even the deepest hurts. They learned this by giving healing retreats in war-torn countries like El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala, South Africa and Northern Ireland. They found that only people who healed their grief through forgiveness and gratefully taking in new life recovered from trauma. Those who forgave let go of the pain, anger, and grief, and the grateful ones constantly found the Divine Lover giving new life, he said.
The Linns continue to give retreats, and as a priest in the Twin Cities, Father Linn, 80, also celebrates Masses and assists in area hospitals when other priests are not available. While pleased with the books he has helped write, he said he believes more important are the people he has helped and who have helped him by sharing their experiences. “My legacy is the people,” he said. “Books are fine. But I would hope that people would have found the Divine Lover and can now share that ... (so) love keeps radiating out in ever-expanding circles.”
60-year religious sister reflects on teaching ministry, consecrated lifeSister Mary Margaret Murphy, on serving as an administrative assistant at Bethlehem Academy in Faribault, founded by her religious order in 1865. DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
The Catholic Spirit is honored to highlight the members of women’s and men’s religious communities who are celebrating milestone jubilees this year and who are serving or who have served in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. The following information was provided by the religious communities.
CONGREGATION OF ST. JOSEPH Cleveland, Ohio
75 years
Sister Shirley Tousignant (formerly Sister Elizabeth Marie)
DOMINICAN FRIARS, PROVINCE OF ST. ALBERT THE GREAT Central Province, Chicago
50 years
Father Robert Barry
Father James Marchionda
40 years
Father Robert Keller
10 years
Father Brian Zuelke
DOMINICAN SISTERS OF SINSINAWA
Sinsinawa, Wisconsin
70 years
Sister Marian DeGrood
Sister Jo Ann Dold
Sister Sheila Griffin
Sister Ann Halloran
Sister Susanne Klein
Sister Duchesne Maxwell
65 years
Sister Barbara Becker
Sister Sharon Casey
Sister Geran Madison
60 years
Sister Mary Ellen Gevelinger
Sister Geraldine Kline
Sister Mary Margaret Murphy
Sister Cecilia Sehr
50 years
Sister Debra Mika
FRANCISCAN BROTHERS OF PEACE
St. Paul
25 years
Brother Conrad Richardson
FRANCISCAN SISTERS OF LITTLE FALLS
Little Falls
75 years
Sister Mary Ann Capizzo
Sister Anne Furnstahl
60 years
Sister Pat Forster
Sister Shirley Mueller
FRANCISCAN SISTERS OF PERPETUAL ADORATION
La Crosse, Wisconsin
25 years
Sister Linda Mershon
ST. SCHOLASTICA MONASTERY Duluth
80 years
Sister Johnetta Maher
60 years
Sister Susan Fortier
Sister Renata Liegey
Sister Jeanne Ann Weber
Sister Luella Wegscheid
SISTERS OF CHARITY OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY
Dubuque, Iowa
70 years
Sister Mary Alma Sullivan
SISTERS OF THE ORDER OF ST. BENEDICT, ST. BENEDICT’S MONASTERY
St. Joseph
75 years
Sister Annella Mayerhofer
70 years
Sister Luanne Lenz
Sister Owen Lindblad
Sister Maranatha Renner
65 years
Sister Denise Braegelman
Sister Mary Jackle
Sister Betty Larson
Sister Margaret Mandernach
Sister Lucinda Mareck
SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS Rochester
75 years
Sister Judine Klein
Sister Gladys Meindl
Sister Louise Romero
60 years
Sister Therese Jilk
Sister Claudia Laliberte
Sister Bernadette Novack
Sister Katarina Schuth
SISTERS OF ST. JOSEPH OF CARONDELET St. Paul Province, St. Paul
75 years
Sister Rosalind Gefre
Sister Patricia Pfeifer
70 years
Sister Diane Hunker
Sister Laurie Kelly
Sister Mary Lang
Sister Brigid McDonald
Sister Ramona Rademacher
Sister Donna Sklar
65 years
Sister Clare Belisle
Sister Jeanne Stodola
Sister Linda Taylor
Sister Jean Wincek
60 years
Sister Betty Adams
Sister Susan Hames
Sister Charlotte Madigan
Sister Joan Mitchell
Sister Katherine Rossini
Sister Catherine Steffens
40 years
Sister Sharon Howell
25 years
Sister Teresa Kim
Sister Monica Lubitz
SYLVANIA SISTERS OF ST. FRANCIS
Sylvania, Ohio
75 years
Sister Geraldine Paluszak
60 years
Sister Josephine Dybza
Sister Brenda Rose Szegedy
Sister Mary Thill
Sister Patricia Zielinski
VISITATION MONASTERY OF MINNEAPOLIS Minneapolis
70 years
Sister Mary Paula McCarthy
By Christina Capecchi
For The Catholic Spirit
Hockey families across the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis were abuzz last month with the news that HillMurray School in Maplewood hired Natalie Darwitz to coach its girls hockey team, along with Jake Bobrowski. The three-time Olympian was raised Catholic, a parishioner of St. Thomas Becket in Eagan, and led the University of Minnesota women’s hockey team to back-to-back national championships (2004 and 2005). Now 39 and a mother of two, Darwitz said she’s excited to join the Hill-Murray community, which feels like a perfect fit.
Q When did you start playing hockey?
A Five. It would’ve been sooner, but there were no girls playing at the time. I had to wear my mom down.
Q What do you love about hockey?
A You’re on a tiny little blade, wearing all this expensive equipment and chasing around a black puck. It seems crazy, but it’s just so much fun! I love the multi-tasking of it. You’re skating while you’re handling a puck. You’re stick handling while moving your feet. You have other people after you if you have that little black thing on your stick. There’s not one play that you can duplicate — not the same lane or the same stroke. It’s always different. Plan
A in hockey is most likely not going to work — it’s plan B, C or D. That makes things exciting!
Q And what do you love about coaching?
A As a player, I was very action oriented. You just do it. Coaching, you can’t go and do. You have to communicate it, you have to teach it, you have to motivate them. I realized that coaching made me a better person. Coaching is serving.
Q What are the key ingredients to a winning team?
A The teams I look back on that were successful, there was a common goal and a shared understanding. We all have our roles, and we believe each role is important. When that happens, it’s just so powerful. I call it “the it-factor.” You have it and you know it, but you can’t describe it.
Many people would say the most skilled team wins. No, I’ve been a part of the most skilled team, but if we couldn’t come out of the locker room as one unit, there were less-skilled teams that could beat us. I believe so much in leadership, culture, accountability and principles.
Q Tell me about your first Olympics, Salt Lake City, when you were 18 and the leading scorer.
A The coolest experience for me was, after every warm-up, before I’d leave the ice, I would find my family and wave to them. They were always in the
same spot. That to me represented that this was so much bigger than just me. So many people sacrificed and helped me get there.
We were favored to win gold. We played Canada eight times leading up to the Olympics and we were 8 and 0, and then we lost our game to them in the Olympics. That one hurt. We played a B-minus game, and you just can’t do that at that level.
Q There were also a lot of highs, like the time you scored against Harvard in the NCAA hockey championship with a minute eight left on the clock.
A One of the coolest experiences is at the end of the game throwing your gloves off and jumping on a pile with your teammates. The joys of being on top and the agony of defeat … In sports, the sun rises the next day and you get another crack at it.
Q Is the rink a place to escape all the pressures of adolescence?
A Hockey is a kid’s game. This is your opportunity to forget about all of your stresses; let your hair loose and be free. There’s so much joy out here because you get to play a kid’s game and you get to be a kid while doing that.
Q What attracted you to Hill-Murray?
A I feel really welcome. It feels right. And the principles we live by are aligned. We both believe in mentoring the whole student-athlete. Athletics are a vehicle to help you in your everyday
life. If your everyday life doesn’t align with what you do in athletics — or vice versa — we’re missing the mark.
Q Do you talk to your athletes about mental health?
A Yes. Mental health is really important. We could go into a Tuesday with a plan, and we (coaches) might read our players and say, “Hey, we seem tired today.” If we’re tired because we’re being lazy, that’s one thing. But if it’s the dog days of the hockey season, if it’s January and you’re just tired of the grind, maybe tomorrow’s a day off. The teams I coached the past two seasons, when we’d get into January and February, we had Tuesdays off. That day did wonders. It was a day to focus on their studies, to restock on food, to do everything they needed to set themselves up for success.
Q And go to bed earlier!
A Yeah. I talk to the team about that. “What’s better: 10 p.m. or 1 a.m.?” They don’t need me ranting at them. They don’t need a second mom or dad. But they need someone to speak truth into their lives, so we say: Do simple better. Get the basics right.
Q How far has hockey come since you played?
A I think players can skate faster, shoot harder, stick handle better, but I don’t think the hockey IQ is there because they don’t play unorganized hockey anymore. Everything is all set up for them. It’s practice, it’s go to a skate
coach, go to a league where you play games, it’s not go to the park and have a pick-up game. That’s how you learn to facilitate your own rules, how to communicate, how to problem solve. We’re missing those lessons.
Q What would you say to teens who are considering trying out for HillMurray hockey but afraid they aren’t good enough?
A We all have those doubts, and sometimes we talk ourselves out of it before we even try. But if you don’t try, you won’t know. You’re not living life to its fullest.
It takes courage to try, and it’s amazing when we try things, what doors open — either open, or what we learn through that process that will help us through the next door.
Q How has your Catholic upbringing stayed with you?
A I’m a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and through our creator. Faith is an important part of life, and my boys are now learning about it.
Q For all the time you spend on ice, you’re also a hot-weather person.
A I love being on the lake. It’s my happy place. I’m on Prior Lake, and I love to surf, ski and just be on the boat. I feel like there should be a balance in life. There should be multiple things. My identity is not wrapped up in hockey. I talk to my athletes about that: Hockey is what you do; it’s not who you are. God has a path for you.
Does God get involved in beauty pageants? As in helping a young woman win a crown?
Angelina Amerigo of St. Bartholomew in Wayzata thinks so. She points to a Scripture verse she read in 2021 while competing for the title of Miss Minnesota, a verse from the Old Testament Book of Isaiah that she embraced as a promise from the Lord for her success.
“I wrote it down on a sticky note. It said, ‘When the time is right, I, the Lord will make it happen’ — Isaiah 60:22,” said Amerigo, 22, who attended St. Bartholomew School, in addition to being a member of the parish with her parents, Melinda and Victor, and older sister, Isabella. “I looked at that verse every single day leading up to Miss Minnesota 2022.”
After preparing for months, which included going to Eucharistic adoration weekly, she finished as first runner-up. She tried again this year, and on June 23 at Treasure Island Resort and Casino in Welch she won the crown and an opportunity to spend a year traveling the state to make public appearances and serve as an ambassador for the Miss America organization. She will compete in the Miss America pageant in January.
As she participates in parades and other civic events in the coming months, she plans to infuse her faith into conversations and interactions with the many Minnesotans she will meet. In a culture that can sometimes be hostile to God and the Catholic faith, she has no fear or hesitation to bring the Gospel wherever she goes. Visible expressions of her Catholic beliefs are the cross ring and Miraculous Medal she wears along with her Miss Minnesota sash and crown.
“My faith has definitely been a firm foundation of everything and anything I’ve done,” she said. “People who were watching my journey who I’ve never even met before have messaged me and just said really sweet words about how inspiring it was that I brought my faith along on my journey.”
Just days after she captured the crown, she got a chance to put that faith into action when she visited patients at Gillette Children’s Hospital in St. Paul.
“It was Gillette’s annual carnival for the firefighters of the Local 21st,” she said. “We had the opportunity to visit some rooms, so I prayed over some kids.”
Before doing so, she asked families for permission, and met a father who was “really surprised that someone in a crown and a sash” would bring faith to this encounter.
“I go back to this value of the crown and the sash not defining me, but I define the role,” she said. “Miss Minnesota is going to look different for every single person that steps into this role, and they’re going to bring their own personal values and convictions. And I think with the opportunity comes the availability to just pour who I am into the organization while I have the title.”
Amerigo’s quest to become Miss Minnesota began in 2019 right after she
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graduated from high school. She had been doing competitive dance since she was 5 years old and was looking for a new way to use those skills. She had heard about the Miss America organization when she was a junior but didn’t follow up until after graduation. That summer, she found out about a local competition in northern Minnesota and decided to enter.
While in Florida with her family at a national dance competition, she filled out the necessary paperwork in a hotel lobby just days before the pageant. During that trip, she took a walk on a beach and noticed “a bunch of trash.” That led to research and the eventual selection of her service initiative, which is one component of pageant competition, along with other things like talent, which is where she applied her background in dance.
As she travels throughout Minnesota,
she will try to raise awareness of the issue she spoke about during the Miss Minnesota competition — reduction of one-time-use plastics. Her theme is “One bottle, one straw, one bag at a time.”
“(In) the Miss America organization, one of our core values is service,” said Amerigo, who will be a senior this fall at Minnesota State University Moorhead majoring in digital media relations. “So, my service initiative is all about the reduction of one-time-use plastics and promoting the sustainable nature of our oceans, lakes and rivers, and, furthermore, creating sustainable roadmaps for … companies and businesses.”
She may try to pursue a career in this field after she graduates and is considering a master’s program in supply chain management to help achieve that goal.
One of the unexpected blessings of pageant participation for Amerigo has been the friendships she has formed with other competitors as well as previous winners of the Miss Minnesota title. Among them is Kathryn Kueppers, a fellow Minnesota Catholic who won the title in 2019 and has attended some of the pageants Amerigo has competed in, including the finals of this year’s Miss Minnesota event, which took place over four days. Amerigo was blessed by and joyful about the outpouring of support.
“I got so many text messages of Scripture verses and (people) praying for me,” said Amerigo, who teaches at DelMonico Dance in Lakeland, along with her sister. “I think (Kueppers) even mentioned she was praying a Hail Mary when I won. And my best friend was actually praying a rosary all the way in New York. … There was definitely a lot of faith support.”
As she looks ahead to the Miss America pageant in January and the rest of her time as Miss Minnesota, her focus will be on “having an open mind and open heart to how I’ll be used and what that will lead to.”
“I was walking around the house the other day and thinking about goals for Miss America,” she said. “And, I just said, ‘You know, Lord, whatever you want to do and however you want to use me, let’s do it.’”
2023
• WI Shrines (Fr. Grundman/Fr.Mischke) Sept 18 20
• Midwest Shrines (Fr. Todd) Sept 25 Oct 2
• WI Shrines Solemnity Day (Deacon Dan) Oct 8 11
• Branson Miracle of Christmas Nov 30 Dec 3 2024
• Guadalupe MEX/El Salvador (Fr. Omar) February
• Ireland Pub/Pew (Fr. Peter/Fr. Popp) April 2 12
• Holy Land (Fr. Fitz/Fr. Clinton) April 11 22
• Eucharistic Revival/IN (St. Cloud Diocese) July 17 21
• CA Mission/Wineries (Fr. Binsfeld) October
Fitz
• Poland & Prague October
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In the Gospels, Jesus was called a rabbi, a teacher of Jewish law. But there was something different about this rabbi as the words he spoke and the things he did were unlike any other rabbi before (and after) him.
Jesus taught with an authority and power that people had not seen before (cf. Mt 7:29, Mk 1:22 and Lk 4:31), and because of this, he drew large crowds continuously to himself, who gathered around him hungry to see and hear more.
In the Gospel for this 15th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Mt 13:1-23), we see this exact situation taking place, not for the first time. Jesus is surrounded by such a large crowd that he gets into a boat so he can teach to those gathered. In this scene, Jesus shares with the crowd the parable of the sower. This parable, which many of us are familiar with, tells of a sower who went to sow seeds. Along the way, some of the seeds fell onto different types of terrain. Depending on where the seeds landed, they experienced different types of growth. Some didn’t have a chance to grow before being consumed by birds, others experienced a quick but short-lived growth because they were quickly burned by the sun or choked by thorns. And lastly, those that landed on fertile ground were able to dig
FAITH FUNDAMENTALS | FATHER MICHAEL VAN SLOUN
God is the supreme matchmaker. God provides, particularly when it comes to finding one’s spouse. Take a good look at your wife or husband. Your spouse is a miracle, an incredible blessing, and a gift from God to you. Before the two of you met, could you ever have imagined how you would connect and fall in love?
One of the great biblical stories to demonstrate God the matchmaker is the marriage of Tobiah and Sarah. Tobiah lived in Nineveh, modern-day Mosul in northern Iraq, and Sarah lived in far-away Ecbatana, Media, in modern-day northwest Iran, separated by over 400 miles, a desert and a dangerous road.
Tobiah’s father had money deposited with a relative in Ecbatana and sent his son to recover it. Out of nowhere, the angel Raphael appeared (Tb 5:4) and served as his guide on the journey (Tb 6:2). Upon arrival, the angel Raphael told Tobiah about Sarah (Tb 6:11-13), instructed him to marry her (Tb 6:16), and Tobiah fell deeply in love with her (Tb 6:18). Sarah’s father said that their marriage was “decided in heaven” (Tb 7:11). The angel Raphael was God’s agent and messenger, so through Raphael, God guided Tobiah to Sarah, instructed him to marry her, and gave him a great love for her. God led Tobiah and Sarah to each other. No one would ever have predicted that they would meet. Their encounter, love for each other, and union to each other was God’s plan for them. It was a marriage made in heaven.
In the Gospel, there is a yet more famous couple, Mary and Joseph, which serves as another example of God the matchmaker. It is not known how Mary and Joseph met, yet
deeply to establish strong roots and become fruitful. The image Jesus uses would have conveyed a strong message to the hardworking people of the land who had gathered around him, to remind them of their need to establish themselves in fertile ground and be nourished by life-giving water. The crowd comes to Jesus, who is by the sea. They didn’t come for that body of water, but rather for the “living water” that is Jesus.
This Sunday’s first reading from the prophet Isaiah (Is 55:1011) shares the words of the Lord: “Just as from the heavens the rain and snow come down and do not return there till they have watered the earth, making it fertile and fruitful, giving seed to the one who sows and bread to the one who eats, so shall my word be that goes forth from my mouth; my word shall not return to me void, but shall do my will, achieving the end for which I sent it.”
Jesus sows the word of God, planting the world with his seed and nourishing it with his life. Those who listen to his words and see his deeds are called to open their hearts to recognize him for who he is and to establish themselves in him, who desires nothing more than for his seed to prosper.
Dear brothers and sisters, the different terrains conveyed in the parable represent the world in which we live, and we are the seed. But unlike seeds, we can get up and make a choice about how we want to live our lives. We can choose to cling to Jesus or allow the world and the evil one to keep us from him. May we receive the Word of God and let him flow into and through our hearts, nourishing us with his life eternal ... and may we in turn do likewise for those around us.
Father Ly is pastor of Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary in Maplewood.
according to God’s plan they were betrothed to each other (Mt 1:18). Then, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Take Mary (as) your wife into your home” (Mt 1:20), and Joseph followed the angel’s instruction when he “took his wife into his home” (Mt 1:24). Again, the angel acted as God’s agent and messenger. When the angel said, “Take Mary as your wife,” it was God who was saying, “Take Mary as your wife.” It was God’s plan that they would meet, love each other, be betrothed and then married. It was a marriage made in heaven.
My parents serve as another striking example of God the matchmaker. My father, Arthur, was from Chaska; my mother, Lanie, was from Brandon. They were 160 miles apart, and no one could ever have predicted that they would meet. Dad had just been discharged from the Navy and somehow landed an entry-level position as an optician in St. Cloud. Mom decided to go to cosmetology school, providentially in St. Cloud. They went to the same dance — each with someone else — and by the end of the night, they ditched their dates and left together. Their acquaintance instantly grew into friendship, and their friendship blossomed into love, a love so strong that they were faithful partners in marriage for 63 years. God led them to each other and blessed them with their love for each other. It was a marriage made in heaven.
Every couple has its own unique story, and I have had the privilege of listening to hundreds of them as couples prepare for marriage. Oddsmakers would never bet on these matches. After so many personal encounters with classmates, teammates, co-workers and neighbors, why this person? Why did they connect? Why was their chemistry so good? Why did their friendship go to another level and develop into a beautiful love? The answer is by the grace of God. God led them to each other, blessed them with their love for each other, and gave them as a gift to each other. It is God’s plan for them. It is a miracle. Theirs is a marriage made in heaven.
Sunday, July 16
Fifteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Is 55:10-11
Rom 8:18-23 Mt 13:1-23
Monday, July 17 Ex 1:8-14, 22 Mt 10:34–11:1
Tuesday, July 18 Ex 2:1-15a Mt 11:20-24
Wednesday, July 19 Ex 3:1-6, 9-12 Mt 11:25-27
Thursday, July 20 Ex 3:13-20 Mt 11:28-30
Friday, July 21 Ex 11:10–12:14 Mt 12:1-8
Saturday, July 22 St. Mary Magdalene Sgs 3:1-4b or 2 Cor 5:14-17 Jn 20:1-2, 11-18
Sunday, July 23
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Wis 12:13, 16-19 Rom 8:26-27 Mt 13:24-43
Monday, July 24 Ex 14:5-18 Mt 12:38-42
Tuesday, July 25 St. James, apostle 2 Cor 4:7-15 Mt 20:20-28
Wednesday, July 26 Sts. Joachim and Anne, parents of the Blessed Virgin Mary Ex 16:1-5, 9-15 Mt 13:1-9
Thursday, July 27 Ex 19:1-2, 9-11, 16-20b Mt 13:10-17
Friday, July 28 Ex 20:1-17 Mt 13:18-23
Saturday, July 29 Sts. Martha, Mary and Lazarus Ex 24:3-8 Jn 11:19-27 or Lk 10:38-42
Sunday, July 30
Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time 1 Kgs 3:5, 7-12
Rom 8:28-30
Mt 13:44-52
ST. CAMILLUS DE LELLIS (1550-1614) Though this tall, young Italian was restricted by an ulcerated leg, he worked as a hospital servant and Venetian soldier. After gambling away all his property, he became a laborer at the Manfredonia Capuchin monastery and in 1575 tried to join the Capuchins. But his leg wound returned, and he was in and out of the hospital, eventually deciding to devote his life to caring for the sick. Camillus was ordained in 1584 and founded the Order of the Servants of the Sick, more generally known as the Camillians. He is a patron of the sick, of hospitals and of nurses. His feast day is July 18.
On a rainy and cold Wednesday in January 1937, Msgr. John Ryan stood in front of the U.S. Capitol building and gave the benediction for Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s second inauguration.
It was the first time there had been a public benediction at an inauguration, and it was offered by a Catholic priest from Minnesota. Ryan was not just any priest. He was a professor at Catholic University of America, taught political science at Trinity College in Washington, D.C., and was the president of the Department of Social Action of the National Catholic Welfare Conference. He had also spoken on behalf of Roosevelt’s campaign.
Ryan grew up one of 11 children on a farm in Dakota County. One of his brothers became a priest, and two of his sisters became religious sisters. Ryan went to the seminary in St. Paul three years older than most, supported by his grandfather. He was a successful student in theology, but his real passion was economics. Such courses were not offered, so he studied the topic on his own by reading books, magazines and newspapers.
After Ryan graduated and was ordained a priest in 1898, Archbishop John Ireland assigned him to study
ALREADY/NOT YET | JONATHAN LIEDL
“Bugs are so dumb.”
That was my immediate takeaway from a video that showed up on my Twitter feed, advertising a new kind of light-based bug zapper. Apparently, the device uses light to draw even the most pesky of pests — mosquitoes — to their electrified death.
Mosquitoes generally avoid most bug zappers, because they’re not attracted to UV light. But because of the particular frequency of the light used by this device, it seems that the mosquitoes don’t really have much of a choice in the matter: they see the light, it causes a response in their nervous system, and they promptly fly straight toward the worst possible outcome for them, “like a moth to a flame,” as it were.
Again, bugs are dumb.
Of course, it dawned on me almost immediately after having this thought that I had watched the bug zapper video amid yet another 30-minute Twitter “death scroll,” a sort of mindless perusal of the social media app, spurred on by the promise of dopamine hits in the form of “likes” and an ever-renewable stream of content. It’s the kind of thing that I don’t want to do, that I know isn’t a good use of my time
moral theology at Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., so he could become a seminary professor in the subject in St. Paul. Father Ryan happily did as he was told and audited economics and sociology lectures on the side. After his first degree was completed, Archbishop Ireland forgot to reassign Father Ryan, so Father Ryan took the initiative to start an additional theology degree, staying on at Catholic University for another two years. In 1902, Father Ryan returned to St. Paul to teach moral theology and became well-known for suggesting practical applications.
but find myself repeatedly doing anyway.
In other words, I’d run straight into my own human version of the bug zapper.
Of course, the human being’s cerebral cortex is a bit more complicated than a mosquito’s; and we also have this thing called “free will.” But make no mistake about it: TikTok, Instagram and the like are designed to hack our minds, recaching lower and lower on our brain stems to remove discretion and decision-making from the equation as much as possible.
Social media may be especially pernicious, but it’s only one form of the many “human bug zappers” all around us today. An oversaturation of addictive elements, from sex to sugar, screens to shopping, and marketing and technological reinforcement has left many of us at the mercy of stimuli around us. As Thomas Merton once opined, our society’s “whole policy is to excite every nerve in the human body and keep it at the highest pitch of artificial tension, to strain every human desire to the limit and to create as many new desires and synthetic passions as possible.”
I don’t think we like to admit that there are things in our lives that have this kind of effect on us, easily overriding our willpower, preying upon our impulses, and prompting us to do things that we’d rather not. Poor impulse control seems like an affront to our idea that we’re in charge or at least that, with God’s grace, our moral defects and any difficulties in living the good life are supposed to disappear overnight.
However, denying our weaknesses and our susceptibility to certain temptations and triggers isn’t virtuous or holy. In fact, it’s the opposite.
Our Catholic faith teaches that though God forgives our sins, the effects of original sin and concupiscence can still linger. This is why we’re warned about “near occasions of sin” and resolve
The result of his second degree was a well-respected book, “A Living Wage.” In the book, and for the rest of his life, Father Ryan argued that both the dignity of families and the economy necessitated a “living wage” that would enable a working man to make enough money to comfortably support his family.
In 1910, he calculated a living wage to be $700 for someone living in a rural area. (That would be like suggesting $100,000 today.) Father Ryan believed that this would drive the economy, shifting money from the pockets of the wealthy, who couldn’t possibly spend all of it, to those who would spend it immediately on things they needed, increasing employment. Higher wages would also help families avoid the sinful use of birth control, another of Father Ryan’s regular topics of conversation.
Father Ryan was a committed capitalist (contrary to the insinuations of conservative opponents) who believed that business owners had a duty to pay their employees a living wage before distributing profits to shareholders. Father Ryan’s work was vindicated twice by Pope Pius XI: once when his encyclical “Quadragesimo Anno” was published in 1931 arguing many of the same points, and once in 1933, when the pope elevated Father Ryan to domestic prelate with the title of Right Reverend Monsignor.
By then, Msgr. Ryan was a nationally known figure and a resident of Washington, D.C., where he lived from 1915 until 1945 and worked as a professor and public theologian. Msgr. Ryan’s death was front page news in Minneapolis and Washington in September 1945. After a funeral by Archbishop John Murray in St. Paul, Msgr. Ryan was buried with his family in Calvary Cemetery, also in St. Paul. His legacy lives on in the name of the John A. Ryan Institute for Catholic Social Thought at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, which seeks to apply Catholic thought to social concerns.
Luiken is a Catholic and a historian with a doctorate from the University of Minnesota. She loves exploring and sharing the hidden histories that touch our lives every day.
during our act of contrition to “avoid whatever leads me to sin.” And of course, Christ tells us that “if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out and throw it away,” because “it is better for you to enter into life with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into fiery Gehenna” (Mt 18:19).
Of course, if you can avoid the sin by removing something a bit less important to your life and wellbeing than your eyes, you should. In our society of human bug zappers, so often the challenge is to give ourselves the space needed to grow in virtue and freedom. It’s about working smarter, not harder, because the moment of free choice often isn’t when we’ve already locked our eyes on the alluring lights of our own personal bug zapper, but rather when we’re deciding whether to put ourselves in its vicinity in the first place.
For me and my Twitter death scrolls, this means deleting the platform from my phone, and sometimes even using an app to set restrictions on how often I can use the platform on my laptop. It might be an inconvenience, especially because I use Twitter for my work as a journalist, but it’s a step I’ve taken to help me live more freely.
We all have our own personal bug zappers in our lives, and thus need our own plan of attack to avoid them. It may involve a bit of intentionality, and maybe even some sacrifice, but ultimately, it’s worth it. I’m sure if a mosquito had a similar option to limit his exposure to the death-dealing bug zapper, he’d take it, too.
Like so many other religious groups, Catholics are undergoing persecution. We are like the early Church following the resurrection of Jesus and the time of the Apostles, when the Church found itself in a hostile world and its members doing their best to live out their baptismal call.
In our current, oftentimes adverse environment, lay Catholics are called to live their faith just as ardently and enthusiastically as the early Christians, so they may provide leaven for the world around them. Pope Pius XII states “They (the laity) in particular ought to have an ever-clearer consciousness not only of belonging to the Church, but of being the Church, that is to say, the community of the faithful. ... They are the Church” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 899). The Second Vatican Council referred to the laity as the people of God and encouraged them to live as such, so that “by the witness of their life, resplendent in faith, hope and charity they must manifest Christ to others” (L.G., 31).
But how do Catholics do that if the environment is hostile and unfriendly toward their faith? We can begin by making certain we are spiritually fed at Mass and partaking of the Eucharist, spending time in the adoration chapel, saying the rosary, praying with family and friends, listening to Catholic radio and Christian music, gathering with other like-minded Catholics for fortification and encouragement, and staying true to the sacraments.
If we work in an environment that is judgmental
toward Catholics, or even intimidating and unreceptive of our faith tradition, we must choose to remain steadfast and consistent, always knowing that we are supported by the Holy Spirit. We must do what Ephesians 6:13-15 states: “Put on the armor of God, that you may be able to resist on the evil day and, having done everything, to hold your ground. So stand fast with your loins girded in truth, clothed with righteousness as a breastplate, and your feet shod in readiness for the gospel of peace” (NABRE). We must remember that we do not go into battle on our own and that the risen Christ protects and redeems us through his sacrifice on the cross. If we find ourselves in hostile territory, we must remember that we will be fortified by Christ himself. This requires great courage and commitment to live out our baptismal call, proclaiming the gospel of peace to everyone we meet.
uFortify yourself and your family by attending Mass faithfully. Spend time in the adoration chapel. Say the rosary. Strengthen your faith.
uBe prepared to defend your faith when you experience negativity or persecution. Listen to faith-based podcasts, read the Bible, learn the Catechism and be a living witness to the good news of Jesus Christ to everyone you meet.
This will not be an easy assignment, and as Pope Francis has reminded us, “The Church has a public role over and above her charitable and educational activities. She works for the advancement of humanity and of universal fraternity.” The pontiff said the Church “offers herself as a family among families, (because we are) the Church, open to bearing witness in today’s world, open to faith, hope and love for the Lord and for those whom he loves with a preferential love. A home with open doors. The Church is a home with open doors, because she is a mother” (Fratelli Tutti, 115).
Pope Francis has encouraged us to embrace our call to serve others “in order to accompany life, to sustain hope, to be the sign of unity … to build bridges, to break down walls, to sow the seeds of reconciliation” (Fratelli Tutti, 115). So rather than returning hatred with hatred, we are called to sow love. Being Christians who live with our hearts open and receptive to everyone, even those who do not like us, is our call in an unwelcoming, intolerant world that does not embrace our perspective. Let us pray for the grace of the Holy Spirit to respond to all situations with his profound and encouraging love.
Soucheray is a licensed marriage and family therapist emeritus and a member of St. Ambrose in Woodbury. Learn more at her website ifhwb com
The Church, open to bearing witness in today’s world, open to faith, hope and love for the Lord and for those whom he loves with a preferential love. A home with open doors.
Pope Francis
When the leadership teams from the National Eucharistic Revival and the National Eucharistic Congress made a recent pilgrimage to Italy, my wife and I were blessed to be included in the delegation. Though this trip included a private meeting with the Holy Father, the pilgrimage was focused on the Eucharist. Our group had the privilege of walking in the same footsteps of many saints who had a special devotion to the Eucharist. These saints were not casual Catholics; they put their entire trust in Christ’s promise to remain with us and nourish us. We had Mass with the Missionaries of Charity sisters, after which we were permitted to visit St. Teresa of Kolkata’s local room. Mother Teresa often spoke about how her ability and desire to care for the poor flowed from the Eucharist.
In Assisi, we had Mass at the tomb of St. Francis before visiting the monastery, where we were able to see the room and chapel of St. Joseph of Cupertino, whose love of our Lord in the Eucharist was so great that he levitated in ecstasy during Mass. We also visited the resting place of one of the patrons of the National Eucharistic Revival, Blessed Carlo Acutis,
and the shrine and reliquary containing his heart. Blessed Carlo was a proponent of regular attendance at daily Mass and frequent reception of the Eucharist, and he helped develop a website cataloging Eucharistic miracles.
On our last days in Rome, we visited the great Basilica of St. Peter, which houses the remains of dozens of popes and many Eucharistic saints. These include St. Josaphat, who was martyred for his attempts to restore Eastern Orthodox Christians to full communion with Catholicism; St. Gregory the Great, who once experienced a Eucharistic miracle during Mass; and St. Pius X, who lowered the church’s age for receiving Communion and who encouraged the faithful to more frequent, even daily
TWENTY SOMETHING | CHRISTINA CAPECCHI
we proceed.
reception of the Eucharist through the Mass. Although I have been to this basilica many times, I was struck by just how many of the saints buried therein promoted the Eucharist and put their trust in the Lord’s promise to be with us, always.
The National Eucharistic Revival invites us to become missionary disciples, filled with love of God and neighbor flowing from an encounter with Christ in the Eucharist. As such, I followed a friend’s example and carried the intentions of friends and family members wherever we went, as a reminder to myself that the Eucharist compels us to become in turn “bread that is broken” for others. A most powerful moment occurred to me, personally, while praying
It is not hedonistic; it is, in fact, spiritual. It honors the Creator, revering the one wild and precious life we are given. It calls to mind ancient words from St. Irenaeus, a great theologian of the Church: “The glory of God is man fully alive.”
God wants us to live our lives to their fullest capacity. He’s yearning for us to embrace the beauty of creation with the gifts he has given us — strong legs, clear eyes, big hearts, nimble fingers. One part Theology of the Body, one part carpe diem.
What will we choose? Will it make me feel more alive or numb?
before the heart of Blessed Carlo, who died from leukemia, while remembering the intentions of a friend who has been battling cancer. Pope Benedict XVI, in “Deus Caritas Est,” reminds us that praying for the good of others is not a waste of time, writing that “time devoted to God in prayer not only does not detract from effective and loving service to our neighbor, but is in fact the inexhaustible source of that service.”
Pope Francis received us warmly on our first full day in Rome, when he blessed the monstrance and sacred vessels to be used at the National Eucharistic Congress next summer. In our meeting, he spoke to us of his desire that more people will come to recognize that the Eucharist is a reality, not a mere symbol, one wherein Christ offers his very self “to nourish, console and sustain us.” He spoke of his desire to see the restoration of the sense and practice of adoration, especially before the Blessed Sacrament, and challenged us to become missionary disciples in response to our encounter with Jesus.
Movingly, he expressed his support for the mission of the National Eucharistic Revival and Congress, and for this moment in the Church in the United States. His kindness toward us and his excitement about our movement stayed with me throughout our travels. It only deepens my sense of joy, knowing that our work has the support of our Holy Father.
Keith is assistant director of the Secretariat of Evangelization and Catechesis at the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. He is responsible for supporting the National Eucharistic Revival team’s communication efforts.
charted “The Happiness Project,” distilling reams of research alongside personal experiences. Her new book is titled “Life in Five Senses: How Exploring the Senses Got Me Out of My Head and Into the World.”
In an era of mindless scrolling, Rubin recognized, we have become so numb that the notion of embracing the five senses feels novel. And this season bursts with multi-sensory happiness: the smell of fresh-mown grass, the sound of frogs croaking, the swing of a hammock. May we soak it all in, feeling the tingle of being fully alive, giving God all the glory.
Capecchi is a freelance writer from Inver Grove Heights.
The idea came on my birthday, one of those fully formed thoughts that arrives unbidden, a cerebral click.
The day began with a brief summer rain, and a chill still hung in the air. I headed to the gym, rolling down my windows and cranking up the radio volume. Bruce Springsteen crooned “Dancing in the Dark,” the ballad of a listless young man searching for inspiration.
“Man, I’m just tired and bored with myself.”
As the wind blew my hair and my body shivered from the cold, the words formed in my head: “I want to feel alive.” They had the weight of a New Year’s resolution set on a birthday, the kind of goal setting I crave each time I blow out candles. And the goal instantly gave me direction, a compass for the year ahead.
So much of our modern quest for wellness hinges on good versus bad, indulgence versus deprivation. It is a reward system that never settles itself out, doling out guilt and gold stars in uneasy patterns.
To seek out, instead, whatever makes us feel more alive — this fills the lungs with air. This feels simpler. No analysis is required; we immediately know the answer. Does it make me feel alive? Yes or no. And then
This approach naturally finds a balance, combining thrills and comforts, requiring discipline while delivering fun.
Sometimes it points us to a treat — tomato soup and a grilled cheese sandwich savored on a rainy day. Other times it asks us to resist the couch in lieu of a morning walk. Sometimes it means staying up late to enjoy a fire and fellowship. Other times it means going to bed early because your body needs rest.
St. Irenaeus’ questions replace all the secular metrics: Am I happier? Am I thinner? More popular? More productive?
The overarching question is, am I fully alive? Am I glorifying God?
Summer is the perfect time to pose these questions and then enjoy simple childhood delights like walking barefoot on the grass. Even if we don’t know the research affirming its health benefits, we know in our hearts: It makes me feel alive.
I’ve been keeping a running list of the little things that make me feel alive. Some are cozy, like an old quilt paired with a good book. But many involve contrasts that tingle, shocking me awake. Putting on a wet swimsuit. Rising early to read Scripture. Pushing myself to swim a few more laps.
Gretchen Rubin, the bestselling author and happiness expert, has landed on the same path. She famously
The blasphemous performance by Drag Queens, Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence at Dodger Stadium exceeds the offending activity of Sodom and Gomorrah (June 2, May 23 The Catholic Spirit online). The vague response by archdiocesan officials of Los Angeles gives complicity to this Satanic outrage. The recent murder of a Los Angeles bishop (February death of Auxiliary Bishop David O’Connell), indicates the depth of evil. Their sacrilegious enactment of the crucified Son of God is beyond comprehension. Father, forgive them for they know what they are doing.
Everett C. Dehmer Cathedral of St. Paul, St. PaulShare your perspective by emailing TheCaTholiCSpiriT@ arChSpm org Please limit your letter to the editor to 150 words and include your parish and phone number. The Commentary pages do not necessarily reflect the opinions of The Catholic Spirit. Read more letters from our readers at TheCaTholiCSpiriT Com
‘Fully alive’: the summertime invitation to glorify GodOSV NEWS | BOB ROLLER, CNS FILE A priest holds the Eucharist in this illustration. The Eucharist is the summit of the Catholic faith, in which the entire story of salvation is made real in a miraculous and powerful way.
Iwas blessed to be born into a Catholic, mainly Irish and German, family, with a long history of faithful Catholics on both sides of the family.
I was raised in the small town of Maple Lake, among a population that was almost 100% Catholic and where life revolved around St. Timothy. I attended Catholic grade school with Benedictine nuns. It was not required but it was encouraged to attend daily Mass if one lived in town. Benediction was held every Friday night, there were 40-hour devotions, and a novena to St. Joseph was prayed every March with beautiful Eucharistic processions.
We were taught the theology of the faith through the Baltimore Catechism. “Why did God make me?” To know him, to love him, to serve him in this world and to be happy with him in the next.
Both of my grandmothers went to daily Mass. I would take turns sitting with them. Daily Mass is what got me through college, and I have again been a daily Mass attendee since my youngest started school. I don’t know how people get through life without the sacraments of Eucharist and reconciliation. I love the Catholic Church, the true Church, the fulfillment of the Old Testament.
The nuns taught us the devotion of the nine First Fridays, the five First Saturdays and the rosary. In the children’s choir, I was privileged to sing not only at Sunday Mass but also funerals and weddings. On Good Friday, all the retail stores closed for the 3 p.m. Good Friday vigil.
What a legacy. Of course, I realized as an adult that I had to fully learn my faith when my oldest daughter, who was about 5 at the time,
asked me a question about the Catholic faith. I knew the answer but couldn’t explain it to her.
I started looking for Catholic adult education, which eventually led me to Peace of Heart Forums through The Apostolate for Family Consecration, which had solid Catholic adult education. That was where I was first introduced to the Divine Mercy Chaplet and the love and mercy of God. I am so grateful to Relevant Radio, EWTN, The Bible Timeline, Father Mike Schmitz and more.
The late Father Frederick Barthelme, my pastor through 12 years of school, said, “One is either going forward or backward in their faith. There is no standing still.” Two of my favorite Scriptures are Luke 9:23: “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me,” and Micah 6:8, “Do justice, love goodness, walk humbly with your God.”
I am active in pro-life activities, the Council of Catholic Women, adult education, and Bible studies in my parish. I am grateful for all the faithful Catholic women and men God has put in my life — my “Church family.”
Rusinko is 76, the oldest of 11 children, married to her husband, Andy, for 55 years, with four children and 16 grandchildren. She works part-time in a family business started by her father in 1949. The Rusinkos have been members of Sacred Heart in Robbinsdale for 53 years.
“Why I am Catholic” is an ongoing series in The Catholic Spirit. Want to share why you are Catholic? Submit your story in 300-500 words to CatholiCSpirit@arChSpm org with subject line “Why I am Catholic.”
DAVE HRBACEK | THE CATHOLIC SPIRIT
PARISH EVENTS
Sunday FunDay — July 16: Noon–2 p.m. at Presentation, 1725 Kennard St., Maplewood. Pulled pork with BBQ sauce contest. Bring a chair or blanket for seating and something to drink. Freewill offerings accepted. RSVP at preSentationofmary org/Sunday-funday or tinyurl Com/fjxt87hk
All Saints (Lakeville) Garage Sale — Aug. 2-5 at 19795 Holyoke Ave., Lakeville. More than 35,000 square feet of antiques, collectibles, clothing, garden and household goods, furniture, sports equipment, baby items, toys and much more. Learn about daily sale hours, early-bird day, half-price day at allSaintSChurCh Com/garageSale
WORSHIP+RETREATS
Help for Struggling Couples — Aug. 4-6 at Best Western Dakota Ridge Hotel, 3450 Washington Drive, Eagan. Retrouvaille is a lifeline for troubled marriages. Learn the tools to rediscover each other and heal marriage. 100% confidential. helpourmarriage org
DINING OUT
Food Truck Social — July 20: 5:30–8:30 p.m. at Holy Name of Jesus, 155 County Road 24, Wayzata. Bring the family for an evening of food, yard games and socializing. Food truck line-up: REBEL Lobster, Del Sur Empanadas, Original Hockey Mom Brownies. Cost varies by food truck. hnoj org/foodtruCkSoCial
An Evening with Sarah Hart — July 26: 7–8:30 p.m. at St. Paul, 1740 Bunker Lake Blvd NE, Ham Lake. Music, worship and reflection with Grammy award-
SCHOOLS
Summer Event Series — July 18: 5–7 p.m. at St. John’s School, 111 Main St. W., Vermillion. Learn about St. John’s School, enjoy food samples from new hot lunch provider: CKC Foods. Listen to live music from the Teddy Bear Band. Eat, dance and have fun.
SPEAKERS+SEMINARS
Catholic Social Difference Speaker Series — Aug. 31, Sept. 7, 14, 21: 7–8:15 p.m. at Assumption, 51 7th St. W., St. Paul. Four-week series of conversations with local Catholic leaders (see website for speakers) introducing Catholic Social Teaching and imagining how to practice it in real life. Free and open to the public. For more information and to register visit CatholiCSoCialthought org/2023-CatholiC-SoCial-differenCeConf
Eucharistic Miracles Exhibit — July 15-16 at St. Bonaventure, 901 E. 90th St., Bloomington. 1–8 p.m. July 15; 7 a.m.–1 p.m. July 16. Traveling photographic exhibit of Blessed Carlo Acutis’ work of Eucharistic miracles from around the world. Photos, illustrations, background information, witnesses and the lasting influence of the miracles on the people and the places they occurred.
Free Ice Cream Social — July 16: 2–4 p.m. at St. Nicholas, 51 Church St., Elko New Market. Ice cream and toppings, music, good company and conversation. StnCC net/upComing-eventS
Dunrovin Sunset Benefit Cruise — July 19: 5:30–9 p.m. at St. Croix Boat and Packet Company, 525 S. Main St., Stillwater. Dunrovin Christian Brothers Retreat Center’s casual evening of fun, food and fundraising. The proceeds provide funds for underserved students who would otherwise not be able to afford a leadership retreat experience. Cost: $50 for individual tickets. To register:
SeCure qgiv Com/for/dCbrC/event/867890
For additional information, visit: dunrovin org
Blessed Solanus Casey Pilgrimage — July 29:
7 a.m.–6:30 p.m. Blessed Solanus Casey Friary, 1101 Desoto St., St. Paul, is the starting point for an 18-mile walking pilgrimage for the intercession and canonization of Blessed Solanus. Ends at St. Michael in Stillwater (where Blessed Solanus was confirmed). Three-mile walking pilgrimage is also an option. modernCatholiCpilgrim Com/bl-SolanuS
Elevate Life Golf Classic — July 31: 10 a.m.–
7 p.m. at Crystal Lake Golf Course, 16725 Innsbrook Drive, Lakeville. Open to individual golfers and foursomes. Cost per golfer: $150. Elevate Life has been helping pregnancy centers and clinics thrive since
1974, assisting 38 centers and clinics in Minnesota and Wisconsin. Not a golfer? Support the work of Elevate Life as a sponsor or donor. elevatelifeuSa org/golf
YOUNG ADULTS
Catholic Softball Group: Fall Season — Aug. 17Oct. 19: 6–10 p.m. at Pioneer Park, 2950 Centerville Road, Little Canada. Registration for coed and men’s leagues opened June 25. Join the email list to be notified of all events at CatholiCSoftball Com/join Must be 18 or older to play. Come play or watch every Thursday. CatholiCSoftball Com or CatholiCSoftballgroup@gmail Com
Job transitions and networking group — Tuesdays: 7–8:30 a.m. at St. Joseph the Worker, 7180 Hemlock Lane, Maple Grove. Are you unemployed, underemployed, looking to make a job change? Then join us to network, share ideas and learn about the job search process. This faith-based meeting will take place every Tuesday. For questions email Bob at bob Sjtw@gmail Com Sjtw net/job-tranSition-networking-group
Order Franciscans Secular (OFS) Third Sundays: 2–4 p.m. at St. Leonard of Port Maurice, 3949 Clinton Ave. S., Minneapolis. Come and learn more about this group of lay Catholic men and women striving to observe the gospel of Jesus Christ by following the example of St. Francis who made Christ the inspiration and center of his life with God and people.
651-724-1348
Restorative Support for Victims-Survivors — Monthly: 6:30–8 p.m. via Zoom. These groups are open to all victims-survivors.
• Victim-survivor support group for those abused by clergy as adults — first Mondays
• Support group for relatives or friends of victims of clergy sexual abuse — second Mondays
• Victim-survivor support group —third Mondays
• Survivor Peace Circle — third Tuesdays
• Support group for men who have been sexually abused by clergy/religious — fourth Wednesdays
• Support group for present and former employees of faith-based institutions who have experienced abuse in any of its many forms — second Thursdays. For more information and details for attending the virtual meetings, visit arChSpm org/healing. Questions? Contact Paula Kaempffer, outreach coordinator for restorative justice and abuse prevention, kaempfferp@arChSpm org or 651-291-4429.
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Father Austin Barnes, looking up at 10 works of sacred art recently installed on ceiling panels in St. Mary in Stillwater, explained that St. Mary Magdalene is the only one of the subjects not looking out at the viewer; rather, her eyes are lowered, trained on a Sacred Heart side shrine.
The image of St. Mary Magdalene is among those favored by Father Barnes, parochial vicar of the parish. Joining St. Mary Magdalene are depictions of St. Lucy, St. Philomena, St. Walburga and St. Hildegard. On the opposite side of the ceiling are depictions of Rachel, Miriam, Deborah, Judith and Esther. The location of the art was chosen for a “symbolic theological reason,” Father Barnes said.
“The Old Testament women are all on the north side, the darker side; they didn’t live in the fullness of revelation. ... then on the south side is the (depiction of) New Testament (women) and they live on the brighter side, they live in the time of full revelation, the time of Christ.”
Father Barnes’ remarks about the holy women were punctuated by the sharp blasts of power tools, as workers installed new oak pews. The work was part of an overall renovation project in the 139-year-old church, expected to be completed by mid-July. The last major renovation took place in the 1990s; this recent restoration has included reinforcement of the church’s foundation, new flooring, plaster repair and fresh paint.
A six-person committee helped facilitate the work in the church; its members were Bishop Michael Izen, then-pastor; Father Barnes; Mary Wicker, trustee; Charlie Andrews, chair of the parish council; and Chris Lentz and Brenda Grubb, parishioners.
Calling it a “true team effort,” Andrews said he was grateful for “the guidance of Bishop Izen and Father Barnes throughout this whole process … their prayerful way of life helped this project from beginning to end.”
Wicker said the committee gathered feedback from parishioners prior to proceeding with the work. Andrews, who has been chair of the parish council for a few years, said the work has “been a beautiful process ... some difficult decisions, some difficult conversations, but all very fruitful.”
As feedback was gathered, Father Barnes developed ideas for design elements that would celebrate the parish’s heritage.
“I’m sitting in the church one day and I counted seven (panels along one side of the ceiling). … And I was doing some research and there are seven types of Mary,” or seven women from the Old Testament who prefigure who Mary is. “So that’s where the idea (for the sacred art) first started,” Father Barnes said.
Father Barnes wanted the lives of these holy women to inspire parishioners and visitors, to encourage seeing the value and importance women have in the Church.
“The saints, these women, are examples to us,” he said.
After prayer and discussion, the committee selected Conrad Schmitt Studios for the project. Established in 1889 and now located in New Berlin, Wisconsin, the studio provides ecclesiastical decoration, restoration, stained glass and other art at locations throughout the United States.
At $10,000 per artwork, the committee at St. Mary chose a budget for 10 pieces rather than the full 14.
“We had to raise money to be able to commit to them; and I had a week,” to meet the studio’s timeline, Father Barnes said.
Efforts began to raise the money amid ongoing renovation fundraising. “We were doing it ourselves; we didn’t do a capital campaign because we had just recently done one,” Wicker said.
A meeting with the St. Croix Catholic Iconographers Guild that Father Barnes attended set a series of events into motion.
“I was doing show and tell, I had printouts that I was giving to everybody and anybody, and one of the women there, she’s not a parishioner (at St. Mary) but she said, ‘I have a relic of St. Philomena. Would you like to borrow her to pray for this project?’ And I said absolutely, we would love to borrow her,” Father Barnes said.
The same day Father Barnes picked up the St. Philomena relic, he received a phone call from Sean Pilcher, a Minneapolis-based identifier and restorer of Catholic relics. A few months prior, Father Barnes had brought to Pilcher two relics a St. Mary parishioner had found with her mother’s belongings. When Father Barnes stopped by the day following the phone call, Pilcher confirmed that one of the relics was of St. Lucy. Father Barnes shared his excitement with Pilcher, showing him a printout of the sacred art project. Noting St. Walburga was also part of the project, Pilcher asked Father Barnes if he wanted a relic of her as well.
“My response was ‘That’s not funny.’ Because she’s pretty obscure,” Father Barnes said. “And he said, ‘No, I have a relic of her, and you can have her.’ So, in those two days, three of the saints just showed up.” He told parishioners, “It’s an affirmation of our discernment and an affirmation that these saints are already praying for us.”
Father Barnes said in six days, the necessary funds to commit to the project were raised. “It was such a testament to the Lord’s providence and his affirmation that this is what he wanted, and he was blessing this.”
Conrad Schmitt Studios had roughly 10 artisans working on the project, which took a total of 12 weeks
St. Mary is hosting a series of events to celebrate the new work done in the church:
Thursday, July 20 — A celebration of the 139th anniversary of the church’s consecration, including a 7 p.m. Solemn Mass of Blessing with guest Father Cyril Farmer.
Saturday, July 22 — Great Feast of St. Mary Magdalene, including 7 p.m. solemn vespers and Eucharistic procession with guest Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson.
Sunday, July 23 — Votive Feast of Mary, Joy of Israel, including a 10:30 a.m. solemn Mass with Bishop Michael Izen and a noon-2:30 p.m. lawn party at St. Mary’s rectory.
to complete. The art itself took about eight weeks to complete. Created in the Beuronese style, the works were digitally designed, then transferred to canvas and hand painted at Conrad Schmitt Studios. They were then varnished, delivered to the church and installed with a conservation-grade glue. Each piece is about 4 feet in diameter.
“We were really happy with our choice” in selecting the studio for the project, Wicker said, adding that the hope is the art “will be catechetical tools.”
Specifically, Andrews, 40, who attends St. Mary with his wife, Maria, and their three children, said the depiction of St. Lucy has special significance in his family — Andrews’ eldest daughter’s name is Lucy. “So that was special to us to be able to see St. Lucy up there,” Andrews said.
Father Barnes said he hopes to expand a spiritual reflection he wrote on the sacred art, possibly printing it in a coffee table book about the church. Father Barnes also hopes parishioners will consider future fundraising to install art on the other four ceiling panels closest to the church’s entrance, above which is painted a verse from the Book of Judges: “If thou wilt go with me, I will go.”
“And that’s the archbishop’s call with the Synod — to go out ... to bring that joy, that light into a world that is so dark,” Father Barnes said.
Father Barnes hopes the sacred art inspires “faith, awe, wonder and hope” and reminds the faithful “to trust God, to trust his providence, his plan.”
Andrews is eager for the newly renovated church to “continue to be such a prayerful, sacred space that we can all enjoy and go to. I’m extremely excited for everyone to see it.”
