It's all Walt Disney's Fault!

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Michigan Researchers Blame Children's Films for Perpetuating "Heteronormativity"

That's Hetero- Norma- Tivity

Remember that. It is the next buzzword.

Buzz- Word!

(LifeSiteNews.com) - Researchers at the University of Michigan have concluded that the love stories told in classic Disney and other G-rated children's films - such as the Little Mermaid - are partially to blame for the pervasiveness of what they label "heteronormativity."

"Despite the assumption that children's media are free of sexual content, our analyses suggest that these media depict a rich and pervasive heterosexual landscape," wrote researchers Emily Kazyak and Karin Martin, in a report published in the latest issue of the Sociologists for Women in Society (SWS) publication Gender & Society.

Kazyak and Martin said they studied the role of heterosexual relationships in several of the highest-grossing G-rated films between 1990-2005.

The results, say the researchers, illustrate two ways that the children's films "construct heterosexuality": through "depictions of hetero-romantic love as exceptional, powerful, transformative, and magical," and "depictions of interactions between gendered bodies in which the sexiness of feminine characters is subjected to the gaze of masculine characters."

"Characters in love are surrounded by music, flowers, candles, magic, fire, balloons, fancy dresses, dim lights, dancing and elaborate dinners," the researchers observed. "Fireflies, butterflies, sunsets, wind and the beauty and power of nature often provide the setting for - and a link to the naturalness of - hetero-romantic love."

The SWS press release on the research blamed what they called the "old ideals" of romantic relationships, specifically those found the Brothers Grimm fairy tales, which in many instances inspired the films' storylines, for "such heavily gendered depictions and glorified portrayals of heterosexual relationships."

The team says the results point to heterosexuality achieving a "taken-for-granted status" "because hetero-romance is depicted as powerful."

"Both ordinary and exceptional constructions of heterosexuality work to normalize its status because it becomes difficult to imagine anything other than this form of social relationship or anyone outside of these bonds," they concluded.

"These films provide powerful portraits of a multifaceted and pervasive heterosexuality that likely facilitates the reproduction of heteronormativity."

The SWS press release concluded: "President Obama may have declared June to be Gay Pride Month, but entertainment for children therefore continues to perpetuate a less inclusive message, leaving those outside its confines with little to build their own dreams of happily ever after."

Sexuality expert Dr. Judith Reisman told LifeSiteNews.com (LSN) yesterday that the "politically correct" study reveals "the growing dominance of Heterophobia within academia and the spread of heterophobes among female professionals."

"Now, if the Ladies of the Sociology Society think pornography is becoming the heteronorm and that Disney is contributing to that form of what is really Heterophobia, they might have an argument," Reisman noted.

"However, the Ladies of the Sociology Society appear to favor Homoerotic child propaganda, as the current academic party line dictates."

New archbishops find pallium shows their ties to pope, parishioners

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Archbishops Dolan, Aymond, Carlson, Lucas and Vigneron




Archbishop Robert Carlson of St. Louis receives his pallium.

Formerly Auxiliary in St. Paul Minneapolis and

Bishop in Sioux Falls and Saginaw

Receiving the woolen pallium from the pope underlines an archbishop's unique ties to the vicar of Christ in Rome and to his own flock of parishioners back home, said a number of archbishops from the United States and Canada.

The pallium "strikes me as somewhat of a wedding ring -- that we are intimately bound to our people -- our sheep -- as shepherds," said Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan of New York, "and we're also bound to the universal pastor of the church, Pope Benedict XVI."

Archbishop Dolan was one of 34 bishops from 20 countries who received the white, narrow circular band called a pallium during a special Mass in St. Peter's Basilica June 29. He and four other U.S. archbishops spoke to reporters after the ceremony.

Archbishop Gregory M. Aymond of New Orleans said it was "a very powerful experience" to see the tremendous diversity and universality of the Catholic Church during the ceremony.

After the pope gently placed the woolen band over his shoulders, it was very moving "to have that connectedness with the Holy Father wearing a pallium similar to his," said the New Orleans native.

"And to have that opportunity again to pledge loyalty and obedience and respect to (the pope) as the vicar of Christ is a powerful and touching event," he said.

Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit said the ceremony made Jesus' words in the Gospel of John, "I am the vine, you are the branches," come alive.

Taking part in the intimate ceremony with the pope underlined "this profound sense of the living, organic reality of the church; that Peter isn't an idea, Peter continues to live in the presence of the pope" thorough "a living chain," he said.

He said he saw the many different ways members of the universal church are connected to one another and that he was grateful "to belong to the same family as Sts. Peter and Paul and do some of their same work."

Archbishop George J. Lucas of Omaha, Neb., said it felt like a dream to be able to celebrate the June 29 feast of Sts. Peter and Paul above the tomb of St. Peter and receive the pallium and blessings from the pope and to feel such solidarity with him.

Archbishop Lucas said he was praying he would have the same "kind of pastoral effect that I think the Holy Father has on all of us in the church." He said he sees the pope as being "a very benevolent pastor" and he would like to imitate and share that quality with the people in his new archdiocese.

Archbishop Robert J. Carlson of St. Louis said this was his 25th year as a bishop and that St. Louis would be his fourth diocese.

"I've had a really hard time holding down a job," he joked. But he said he has been blessed with meeting and working with so many wonderful people over the years "who have touched me so deeply."

He said the Mass was "a deeply moving experience of faith for me" and that it gave him an opportunity to reflect on the faith of the people in St. Louis and how privileged he feels to be there.

Many of the archbishops were accompanied by a dozen or hundreds of friends, family and faithful for the pilgrimage to Rome. . . .

Catholic News Service

Winona Polish Museum Gets 160 foot long Mural

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Winona artist and framer John Durfey does the painstaking work
of hanging a 160-foot mural in the Polish Museum Annex.
The mural, more than two years in the making,
is a celebration of Winona’s Polish immigrants.

“Nobody saves the history of poor people. I wanted to do that, in big, readable images,” said Father Paul Breza, waving his arm across the large expanse of wall that will soon be filled with Winona’s Polish history.

Work started Thursday hanging a mural that will stretch 160 feet across the walls inside the Polish Museum Annex, and seeing the project coming to life gave Breza cause to reminisce about its humble origins.

Some 30 years ago, Breza had a dream for a museum that would honor Winona’s rich history of Polish immigrants, most of whom came from poor families but formed the underpinnings for life and industry in Winona’s East End.

In a vacant printing plant on East Second Street he created the fledgling project, urging Winona’s Polish to gather and speak their native tongue to help them remember and celebrate their heritage.

Over time the project grew, floors got replaced, the building got heat and air conditioning, and articles commemorating the Polish culture were collected and placed on display.

In those early days Breza and the staff fought heartily over whether the museum should charge an admission, with Breza prevailing in the end. A museum honoring poor people must be free, he insisted. The financial help it needs will come from those who have the money to give.

Indeed, the mural project embodies exactly that synergy, with an unlikely contribution coming its way just when Breza didn’t know where the money would come from but spent his time doing kind deeds instead of looking for it.

Breza had envisioned a long, proud display that could adorn the white walls in the Annex Building, and for years collected information and pictures that could someday be included on it.

He wrote a grant and received $6,000, but was bowled over when he learned that a mural big enough to cover both walls in the building would be twice that.

The project languished, because $6,000 might as well have been a million dollars to the museum that makes its way largely on memorials and volunteers.

Breza received a call one day asking him if he would offer funeral services to a man named Mike Mrozek from Plano, Texas.

Mrozek, who died in his prime, wasn’t even Catholic, but he was Polish through and through and had met Breza on several trips to visit Winona, the place where he was born.

Breza said he helped Mrozek find distant members of his family and regaled him with stories about Winona’s Polish heritage. Mrozek, who had moved away as a boy, was fascinated by it, and Breza and his museum earned a fast friend.

When the family called from Texas to ask if Breza would conduct the funeral, the right thing to do was say yes, even if it meant driving to Texas.

Through a blizzard, Breza inched his way south, counting cars in the ditch for amusement and believing if he kept on he was probably going to drive out of the storm.

In Texas, Mrozek’s family was exceedingly grateful, telling Breza how important the visits to Winona had been to Mike. Was there anything, any project, they wanted to know, that they could make a donation to on his behalf?

“I told them I had this mural project but it was going to cost $6,000 to finish, and they asked if I wanted cash or a check,” he said.

And with that the dream was alive again, albeit in micro-sized images on a computer as it was painstakingly pieced together. With the help of a graphic artist at Genesis Graphics, Breza labored over words and pictures for months until the proofs were completed.

The project, which is being installed on the walls over the next few days, is as much a celebration of heritage as it is a celebration of good deeds that instigated its completion.

The old guard of Winona’s Polish families are dying, Breza said, but he is grateful to have the project completed so that the ones remaining can see it with their own eyes. “I want them to see it and be proud of it and march their grandchildren past it,” he said.

Bishop Quinn will bless the mural at a celebration in the Museum Annex on August 15, the same day as the traditional Blessing of Flowers and the Harvest.

Father Breza will be there, so will many of the Polish families whose ancestors made Winona home. But there will be many others there in spirit, from the bright-eyed Kashubian children looking out from the mural to Mike Mrozek, who made it happen without even knowing it. Winona Post

Bishop Piché: “I will spend the next 25 years or more of my life thanking . . . you with my service to the church,”

The Cathedral of St. Paul was standing room only as Bishop Lee Piché was ordained an auxiliary bishop for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis June 29.

Newly ordained Bishop Lee Piché, second from right, blesses his parents, LeRoy, left, and Cecilia near the end of the ordination Mass June 29 at the Cathedral of St. Paul, and then continues up the aisle to bless the rest of the congregation. At right is Bishop Richard Pates, former auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese who now serves as the Bishop of Des Moines. - Photo by Dave Hrbacek - The Catholic Spirit

[Bishop Piché's seminary classmates were given red chasubles and seats of honor in the front row of the priests so they could look on him with envy (or with sympathy and prayers) from a close vantage point].

The day of the ordination was also the feast of Sts. Peter and Paul and the end of the Year of St. Paul, which began June 29, 2008.

“It is . . . appropriate that we gather today on this wonderful feast of these two great apostles to ordain through the laying on of hands a successor in that apostolic college,” Archbishop John Nienstedt said in his homily, which included a message in Spanish. “It is through this unbroken succession that the work of our savior continues in our own day and age.”

Archbishop Nienstedt presided at the liturgy. Archbishop Emeritus Harry Flynn of St. Paul and Minneapolis and Bishop John LeVoir of New Ulm co-consecrated Bishop Piché.

Also attending were Bishops Richard Pates of Des Moines, Peter Christensen of Superior Wis., John Quinn of Winona, Michael Hoeppner of Crookston, Paul Swain of Sioux Falls, S.D.; and Bishops Emeritus Bernard Harrington of Winona, Victor Balke of Crookston and Raphael Fliss of Superior.

Father James Bissonette, the diocesan administrator of the diocese of Duluth, also attended the ordination. All priests and bishops present concelebrated the Mass.

‘Praise and gratitude to God’

Pope Benedict XVI named Bishop Piché a bishop May 27. He had been serving as archdiocesan vicar general and moderator of the curia since June 2008.

Ordained a priest in 1984, he obtained a master’s degree in philosophy from Columbia University in New York and taught at the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul from 1994 to 1997. He served as pastor of St. Joseph in West St. Paul from 1999 to 2005 and of All Saints in Lakeville from 2005 to 2008. He had also been serving as pastor of St. Andrew in St. Paul until the episcopal announcement.

Near the end of the liturgy, Bishop Piché told those gathered he was filled with “praise and gratitude to God, and to all of you.”

“I will spend the next 25 years or more of my life thanking . . . you with my service to the church,” he said.

He takes hope from the lives of Sts. Peter and Paul, he said.

“I cannot help but think of St. Peter in his little boat, in the Sea of Galilee, after having received the miraculous catch of the fishes, kneeling down before the Lord, saying, ‘Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.’ I can identify with him,” Bishop Piché said. “But it was to that same Simon Peter that Jesus said, ‘Do not be afraid. From now on, you will be catching men.’”

He said he could also identify with St. Paul, who in a letter to the Corinthians described himself as the ‘least of the apostles, not fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.’”

“It was to this same Paul that Jesus said, ‘My grace is sufficient for you; my power is made perfect in weakness,’” Bishop Piché said.

Overjoyed apostles

“Both St. Peter and St. Paul would have been overjoyed — are overjoyed from their place in heaven as they witness this assembly here today,” he said. “I hope they are happy I was ordained a bishop to succeed them and the other apostles, but I know they would be very happy to see this massive throng of believers, united with one heart and one voice.”

In a fashion familiar to those who know Bishop Piché, he cracked jokes about his now chrism-stained zucchetto and a miter that was too wide for his head.

“That tells me I’m going to have to grow into this,” he said with a smile, “but without getting a big head.”

Before the closing prayer, Archbishop Nienstedt recognized special groups in attendance and the people who had helped prepare for the ordination. Last, he thanked Bishop Piché’s parents, LeRoy and Cecilia Piché, for giving their son to the church.

The liturgical music was provided by the Cathedral Brass, St. Agnes High School Concert Corale and Chamber Choir, and the St. Agnes Schola Cantorum, which were joined by members of All Saints in Lakeville and St. Joseph in West St. Paul.
Catholic Spirit

Bishop Lee Piché Ordained Monday at the St. Paul Cathedral/Shrine

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Yesterday was the consecration of Father Lee Piché, the Vicar General of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis as Auxiliary Bishop of the archdiocese. Over 3,000 (S.R.O.) were in attendance, perhaps 250 priests (who vested themselves in alb and stole), 100 Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus, perhaps an equal number of Knights of Malta and Knights of the Holy Sepulchre and their Dames, untold number of religious sisters and brothers, ecumenical guests, friends and family joined parishioners of the archdiocese for the wonderful celebration and Mass. A reception was held afterwards in the Crown Plaza Hotel in downtown St. Paul.

Bishop Lee Piché was ordained as a bishop by Archbishop John Nienstedt, Archbishop Emeritus Harry Flynn (who flew in for the day from Albany where he is on vacation) and Bishop John LeVoir of New Ulm. The Bishops of Crookston, Winona, Superior and Sioux Falls were present as were the retired Bishops of Crookston, Winona and Superior. Bishop Richard Pates of DesMoines, formerly Auxiliary Bishop here was also present. A represenative of the Diocese of Duluth was present. That diocese is awaiting a new appointment after their Bishop Dennis Schnurr was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Cincinnati. Bishop Kinney of St. Cloud is recovering from surgery.

The "Rite of Ordination" included the presentation of Bishop Elect Piché, the reading of the Apostolic Appointment Letter from the Pope, a request for Consent of the People (applause), a homily by Archbishop Nienstedt and an examination of Bishop (which he passed). This was followed by the Laying on of Hands by all the Bishops present, the presentation of the Book of the Gospels, a Prayer of Consecration, the Annointing of the new Bishop's head (soiling Bishop Piché brand new zuchetto (skull cap), later admitted Abp. Nienstedt) and then the Investituure of the Ring, Mitre (pointed episcopal hat) and the crosier, the pastoral staff (many nodded approvingly at the sight of the traditional shepherd's crook style). This was followed by the Offertory of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.

It was a magnificent ceremony. The Liturgists in charge of major events at the Cathedral/Shrine of St. Paul are some of the brightest and most solid young priests in the archdiocese. Seminarians from our St. Paul Seminary served as acolytes.

The music was provided by the St. Agnes High School Concert Chorale and Chamber Choir, their Schola Cantorum and members from the choirs at the three parishes where Bishop Piché had served as a priest. They even sang a Te Deum, the first time I had been present for one.

As an aside, it has been an interesting and holy weekend for me. Friday was the funeral of Father Tim Vakoc, the Army chaplain who was severely wounded in Iraq by a roadside booby trap bomb. Saturday was an all day Divine Mercy Conference at St. Kate's U. Sunday afternoon was the closing ceremony for the Year of St. Paul at the St. Paul Cathedral/Shrine. And then yesterday with the ordination ceremony.

And it was nice that I saw friends at each of those events. There was a long period in my church going life where I didn't know anybody. In and out with my closely held private liturgical life.

Health information graduates find a Scholastica College degree pays off

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Scholastica in Duluth has had their "Medical Records" curriculum for many years and regularly have attracted students from many foreign locales whose medical economies desperately need those kind of professionals.

Most people emerging from the College of St. Scholastica’s Healthcare Informatics and Information Management program continue to find that their services are in high demand, despite the sour economy.

These are tough times for new college graduates.

But most people emerging from the College of St. Scholastica’s Healthcare Informatics and Information Management program continue to find that their services are in high demand, despite the sour economy.

Last year, 24 of the 25 program graduates landed jobs in their field within six months.

And Kathleen LaTour, department chairwoman, said this year’s graduating class has seen no decline in recruiting pressure. She predicts a similarly high placement rate.

“St. Scholastica has always been a leader in the field,” said Linda Kloss, executive vice president and CEO of the American Health Information Association, a nonprofit group. A 1968 graduate of

St. Scholastica herself, Kloss noted that the Duluth school was the first college nationwide to offer a bachelor’s degree in health information management.

Said LaTour: “We’re sometimes called the Harvard of health information management.”

Over the weekend, program graduates gathered at their alma mater to mark the 75th anniversary of the degree. St. Scholastica now also offers a master’s degree in the field.

“Graduates of St. Scholastica can go just about anywhere in the country and find work. Actually, they can go pretty much anywhere in the world,” said Beth Just, a 1978 program graduate who is now president and CEO of Just Associates, a Colorado-based consultancy specializing in medical information management.

Mike Kovala, a 2008 program graduate, now works as an analyst for Sisu Medical Solutions LLC of Duluth.

“Probably about 50 percent of my friends who graduated with different degrees are still trying to find a job in their field,” he said. “Many of them are not able to use their education to full potential. So I definitely feel really lucky.”

Susan Johnson earned her master’s degree in health information management this year while working as a health information systems specialist for St. Luke’s. She said she was impressed with how the school stays on top of developments in the field.

“They’re teaching what’s actually being used in the field today and tomorrow,” she said.

Kloss said it’s an exciting time to be in health information management. President Barack Obama recently touted electronic information management systems as a key to improving the nation’s health-care system.

“I never expected to hear a president refer to electronic health records in a State of the Union speech or an inaugural address,” she said.

But Kloss said there’s a good reason medical records systems are at center stage right now.

“Policymakers have come to understand that there can be no health-care reform without improving the information infrastructure of what is the most information-intensive industry in the world,” she said. Duluth News Tribune

For 20 years, Loaves and Fishes in Duluth has offered a helping hand

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The program, which offers food and shelter to the homeless and others in need, celebrated its anniversary with a block party

No. 1 and No. 2 were a woman and child fleeing domestic abuse in 1989.

No. 3 and No. 4 were young Guatemalan brothers wanting to be reunited with their father in Canada.

Now 20 years later, the number of disadvantaged people assisted by Loaves and Fishes in Duluth has multiplied into the thousands. On Sunday afternoon, the Catholic Worker community, which provides the homeless and others with food and shelter, celebrated its 20th anniversary with a block party on Jefferson Street, where it was founded by Steve O’Neil and his wife, Angie Miller.

“After that start, it grew to single men, single women and families,” said O’Neil, who reported that the first woman is now remarried, her child is in college and the Guatemalan boys met their dad in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

“That is one of the real blessings Angie and I have — many of the folks we’ve helped out are doing well,” said O’Neil, a St. Louis County commissioner who has had an ancillary volunteer role at Loaves and Fishes for the past decade.

The Guatemalan boys were the first of an estimated 200 refugees whom Loaves and Fishes helped gain residence in Canada after fleeing persecution in Central America from 1989 to about 1994, O’Neil said.

“It was an active over ground, or underground, railroad for refugees to get into Canada because the U.S. was not accepting them,” O’Neil said.

Other Catholic Worker groups across the U.S. would call O’Neil with details on who sought sanctuary in Canada. Loaves and Fishes would then take them in and later drive them to the Canadian border, O’Neil said.

“It was a pretty amazing collection of people helping out,” O’Neil said.

Cooking hot dogs on the grill at Sunday’s block party was Gene Larson, who moved into one of the Loaves and Fishes houses last week with his wife and daughter. He said he lost his job at Field Logic in Superior in March and his unemployment payments ran out in May.

“They’ve given shelter, food and good people to talk to,” Larson said of the 13 community members who provide for the guests. “You don’t see people like this every day.”

Larson, a home interior craftsman by trade, said he has been searching everywhere for a new job, but the prospects have been minimal.

“I’m looking for anything to help my wife out, to give her a place to live,” Larson said.

After spending the past eight months at Loaves and Fishes, Kristina Stein found her own place to live in early June.

“The stress level was lower, first of all,” Stein, a mother of three, said of her stay. “And it was a helpful community. It was like a surrogate family for a while.”

Stein said the living situation at Loaves and Fishes allowed her to apply and receive low-income housing and Social Security disability payments as well as pursue her career as an artist.

“It feels like you’ve done something concrete,” said Greg Boertje-Obed, the longest-serving member of Loaves and Fishes, on his reaction to helping someone.

There is a societal misconception about who represents the homeless, O’Neil said. He said the classic stereotype is of a single man who is chronically homeless because of substance abuse. But the reality, he said, is that about 40 percent of the homeless are children and about 25 percent are women, with plenty of men that don’t have any issues with substance abuse.

“Most of the help we provide is brief with people needing some assistance to get back on their feet,” O’Neil said.

Providing that assistance, however, has become more difficult with the economic recession, Boertje-Obed said. On top of the quarterly newsletter soliciting donations, Loaves and Fishes sent a special fundraising letter in September to the individuals and churches that contribute to the group. It was the first time the Loaves and Fishes made that move in seven years, Boertje-Obed said.

“We’re reaching the point where we might have to do it again,” Boertje-Obed said Saturday. “The recession has been a big thing with that.”

The idealistic enthusiasm from young volunteers and interns has carried the good mood at Loaves and Fishes, Boertje-Obed said. He added, “They believe in service.” Duluth News Tribune

Priest to leave Crookston after 15 years for new assignment on the Red Lake Indian Reservation

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Father Jerry Richards is leaving Crookston after 15 years for the Red Lake Reservation; he will be one of the few non-Native Americans who will be allowed to live there.

When most Catholic priests are assigned to area parishes by the bishop of the Crookston diocese, it’s usually for a period of six years. Occasionally, they might be asked to stay for a second six-year term.

Father Jerry Rogers has been the pastor of Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Detroit Lakes for 15 years.

“Which is about nine years longer than I had expected to be here,” Rogers says.

When Rogers first came to the Detroit Lakes community in June 1994, he had been serving as a missionary in Africa.

“I had hoped to return back to Africa after my first term of six years (at Holy Rosary),” Rogers says. When asked why he ended up staying in Detroit Lakes, he adds, “The need here was greater.”

When his second six-year term was up, the bishop asked him if he would continue to serve for another half-term of three years, bringing his total years of service in Detroit Lakes to 15.

Of his 33 years in the priesthood, Rogers says, 30 have been spent serving the Crookston diocese — and half of those years were spent in Detroit Lakes.

But this Wednesday, July 1, Rogers will be leaving his duties at Holy Rosary to take on what he calls “a new challenge,” as pastor of the St. Mary’s Mission — on the Red Lake Indian Reservation in northern Minnesota. He will also serve as pastor of the nearby parish of Wilton, Minn.

Before his new duties begin on Sept. 1, however, Rogers plans to take a two-month vacation, visiting friends and family in the Chicago area — where he was born and raised — and where “hopefully,” Rogers adds, “the only soul I’ll have to take care of is my own.”

Though he is looking forward to the time off, and eventually, the challenges of his new assignment, Rogers says there is much he will miss about Detroit Lakes.

“I’ll miss the people,” he said. Since starting his tenure in Detroit Lakes, Rogers added, “I’ve met some of the finest people God created — and a few of his challenges.”

In his farewell letter to the congregation, Rogers told his parishioners that “while they’ve had half of my priesthood, they have all of my heart — and while I may no longer be their pastor, they will always be my people.”

Nevertheless, he is excited by the unique challenges posed by his new assignment: As pastor of the St. Mary’s Mission, Rogers will be one of a very small number of non-American Indian people given the opportunity to live on the reservation.

“Red Lake is a closed reservation,” he explains. “You cannot live there unless you are Native American.”

Rogers adds, “I consider it an honor… I couldn’t imagine not living amongst the people you’re called to serve.”

“The one thing we desire (most) as priests is to make a difference,” he says, “and I believe I will be facing the greatest challenge I have or will ever face as a priest.”

The Red Lake reservation is facing considerable economic challenges, Rogers explains.

But “where the hope comes in,” he adds, “is that the beauty and traditions of the people will outweigh any economic challenges we will face.”

He is encouraged by the comments he has heard from former pastors, “who speak of the love and admiration of the people there.”

Ultimately, Rogers says, “I feel I will receive far more than I will give.”

Rogers’ successor at Holy Rosary will be Monsignor Timothy McGee, most recently pastor of the parish of St. Bernard’s in Thief River Falls.

Father Jerry’s farewell celebration is set for 2 p.m. today (Sunday) at Holy Rosary Catholic Church. Detroit Lakes Online

Father Tim now ' in the center of God's will'

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The casket of Rev. Tim Vakoc, an Army chaplain, is brought up the stairs by a U.S. Army Honor Guard and into the Cathedral of St. Paul prior to the funeral service on Friday morning June 26, 2009.

Pioneer Press: Catholic leaders, relatives, friends and mourners said goodbye Friday to the Rev. Tim Vakoc — an Army chaplain who inspired faith and wonder both before and after a bomb blast in Iraq took away his speech and mobility.

In a funeral mass at the Cathedral of St. Paul, Vakoc was remembered as irreverent and adventuresome, but committed to his faith and to being an "intentional presence" for the soldiers with whom he served.

The Rev. Stan Mader — a seminary classmate with Vakoc — described him as the "most unmilitary and unpriestlike man I met in the seminary." He told bad puns and could be amazingly inappropriate, Mader said, but was humble and always willing to help others.

"He is not a war hero," Mader told the crowded Cathedral. "War is not what he wanted. He was a priest and he accepted the call to ministry in different and powerful ways."

Ordained in 1992, Vakoc served churches in St. Anthony and Eagan before he became a full-time Army chaplain and served tours in Bosnia and Iraq. In a quote recited by President Bush and others, Vakoc once told his sister, "the safest place for me to be is in the center of God's will. If that is in the line of fire, that is where I will be."

Archbishop John Nienstedt noted the paradox that a roadside bomb injured Vakoc in May 2004 — on the eve of the 12th anniversary of his ordination — when he was driving back from a Mass on some "makeshift altar" in Iraq. Vakoc suffered a traumatic brain injury and other wounds that left him unable to walk or breath on his own, and with limited use of his arms.

But that wasn't the end of his ministry. When Archbishop Edwin F. O'Brien, the archbishop for military services, visited Vakoc at his hospital bed in Washington D.C., he reminded him that he was still a priest.

"This bed is now your altar," the archbishop told him. The statement was repeated on the bulletin for Friday's Mass.

Vakoc spent nearly two years in rehabilitation and

The family pays respects to Timothy Vakoc in the front pews near to the casket of Chaplain Vakoc at the start of the funeral.

long-term care units at the federal veterans hospital in Minneapolis before being moved to the St. Therese nursing home in New Hope. Vakoc died June 20 following an undisclosed accident at the nursing home that is being reviewed by the Hennepin County Medical Examiner.

Despite his disabilities, Vakoc continued to inspire visitors with his presence and his ability to comfort them. With help, Vakoc often reached out with his left arm and blessed visitors by touching their foreheads. He could conduct the rosary in perfect cadence.

Vakoc's impact was readily apparent from the messages left this week on his Caring Bridge web site.

From a grateful mother: "My two older boys ... did their first communion at Fort Carson in front of Father Tim. My boys loved the way he said his Homily and walked around the front of the church."

From a former gunner on his convoys: "You were always very supportive of us. You always made us smile and made everyday a better day ... I have told your story of Faith and strength to everyone that I meet and I will continue to do so."

Numerous visitors — including his mother Phyllis, brother Jeff, and sister Anita Brand — conducted physical therapy with him, even after VA doctors believed he had reached his physical limitations.

During a February 2007 honor ceremony at his alma mater, Benilde-St. Margaret's, he was able to speak a single sentence and to bless the crowd. Another milestone came in June that year when despite his inability to breath or swallow food he was able to take communion — to receive what in Catholicism is the very body of Christ.

Nienstedt commended Vakoc's family and friends for showing so much compassion over the past five years and for helping him through the physical therapy and the many infections he suffered.

"Tim knew that," he told them, "and he responded to your love and to your affection."

Following the archbishop's words, an honor guard took Vakoc's casket outside the Cathedral, where a white cover with an embroidered cross was replaced by an American flag. The casket was carried down the Cathedral steps between two long lines of priests in white robes.

Vakoc was buried with honors at the Fort Snelling National Cemetery.

Recalling Vakoc's own quote, Mader said he remains in the center of God's will.

"That is our hope and our belief," Mader said, "of where he is now."

Ten Sioux City priests retire, speak of blessings of priesthood

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Ten priests of the Diocese of Sioux City – two who retired in March and another eight to retire this July – give their reflections on the priesthood.

Father Laurence Burns
Father Laurence Burns, a native of Emmetsburg, attended St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn., and Mt. St. Bernard Seminary in Dubuque. He was ordained by Bishop Mueller on May 30, 1964, at Cathedral of the Epiphany in Sioux City.

People were overwhelmingly Father Burns’ greatest blessings of priesthood. He said he is truly grateful for the many wonderful people he has been blessed to know throughout his 45 years of priesthood.

“I have experienced the fulfillment of Jesus’ promise, ‘I give you my word, there is no one who has given up home, brothers or sisters, mother or father, children or property, for me and for the gospel who will not receive in this present age a hundred times as many homes, brothers and sisters, mothers, children and property….and persecution besides – and in the age to come, everlasting life,’” he said, quoting Mark 19:29-30.

Father Burns said there have been many moments during his priesthood where he felt God’s presence. In fact, he said, in order to be a faithful priest a man must have many of those moments.

“St. Ignatius of Loyola says that to mature spiritually we build on those experiences of God’s felt presence, calling them to mind often in prayer and mining the treasure that God is trying to share with us,” he said. “For me, people who I was privileged to minister to more often than not ministered God’s presence to me.”

In his retirement, Father Burns said he plans to enjoy time off and help out wherever he is needed, adding that it will be good to do some form of pastoral work in the diocese.

To young men considering the priesthood, Father Burns said he would give the same advice he’d give anyone, that the only way to be truly happy is to do God’s will.

“My advice to the young man would be, ‘Pray to know what God want me to do,’” he said. “What he wants is a better bet than what I think I might want. Jesus did say, ‘It was not you who chose me but I who chose you. ( John 15:16)’ The wise person prays to know what God wants rather than ignoring him and doing only what ‘I’ might want to do.”

Father Burns has served at St. Joseph Parish, Sioux City; St. Patrick Parish, Estherville; St. Joseph Mercy Hospital, Sioux City; Sacred Heart Parish, Templeton; Blessed Sacrament Parish, Sioux City; St. Lawrence Parish, Carroll, and was a member of the Webster Country Team Ministry in Fort Dodge. Most recently he has been the pastor at Sacred Heart Parish in Early and St. Joseph Parish in Schaller.

Father Emmet Farrell
Father Emmet L. Farrell, pastor of Saint Jude’s Shrine of the West in San Diego, Calif., in the Diocese of San Diego, is a native of Ayshire. He attended St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minn., and Mount St. Bernard Seminary in Dubuque. He was ordained June 5, 1965, at Cathedral of the Epiphany in Sioux City.

He found being able to work with so many “fine people” to be one of the blessings of priesthood and felt the presence of God many times through the years.

Father Farrell pointed out that he only worked three years in the diocese before he volunteered to serve in the foreign missions. Besides providing a real cultural and language change for the priest, his time there provided an opportunity for personal conversion.

“At the end of eight years, there was one particular moment when I realized that I had turned a corner. I was no longer there as a savior, I was being evangelized by the people,” he said. “I was actually being converted by the simple faith of the people. They brought the Gospel into a whole different perspective.”

Later in his ministry, he noted that experience taught him to spot when he really was a spiritual help to people. Others have thanked him for his pastoral presence. He cited a recent visit to a parishioner who wasn’t answering the phone.

“I went to his house, knocked on the door. It took a while for him to come and when he finally did, we sat and talked for quite a while. He was depressed,” Father Farrell said. “I didn’t know it at the time, but when I knocked on the door, he was ready to commit suicide. He told me that later and I just happened to be at the right place, at the right time.”

He plans to continue to reside in San Diego in retirement and will help out in the parishes there on weekends and for special events such as weddings and quinceaneras. He also wants to devote part of his time to develop a retreat for the Hispanic community leaders.

In the diocese, he served at Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish, Fonda; St. Lawrence Parish and Kuemper High School, Carroll; and St. Joseph Parish, Le Mars. He has had assignments outside of the diocese since 1968, including director of the Sanctuary Program for the Maryknoll/Catholic Foreign Mission Society of America in Marknoll, N.Y.; and served in parishes in Peru, California, Illinois and Texas.

Father Merle Kollasch
Father Merle F. Kollasch, a native of Whittemore, attended Loras College in Dubuque and American College – Catholic University of Louvain in Louvain, Belgium. He also attended and earned an M.S. Ed. Degree from Creighton University in Omaha, Neb. Father Kollasch was ordained May 30, 1964, at Cathedral of the Epiphany in Sioux City.

Father Kollasch said he has been blessed by the people, diversity of ministry and the great priests and others he has worked with.

“God has blessed me beyond measure,” he said. “I am so grateful for my life as a priest and thankful that God has forgiven me my weaknesses and mistakes. It has been a wonderful life.”

There have been many moments, Father Kollasch said, when he’s felt close to God. One of the most rewarding of those moments is helping people die. He said he has an inner voice that tells him to “Go and see so-and-so.” Then, when the person dies shortly after his visit, he knows it had to have been the Holy Spirit.
His retirement plans are to live quietly and have time to pray.

“A priest friend told me God takes everything away, your family, your friends, your health,” Father Kollasch said. “But, he said, this is so that we can pray. God takes everything except the one most important thing – relationship, which grows with prayer.”

Father Kollasch said he’s always encouraging young men to consider the priesthood.

“In this era of erosion of faith, we need, the church needs, those would live counter-culturally,” he said. “Last Sunday I told the people at St. Margaret’s that two of their second graders who made first communion this year were going to communion at Mass and were looking forward to it. Maybe they’ll become priests. It would be a better life than any other one anyone could think of.”

Father Kollasch has served at Bishop Heelan High School, Sioux City; St. Joseph Parish, Granville; Spalding High School, Granville; Sts. Peter and Paul Parish, West Bend; and St. Casmir and St. Francis of Assisi Parishes, Sioux City. He also served as vocations director for the diocese. Outside of the diocese, he served as vice rector/spiritual director at American College – Catholic University of Louvain, Louvain, Belgium, and spiritual director at St. Paul Seminary, St. Paul, Minn. Most recently he was pastor at Resurrection of Our Lord Parish in Pocahontas and Saint Margaret Parish in Rolfe.

Father Lawrence L. McCarty
Father Lawrence L. McCarty, pastor of Saint Mary Parish in Sac City and Saint Mary Parish in Auburn, is a native of Perry, Iowa. He attended Iowa State University in Ames and Loras College and Mount St. Bernard Seminary both in Dubuque. He was ordained on June 1, 1963, at the Cathedral of the Epiphany in Sioux City.
He said being the minister of the sacraments, and especially celebrating the Mass with the people has been one of the blessings of priesthood.

“One hopes that you have been helpful in people growing in their faith. The people themselves are among the greatest blessings I have experienced in the priesthood. No matter what parish you are in, the people are great,” Father McCarty said.

He said he realizes the presence of God every time he celebrates Mass and found Cursillo to be a powerful experience that ignited his own faith, as it did for many people who made it.

In retirement, he plans to stay active and to be available to help out in parishes when asked.

“The priesthood has been a rewarding and fulfilling life for me, and I would encourage any interested man to go through a discerning process to decide if the priesthood is his call,” Father McCarty said.

He has served at Cathedral of the Epiphany, Sioux City; Blessed Sacrament Parish, Sioux City; St. Mary Parish, Pomeroy; St. Michael Parish, Whittemore; St. Lawrence Parish, Carroll; Sacred Heart Parish, Fort Dodge; and St. Michael Parish, Sioux City.

Father Ed Murray
Father Ed Murray, a native of Storm Lake, attended Loras College and Mount St. Bernard Seminary in Dubuque. He was ordained May 24, 1969, at the Cathedral of the Epiphany in Sioux City.
Father Murray’s greatest blessings have come from serving people in their most trying and happier times of their lives, he said.

“There is always a memory bond that is attached to those events that seems to last a lifetime,” the priest said. “Sometimes it is people that I have hardly met that amaze me the most. I am startled by their gratitude many years later.”

He said he feels the presence of God quite often, especially when there’s a situation he can’t deal with himself.
“I just have to turn it over to the Lord and he takes care of me,” Father Murray said. “Now that I have cancer, those special times come quite often.”

Father Murray said his primary goal during retirement is to fight his cancer the best he can and hope for remission. Right now it’s a day to day battle.

To young men considering the priesthood, Father Murray said he’d tell them to be open to the call and take time in discernment. They should visit with their parish priest or with whoever attracted them to the priesthood.

“Realize that it is a wonderful life if they are committed to it,” he said. “It takes someone who is committed to their faith and who wants to serve others in a special way. They certainly need that calling from the Spirit.”
Father Murray said he is grateful God called him to the priesthood and can’t believe how quickly 40 years passed by. He mentioned that he was surprised at how many people responded to a note in The Catholic Globe regarding his illness.

“I am sorry that I am unable to respond to all of them but I do want to say thanks for their goodness and their generosity,” he said. “People have been so good to me and I suppose goodness goes both ways.”

Father Murray has served at Cathedral of the Epiphany, Sioux City; Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish and High School, Fonda; St. Columbkille Parish, Varina; Corpus Christi Parish, Fort Dodge; St. Edmond High School, Fort Dodge; Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish, Moorland; Holy Angels Parish, Roselle; St. Michael Parish, Whittemore and St. Rose of Lima Parish, Denison. He also served as a director of the Cursillo movement for the diocese. Father Murray’s most recent assignment was at Sacred Heart Parish, Spencer.

Father Gene Murray
Father Eugene Murray, a native of Storm Lake, attended Loras College and Mount St. Bernard Seminary, both in Dubuque. He also attended and earned an M.S. Ed. Degree from Creighton University in Omaha. Father Murray was ordained June 5, 1965, at Cathedral of the Epiphany in Sioux City.

Ordained a priest for 44 years, he has ministered in a variety of ways in the diocese. Father Murray’s first 20 years were spent as a teacher and administrator in diocesan Catholic schools. The last 24 years he was a pastor at various parishes.

“I have enjoyed the camaraderie of the Sioux City diocesan priests and have found it a great support in good times and bad,” Father Murray said. “I believe it is one of the strongest assets of our diocesan presbyterate.”
Father Murray said he believes Catholic schools and the Cursillo movement are the two things that have had the greatest impact on the diocese during his priesthood.

“In general I have enjoyed being a priest in the Diocese of Sioux City and look back with fondness on the 44 years,” he said.

Father Murray has served at Sacred Heart Parish and Pocahontas Catholic School, Pocahontas; Holy Spirit Parish and Kuemper High School, Carroll; Gehlen Catholic High School, Le Mars; St. John the Baptist Parish, Bancroft; St. Francis of Assisi Parish, Maple River; St. Columbkille Parish, Varina; Holy Rosary Parish, Fort Dodge; Holy Family Parish, Emmetsburg; St. Mary Parish, Rock Valley; Sacred Heart Parish, Alvord; and Christ the King Parish, Sioux Center. His most recent assignment was pastor of Holy Name Parish in Marcus and Saint Catherine Parish in Oyens.

Msgr. Kenneth Seifried

Msgr. Kenneth A. Seifried, V.F., a native of Manson, graduated from Loras College and Mount St. Bernard Seminary, both in Dubuque. He also attended and earned graduate degrees from the following institutions: M.S.Ed. at Creighton, Omaha; M.A. at Azusa Pacific University, Los Angeles, Calif.; M.Div. at Immaculate Conception Seminary, Long Island, N.Y.

He was ordained by Bishop Mueller on June 1, 1963, at Cathedral of the Epiphany. He was awarded the prelate of honor in 1997, receiving the title of monsignor.

Msgr. Seifried has been blessed throughout his priesthood by meeting and working with many wonderful people.

“People are so accepting of priests, including the non-Catholics,” he said.

He said he has also been blessed with time to pray and learn more about Christ on a daily basis.
Msgr. Seifried said there have been some moments in his life where he’s felt the presence of God.
“It may sound strange, but a couple times while in intense prayer, I’ve felt an overwhelming presence of God, almost as if He were physically present,” he said.

His plans for retirement are to move into the rectory at Our Lady of Good Counsel Parish in Holstein and be available to help Father David Hemann whenever he needs assistance. He also plans to help other brother priests whenever the need arises.

To men considering the priesthood, Msgr. Seifried said he’d tell them it is a life filled with people, as well as a life with quiet and private time. They’ll encounter many supportive and affirming people in what he describes as a “truly wonderful life.” Also, men can live the priesthood beyond diocesan life, he said.

“There are a variety of ministries in the priesthood from parish life, to school work, to hospital, military, prison and others,” he said. “I served a number of years teaching full time in high school, a number of years as a pastor and a number of years in the military.”

Msgr. Seifried has served at Kuemper High School, Carroll; Emmetsburg Catholic Schools and St. Joseph Parish in Granville. He also served for a number of years as a U.S. military chaplain. Most recently he has been pastor of Saint Joseph Parish in Milford and Vicar Forane of the Northwest Deanery.

Father Don Slaven
Father Donald Slaven, a native of Laurens, attended St. John’s University, Collegeville, Minn., Loras College in Dubuque and Mount St. Bernard Seminary, Dubuque. He also earned an M.S. Ed. at Creighton in Omaha and a J.C.L. from Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. He was ordained June 3, 1967, at Cathedral of the Epiphany in Sioux City.

“Being with people on their spiritual travels has been one of the greatest blessings of the priesthood,” Father Slaven said, who added that he would find inspiration in the faith of the people when they came to a point of putting things in the hands of God.

In retirement, he plans to reside in Sioux City at Marian Hall and have time to seek the truths of the faith in order to help him and others continue to grow in the faith.

If someone was considering the priesthood, Father Slaven said he would tell them that it was a chance to have an enriched life, a spiritual life.

“I have always appreciated the direction our church gives all of us,” he said.

Father Slaven has served at St. Mary Parish and High School, Remsen; Bishop Heelan High School, Sioux City; St. Joseph Parish, Neptune; Gehlen Catholic High School, Le Mars; St. Joseph Parish, Dedham; St. Columbkille Parish, Churdan (attending Grand Junction, Paton and Cedar); Sacred Heart Parish, Ruthven (attending Ayrshire) and St. Joseph Parish, Salix. He also served as chaplain for Sioux City nursing homes and as a judge in the tribunal. Father Slaven was most recently assigned to St. Mary Parish, Dow City; St. Boniface parish, Charter Oak and St. Mary Parish, Ute.

Father John Thomas
Father John M. Thomas, pastor of Saint Ann Parish in Vail and Saint John Parish in Arcadia, will retire.
A native of Rock Rapids, he attended Jordan Seminary in Menominee, Mich.; Holy Cross Seminary in LaCrosse, Wis.; and Mt. St. Bernard Seminary in Dubuque. He was ordained to the priesthood on June 4, 1966, at Cathedral of the Epiphany in Sioux City.

The greatest blessing of the priesthood for Father Thomas has been the opportunity “to be a part of many families and experiencing with them God’s grace coming through their faith. This means sharing with them their pain and sorrow, their joy and happiness, and successes and failures.”

He said he feels God’s presence most when he administers the sacraments, especially the sacrament of the sick – when he experiences the faith and response of the people he is ministering to.

“It is wonderful to see the gift of faith of God alive in the people I have worked with,” Father Thomas said. “Their faith has strengthened my faith.”

He will reside in Algona and plans to help out the area pastors with weekend Mass coverage when needed. Father Thomas also plans to play more golf, work in his garden and do some traveling.

If a young man asked him about the priesthood, he would tell them that “it offers many challenges and at times difficulties to deal with, but I cannot think of any other way of life that I could have chosen that could be as rewarding and fulfilling as the priesthood. I can honestly say that in my 43 years I have never looked back or questioned whether I made the right choice in answering God’s call to be a priest.”

Father Thomas has served at Holy Spirit Parish, Carroll; St. Joseph Parish, Sioux City; Christ the King Parish, Dayton; St. Mary Parish, Dow City; St. Mary Parish, Rock Valley; St. Joseph Parish in Kossuth County; St. Joseph Parish, Sioux City and St. John the Baptist Parish, Bancroft.

Father Tiedeman
Father Edmund H. Tiedeman, pastor of Holy Family Parish in Lidderdale and Saint Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish of Glidden, is a native of Fonda. He attended Loras College and Mount St. Bernard Seminary, both in Dubuque. He also attended and earned an M.A. degree from Creighton University in Omaha, Neb.

He was ordained to the priesthood on June 4, 1966, at Cathedral of the Epiphany in Sioux City.

The greatest blessings of priesthood for Father Tiedeman have been offering the holy sacrifice of Mass, hearing confessions and celebrating other sacraments.

“Many blessings have also come in the parishes,” he said. “I was very fortunate to have served in a number of parishes. There were blessings in meeting so many people.” Through the years he has had the chance to meet and serve thousands of parishioners in Northwest Iowa. He always found them to be very welcoming and they made him feel a part of their families.

He pointed out that he always found the Mass with “the real presence” of Christ to be awe-inspiring.
“When you are offering Mass, to think that at the consecration you are holding the creator of the entire world in your hand, that’s very humbling,” said Father Tiedeman, who added that he always tried to emphasize to the communicants that “they become a temple of God’s glory.”

If someone was considering the priesthood, he said he would tell them that it was a wonderful life.
“I’d do it again. It’s been a privilege,” said Father Tiedeman, who called himself unworthy. “It’s been a gift.”
In retirement, he plans to reside in his hometown of Fonda and will help priests when needed.

Father Tiedeman has served at St. Mary Parish, Danbury; St. Mary High School, Danbury; St. Thomas Parish, Emmetsburg; Emmetsburg Catholic High School, Emmetsburg; St. Mary Parish, Alton; Spalding High School, Granville; Holy Spirit Parish, Carroll; Kuemper High School, Carroll; Corpus Christi Parish, Fort Dodge; St. Edmond High School, Fort Dodge; Christ the King Parish, Dayton; St. Mary Parish, Willey; Kuemper High School, Carroll; St. Malachy Parish, Madrid; Holy Rosary Parish, Fort Dodge; St. Paul Parish, Scranton; St. Mary Parish, Mapleton; St. Mary Parish in Mallard and Sts. Peter and Paul Parish in West Bend. Catholic Globe

A farewell with honor: Father Tim Vakoc (Major)

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Military veterans held flags and the Knights of Columbus stood at attention along the steps of the Cathedral of St. Paul as priests of the archdiocese sang “Salve Regina” while Father Timothy Vakoc’s body was escorted to a waiting hearse following his June 26 funeral Mass.

Military personnel carry the body of Father Timothy Vakoc out of the Cathedral of St. Paul following his funeral Mass June 26. The Mass was celebrated by Archbishop John Nienstedt and attended by members of the military, some of whom served with Father Vakoc. Father Vakoc, who died on June 20, served in Iraq as a chaplain before being severely injured. Photo by Dave Hrbacek / The Catholic Spirit

Father Vakoc, a Minnesota Army chaplain who was seriously injured in Iraq in 2004, died June 20. No cause of death has been released.

Seated in the front of the cathedral, the Vakoc family was surrounded by members of the military, archdiocesan priests, the Franciscan Brothers of Peace, who often visited and prayed with Father Vakoc, and about 1,200 mourners at the funeral.

During the homily, Father Stan Mader shared some lighthearted memories and serious thoughts about his friend and fellow seminarian — both were ordained in 1992.

He described Father Vakoc as a “collector of gadgets and electronics,” who stored his stuff at Father Mader’s rectory for a while.

“He was the most unmilitary and unpriestlike man I met in the seminary,” he said. But Father Vakoc was drawn to adventure and travel and service to the soldiers.

“Tim went to Iraq, not for war, but to provide the possibility of peace” to those he served, Father Mader said.

When Father Vakoc was injured, Father Mader said the priest died to many things, but rose to a new life and a ministry of prayer, of intercession, of listening for caregivers.

But now, Father Mader said, it was “time to let Tim go” from the bed that had been described as his altar of sacrifice.

“The greatest place for him to be is at the center of God’s will, and that is where he is now,” Father Mader said.

Father Vakoc’s older brother, Jeff Vakoc, hopes his brother is remembered as a priest who gave his life serving Christians and the troops.

“He firmly believed in what he was doing as an active duty chaplain in the army,” he said.

Father Vakoc, 49, had been living at the St. Therese of New Hope nursing facility in New Hope. He lost an eye and sustained brain damage when a roadside bomb exploded near his Humvee on May 29, 2004, as he was returning to his barracks after celebrating Mass for U.S. soldiers.

In recent years, Father Vakoc (pronounced VAH-kitch) had been showing signs of physical and cognitive improvement.

A June 11 entry on Father Vakoc’s CaringBridge Web site noted that he participated with family and friends in a special Mass June 10 celebrating the 17th anniversary of his ordination, five years of post-accident life and appreciation for all those who were contributing to his care.

Family and friends were with him when he died, according to his CaringBridge site.

“All of us in this Catholic archdiocese are grieving with the family of Father Vakoc,” Archbishop John Nienstedt said in a statement. “We are joined in that grieving, to be sure, by the men and woman whom he served as chaplain in Iraq and those who witnessed his extraordinary courage and faith at Walter Reed Hospital and here at our Veterans’ Hospital.”

Calling Father Vakoc “a man of peace,” Archbishop Nienstedt said “he chose to endure the horror of war in order to bring the peace of Christ to America’s fighting men and women. He has been an inspiration to us all and we will miss him.

“We ask everyone to remember him in prayer,” he added.

Praying with soldiers

Father Vakoc was born Henry Timothy Vakoc Jan. 8, 1960, and attended Our Lady of the Lake in Mound. He graduated from Benilde-St. Margaret’s School in St. Louis Park in 1978 and then attended St. Cloud State University.

He was an avid traveler. Prior to entering seminary, he worked with college students and university officials as the regional president of the Tau Kappa Epsilon international fraternity.

After his ordination in 1992, he served as an associate pastor at St. Charles Borromeo in St. Anthony and then at St. John Neumann in Eagan from 1993 to 1996 before joining the Army.

His military service took him to Germany, Bosnia and Korea. He was stationed at Fort Lewis, Wash., when he was called up for active duty in Iraq in 2003. He was the first Army chaplain to be seriously injured in Iraq.

According to a National Catholic Register story printed just a month before he was injured, Father Vakoc flew to a combat surgical hospital to be with two soldiers who were injured in a roadside bombing in which two others had been killed. One died before he reached the hospital.

He prayed for the soldiers who died and with the injured soldier, and then prayed with the other soldiers in the convoy who were not injured, but “in the state of shock.”

Father Vakoc’s ministry — which earned him the rank of major — also included presiding at a memorial service for a young man killed in a roadside explosion who just days before had talked about faith with Father Vakoc and read at Mass.

“The bottom line in helping these soldiers through the grieving process is to be present to them and walk with them,” Father Vakoc told the Register in an e-mail. “I prayed with the soldiers who died. I brought the sacraments of the church and the light and love of Christ into the darkness of the situations.”

Father Vakoc called his ministry one of “intentional presence.”

On the day he was injured in Mosul, Iraq, the two soldiers traveling with him were not harmed and administered first aid to him, Jeff Vakoc told The Catholic Spirit in June 2004.

“They couldn’t wait for the medics or they would have lost him, so they drove him back on two flat tires to the base, and he was flown to Baghdad from there.” Father Vakoc underwent surgery to relieve brain swelling at a U.S. Army hospital in Landstuhl, Germany, before being flown to Washington, D.C. He eventually went into the care of the Veterans’ Hospital and St. Therese of New Hope nursing facility.

‘A reason to be alive’

The date of his injuries was also the 12th anniversary of his priesthood. Just days after Father Vakoc was injured, Jeff told The Catholic Spirit that he felt God put his brother in Iraq, and he was doing what he was supposed to do there.

“There’s got to be a reason he’s alive,” he said. “I’ve got to believe there’s a purpose.”

He still believes that, he told The Catholic Spirit June 22.

“He just plain old inspired a lot of people towards the Lord,” he said. “There are a lot of people who were very needy spiritually, and just his example and fortitude and strength really played on that for a lot of people and helped them along.”

Jeff’s own faith grew during the five years after his brother’s injury, he said. “I think it has brought me closer to the Lord. I’ve seen things that are miracles — little things, but I think that’s how miracles come. It’s changed the entire family.”

Jeff visited his brother every week as his guardian and conservator, he said. Members of the Franciscan Brothers of Peace also visited and prayed regularly with Father Vakoc, who followed along in a prayer book and mouthed the words.

The Franciscan Brothers of Peace were friends with Father Vakoc’s sister, Anita Brand, at the time of his injury, said Brother Paul O’Donnell. Because of his pro-life work, Brother Paul consulted on Father Vakoc’s medical care shortly after the accident. After his condition stabilized, the brothers continued to visit him regularly to pray and help with exercises.

Those who knew Father Vakoc before his accident described him as having a sense of humor and an inclination to reach out to others. Those qualities were still evident after his injuries, Brother Paul said, describing how he would joke with the brothers.

Along with his family, the brothers advocated on Father Vakoc’s behalf to continue to receive physical therapy, Brother Paul said.

“His greatest gift is that he accepted the cross that God gave him, and for any one of us, it would be a tremendous hardship, but he accepted it,” he said. “He obviously had a strong, strong will to live.”

Father Vakoc taught others about the value and sacredness of life, Brother Paul added.

“We can learn from Father Tim to embrace the crosses that come our way,” he said. “They may not be the end of our life — they may be a new beginning.”

Members of the Franciscan Brothers of Peace spent time with Father Vakoc just a few days before his death, and three of them were present at his bedside when he died.

A changed ministry

The brothers feel as if they have lost a very close friend, Brother Paul said. He recalled Father Vakoc placing his hand on the brothers’ heads and blessing them. They asked him to pray for them, too.

“When people saw him, they became grateful for their own lives, no matter what they were experiencing,” he said. “His ministry didn’t end at the time of his injury; it just changed.”

Father Vakoc received the Purple Heart and Bronze Star. He also received the 2007 Distinguished Alumnus Award from St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity and the Combat Action Badge in 2007, which is awarded to soldiers actively engaged in a hostile action by the enemy in a combat zone or imminent danger area.

Jeff is very proud of his brother, he said. “We all wished he had been around more, but he was doing what he considered his calling,” he said.

While stationed in Bosnia, Father Vakoc told his sister, “The safest place for me to be is in the center of God’s will, and if that is in the line of fire, that is where I will be.” Catholic Spirit

Father Tim Vakoc was buried today.

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The funeral of Father Tim Vakoc (Major), the U.S. Army Chaplain who four years ago was struck down by a roadside booby trap, was held today at the Cathedral of St. Paul. After recuperation at Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the V.A. Medical Center in the Twin Cities, Father Tim had been continuing his recuperation at the St. Theresa's Nursing Home in New Hope. His death was a surprise.

Archbishop John Nienstedt celebrated the funeral Mass assisted by Auxiliary Bishop Richard Higgens of the U.S. Military Archdioces, Bishop-Elect (for three more days) Lee Piche' and maybe 75 priests of the Archdiocese. Also in attendance werethe Deputy Chief of Chaplains of the U.S. Army, a retired Chief of Chaplains of the Army and some other military chaplains. The Franciscan Brothers of Peace who have been visting Father Tim almost daily were also present. The balance of the congregation of maybe 800 were friends and relatives of Father Tim and those who got to know him as parishioners, as veterans, and as those who got to know him as he struggled through his recuperation. As is usual for important Church events, the Fourth Degree Knights of Columbus Honor Guard led the procession.

An unanticipated but welcome group that showed up was the Patriot Guard , the Minnesota branch of a national group of motorcycle riders who make it a practice to bring American flags to the funerals of military and law enforcement veterans and stationed themselves outside the Cathedral as an honor guard as a U.S. Army Honor Guard acted as the pall bearers and carried the casket into the Cathedral. There were about thirty of the Patriot Guard at the Cathedral and I was told lthat an additional thirty were waiting at the Fort Snelling National Cemetery where Father Tim was buried after the funeral service.

Father Stan Mader of Our Lady of the Lake parish in Mound, a seminary classmate and good friend of Father Tim, gave the homily. Not before experience the nightmare of most public speakers. After ascending to the pulpit, he looked down, and up at the congregation and said "Somebody stole my homily." He had personally placed it on the pulpit before Mass and probably one of the lectors or the cantor accidentally picked it up when they returned to their places. Fortunately it was quickly found. It was a wonderful homily and attempts are being made to get a copy for printing here.

Requiem aeternam dona eis Domine:

et lux perpetua luceat eis.


Eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord,

and may perpetual light shine upon them.

A St. John's Monastic Community Thrives in Japan

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In Japan, a Minnesota monastic community from St. John's thrives

Father Thomas Wahl
By Adam Minter | Thursday, June 25, 2009 MinnPost

FUJIMI, Japan — At 8 a.m. prompt, a single soft electronic bell rings once and the eight men assembled in the small, sunlit chapel rise in unison. Dressed in the black habits of Benedictine monks, they are a sharp contrast to the blonde wood that surrounds them, and upon which they rest their missals. "Kami yo, watashi o chikaradzuke," they intone, softly, in Japanese. "Isoide tasuke ni kite kudasai." Then they pause briefly, just long enough for someone to think these lines in English.

God come to my assistance, Lord make haste to help me.

Seated behind me, Father Thomas Wahl, a spritely 78-year-old native of St. Cloud, Minn., is hunched over his lectern, joining the prayers in mumbled Japanese that he fist undertook to study at St. John's Abbey, in Collegeville, 50 years ago.

Then, he was a young man fired with the possibility of establishing a Japanese monastery in Tokyo; today, he is a former prior and the senior member of Trinity Monastery, St. John's very last mission.

But unlike many if not most Catholic monasteries, whether in the West or elsewhere, Trinity is thriving and growing. This month, on the occasion of its 10th anniversary, it welcomed an unprecedented four new candidates into its modest ranks, re-energizing its ranks and — by extension — this little-known outpost of Minnesota's biggest, and most famous, monastic community.

The Benedictines can trace their history back 1500 years, to St. Benedict, and his compact "Rule" for men or women living as Catholic religious in community. However, unlike, say, the strict Cistercians who also follow Benedict's "Rule," the Benedictines do so with flexibility. So, for example, the "Rule" requires eight daily communal prayer sessions; at Trinity, the monks engage in six, including a daily mass. They are not silent, and they are not aloof from the world: during the several days I passed at Trinity, I spoke with monks about current events, popular culture and the Stanley Cup finals.

Long process
Father Wahl, a well-traveled man who counts the late novelist J.F. Powers as his brother-in-law, is no different. Grandson to a former mayor of St. Cloud who — he tells me proudly — was a socialist, he nonetheless grew up in the powerful religious firmament that swept Stearns County in the 1940s. As a teenager, he decided to be a monk, and after completing college at St. John's, he began the long process of becoming a professed Benedictine in Collegeville, then the world's largest Benedictine monastery.

"There was a German Benedictine monastery in Japan before World War II," he tells me by way of introducing the long story of how he ended up in Fujimi. "And after the war, some St. John's folks helped to re-open St. Anselm's Parish Priory in Meguro [a suburb of Tokyo]."

By Father Wahl's memory, it was either 1955 or 1956 when some of those monks ventured back to Collegeville and offered a presentation to several of the younger monks, some of whom they hoped would follow them to Japan. Father Wahl, a widely traveled man, was ready to accept the challenge, and with the permission of his abbot, he undertook Japanese, as well as advanced theology, in preparation for his mission. But St. John's ultimately had other plans for him (including a distinguished stint teaching in the School of Theology) and, despite his early professed interest in Japan, Father Wahl didn't arrive in Tokyo until 1993.

It was not the mission that he had expected in the 1950s. Instead of establishing a Japanese monastery in Japan, St. John's had inadvertently succeeded in establishing an American monastery in Tokyo with some important Japanese characteristics (such as a Japanese liturgy). English and Western ways defined the community. And though St. John's played an important role in the local Catholic community, especially in its role of ministering to local parishes, it was lost on nobody that, during its then-46-year history, it had attracted only five professed Japanese monks (of those, only two persevered in their vocations).

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AUDIO: Listen to the monks of Trinity Monastery performing Psalm 141 in Japanese as a Gregorian chant. This performance is from their first CD and published with their permission.

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Meanwhile, during the same period, Japan's 450,000 Catholics (approximately .5 percent of the population) appeared to have reached an equilibrium point, neither growing nor shrinking (a stasis which continues). In fact, there are now more foreign Catholics in Japan — perhaps 550,000 — than there are Japanese, and for most of its history in Japan, St. John's has spent a significant amount of time and resources ministering to immigrants, including significant Brazilian and Filipino communities, and not evangelizing (at least not on a large scale).

In the mid-1990s, the decision was made to move St. John's out of Tokyo, to rural Fujimi, where it was believed that the monks could better focus on a monastic lifestyle, serve local communities and — hopefully — better attract candidates for the monastery itself. Father Wahl — then in his late-60s — moved to the future site, 3,200 feet above sea level, and lived in a shed "with a good stove" for a year in advance of the new buildings.

They were worth the wait: designed by Tokyo architect, Ken Takagaki, Trinity's rooms, corridors, and exteriors explicitly invoke the red brick of the early Collegeville buildings, and the concrete brutalism of the more recent and renowned Collegeville chapel designed by Marcel Breuer.

Set in a delicate wood and residential neighborhood on a hill overlooking mountains and villages, the site would appear to be ideal for those attracted to the monastic lifestyle. However, despite the best architectural and geographic intentions, the new Fujimi complex did not result in new vocations. To be sure, candidates were attracted to the site, but as Father Wahl and others conceded to me, they'd often "disappear" early in their candidacies.

"When they [the Japanese candidates] first come and see the English, they think, 'Oh that's neat,'" explains Father Wahl. "But after a while, it's not their culture. Think of joining a Buddhist monastery in the U.S. Of course, you'd want some Oriental people there. But after a while, you really do want somebody who you can relate to."

Cultural changes
To outsiders, this may seem obvious. In fact, it was obvious to insiders, too. But it's one thing to suggest that a culture needs to change, and another matter altogether to actually change it. Nonetheless, last year — with great effort, and after much discussion — the monks at Trinity made the decision to shift the monastery's culture — especially in the dining room (second in importance to the chapel — which had benefited from a Japanese liturgy for years. Japanese cuisine became a more regular facet of the Trinity dining experience; chopsticks began to appear at the common tables and, most significantly, conversations were translated from Japanese into English, and not — as had long been the practice — from English into Japanese.

Father Edward Vebelun, 41, a still boyish native of Ohio who was trained as a priest in a Japanese seminary, describes the transition as a revelation. "From there, the flood gates really opened for us."

Father Edward Vebelun

In November 2008, three young Japanese men began year-long novitiates at Trinity. And on June 20, the 10-year anniversary of Trinity's presence in Fujimi, four candidates entered the monastery for six-months, each, in order to determine whether they'd like to continue with a formal novitiate. Whatever the reason for the renewed interest in the monastery, there's little question that the new members are transforming it in unexpected ways. Francisco Shimose Toshisha is a very youthful 40-year-old novice, and former sound engineer and musician. At prayer, he plays the organ and sings with the choir (in his habit, looking like nothing so much as a Japanese art rocker). Since joining, he engineered and produced two CDs of the monks in prayer and song, and brought a new energy to the daily prayer cycle that is such a critical component to the Benedictine experience.

When I asked him what, precisely, attracted him to Trinity, he shrugs. "I read a book published by St. John's on monastic life. So I came to see it. And my first impression was that this is the place."

But now that the issue of new monks has presumably been settled, the question becomes: a place for what? Father Wahl, sitting in the library late on a Saturday afternoon smiles when I bring up the issue. "To develop a strong monastic life true to the Japanese culture," he says sincerely, if a bit by rote. "Develop a strong theology informed by awareness of strong Catholic tradition."

During another discussion, though, he became a bit more reflective, and — by preface — told me that he'll soon be returning to Minnesota to check in with his relatives in Stearns County. His own health, he concedes, may be a factor as to when he returns. His eyes briefly turn to the shelves of books. At St. John's, in Collegeville, he reminds me, the monks are all buried in a cemetery reserved only for them; when they join, they know that's where their journey will end. It's an important symbol, both to the Trinity community itself, and to the lay people who surround it, of commitment.

Powerful vision
So far, however, most of the monks at Trinity and its prior communities have returned home to die. "I think it's important that some monks live and die here," he adds with a shrug of the shoulders. "It says something about who we are."

It's a powerful vision, if a bit dour, and it's not one that's expressed by younger monks like Edward Vebelun, who serves as the formation director for the new novices and candidates, and who joined me on a train back to Tokyo one Sunday afternoon. "My real dream is to see us become a major retreat and renewal center," he says. "People can travel to us from Japan, the U.S., wherever. That'd be ideal."

Francisco Shimose Toshisha

As it happens, the 10-year-old Fujimi complex already hosts guests on a regular basis. Like all Benedictine monasteries, it places a special emphasis on hosting guests, and its four-room guest wing is open to all-comers, Catholic or not, who want to experience Catholic monastic life. But four rooms isn't close to being large enough for fulfilling the vision that Vebelun has for Trinity, and it's unclear if or when the monastery will ever have the funds to fulfill his ambitions.

Outside of our train, the lush rural Japan that Vebelun and his brothers have come to know so well is passing us by. In recent years, he's spent significant time ministering in some of these small and mid-sized communities, and he's keenly aware of the challenges and rewards that his ministry — as a Japanese-trained priest affiliated with a Minnesota monastery — offer him.

"Whatever else it is," he told me. "This is a whole lot more exciting than the average parish back home!"

At that, he laughs and mentions that he'll be getting off at the next stop to catch a train to Yokohama, where he'll be ministering all week.

Adam Minter is an American writer in Shanghai, China, where he covers a range of topics, including religion in contemporary China, the Chinese environment, and cross-cultural issues between the West and Asia. He can be reached through his blog, Shanghai Scrap.

Ordination of Bishop Lee Piché is Monday at 2:00 p.m. Funeral of Father Tim Vakoc is Tomorrow at 10:00 a.m.

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The Ordination of Bishop Lee Piché, the new Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, will take place in the Cathedral of St. Paul on Monday, June 29 at 2:00 p.m.

If you have a hankering to see lots of purple, the following bishops, in addition to Archbishop Nienstedt, will be in attendance: Bishops Michael Hoeppner of Crookston, Bishop Richard Pates of Des Moines, Bishop John LeVoir of New Ulm, Paul Swain of Sioux Falls, Peter Christensen of Superior, John Quinn of Winona,

In addition, Archbishop Emeritus Harry Flynn and the following Bishop Emeriti will be in attendance: Victor Balke of Crookston, Raphael Fliss of Superior, and Bernard Harrington of Winona.

Monsignor James Bissonette, Administrator of the Diocese of Duluth where they are waiting for the appointment of a new Bishop after Bishop Dennis Schnurr was appointed Coadjutor Archbishop of Cincinnati, will also attend the ceremony.

Bishop Kinney of St. Cloud is recovering from back surgery. I'm sure he would appreciate prayers.

The Mass of Ordination for Bishop-elect Piché is being recorded by generous volunteers from Town Square Cable Television and will be broadcast in full on three consecutive Saturdays - July 11th, July 18th and July 25th - at 3:00 p.m.


The funeral of Father Tim Vakoc will take place at 10:00 a.m. Friday at the Cathedral of St. Paul. Bishop Richard Higgens of the U.S. Military Archdiocese, responsible for all service chaplains attached to military units or serving in veterans' homes and hospitals, will be present at the funeral. Many priests of the archdiocese are expected to be in attendance in addition to the many who knew or knew of Father Tim. Of course his mother and many of his relatives will also be present.

The StarTribune newspaper has an audio slideshow and more about Father Tim's life at startribune.com/local.