Thanks to all the moms in our lives for showing us unlimited love.
Matthew Kelly’s major theme was to help men become “game-changers.” “Our mission is to change the world…and if we want to change the world it starts with us.” He suggested many Catholics have lost their identity and are vulnerable to attacks from the culture and the media. “We’ve lost our story, we’re failing to take our story into the public square,” he said. “As a church and as Catholics, we have been playing defense for too long. Christianity, by nature, is pro-active. We need game-changers.” His inspiring talk focused on three concrete things men (and women for that matter) can do to become the best version of yourself, essentially who God wants you to be. They are: read five pages of a great Catholic book every day, go to confession regularly (once a month), and bring a journal to Mass in order to record one thing that God is speaking to you through the Scriptures, the homily, or the prayers.
The Archbishop gave the final talk of the conference. He was welcomed with a standing ovation. He shared that he was refreshed and inspired by the morning and he encouraged the men to live their vocations well. “Like the Holy Father, my goal is to live the Catholic faith in an exemplary way and to proclaim the Gospel in season and out of season. My only agenda, if one can even speak of such a thing, is to make the name of Jesus Christ known and loved, which is, in fact, the work of evangelization. To make this vision a reality, however, I need the understanding and cooperation of every Catholic in this Archdiocese. As fathers and brothers, you are a fundamental part of this undertaking….My brothers in Christ, you are called to be a blessing to those whom God has entrusted to your care. For your wife and children, for your extended families and friends, you are called to be an example of the paternal care and compassion of our heavenly Father, who is for his children a source of life-giving love.”
All Saints was well represented at the event. More than 20 men registered through the parish and carpooled together and close to that number registered themselves and attended the event. One of the event organizers commented to me there were a lot of men from All Saints signed up. It was a proud moment to which I could only reply with a smile, “Yes, that’s right. We do have a lot of men here.” Parishioner James Eberhardt comments, “I was incredibly impressed with the number that showed up. The simple, concrete, and doable suggestions for action were the most helpful for me.” Many other men commented on the strength they drew from the event to live their identity as sons of God, husbands, and fathers.
For the men in the parish who are interested in reading Catholic books together, beginning with Matthew Kelly’s Rediscover Catholicism, all are invited on Saturday morning, April 28 at 7:00 am in the parish library for discussion and fellowship. The parish Mass will follow at 8:00 am.
It is not unusual that priests who have served faithfully and suffered much would be named a Cardinal even if they cannot vote. There were several in the current group. About ten years ago, Fr. Avery Dulles from New York, a great Jesuit Theologian, was named a Cardinal well into his 80’s. Often, the Pope will name priests who served heroically in oppressive circumstances as Cardinals in pectore (in the heart/secret) if naming them publicly would jeopardize their safety or their people’s. This happened frequently behind the Iron Curtain.
With so few things in the world with any staying power, consistories and the College of Cardinals make great theater. But theater is much richer when we know the truth behind it. The College is not a club, and while discussion about factions, manipulation, and taking back the papacy may sell Italian newspapers and give American writers a “source” for reporting, they are more wrong than right. The College of Cardinals give the Pope advice in steering the Church and are more interested in winning souls for Christ than the machinations the media desire to flame. At least they got one thing right. Red is the color of blood. Please keep our new Cardinals in your prayers, as they take on an important role in the life of the Church.
Let’s be humble enough to accept the challenge to change and have a blessed Lent.
I have written in this space before how much I dislike the physical process of moving. Our recent move to the new parish house across the parking lot on Hazel Nut has confirmed that. The biggest challenge is all the accumulation over the years. Like many others who move, I discovered boxes that have not been opened since they were packed over three years ago (some perhaps longer), things I had picked up thinking they would be nice for someone that I couldn’t find when I needed them, some things that I thought were long gone, books that I have never read, and what can only be described as a library bigger than most third world schools have. There is simply a lot of stuff that builds up over time. I enjoy books, but during the sorting process, I was challenging myself interiorly as to why I have so many and was not all that happy about packing them (but eternally grateful that the KC’s and others were willing to carry them).
While grumbling about sorting and packing, wondering why I did not become a Franciscan or Jesuit, and tempted to sponsor an impromptu bonfire, I came across a basket on the back of a shelf that included a wide file titled “Keep.” It was an accumulation of notes, cards, and letters acquired over the last decade or more that when I received them, I thought they were worth keeping. (Having them in a place they were easily accessible was not as high a priority.) I took the bait and opened the file and began to read. Memories of events and people that were fading at best and virtually gone at worst became crystal clear again. Some reminded me of circumstances where I made a difference in people’s lives at a baptism, wedding or a funeral. Some brought up memories of very sad events in people’s lives. Others reminded me that even though I had no idea what I was doing, God was able to do something meaningful and important for someone while I was there. All reminded me how grateful I am to be a priest called by God and how His people are grateful for their priests. It is an amazing accumulation of experiences and relationships that must be responded to in gratitude. Three hours later, I had made no visible progress on the move, but the accumulation did not seem so burdensome.
As a priest, my accumulation may be different than for many, but we all have it. As we advance in age and hopefully wisdom, accumulation marks the movement. I am grateful that even in the clutter of the physical move that causes frustration and anxiety, the more important accumulation in my life rose to the surface. God is indeed very good.
As we live our daily lives of faith, devotion and service, may our accumulation not be marked primarily by unopened boxes, small libraries, and things that need to be carried, but by experiences of the deep, authentic, and rich relationships that God desires us to have with Him and each other.
St. Francis de Sales (1567-1622)
In this classic book, St. Francis de Sales showed how regular people locked into worldly routines could live saintly lives. He argued that not only was holiness possible for people in all walks of life, but that living for God made every calling better. This past week we celebrated his memorial on January 24th. The following is an excerpt from his book:
Very often, under color of an alleged impossibility, people who are obliged to live an ordinary life are not willing to even think of undertaking the devout life…they are of the opinion that, just as no animal dare taste of the herb called palma Christi (castor oil plant), so no one ought to aspire to the palm of Christian piety, while living in the midst of the press of worldly occupations. And I show them that as the mother-of-the pearl fish live in the sea without taking in one drop of salt water, …so a vigorous and constant soul can live in the world without receiving any worldly taint…
True devotion does us no harm whatsoever, but instead perfects all things. When it goes contrary to a lawful vocation, it is undoubtedly false. “The bee,” Aristotle says, “extracts honey out of flowers without hurting them” and leaves then as whole and as fresh as it finds them. True devotion does better still. It not only does no injury to one’s vocation, but on the contrary adorns and beautifies it. All kinds of precious stones take on great luster when dipped into honey, each according to its color. So also every vocation becomes more agreeable when united with devotion. Care of one’s family is rendered more peaceable, love of husband and wife more sincere, service of one’s prince more faithful, and every type of employment more pleasant and agreeable.
There are no new secrets in Francis’s book. What makes it exceptional is his showing how repentance, prayer, spiritual disciplines, and virtues fit in the lives of the faithful.St. Francis’s father had educated him for a brilliant secular career. Instead however, he became a priest, missionary, and a bishop. Francis de Sales was an outstanding leader of the Catholic reformation, a European renewal movement that both preceded and responded to the Protestant Reformation.
In 1602, Francis was appointed bishop of Geneva. He proved himself to be an able pastor, administrator, and educator. He was the spiritual director for other saints including St. Jane de Chantal. With her he founded the Order of the Visitation in 1610. He died Dec. 28, 1622. He is a doctor of the Church and patron saint of writers.
Ostriches never fly. Hens fly in a clumsy fashion, near the ground, and only once in a while. But eagles, doves, and swallows fly aloft, swiftly and frequently. Similarly, sinners never fly up towards God, but hover close to the earth. Good people who are not yet devout, fly toward God by their good works, but do so infrequently, slowly and awkwardly. Devout souls ascend to him more frequently, promptly and with lofty flights. In short, devotion is simply that spiritual agility and vivacity by which charity works in us or by aid of which we do good works quickly and lovingly.
– St. Francis de Sales (Voices of the Saints, Bert Ghezzi
In the wake of Stephen Jobs early death from cancer, much ink and air time was consumed with appropriately honoring his legacy of vision and innovation which changed the way we process information and do many daily tasks and activities. Much of what he did really made our lives easier and helped us have access to a breadth of things essentially unimaginable. A recent biographer also outlined a side of him that was at times eccentric, always demanding, and lacking in basic human virtues that often make people pleasant company at family gatherings and other social outings. Despite his vision, Mr. Jobs was also a flawed human being like the rest of us.
Awash with gifts and vision that may come into the human race once a century or less often, admiration was understandably laid on the Apple founder. In a talking head conversation on TV, one of the heads remarked that Mr. Jobs was adopted and identified a link between the choice for adoption that his biological mother made and what may have happened, or not happened, in the world of technology if she didn’t make that choice. He didn’t mention abortion but it was clear that he meant that choices have consequences, including abortion. Almost on cue, another talking head took offense at the link between abortion and the adoption of Stephen Jobs accusing the other of being crass and attacking women’s “right to choose.”
Of course, what he was doing was making life theoretical. The “choice” is what is important. All else is theoretical. The original analysis was correct and precisely not theoretical. Had Mr. Jobs been aborted, none of his talent and vision would have surfaced and it is easy to extend that to the many contributions he made to the world we live in. His life was not theoretical and neither was his mother’s choice to put him up for adoption. Life is not theoretical in the present or in hindsight. It is a unique gift from God in each and every human being He has created. There is no theory, only uniquely created and never repeated life. Mr. Jobs’ set of talents was not only unique, but proved to be incredibly valuable to the world he lived in.
In the conversation about abortion, we are frequently left in the realm of the theoretical. Freedom. Choice. Individuality. Hard circumstances. Separation of church and state. While ideas are very important, people are more than just ideas and none of us is only a theory. We are flesh and bones and body and soul. When a family is affected by abortion, lives are changed forever. A child is gone, families lose a member, and wounds are created that affect lives for generations. Just like we can never underestimate the worth of one child or make him or her a statistic, the same is true for an abortion. There are no theories in abortuaries, only lives.
On the eve of one of the two most dehumanizing decisions our Supreme Court has ever made, we could step back and deal in theory. This is the law of the land. There is a penumbra of a right to privacy in the constitution that it doesn’t say in words. Legal theories abound and there is place in the conversation for them. But human lives are not theories.
The ideologically motivated may bristle at the notion that the world could be very different if one mother had chosen abortion instead of adoption, but they can’t escape the reality that in the life of Stephen Jobs, that is exactly what happened. It is a high profile example of what plays out millions of times a year in our country. That baby in the womb is not an idea, but a unique created and gifted person in God’s image and likeness. If it was true of the life of Stephen Jobs, it is true for all the rest of the adoption/abortion decisions made every day. No life is theoretical. All life is a gift and our response to it does have consequences. Honoring the life of Stephen Jobs ought to help us to honor the life of every human being created by God.
- One: Retreat of at least 24 hours during the year, including our annual Emmaus Retreat for Women in March. Setting ourselves apart for a time of prayer, reflection, and communing with God is absolutely essential to manage our spiritual lives, connect with the God who loves us, and prepare us to live out our vocations to the best of our ability. Our prime example, of course, is Jesus, who in the Scriptures is frequently separating from the crowds and very important tasks in order to commune with the Father. There are multiple opportunities in the area to take a retreat in a group or individual setting.
- 1330: Listen to Relevant Radio 1330 AM on your drive or commute. We are blessed to have a Catholic radio station in our radio market. It is a gift to listen to news from a Catholic perspective, be provided sound advice daily in moral and spiritual matters, and get a view of the world from the perspective that matters most, our faith. 1330 is a very strong signal by radio standards and has a potential of reaching nearly two million people in the Twin Cities. Estimates are that less than 5% of our Catholic population knows about and listens to this treasure. We at All Saints could boost that percentage by ourselves. Our media selections form who we are, whether we care to admit it or not. We may as well take our in between time and be uplifted rather than drawn into the oral food fights that often fill the airwaves now.
- 52 and 365: Make a personal commitment to attend Mass every Sunday and pray every day. A few years ago a Lutheran bishop identified successful evangelization as “nothing short of having all believers in church every Sunday and praying in their homes every day.” Sounds like a wonderful definition to me, and one that merely adheres to our basic commitment to honor God and maintain a relationship with the one who has given us everything.
- Five: Reflect on the gifts and talents that God has given you to serve His kingdom on earth. If possible, take the Living Your Strengths program that we offer periodically at All Saints. It is an exercise that can help us identify strength areas we did not know we had or never viewed as a strength area. God wants us all to participate freely in serving His kingdom and His people and has given us the gifts to do so. Let’s consciously find out what they are and make a plan to use them.
- One: Act of charity per day toward another in your life. I hope that for most of us that is a habit already, but to make a commitment to act outside of ourselves and our own interests on a conscious level, along with our prayer, will conform us more closely to Christ and make Him more present in our community. Better yet, make that act of charity toward someone for whom it is hard to be kind. It may even win some friends.
- Indefinite: Attend at least one funeral or wake during the year. In our post Christian culture, one of the things getting quickly dismissed is the importance of a full funeral including a wake and burial. We have been at these rituals for 3500 years or so and they are important from a human perspective for the deceased, the family, and us. It is also a corporal work of mercy to bury the dead.
Have a blessed, prayerful and growing in faith year in 2012.
The parish was Epiphany in Coon Rapids and the pastor was Fr. Bernard Reiser. The pastor and parish were known far and wide for being large, having vast outreach projects, and dedication to pastoral service unequalled. In my first meeting with Fr. Reiser, he listed the nursing homes I would visit weekly and let me choose the mornings I would routinely visit the two hospitals in the area and said I would be in school classrooms or at Mass with the students every day. He was uninterested in any of my liturgical or parish management ideas. It was clear that taking care of the sick and educating children were absolute priorities. It was more pastoral work than any of my classmates were given and it was far more a reflection on the priorities of the pastor than it was of me. It proved to be the most important lesson I would ever receive as a priest.
Fr. Reiser was not known for delegating responsibility and would hand as little as possible off to an associate. That is part of the legend among clergy and parishioners alike. It also made life frustrating for some of his associates. Not so much for me. Since I arrived a little older than some newly ordained priests and he was getting a little older himself, I probably had more handed off to me than some of my predecessors. I thought I had plenty to do and stayed busy for five years.
As I met parishioners and people from all parts of the country and the world, the reputation of Fr. Reiser went before him. Once I said I was from Epiphany, seemingly everyone “knew” him through a friend, family member, charitable activity he was part of, or the Epiphany Diner at the state fair. There are organs and buildings in several countries that have his imprint on them if not his name. He never sought recognition but it did find him, and when it did, he took advantage of it by bringing attention to work against poverty in Haiti, in Minneapolis, or with the unborn.
Near the end of my time at Epiphany, Fr. Reiser entered an era of difficult health circumstances that necessitated retirement from the pastorate. But retirement for him, and many priests, actually helped his health improve and he was blessed with nearly another decade of active service helping at Epiphany and other parishes including St. Nicholas in New Market. Much of his ministry in retirement was supporting anti-poverty efforts in Haiti and encouraging Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration.
Fr. Reiser was diagnosed with inoperable brain cancer about three weeks ago, and deteriorated quickly. He died Tuesday evening. When I visited him at the hospital, he was as gracious as ever and wanting to pray. Ironically, it was never his custom to pray the Liturgy of the Hours in common with associates. The first time I ever did was at his death bed. In the mystery of the Church and the fraternity of priests, unexpected things happen. An Irish accountant who enjoyed order was assigned to a German pastor known for chaos. On paper it shouldn’t work. In God’s grace, it was the best thing that could have happened to at least one half of the equation.
Eternal rest to you, Fr. Reiser, forever known as the German Shepherd to the Irish and everyone else.
Shame hardly seems like a word to be used at Christmas. It is negative. It implies that something might be wrong. It also implies that there really are behaviors that can be called shameful or elicit sentiments of shame within us. We live in a world that gives us reasons that little to nothing should be shameful since nothing is really our fault and there are explainable reasons for all that we do through nature or nurture. As much as our society tells us that we should be ashamed of almost nothing, the idea still hangs on. Typical people will experience shame. Sometimes it even lingers and can overshadow everything we do and the people we are. It seemingly won’t go away.
The irony of a world without shame and yet having countless people who live with it constantly caught me when I read a brief excerpt from an essay by Patrick Madrid in the October Magnificat titled The Fellowship of the Unashamed. At first glance it looks like a TV talk show idea that tells us to eradicate our guilt that is simply residue from long gone and unnecessary moral ideas. But it’s not. “My past is redeemed, my present makes sense and my future is in God’s hands,” writes Madrid. “I am finished with low living, sight walking, the bare minimum…colorless dreams, tanned visions, mundane talking, frivolous living, selfish giving, and dwarfed goals.” These are the words of a man who has acknowledged the littleness and sinfulness of his past, and is embracing his future. There was shame. There no longer is. He is appropriately no longer ashamed of the messiness of his past and can also see the greatness that lies ahead of him with that burden lifted.
As an active member of the Fellowship of the Unashamed, he is released of his burdens brought on by selfishness, ignoring God, and not understanding or embracing God’s mercy. With that release, he is free to live in the brightness of God’s glory and look forward to a future not only absent shame, but filled with promise. Such is the gift of Christmas. The redemption through the miracle of a human-divine baby who shows us God and ourselves in the same life and actions now grabs us and our attention. No more ignoring what we ought to be ashamed of or wallowing in it in a neurotic way, but simply allowing it to be forgiven and redeemed. It is a gift all too often difficult to receive. In the constant battle that we are engaged in every day, we are tempted to set shame aside or convince ourselves that it is a social construct that we can simply think away because we are so much smarter than the ones who taught us in the first place.
Of course, neither is true. A people redeemed and able to live in the glory of the Christ Child, complete with the star over the stable, is a people that knows it has to be redeemed. If there were no reason to be ashamed, there would be no reason for Jesus. There would be no celebrations of miraculous births, visits from wise men and shepherds hearing from angels. Alas, in our humility and wisdom, we know we need to be relieved and redeemed from a shameful past that is no more. Ironically, membership in the Fellowship of the Unashamed requires experiencing shame, not as an anvil crushing us, but as the vehicle to recognizing what that baby does and who that baby is. He forgives and is truly the Son of God. And I suppose also the founder and membership coordinator of the Fellowship of the Unashamed. As we rejoice in the glory of Christmas, let’s become the Fellowship’s newest members.
God’s blessings on your Christmas and New Year.
Have a blessed last week of Advent, and enjoy the extra few days. Christmas is coming, ready or not.
Enclosed with this bulletin, you will find an insert that shows our summarized audited financial statements for the fiscal year 2010-2011. It is our goal to provide readable, accurate, and transparent financial information to the parish. We have included statements in traditional form as well as in pie charts so as many people as possible can understand them. I am grateful for the generosity of our parishioners who have kept us financially stable during a difficult time economically in our country and for many of our families.
When we discussed this presentation at the Finance Council, they asked me to include a few highlights from the statements:
- We are grateful that once again, we ended the year in a net surplus position, but just barely. We were $21,000 in the “black” for the year ended June 30, 2011. Your gen-erous response to our “Dig us Out” special collection ($70,000) kept us from finish-ing the year with a deficit. Accounting principles require us to capitalize payments for significant repairs rather than expense them in the year they were incurred. We had two significant items, a roof repair ($27,600) and a compressor ($12,300) in this category.
- Our salary expenses increased $151,000 from year to year. The reason for that in-crease was that the previous year all of our employees took a 3% reduction in their salaries, and in 2010-2011 that was reinstated. The net effect is that our employees went two years without any salary increases. We have budgeted modest salary in-creases for the current year.
- Our operating cash position increased by $260,000. Almost all of that ($230,000) was from the sale of the parish house on 165th Street at fair market value. That will all be rolled into the new rectory adjacent to the church on Hazel Nut in 2011-2012.
Many people ask how we can report not meeting our weekly budgeted revenues during the year and then report a surplus at the end of the year. Good question. The answer is twofold: Expense management and special donations. - Our staff continues to be frugal. I would be remiss if I did not point out that some of this is simply pushing expenses into future years. Some of those include needed technology updates, an upgraded sound system in the church, and a new phone sys-tem. They are large expenses that eventually have to be paid and we have put them off in tight economic times.
- Some parishioners have stepped forward with special donations for specific projects which are not included in our Sunday giving numbers. Special donations to complete the Blessed John Paul II Adoration Chapel and to support NET Ministries serving our youth have had a great impact on our parish life and have been reflected in our fi-nances as well, but not Sunday giving.
In July, I gave a preliminary report of our financial picture and our projected 2011-12 budget. In it, I noted that to “break even” we would need a 1.5% increase in giving this fiscal year. At this point, we are not there, but we have nearly seven months, including Christmas and Easter collections ahead of us. I am confident that with generous and conscious giving, we will again end this year in the black. In the next week, you will receive a mailing asking you to commit to Sunday giving for 2012. Please be generous and con-sider increasing your weekly offering to your parish community. We have been blessed and we need to share those blessings with the community.
I want to thank our Finance Council and Finance staff for all the work they have done keeping our finances under control in this time of transition. I am also grateful to Mimi Baker, our previous Director of Finance, who dedicated so much of herself to this community, and who passed away in September.
The economic recession has lead to a significant increase in such needs in our commu-nity. As an example: in 2010, there was a 14% increase over the previous year in visits to suburban food shelves. Some facilities saw increases of up to 60%. Many people are liv-ing on a financial ledge – making it month to month, but falling behind when an unex-pected expense or loss of income comes along. Many of those who turn to churches for help fall into an ever widening gap between those who are earning enough to be self-sufficient and those who are eligible for programmed assistance.
Selma (not her real name) is an example of persons in this gap. In her 60’s and living alone, she works full time in retail, bringing home about $1,150.00 each month. Her rent alone is $530.00. (Housing costs should not exceed 30% of income. Selma’s rent is at 46%.) Somehow, Selma is making it month to month. She pays her bills, puts gas in the car, and food on the table. She gets help at a local food shelf, but, because she works full time, she is not eligible for other programmed assistance. She recently missed two weeks of work due to an illness. With no vacation or sick time, she lost two weeks of wages, and was unable to pay her rent. She sought help from family and friends, but they were unable to loan her any money. So she contacted All Saints. I met with Selma, and we looked over her budget. We talked about the long term picture as well as her immediate needs. I got her permission to speak with her landlord and to look into ways to help. The full amount was more than our fund could handle for one case. Through the local network of churches, I was able to get part of the amount from another church, and the need was met.
Selma is one of many people who turn to All Saints each year. Through this fund, All Saints takes an active part in providing a safety net for those most in need and those who are in that gap. In addition to direct assistance, we also help people access other commu-nity resources. We regularly work in cooperation with agencies and other churches. We encourage those we help to look beyond immediate needs to long term solutions with a goal of achieving self-sufficiency.
All Saints has given over $60,000.00 in assistance in the last two years though the Emer-gency Relief Fund. Donations have been generous; however, the fund’s balance is at its lowest in a long time. Needs increase during the holiday and winter seasons. 100% of your donations go to direct assistance. There are no administrative expenses. We take reasonable steps to ensure that needs are sincere. By donating to our Emergency Relief Fund, you are making a difference in people’s lives right here in our community. Your help is needed. Emergency Relief Fund envelopes are part of our parish envelope mailing. Please consider including this quiet but important ministry in your holiday giving. Thank you for your generosity.
“Et cum tuo spiritu” means “and with your spirit” and is the response to the greeting, “Dominus vobiscum” (“the Lord be with you”). The exchange is frequent in the Mass in its original Latin and is translated to English with the response “and also with you” in our previous translation. Our previous translation has a number of places that are not literal because of a decision to make the English more conversational in tone and to help smooth out the roughness of certain usage that does not make for an easy translation.
As we welcome the changes, it’s important that we are accurately informed about why the changes were made. The most important aspect of this change is to know that it was not an impulsive decision by anyone. Our approach to authority in this country lends itself to subscribing to ideas of leaders acting on whims, and when we apply that to the hierarchical nature of the Church it has the possibility of going viral. The truth is that the new translation has been in the works for over a decade, when the Church, in consultation with ex-perts in language and liturgy, put out new norms for the translation of liturgical texts in the late 1990’s. What we’re doing is well thought out and not at the whim of anyone.
Our Liturgy and Worship Commission, Aana Bendson, our Music and Liturgy Director, and our formation and education staff have worked hard to put together a program to intro-duce the new missal this fall. I am convinced there is nothing more that we could have done to prepare the community. We have been very up front since September and have provided numerous opportunities to learn and prepare for all ages as well as our pre Mass catechesis since early October.
The translation is not a radical change, but we will experience change in some of the ba-sic prayers of the Mass. The most significant change will be in the Gloria, in which our current translation did not include a number of parts from the original Latin. Along with the “and with your spirit” anticipate modest changes to the Sanctus (the “Holy, Holy”), the creed, and some of the acclimations used in the “Agnus Dei” (the Lamb of God). The tran-sition will be eased with Mass cards and worship aids that will be placed in pews that we will need to read from while we get used to the new language. You will also notice changes in the collect prayers (prayers said by the priest at the beginning of Mass, over the gifts, and after communion). They will have a more transcendent tone than the more conversational style we have now. There will be modifications to the Eucharistic prayers as well including the words of consecration.
It is important to note that the Mass is not changing. The words are not “changing” either. The translation is changing. This is the same Mass with a different translation and no ritual changes. We are not abandoning the vernacular in the Mass. The Mass is our highest form of prayer and connects us most intimately with Christ in His body. Our new transla-tion is an opportunity to appreciate anew the same Mass, different words and deeper meaning. As we begin this new time in the Church, I pray that it gives renewed apprecia-tion for the sublime mysteries we celebrate within the Mass and our deep call to present Jesus to the world by “glorifying him with our lives.” This is an adventure we take together. Let’s enjoy it and move deeply into the heart of Jesus together.
I don’t think that family is alone. As parishioners, we have certain interests based on temperament, place in life, and many other factors. Because of those factors, we look for certain things to meet our needs and interests at various stages in our lives. That is natural. But there are many other things that happen in our parish that none of us will have direct contact with but should have at least a working knowledge of for no other reason than to be able to answer people’s questions. In the recent list of activities and ministries in our parish guidebook, we listed over 85 different activities and ministries and I know we missed some. There is a lot going on here that we need to know about!
Our gathering in Murphy Hall this weekend, the publication of the guidebook, the bulletin, and the newly resurrected parish newsletter are ways for us to communicate many of the activities we have going on. As parish leadership, we need to share the information. First, it lets people know what is going on, which I believe will surprise many. Second, it gives people an opportunity to discern how to use their God given talents to serve the parish and wider community. Third, it gives people an understanding of where help is needed. Whether that comes from participating in an activity already present or meeting a need that we have not met or seen before doesn’t matter. What matters is that we discern God’s gifts to us and generously share them.
At parish council this year, we are focusing on authentic complete discipleship which includes a discerned and faithful response in gratitude for the gifts that God has given us. It is my hope that this attitude will spread throughout the parish and light a fire within the community to faithfully share the Gospel and lead people to Christ in liturgy, learning, sacraments and service. It includes knowing what is going on and our individual discernment.
The truth is that there is a lot going on in the parish. Sometimes in the past it may have been hard to find all the activities. We are trying to correct that situation and have people make decisions based on accurate information and not incorrect perceptions rooted in inadequate information. We are at a critical place in the growth of our new leadership structure. Many people in the initial leadership teams are coming on three years of service and need (and want) to be replaced. It is only right that a community blessed with the talents that we have would be able to share the opportunity to lead. Specifically, our leadership development team could use people that have skills in training and leadership development, and our communications team needs people skilled in marketing, technology, writing and other communication skills to join their groups. Many other opportunities are there as well.
Please take some time and visit the displays at the We Are All Saints gathering in Murphy Hall this morning and talk with people who are active in parish leadership. It will help spread accurate information and assist in the process of discerning a generous response to God’s blessings to us.
It wasn’t original, but the words of my youth basketball coach were new to us. He told us after a season of modest success and some disappointment that the regular season was for details, but real growth and improvement happened in the summer. With that, he connected with a few opposing coaches and sponsored a post season clinic, combined practices, and some scrimmages for shortly after the finish of the school season, which most of our returning team participated in. Then he gave us drills and areas to work on as individuals during the off season and summer. Rules and his time would not allow him to be part of that in any way, so it was up to us to do it on our own.
We were fortunate that the local high school made its facilities easily available to anyone in the community over the summer. Most of our guys committed to a couple hours of basketball four mornings a week from the end of school to the beginning of fall sports season in mid-August. A few did not because of other commitments and different priorities in their lives and families. At the beginning of the summer we had about eight guys firmly committed to getting better and showing up at the open gym working on shooting, ball handling and other individual skills recommended by our coach. We got better and had fun in a pretty relaxed environment.
As the summer passed, the numbers showing up became less consistent. Late night Risk games held guys in bed well after the eight o’clock meeting time. The daily grind of skill development became less interesting for some. Within a month, we were down to about three of us making it every morning with all the others dropping out. When the next season rolled around, it did not surprise our coach which players had improved the most. It was the ones who persevered in the commitment to grow and get better when no one else was watching.
November provides a time for remembering those who have gone before us and completed their earthly journey. As we do, we look at the prize at the finish line. Our reading from All Saints Day from the Book of Revelation gives a glimpse of the end with John’s vision: “I had a vision of a great multitude from every race, nation, people and tongue. They stood before the throne and before the Lamb wearing white robes…” (Rev. 7:9). Far more important than any championship or skill development is the quest we make for the prize of Heaven which requires perseverance at a heroic level, especially today. It is easy to envision the prize, and the natural desire to attain it is planted in our hearts.
The gift is free, of course, but the choice to take it is of our own free will. God will not make us take it. He only asks for faithful response and perseverance. Later on in Revelation, it is revealed who the people in the white robes are:“These are the ones who have survived the time of great distress; they have washed their robes and made them white in the Blood of the Lamb.” (Rev. 7:13) The “winners” were the ones who endured trial, fought off temptation to abandon the journey, and we were willing to be purified and instructed by Jesus. They persevered and praised God in their lives and by their lives until the finish.
Our annual communal remembering of our loved ones who have died reminds us of our continued communion with them in the life of the Church. It also reminds us of the prize we seek and the path we take to get there. Many temptations will be in the way. There is nothing wrong with the “Risks” of our lives, but if they get in the way of the ultimate goal, they need to take a different place on our priority lists. The destiny is Heaven with the communion of saints in the multitude of faithful in union with Jesus. The path to the finish is paved with perseverance when no one else is watching.
All Saints is privileged to have a number of parishioners at various stages of formation for service to the Church in Religious life and priesthood. Below is a brief update on each of them.
Karen Mahowald, the daughter of Maureen and George Mahowald, is now a novice with the Dominican Sisters of St. Cecelia Congregation of Nashville, Tennessee (better known as the Nashville Dominicans). She entered the community as postulant in the summer of 2010 after teaching in a school run by the sisters in Arlington, Virginia. In August of this year, she received her habit and her religious name, Sr. Ann Dominic and began novitiate, a period of growth in prayer, virtue, discernment and learning the life of the community. Sr. Ann Dominic plans on taking first vows July 28, 2012 in Nashville. When she was in Lakeville for a home visit last summer, she reported being grateful for God’s call, her appreciation of the parish’s support, and being able to endure the early morning life of the community, despite not being a “morning person.” In this period of limited communication, she is reporting to be very happy. Please keep Sr. Ann Dominic and her community in prayer.
Zach Gruber, the son of Barb and Randy Gruber, is a senior at St. John Vianney College Seminary at the University of St. Thomas. As a senior, Zach is entering a critical place of discernment as he determines whether God is calling him to move up to the major seminary at the St. Paul Seminary next fall. I had the privilege of working with Zach prior to my arrival at All Saints and can report tremendous growth in him as a man, a seminarian, and a disciple of Jesus Christ. Zach has taken on leadership roles at the seminary, including managing the hospitality of many visitors at seminary events. Since Zach is close by, he is very generous about assisting us at our liturgies during his breaks from school. Send him your greetings when you see him and please keep him in your prayers.
Kevin Manthey, the son of Ann and Jim Manthey, completed his second year of major seminary at the St. Paul Seminary last spring after graduating from St. John Vianney. The archdiocese is blessed to have the presence of a new movement in the Church, the Emmanuel Community, with us. Emmanuel began in Europe and is now expanding to other places in the world. It uniquely includes priests, brothers, and married people with families, and provides a different experience of Christian community while serving as a priest. Kevin discerned that he may be called to that life and is now studying in Belgium and continuing his discernment. Since Emmanuel is diocesan based, Kevin’s ordination would be for the archdiocese and he would serve here, but with the charism of serving both a parish and the community. Continue to keep Kevin and the Emmanuel Community in your prayers.
Fr. Nathan Laliberte, the son of Mark and Cathy Laliberte, was joyfully ordained last May, celebrating his first Mass at All Saints in one of the happiest and most memorable moments in our parish’s history. He is currently serving as an associate pastor at St. Stephen’s in Anoka with Fr. Mike Van Sloun, one of our best at working with young priests. My sources in Anoka County tell me he is doing great and the preaching acumen he shared with us is also showing up there. The first years of priesthood are absolutely critical in the development of a priest. Please keep Fr. Laliberte in your prayers in this crucial time in his growth as a priest.
It is an honor to have such fine people seeking God’s will. No vocation is produced in a vacuum. They are products of communities and families. They need spiritual and material support in their formation. Please keep them in your prayers and consider supporting them and their communities through contributions to the parish’s vocations fund.
The difference between Kim and me was that I lived in terror every day and she was as calm as could be whether she actually completed the homework or not. She took delight in anticipating my horror at being called on. Her relaxed approach to life had her more concerned about the social scene than I was and her natural intellect and seeming unconcern about grades helped her to succeed on tests in a way that I only imagined for myself. She was just a bright young woman with a kind and outgoing personality and when looking back it was easy to see she had a bright future, even if her teasing and apparently lax study habits had me harboring sentiments that in hindsight I am not proud of.
I lost track of Kim until we saw each other at one of our reunions. Shortly after high school, she met the “man of her dreams.” Intense infatuation led to a certitude that was not justified in reality. When she became pregnant, she expected marriage and responsibility from the man and got neither. Her pregnancy ended the relationship quickly and the woman with the bright future was left with at least temporarily derailed plans. When she shared her story with me at the reunion, she could only talk of the joy of being a mom even with the challenges of being a single parent. When I met her son, it was obvious he shared her confidence and relaxed approach to life.
After many years as a single mom and finishing college in an untraditional way, another man showed up in her life. While still confident and outgoing, she made sure he was grounded, mature, faithful and responsible before the seriousness of the relationship was allowed to grow. Eventually, they were married and still are today. She feels blessed to have a stable marriage and a beautiful family and to have experienced the grace of God poured into her life.
Kim’s history is not unusual. She took a situation resulting from her own mistake of judgment and behavior, faced the fear and anger caused by it, and allowed God to work in her life. She could have stayed bitter at the father of her son but she didn’t. She could have blamed God or the Church for her predicament, but didn’t. She took her life’s lemons and made lemonade out of them with the grace of God. She used to talk to high school girls a lot about her life encouraging them in chastity. While grateful for the trajectory of her life, she doesn’t recommend it to anyone, but reminds people of the goodness of God in all circumstances.
Life tosses us lemons. We can try to ignore them and throw them away, blame others for them, or pretend they don’t exist or we can accept them and do the best we can with them. Whether the lemons are of our own making or just a product of living in a fallen world, we still have a choice in how we deal with them. We can become bitter and allow them to tear us up, or we can make lemonade with the grace of God.
“What is this demonstration?” the distinguished Dutch gentleman asked us as we sat at a table near him in an outdoor café in Valencia, Spain. He was referring to the thousands of youth and young adults gathering on a Friday night flying their nations’ flags, singing, meeting and greeting each other and preparing to pray in a preliminary gathering prior to the main events in Madrid a few days later. Most were standing, but others felt quite comfortable sitting on the centuries old cobblestone plaza, the main gathering place in a city once occupied by the Romans. The question spurred a brief conversation about World Youth Day, the regular gathering of young Catholics from throughout the world. When we assured him that it would be a peaceful “demonstration” he became more calm than he was when he first saw a crowd of young people assemble that would eventually exceed 10,000.
While Europeans are more used to seeing demonstrations than most of us in the United States, the site of thousands of people gathering is intimidating, because it is unusual that they would be coming together for a joyful purpose. Most of the demonstrations are reacting to a negative situation or expressing anger or frustration. To be honest, the Dutchman seemed surprised that the crowd was so happy and were not chanting “anti something” slogans. Unfortunately, such gatherings are often rooted in frustration and anger.
I could not help but to compare my recent experience in Spain in crowds that exceeded one million with what is transpiring on Wall Street and other places throughout the country. Based on media reports, the demonstrations are taking on a life, or many lives, of their own. While observers offer insight and opinion as to the motives and demands of the protesters, few if any know for sure. What we do know is that they are joining the ranks of the demonstrators because they are angry. The list of the things they are angry about appears endless and most of us are probably angry about some of the same things. A crowd is an amazing phenomenon and can create a power of suggestion mode that draws people in. The danger, of course, is that those being drawn in are not exactly sure what they are being drawn in to.
When I compare the experience of gathering in faith for the purposes of showing love for Jesus, unity in the Church, and a desire to show the world something beautiful with the relative chaos of the occupations, I can’t help but to be grateful for a faith that gives me the ability to face the realities, disappointments, and even upsetting things that happen in this world with an eye toward something greater and a wisdom to know that even this will pass. It does not mean, of course, that we sit back and just let things happen, but our faith does provide an outlet and an antidote for the evils and shortcomings of the world and the people who populate it. With nowhere else to go and a vision that is clouded by immediate inconveniences and even suffering, we create an opportunity for a demonstration and get taken in by an attitude that somehow earthly powers are going to take it all away.
Our gatherings in the Church, whether of the massive and memorable variety like World Youth Day, or the more common variety of Mass ever week, bring together the same thing. We have a faith that unites us and keeps us looking in the same direction at the same Lord Jesus who invites us more deeply into communion with Him and each other. Part of the joy of the gathering is that we know why we are there. To express our faith in Christ, respond to His invitation to mercy, and prepare to share in the joy He has given us. It is a gift to have a focused reason for our being together.
As people continue to gather, we pray that their hearts be soothed and be granted the grace to gather in joy rather than anger.
We buried two church employees this week. Mimi Baker who was our Finance Manager for nearly six years, and Sue Nugent, Deacon George’s wife, who worked both here and at Annunciation in Minneapolis as a parish secretary for many years. Both are positions in the life of the Church which are our “strength up the middle.” They are often unnoticed but integral in the life of the parish, and like many less visible positions, only get noticed when something goes wrong. That’s unfortunate, since as the Body of Christ, we should appreciate all the gifts that are brought to the table in the life of our community. But in the fallen world we live in, it is not so, even in the life of our Catholic community.
Mimi also came from a family of accountants and was very talented, having success in both public accounting and many kids’ dream job at Disney World. She served on our Finance Council for a number of years and when the position opened up, discerned that this might be a place she could work and be close to her kids at the same time. It was also a time of great financial tension in the parish and her gifts were welcomed by Bishop Piché. Through her leadership and work with the Finance Council, we were able to refinance our long term debt, which saved the parish hundreds of thousands of dollars in interest cost just over the last few years. Our internal systems are much stronger and our staff is much better off with her being part of us for these years.
When I arrived at All Saints, Sue was just diagnosed with Parkinson’s and a form of dementia, which slowly took her memory and her motor skills. Even with her decline, one could see through the disease that she was a take charge woman who offered her opinions freely. It was easy to see how she could be a parish secretary and the wife of a deacon. The deaconate is a vocation by itself but its availability to married men makes it a unique combination of husband and wife. A married man does not go into the program without being 100% supported by his wife. Deacon George assured me that she was with him all the way. In many ways, she was his strength up the middle in his own vocation.
For the last years and months, we have observed the care that Robert Baker and Deacon George provided to their ailing wives and have been inspired by the love they showed. It is a testimony to the vocation of marriage and its permanence in good times and bad, until death do they part. While we recognize Mimi and Sue’s contributions to the life of our community, we recognize that they were the strength up the middle not only for our parish, but for their families. We thank them for their service to both. Please keep Mimi and Sue’s families in your prayers as they adjust to life with their strength up the middle altered by earthly death.
The question comes from a place that sees the human person as something less than a gift from God, and perhaps as even a burden. The economic lens that many influential people see the world through envisions the child as little more than an economic entity: one that will be a net consumer and lacking in productivity for at least eighteen years and probably longer. Of course, we know children are much more than the amount of money it takes to provide for them. They are a gift from God that brings delight beyond any economic burden or benefit. I suppose there are times when it may seem like the children in our lives are constant causes of declining bank balances, but most of us realize the gift is far greater than the cost. The culture that envisions children as an economic burden is blind to the gift that they are to the present and the future because they are human.
As we honor Respect Life Month, we can cite the almost infinite attacks on innocent human life from abortion to infanticide of handicapped infants to euthanasia to immoral use of capital punishment. Those are gross abuses of the gift of human life to be sure. But at the heart of those grave attacks is a distorted view of the human person rooted in the assumption that we are nothing more than consumers of worldly resources. Another person will be one more competitor for fuel, food and oxygen. Contraception got its start because the wealthy viewed the poor as parasites that would compete with them for resources. A child is a gift from God whether the parents were economically well off or not. As human beings we are so much more than just consumers of the world’s goods. We are God’s gift to the world in His image. Until we realize that and actually live it, we will not be able to cultivate a culture of life that respects human dignity and not just economic productivity.
The irony of the fear that grips potential parents is that it is the enemy’s method of preventing us from looking at the future with any semblance of hope. What he wants is for us to believe that the worst of what we are experiencing now will last forever. Even without faith, one can easily know that it won’t. The economy is bad and we all know it. But anyone over 40 has seen some tough times and anyone over 75 has seen some disastrous times economically. They came and went. This dip will go away too and hopefully sooner rather than later. But even if not, we have a future of promise that inspires us to act in faith and hope and not fear.
Life is a gift in every generation, every recession, every depression and every recovery and expansion. Fear should not paralyze us into thinking that the gift is too expensive. The “cost” of a child may be staggering, but the benefits are infinite. Celebrate and joyfully receive the gift of life.
Unexpected Consequences of Associations.
Before I arrived at All Saints, one of my duties was working with the National Conference of Diocesan Vocation Directors (NCDVD), where we were establishing a board of advisors of lay people. One board member had a connection with a well known national Catholic politician and suggested we invite him to join the board. After some long and difficult discussions we decided that we would specifically exclude politicians from our list of potential advisory board members. It was not that we thought this person was not faithful or that there was something inherently wrong with politicians. We simply thought that the world of politics was so fluid and could create situations that we might not want to be associated with.
In the spring of 2009, the Catholic Hospital Association, in opposition to the bishops of the United States, publicly supported a flawed health care reform bill that eventually became law. Some believe their “Catholic” support was critical in passing the bill by a narrow margin. One of the major flaws of the legislation was the power it gave to unelected bureaucrats in our healthcare system. Less than two years later, the Department of Health and Human Services, run by a Catholic, had bitten at least one hand that fed them. Its recent decision to both demand that all healthcare plans include sterilization and most forms of contraception (see details in last weekend’s bulletin) and define a religious exemption from it so narrowly that only organizations who only serve and employ people of their own faith is now backing the same Catholic Hospitals who supported it into a corner. Either violate your own tenets of faith or go out of business.
It is an imposed choice that is nothing short of diabolical and violates every sense of freedom of religion that we know in this country. The whole situation smells of the worst of our political system. HHS released its new regulations on a Friday afternoon during the heat of the debt ceiling debate, a deliberate attempt to keep people from paying attention to it. It also demonstrates the dangers of allowing unelected officials to effectively determine law. These rules could put hundreds of hospitals, colleges, and charitable service organizations out of business all through the stroke of a pen of an appointed official. We may not always like our elected officials, but we elect them to make the big decisions our government faces. At least they are accountable to the people in the electoral process.
The good news is that we can act and have an impact. Specifically, we can go to www.usccb.org/conscience and voice our dissatisfaction with the HHS ruling. There is pending legislation in Congress that would overturn these bigoted rules. Please contact Congressman John Kline (or your own Representative) at (202) 225-2271 or visit http:\\kline.house.gov and ask him to support Respect for Rights of Conscience Act (H.R. 1179). Please contact Senator Al Franken at (202) 224-5641 or visit http://franken.senate.gov; and Senator Amy Klobuchar at (202) 224-3244 or visit http://klobuchar.senate.gov/emailamy.cfm and ask for support of S. 1467, the Senate version of the same bill. We need to act quickly as the comment period ends on September 30.
It strikes me as nothing less than a deliberate attempt to force faith behind closed doors. The purveyors of this ideology bank on us either not knowing or being silent on the matter. We know and we cannot be silent. Please contact HHS and your elected representative as soon as possible and tell them to rescind this gross encroachment on religious liberty.
Our faith is not a private matter. We educate, heal and serve not because our clients are Catholic, but because we are. We cannot stand for this. Any government that forces people to choose between adhering to their faith and serving people in need is not respecting religious liberty. Act now before it is too late.
From the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Dated: September 9, 2011
In implementing the 2010 health care reform law, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) recently issued a rule requiring almost all private health plans to cover Food and Drug Administration approved contraceptive methods and sterilization procedures as “preventive services” for women. The mandate even forces individuals and groups with religious or moral objections to purchase and provide such coverage. This poses an unprecedented threat to individual and institutional religious freedom.
Never before has the federal government required private health plans to include such coverage. Even the FDA-approved “emergency contraception” drugs are covered by this mandate. Thus, the mandate includes drugs that may cause an abortion both before and after implantation.
The rule includes a religious exemption so extremely narrow that it protects almost no one. For example, under the new rule Catholic institutions would be free to act in accord with Catholic teaching on life and procreation only if they were to stop hiring and serving non-Catholics. A great many religious organizations -- including Catholic colleges and universities, hospitals and charitable institutions that serve the public, as well as religiously affiliated health insurers will not qualify for the exemption.
The public comment period on this interim final rule ends September 30.
ACTION: Please send an e-mail message to HHS by visiting www.usccb.org/conscience. Once you send your comments to HHS, you will be automatically invited to send a message to your elected representatives in Congress, urging them to support the Respect for Rights of Conscience Act (H.R. 1179/S. 1467) to ensure that such federal mandates do not violate Americans’ moral and religious convictions.
SAMPLE MESSAGE TO HHS: “Pregnancy is not a disease, and drugs and surgeries to prevent it are not basic health care that the government should require all Americans to purchase. Please remove sterilization and prescription contraceptives from the list of ‘preventive services’ the federal government is mandating in private health plans. It is especially important to exclude any drug that may cause an early abortion, and to fully respect religious freedom as other federal laws do. The narrow religious exemption in HHS’s new rule protects almost no one. I urge you to allow all organizations and individuals to offer, sponsor and obtain health coverage that does not violate their moral and religious convictions.”
NET Team 2011-2012: New Faces, Same Jesus
Not a morning TV watcher, I was surprised when I arrived in the office that a tragic “accident” had happened at the World Trade Center, only to learn within a few minutes that another crash happened that was not an accident. One of the prosecutors of the first attempt to blow up the World Trade Center said he knew immediately what it was because he saw the method in terrorist training manuals he reviewed in preparing his case. The enemy was known and invisible at the same time. Life was changed immediately and forever. I was new in the Vocations Office and was scheduled to travel the next week to my training session and visit potential seminarians. With planes grounded and many nervous potential travelers, our leadership seriously considered cancelling our convention. They did not and I ended up travelling the next week on a nearly empty plane and through airports that resembled ghost towns. It was eerie.
While it was eerie, I remember thinking that I would honor my commitments to travel because they were necessary, but also because I knew the enemy wanted us to live afraid. Getting on that plane to San Antonio was one small thing I could do to confront the evil I saw unfold on TV on 9/11/01. It was inconvenient. I had my carry-on bag searched more closely than ever before (with guards asking what my Mass kit and breviary were), but I also knew we were just doing what most European travelers had been doing for years.
It was evil at a distance and very near at the same time. Such is the problem of evil and what we live with every day. Evil wants us to live scared and sell ourselves short in confronting it. It wants to make us believe it is more powerful than it really is and change our normal routines and the good and normal things we do. Sometimes it succeeds. Air travel nearly ground to a halt. Many people openly asked me if their faith was weak because they changed their travel plans. They wondered if God was really in charge if such a horrible act of intentional destruction of life and property happened. Evil wants us to doubt whether the Almighty God really is almighty.
Evil won a battle on 9/11/01, but it can never win the war. In some ways we proved it to ourselves with the unprecedented unity we had as a country for at least a short time. Human pettiness has taken much of that away, but the presence of God never goes away. And while evil rears its ugly head, it can never defeat us if we know what it is and are willing to confront it. We confront the nastiness of evil by telling it that it cannot defeat us and even if it has a flare up now and again, God will always triumph. We continue to live our lives the way we have been taught.
We confront the face of evil with the confidence of the Children of God, who live in light and not in darkness. Evil can never defeat us with the power of God on our side. Almighty God is still almighty, but we need to recognize what evil is and face it when it stares us in the face. We may not fight evil like the heroic first responders on 9/11, but we fight it every day by knowing what it is and following the course that God has paved for us.
What does it mean to Keep Holy the Lord’s Day?
It is a worthy question for us to consider as secular activities continue to encroach into Sunday, demanding our attention and attempting to consume our Sabbath rest. The Lord’s Day is a Divine Law, the third commandment, and so we do not have the authority to change it, but how do we obey it given our world today?
The Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church says the following (#453 - 454):
How does one keep Sunday holy?
Christians keep Sunday and other days of obligation holy by participating in the Eucharist of the Lord and by refraining from those activities which impede the worship of God and disturb the joy proper to the day of the Lord or the necessary relaxation of mind and body. Activities are allowed on the Sabbath, which are bound up with family needs or with important social service, provided that they do not lead to habits prejudicial to the holiness of Sunday, to family life and to health.
Why is the civil recognition of Sunday as a feast day important?
It is important so that all might be given the real possibility of enjoying sufficient rest and leisure to take care of their religious, familial, cultural, and social lives. It is important also to have an opportune time for meditation, for reflection, for silence, for study, and a time to dedicate to good works, particularly for the sick and for the elderly.
Like so much of Catholic teaching, that on the surface seems to be a no (a thou shall not…whatever), keeping holy the Sabbath, in actuality, is a resounding yes; a yes to the truth of what God has designed for us. He created us and therefore knows what it takes for us to flourish. Jesus Himself confirms this when He interprets the third commandment by saying, “the Sabbath is made for man, and not man for the Sabbath” (Mk 2:27).
While attending the Eucharist remains a real obligation and the worship which humanity owes to God, the observance rises from the depths of our Christian life. In the following paragraph from the Apostolic Letter, Dies Domini (on the Day of the Lord), Blessed John Paul II articulates the yes of the Sabbath…”so that our lives may become more profoundly human.”
“Sunday is a day at the very heart of the Christian life. From the beginning of my Pontificate, I have not ceased to repeat: "Do not be afraid! Open, open wide the doors to Christ!” In the same way, today I would strongly urge everyone to rediscover Sunday: Do not be afraid to give your time to Christ! Yes, let us open our time to Christ, that he may cast light upon it and give it direction. He is the One who knows the secret of time and the secret of eternity, and he gives us "his day" as an ever-new gift of his love. The rediscovery of this day is a grace, which we must implore, not only so that we may live the demands of faith to the full, but also so that we may respond concretely to the deepest human yearnings. Time given to Christ is never time lost, but is rather time gained, so that our relationships and indeed our whole life may become more profoundly human.” Dies Domini #7
Ask the Associate: Part I
Hello and peace to all. Our first question for part one of the two part series called, Ask the Associate, comes to us from a fifth grader who asks, “Why is Mary standing on a snake?”
A great question! Our perceptive youth has noticed that Mary is often portrayed with a sublime smile, with arms either folded in prayer or open inviting others to come to her Son through her, yet standing on an ugly snake.
We can find the answer in the Story of “The Fall” in Genesis. Adam and Eve sinned and separated themselves from God, when they ate the forbidden fruit. Yet even after they turned from Him, God would not leave us orphans. Immediately after, He announces a future hope.
God comes to Adam and Eve, and Satan is there too. God says to Satan, “I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and thy seed and her seed: He shall crush thy head, and thou shall lie in wait for His heel.” God basically says to him, ‘Satan, you miserable proud fool, you will never win.’
This scene happens only three chapters into the entire Bible, so God prepares His Chosen People for the Messiah for the entire rest of the Old Testament. He would give them 276 prophecies about the One who was to come and all these prophecies would be fulfilled in Jesus.
Man could not bridge the gap back to God on his own, he had tried with the blood of bulls and goats, but these sacrifices would never permanently take away sins. Then, in the fullness of time, came Jesus, who would enter into the sanctuary, not made by human hands, and offer His own blood on our behalf (Hebrews 10).
Adam’s disobedience brought death; Christ’s obedience brings life. Mary is the woman; Jesus is the seed of the woman who has crushed the head of the serpent.
On the night of the Great Easter Vigil, the Exultet rings out: O happy fault, O necessary sin of Adam, which won for us so great a Redeemer. It is a happy fault because without Adam’s sin, we would not have needed a Savior. Our Savior does not simply restore us to the same garden to be in the presence of God, but comes to live within us at Baptism and gives us the Eucharist, the banquet of life, of which the very fruit is God Himself. This is the story of salvation for everyone, but it plays out individually in our own lives. He has given us the glorious and terrifying gift of freedom to make this mystery our own…or not.
So, why is Mary standing on a snake? The answer is because she is the woman, the New Eve, whose seed (Jesus) crushes the head of the serpent. May Mary teach us to be faithful to grace and to follow Christ, the Son of the living God, who has definitively crushed the head of the serpent.
From the Pastor's Pen....
Evelyn and Warren were pillars of St. Lawrence, the parish I attended during my college and young productive years. Early retired, they were delightful and very welcoming of a transient community of undergraduate and graduate students at the U of M and an eclectic group of recent graduates and other 20 somethings that lived in the vicinity. As leaders in the parish, they were not only kind but encouraged us to use our gifts to serve the parish and got many of us involved in parish leadership at relatively young ages. I and many others were grateful that there was no suspicion on their part of people who wanted to be involved even though some may not be around for more than a year or two before careers, marriages, convents or the seminary took them away from the parish.
Sadly, Warren died a premature death and not surprisingly filled the church with his funeral. His life of service in the parish and community were appropriately honored. As I grew busier and engaged with seminary life and early priesthood, I lost track of Evelyn. Then several years ago as I was taking my seat before a Gopher basketball game at the Big Ten Tournament in Chicago, I was pleasantly surprised to see Evelyn and a distinguished looking gentleman sitting alongside her in the seats in front of us. She had been married to Cam, a widower himself, and a great Gopher fan, a few years earlier. They were enjoying the weekend with his children, some of whom were living in the Chicago area. It was great getting to know her new family and catching up (it is easy to do when the Gophers go down unpleasantly early).
I run into them at funerals and Gopher games on occasion and exchange greetings. I was pleased to get a brief note from Evelyn a few weeks ago, announcing that Cam had become Catholic at age 95! Cam was a fixture at St. Lawrence and the priest, Fr. Pat Johnson, extended invitations for him to think about becoming Catholic for some time. Then out of the blue, he announced that he wanted to become Catholic after meditating on the idea for about 12 years. He was received into the Church on Pentecost of this year amidst the joy of his wife and community.
It was a joyous and surprising occasion for all. It was surprising because we don’t typically see 95 year olds being received into the church. It is also a reminder to us that it is never too late. Jesus calls people at all stages of life to become part of his body in the Church and we never know when that call might be responded to. Cam is a great guy and I suspect people may have thought he hung around the parish to appease his new wife, when in fact he was taking it all in over many years and asking God to make the road clear. He was ready at age 95 and responded to polite invitations. At 95, he became brand new in Jesus and His Church.
When I heard the story, I was pleased but also thought of the number of people that populate our pews on Sundays who may not be Catholic. Maybe they are visiting or maybe they are spouses of Catholics. Everyone has a story, of course, and none of us can ever force an act or decision of faith on anyone, but I do wonder if in many cases all it may take is an invitation. Maybe people think it is too hard, or even impossible to become full members of the Catholic Church. Historically, we have been weak at basic evangelization. Sometimes all it takes is a polite invitation to help someone become new at age 95 or earlier.
Please contact Mike Vievering one of the clergy in the parish office if you know someone who may be interested in becoming Catholic. Many times all it takes is an invitation.
From the Desk of Fr. Tom WIlson, Pastor
Last week, Chris Kuhn, our Youth Minister, seven adults from All Saints and I accompanied 33 youth from the parish to the Steubenville Youth Conference at Franciscan University of Steubenville in southeast Ohio. Motivations for going on a summer church activity vary widely for youth and adults. Some view it as a vacation, others an opportunity to get away from family, some to grow in their faith and others, particularly in this case, might want to go to the roller coaster capital of the world, Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio. Whatever the reasons for going, we loaded the coach bus and departed nearly on time on Thursday, July 7 with anticipation and in the breeze of God's plan.
These trips can be fraught with challenges, including mechanical problems with the bus, perhaps people not in the best of moods because they are there by an act of another's will, or the event does not meet expectations. I could not have been more pleased that all went smoothly the first day, including offering Mass at a public park in Belvidere, Illinois. We arrived at our first night's location in South Bend and were met, after a viewing of Rudy on the bus, by a car load of Bruno's pizza, the best the city has to offer, and an edifying part of the culture of Notre Dame. After walking the campus, praying at the Grotto, visiting the magnificent Sacred Heart Basilica, and praying the rosary in front of Touchdown Jesus, we were made comfortable in the Sacred Heart parish center for the night. A group of teachers from Philadelphia staying in the same building had fear in their eyes when our bus unloaded. They went out of their way to find me in the morning and let me know how well behaved our youth were.
The next day became more pilgrim like when we got stuck in a major traffic back-up near Toledo because of a serious accident and ended up on a state highway that was long, windy, and hilly, and made a few of our people a little motion sick. We arrived a couple hours late and were relegated to the back corner of the arena for the first session. God's reason for us being there became clear when we had a wonderful talk on God's presence and then Eucharistic Adoration and Benediction with over 2,000 youth in the field house. In the simplicity of the form of bread and the energy and enthusiasm that is a gift of youth, Jesus made himself known and available to us.
The rest of the conference focused on living in and receiving God's love by being rooted in Jesus Christ. The conference speakers, among the best that the Church can provide in this country, continued to emphasize a common set of themes. Jesus is there for you. He loves you. He is with you among the major challenges you face in life. The energy and presence of the Holy Spirit present in the gym are a gift, but even when we are not surrounded by 2,000 peers, God is still with us and loves us. Living the faith can be difficult, but we are given the grace to do it.
I often reflect on the gift of faith and how we can take it for granted. Being with young people on fire for God, learning and relearning God's love for them, and praying with them are great blessings for all of us. Seeing the faith, energy, enthusiasm and maturity of the youth of All Saints was a privilege. While God wanted to let the young people know His love, he also wanted to communicate with us the same message. You should be pleased with the youth of All Saints. Keep them in your prayers and pray that their infectious and enthusiastic faith rubs off on the rest of us.
A priest friend of mine was at a gathering when a family member announced that she was getting married. Pleased at this development he asked her where they were getting married. She and her fiancé had found a lodge in the woods somewhere that would do the wedding outside and had a rain option if the weather was bad. "Why not in your family's church?" he asked. "Oh, those just aren't our beliefs. That really doesn't matter." Understandably, my friend and his sister, the woman's mother, were disappointed in her choice. They were prepared for it, but the casual way she dismissed the place of faith and the Church in her marriage took them by surprise. A faith that thousands of people lose their lives for every year and a faith that her parents sacrificed financially for her to receive and be educated in was being dismissed like orange shag carpeting of the '70's.
The woman was abandoning her patrimony, the heritage handed on to her by her family. While the term is often used in the passing on of property, it is also appropriately used to describe anything handed on, including faith, character, ideas and spiritual gifts. We are all handed a patrimony that we are entrusted with. As I write this on the Fourth of July, we as a nation have a tremendous patrimony that we have received and are required to hand on. The gifts of freedom and self-governance we enjoy are ones relatively few have and have been preserved by the sacrifices of those who handed them on to us. Like any patrimony, there is always risk in the intergenerational transfer of the gifts. I witnessed in my profession many cases in which the patrimony given from one generation to the next went from a hard earned privilege to an entitlement in the next generation or two. What one generation earned and cultivated the next often does not appreciate or claims as a right.
It is sad to see the squandering of patrimony, whether it is in the tremendous gifts given to our nation or the gift of faith handed on through families. Too often, we don't fully appreciate what we have until it is gone. The inheritance cannot be resurrected just by realizing the mistake we have made in ignoring it in the first place. That's why it is so important to share the lessons and the importance of what the patrimony is, how we received it, who gave it to us and at what cost. The next generations deserve to know the sacrifices their ancestors in their families and in their country gave so they could have freedom and faith. What we take for granted or even ignore are gifts and opportunities that people all over the world yearn for, and yet we set them aside or trivialize them through announcements that we can follow any impulse because "it is a free country." Trivialization and squandering of our patrimony can lead us to giving it away for nothing because we don't appreciate what we have.
On the Fourth of July, we remember the patrimony we have received as a country, and diligently commit ourselves to preserving what God has provided and people before us have cultivated and sacrificed for. Every day, we cherish the patrimony of faith planted by God in our hearts meant to be shared and handed on as an inheritance to those following us. The smooth passing on of the patrimony is not any more automatic in spiritual goods than in material ones, but considerably more important.
It really is up to us to make sure the generations that follow cherish and cultivate the gifts of faith and freedom. If we don't, we risk them being squandered and going the way of orange shag carpeting.
Rejoice in the patrimony of faith and freedom God has given us, and wisely pass them on.
From the Desk of Fr. Tom Wilson, Pastor
In the nearly endless conversations we have in our lives about the unpredictable and difficult economy we live in, percentages get tossed about on almost everything. Leading stock market indicators are down. Oil prices have increased. Unemployment hovers around 9%. Percentages abound and the more we get inundated with them, we become numbed to the numbers. But the sad reality is that the numbers always have a story behind them. When the stock market dives, people’s retirement picture is altered. When oil prices escalate, prices of gas and many other essential items rise with them, and when unemployment percentages are recited, real families are affected by job loss. Those are not just numbers. There is a human face behind all of them.
As we near the end of the fiscal year (June 30), I need to give an update on numbers and express my gratitude. In a very challenging economy, we will again finish in the black for the year (exactly by how much will not be known until mid July or so). This is despite a terrible winter, and costlier than anticipated roof repair and air conditioning units. Our ability to take in more than we spent can be attributed to three factors. First, the generous response to our “Help Dig Us Out” appeal, which took in nearly $70,000 quite literally made the difference between finishing in the red and the black; second, the number of people giving in regular Sunday giving has increased over last year; and finally, our staff continues to be judicious in its use of parish resources. Many go without in order to help us be responsible in managing our budget.
After several months of analysis and determining needs for the next fiscal year, the Finance Council recommended a budget that has Sunday giving increasing by 1.5% in fiscal year 2011-2012, which begins next week. That works out to $1,872,536 for next year or $27,997 more than we project to receive in Sunday offerings this year. What it means for each of us individually is the necessity to prayerfully consider an increase in Sunday giving commensurate with what God has blessed us with. It is even more critical in difficult economic times that those of us not as severely affected respond generously. All of us know people with a history of generous support who are affected by job loss or other economic hardship. We need to fill the gap left by people who really are struggling.
I am grateful in tough economic times to be in a position where we have not had to reach into reserves (which are currently about $700,000 - two months of operating expenses) to pay current expenses. The truth, however, is that responsible long term budgeting includes setting aside funds for maintenance and repair of the building over several years in order to avoid the very large “surprise” when a major item comes up that is impossible to set aside for in one year. In short, we need to save for the rainy day when those items show up. While we have taken in more than we have spent the last two years, we have not been able to measurably set aside a reserve fund for long term maintenance and repairs. Next year’s budget does include a small amount of set aside for that.
In late October, we will have the opportunity to complete pledge cards for 2012. I ask you to consider an increase in giving now to help us avoid the typical summer letdown in giving and prevent us from starting the year behind. Last year, we had a historically low July collection which set us behind from the start. 1.5% is not just a number to be tossed about. It is real and what the community needs to provide reasonable services to our parishioners and others in the community. We all need to do our part. Thank you for your generosity in sharing God’s blessings with your parish and responding to the needs of the community.
From the Desk of Fr. Jonathan Kelly
Greetings in Christ Jesus! My name is Fr. Jonathan Kelly and I have been ordained a little over two weeks. Thanks be to God; it is great to be a priest!
Two days before our ordination, my classmates and I were invited to lunch with the Archbishop at his residence. We ate lunch in anticipation because this is the time when we receive our parish and ministry assignments. After lunch, the archbishop looked at us and commented with a certain paternal joy, “You all seem pretty relaxed.” It was true for me, that while I had enjoyed my time in the seminary, I knew it was time to get on with it as they say.
So when I opened my envelope and learned of my assignment to All Saints in Lakeville, there was a kind of relief. Finally, I have a place to call home, a place to serve real people, who are living real lives. I am also grateful to be able to learn from Fr. Wilson, who was the first priest I met at the St. Paul Seminary since he was serving as Vocation Director when I entered in the spring of 2005. My excitement also grew when I shared this assignment with my classmates, and Fr. Nathan Laliberte, a native son of Lakeville, beamed and told me how fortunate I am because of all of the great things taking place in the parish. So indeed, I truly am grateful to be your assistant priest!
As a way of introduction, I have been asked to write a short biography. It is hard for me not speak of a moment that very much changed the course of my life. While I had grown up in a great Catholic home as the youngest of seven, it was not until a retreat that I attended with my brother in 2004 that I awakened to the depth and wonder of our Catholic faith as an adult. This retreat marked a turning point in my life because it was during that week that I began to understand what it meant to be a son of the true and living God.
When I returned home from the retreat, I experienced a deep sense of urgency, a new hunger for God, and for knowledge of our faith. At the time, I was working for a leveraged buyout firm and living a comfortable life in New York City, but it was no more than six weeks later that I quit my job. I returned home to Minnesota and lived within two miles of two adoration chapels. No matter which way I drove home, I would drive past one of them and found it very hard to drive by without spending time with our Lord in the Eucharist.
I contacted, Fr. Michael Becker, who was one of the priests on the retreat. He invited me to live with him in his rectory with three other priests. I loved the daily prayer and was drawn to the communal life of discipleship that they shared. It was during this summer that I began to understand the gift of the priesthood. At first, I was one of the many seminarians, who in the beginning think, ‘Lord you are making a mistake, surely you are not calling me… without a family…wearing black everyday…really?’ But, by His grace, I soon realized that what we give back to God can’t compare to what He has given us in the first place and being a spiritual father to many is an extraordinary gift.
Thank you for your continued prayers and support for priests. See you soon. God bless you!
