Reconciliation: The Lost Sacrament

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Last summer, as distant church bells tolled at 12:00 p.m., I heard a group of ladies recall stopping to pray the Angelus as Catholic grammar school students. One said she could not remember the prayer’s words. Another replied that she could barely remember the words of the Act of Contrition. The first rejoined, “But we don’t need to know the Act of Contrition anymore. No one goes to confession these days.”

She was right about that last point: compared to the number of people at Sunday Mass, penitents at Saturday confession today are very sparse indeed. But the comment conveys something more profound: the Act of Contrition now seems irrelevant because so many Catholics have lost a sense of sin. If there is no sin, then the sacrament of reconciliation – also called penance or confession – that was given by Christ to forgive sins and to reconcile the sinner with God – to say nothing of Christ’s Cross – all seem curious oddities.

On this page, Brad Miner has described the contemporary loss of the sense of sin, just as, in a different way, Pope John Paul II did twenty-five years ago. According to John Paul, a “sense of sin” is “an acute perception of the seeds of death contained in sin” that the Christian mind has developed from man’s closeness to God and immersion in the Gospel. In the pope’s analogy, a sense of sin is the thermometer of man’s moral conscience. Today the thermometer does not register the presence of sin because sin has been clouded over by social sciences that blame unjust social structures for our ills. Lingering guilt pangs should be treated in therapy. The tide of secularism and sexual license have also contributed to consigning sin to the dusty recesses of the Church’s past, so that in today’s dictatorship of relativism the only sin one can commit is to call someone else’s act a sin.

In this atmosphere, how are Catholics to understand the sacrament of reconciliation? The triumph of the therapeutic has not diminished suffering in the world and in individual lives. Individuals still make deliberately wrong choices that inflict pain and harm on themselves and others. Catholics call these choices sins because they transgress God’s order. To sin is to choose our way over God’s. Our sins cause the kind of pain and suffering that, as Miner wrote, affirm we need more than treatment: we need salvation. That is, we need something from outside of ourselves to save us, to lift us up, and grant us true and certain peace. Enter Jesus Christ and the sacrament of reconciliation.

Since Vatican II, the Church has called this sacrament “reconciliation” to emphasize its role in restoring one’s relationship with God. Sin, depending on its gravity (venial or mortal), damages or even destroys one’s relationship with God. Through the ministry of the Church (“Whose sins you shall forgive. . .”), Christ Himself established this sacrament whereby one receives forgiveness and is restored to harmony with God. The sacrament requires three acts by the penitent (the one seeking forgiveness): first, contrition (genuine sorrow for sins committed and the resolution to sin no more; this is the fruit of examining one’s conscience); second, confession of sins to a priest; and third, penance (prayers or works done to make reparation for the confessed sins). The priest, acting in the name of Christ Himself, imparts absolution, by which confessed sins are pardoned forever.

It is often asked why Catholics must confess their sins to a priest rather than directly to God. The answer lies in the very nature of sacraments themselves: sacraments are visible human signs of God transmitting invisible grace to man. When penitents confess their sins to a priest, through the words of absolution – the “visible” sign – they know without doubt that God has forgiven their sins. Even if penitents still feel some remorse or guilt, their souls have been washed clean in the Precious Blood of Christ that was poured out on the Cross. (What was the Crucifixion about if not to redeem us from sin?) They have the Church’s guarantee that this is so. Those who confess their sins “directly to God” receive no such assurance. Just as God the Father sacrificed His Son to make us visibly certain of His love for us, Christ has established the sacrament of reconciliation to make us visibly certain of His forgiveness of our sins.

It is common today to consign serious sins – and therefore the sacrament of reconciliation – to murderers and bank robbers. There’s no need, it seems, for a “good person” to go to confession. St. Thomas Aquinas and countless other saints assert the opposite. Reconciliation is a sacramental step toward living a holy life, and as a result we should seek it often. Because by examining our consciences and confessing regularly, we see where we must improve on the long road of Christian charity. The sacrament of reconciliation, in addition to forgiving sins, also imparts spiritual strength to grow in virtue and witness for the faith.

As we know, the Devil’s greatest trick was convincing the world he does not exist. Satan has done himself one better in short-circuiting our belief in sin. Recovering a sense of sin is vital for full appreciation of Jesus’ love for us, and His mission of reconciling us with God – which we relive each time we approach the sacrament of reconciliation. The Catholic Thing

Chanted Vespers at Sacred Heart in Robbinsdale on Sundays of Lent

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The Nobis Quoque Peccatoribus Gregorian Chant schola will, along with Father Bryan Pedersen, be singing Vespers at 4:00 p.m. each Sunday of Lent.

The group also chants at St. Anthony of Padua parish, Father Glen Jensen, pastor, in Northeast Minneapolis (8th Ave. & Main St.) each First Saturday of the month throughout the year at 8:30 a.m.

Any men interested in joining the schola can email dan.fisher (at) providenceacademy.org. A practice session/rehearsal is held before nearly all performances.

Latin Mass change in Rochester.

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There has been a change in the Latin (TLM) Mass schedule in Rochester. There is still a 4PM Mass on the first Sunday of each month but it is being held at St. Bridget's church in Simpson, an unincorporated community which is just south of Rochester, east of the airport a couple of miles on County Road 16. It is no longer held at St. John's in Rochester.

There is also now a 12:30 Mass on the THIRD Sunday of each month, also at St. Bridget's.

Check out the Rochester Latin Mass Society's website with beautiful photos of St. Bridget's and good links for the Extraordinary Form Latin Mass

Father Dennis Dease, President: Keeping the University of St. Thomas affordable

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From The Scroll, UST's blog:

Last October, our Board of Trustees directed the St. Thomas administration to keep St. Thomas as affordable as possible for our students. The board politely but firmly laid out a challenge: reduce expenses, generate more revenue and cut in half undergraduate tuition increases, which have averaged 6.2 percent a year over the past five years.

The trustees had growing and legitimate concerns about the impact of the recession on the ability of families to pay for a St. Thomas education, and they worried whether – with tuition approaching $30,000 – we might price ourselves out of the market. Their message couldn’t have been clearer: We can’t continue to do business the same old way.

It was the most formidable budget challenge that I had been presented with in my nearly 19 years as president of St. Thomas. We always have looked for ways to cut costs and increase revenue, of course, and I believe we have been good stewards of our resources. But I also knew how difficult it would be to start the annual budget process with parameters that differed so markedly from previous years.

To our good fortune, our trustees didn’t walk away from the table after issuing the challenge and wait for us to come in with a plan. They worked closely with us to achieve our objectives, serving as members of a task force that, in the words of Executive Committee Chair Burt Cohen this week, was able to complete “a killer assignment.”

The result, as you will read in the Bulletin Today story, is a 2010-2011 budget that levies an undergraduate tuition and fee increase of 3.5 percent. The comprehensive fee, which includes room and board, will also increase by 3.5 percent.

The task force also identified a set of so-called “key drivers” that will guide the development of our operating budgets indefinitely – not for just one year but, we hope, for many years. Here they are:

• Target undergraduate tuition and fee increases in the 3-4 percent range, allowing for some variation as a result of inflation. This replaces 6 percent increases, which had been the norm over the past decade, as our objective.

• Maintain traditional-aged undergraduate enrollment. This replaces the growth that we have seen in the last decade, when the size of our freshman class grew from 1,046 in 1999 to 1,352 last fall. Fewer students will graduate from high school this decade, and we also don’t have enough classrooms, faculty or residence hall beds to allow significant additional growth on the undergraduate level.

• Maintain financial aid levels and protect the academic profile of the incoming class. We are committed both to keeping St. Thomas affordable and maintaining an average ACT score above 25 for each incoming freshman class.

• Continue to invest in the Opus College of Business to ensure AACSB accreditation and, as a result, generate significantly higher graduate revenue. This initiative has been under way for several years, and we are hopeful we will receive accreditation next year – recognition that will enhance our reputation and help us to attract stronger students and generate more revenue.

• Continue to invest in the School of Law and its pursuit of a national ranking. We have made great strides with the law school since its opening less than nine years ago, and I am convinced we soon will be ranked among the nation’s top 100 law schools.

• Deliver annual pay plans and not lose ground on faculty compensation vs. benchmark institutions. I had to swallow hard last year when we could award only $500 pay increases to faculty and staff, and I dearly wish next year’s pay plan could be greater than 2 percent. You have my word that, economic conditions allowing, we will seek to deliver larger increases in subsequent years.

• Complete construction projects related to ensuring enrollments.This objective relates to the new Anderson Athletic and Recreation Complex, which will open in August, and the Anderson Student Center, for which we will break ground this spring. These buildings are absolutely vital to our ability to remain competitive in attracting undergraduate students.

• Continue initiatives to strengthen the Catholic character of the university. I am proud of the many new programs created over the last two decades and how we have strengthened core programs such as St. John Vianney Seminary and the St. Paul Seminary.

• Achieve capital campaign goals by October 2012. We have an ambitious $500 million goal for our Opening Doors campaign. I am pleased by the progress – we are at $385 million and climbing every day – and I am confident we’ll achieve our goal.

• Contribute a minimum of $1 million annually from operations to our quasi-endowment fund. This fund, akin to a savings or reserve account that funds special projects, declined in recent years as we purchased property, opened the law school and expanded the Minneapolis campus. We need to rebuild the fund.

• Implement the cost-saving recommendations presented to the task force. We are well on our way with many of those recommendations, as specified in the Bulletin Today story.

When you look at these “key drivers” in ensuring a financially healthy St. Thomas, they in various ways reflect the three strategic directions the Board of Trustees established nearly a decade ago: access, excellence and Catholic identity.

We want to make sure a St. Thomas education is affordable. We want that education to be the best that we can deliver. And we want it to reflect our 125-year heritage as a Catholic institution that lives out our mission statement to educate students “to be morally responsible leaders who think critically, act wisely and work skillfully to advance the common good.”

Please join me in this effort. I know it will be a great challenge, just as was the challenge to reduce our annual tuition increases. But I have no doubt that, working together, we can achieve our objectives and provide an even stronger University of St. Thomas for generations to come.

UST: Archdiocesan potential restrictive speaker rules would weaken Catholic intellectual tradition

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The Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis recently published new guidelines that address the question of who can speak at Catholic institutions in the archdiocese.

According to the guidelines, which debuted in November, a prospective speaker’s previous writings and presentations must “be in harmony with the teaching and discipline of the church.” In addition, “those living a lifestyle at variance with church teaching would also not be eligible [to speak].”

These guidelines make some sense for parishes as well as for Catholic elementary and high schools. But if the archdiocese tries to replace St. Thomas’ current speaker policy with these more restrictive rules, the university’s claim to be a school that is “inspired by Catholic intellectual tradition” would be weakened.

If a university is inspired by Catholic intellectual tradition, it is open to the discussion of different opinions. It encourages informed debate among students and doesn’t restrict students’ access to speakers, as long as those speakers are respectful and don’t insult the Catholic faith.

St. Thomas’ current speaker policy strikes a healthy balance. The Rev. John Malone, vice president for mission, said St. Thomas’ policy allows for the expression of a diverse range of opinions while simultaneously advancing Catholic teachings.

“We would insist regardless of who’s speaking that we state our Catholic position,” he said. “People who come here who have a different position than that, they should talk about what they’re here to talk about, not to take a tack on various positions of the Catholic Church.”

This is a rational way of deciding which speakers should be allowed at Catholic universities. Prohibiting speakers based on their lifestyle choices, on the other hand, could have harmful repercussions. Students would benefit from listening to a speaker discussing poverty in Third World countries, even if the speaker’s personal lifestyle isn’t perfectly in line with Catholic teaching. As long as the speaker is there to talk about the issue and not to sell the benefits of his or her lifestyle, I don’t see a problem.

Malone said no one has decided yet exactly how or if the new guidelines will apply to St. Thomas, but he doesn’t think they will replace the university’s current policy. However, he also said he thinks the archdiocese would like some form of the new policy to be put into place at St. Thomas.

This can’t happen if St. Thomas wants to keep its reputation as a university that promotes intellectual freedom and informed discussion. The policy we have now provides us with a good mix of new ideas and respect for Catholic teachings. It’s always a precarious balancing act, of course, and I’m sure there will be numerous discussions in the future about which speakers should or shouldn’t come to campus.

But as we debate what being a Catholic university means, we should remember that listening to opposing viewpoints can actually strengthen our own beliefs. St. Thomas should continue to offer students access to different opinions so we can be informed citizens who are aware of many viewpoints, not just our own.

Katie Broadwell can be reached at klbroadwell@stthomas.edu

Top Colleges and Univeersities in Minnesota

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2010 University Web Ranking

1 University of Minnesota
2 Carleton College
3 University of St. Thomas
4 Mayo Medical School
5 St. Olaf College
6 Bethel University
7 Winona State University
8 Augsburg College
9 University of Minnesota Duluth
10 University of Minnesota Morris
11 Walden University
12 Minnesota State University, Mankato
13 Rasmussen College
14 St. Cloud State University
15 Saint Benedict's / Saint John's University
16 Hamline University
17 Macalester College
18 Gustavus Adolphus College
19 Northwestern College
20 Minnesota State University Moorhead
21 The College of St. Scholastica
22 Saint Mary's University of Minnesota
23 Bemidji State University
24 Concordia College
25 St. Catherine University
26 Minneapolis College of Art and Design
27 William Mitchell College of Law
28 Metropolitan State University
29 Northwestern Health Sciences University
30 Southwest Minnesota State University
31 Crown College
32 Concordia University, St. Paul
33 North Central University
34 Martin Luther College
35 Adler Graduate School
36 Crossroads College
37 Pillsbury Baptist Bible College
38 Oak Hills Christian College

St. Bernards and Holy Childhood schools to close

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St. Bernard's High School will close at the end of the school year — ending more than a century of education at a North End landmark.

Gathering students in the school cafeteria this afternoon, school leaders blamed financial troubles and declining enrollment for the closing. Like many of the nation's inner-city Catholic schools, St. Bernard's has struggled the past 15 years to stay afloat. It closed its grade school this past year.

The school is celebrating its 119th year on Monday.

The Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis also announced today the closing of Holy Childhood Catholic Elementary, which has served the Como Park neighborhood more than 60 years. Its enrollment has decreased sharply in recent years.

The German and Austrian immigrants who settled in St. Paul's North End neighborhood founded Saint Bernard's parish in 1890. They started up the grade school the next year. By 1957, a growing demand for Catholic high schools in the region prompted the opening of St. Bernard's High.

But the neighborhood has changed over the years as families moved to the suburbs. Of the residents who moved in, fewer are choosing Catholic schools, notes a letter to parents from the Rev. Michael Anderson, pastor at the Church of St. Bernard. Add in the growing competition from charter schools, the increased need for financial aid and the struggling economy; the school simply could not make ends meet.

"Every possible effort has been made to keep this Catholic high school and this Catholic grade school open," said Archbishop Nienstedt, of St. Bernard's and Holy Childhood. "But despite those efforts, the reality of continued dwindling enrollment, for one, and the need to end the resulting financial burden on these parishes, made these very difficult decisions unavoidable."

Changing demographics has been blamed for several recent Catholic school closings in St. Paul. The archdiocese closed Trinity on the East Side last year. In 2005, Blessed Sacrament closed; and St. Columba's the year before. Three years ago, St. Agnes High School was on the brink of closure, but the community rallied to save it.

St. Bernard's has faced closure before. In 2003, St. Bernard's owed the archdiocese about $2 million, and church leaders planned to transfer its elementary students to Trinity. But supporters raised hundreds of thousands of dollars and persuaded the archdiocese to drop the plan.

A liaison will be appointed to help teachers find new jobs and parents find new schools for their children.

There will be 13 Catholic high schools remaining in the Archdiocese, with St. Bernard's students being able to choose from nearby Saint Agnes or Hill Murray and Cretin-Derham Hall high schools.

The decision to close Holy Childhood came after school leaders, teachers and parents assessed the school's viability, the Archdiocese said in a prepared statement. Catholic elementaries nearby include: St. Rose of Lima, St. Agnes and Maternity of Mary-St. Andrew.

Officials with the elementary school could not be reached for comment. Pioneer Press

Strib article

In a tough environment of declining enrollment and demographic changes in local neighborhoods, two Roman Catholic schools in St. Paul said they will close at the end of the school year.

St. Bernard's High School and Holy Childhood School, which serves a pre-K-8 population, both faced dwindling enrollment and had become a burden on their parishes, said officials of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis in announcing the closings Thursday evening.

St. Bernard's closing comes less than a year after it shuttered its lower school and set plans to become the state's first Catholic high school offering an International Baccalaureate (IB) program. Currently, St. Bernard's has 198 students in grades nine through 12 at its location off Rice Street.

"Every possible effort has been made to keep this Catholic high school and this Catholic grade school open," said Archbishop John Nienstedt. "But despite those efforts, the reality of continued dwindling enrollment, for one, and the need to end the resulting financial burden on these parishes, made these very difficult decisions unavoidable."

St. Bernard's has a long history of education. Its grade school was founded by the Benedictine Sisters 118 years ago as an outreach to German immigrants in the neighborhood. The upper school was opened in 1957.

While St. Bernard's officials sought to become an IB school to attract more students, they said that they ultimately could not develop the program within the time frame and resources needed to bring it to fruition. About 80 percent of its students receive financial aid, officials said.

Holy Childhood, located in St. Paul's Como Park neighborhood, has served that area for more than 60 years. It has 48 students, having suffered a sharp enrollment decline in recent years that officials attribute to "demographic changes which reduced the school's available pool of students."

A statement from the archdiocese said Catholic high school options for the St. Bernard's students include nearby St. Agnes School, Hill-Murray School and Cretin-Derham Hall, all in St. Paul. After St. Bernard's closing, the archdiocese will have a total of 13 Catholic high schools.

Holy Childhood families will have the nearby alternatives of St. Rose of Lima, St. Agnes, and Maternity of Mary-St. Andrew.

The remaining archdiocese high schools will be asked to hold open houses for the St. Bernard's students and their parents, said Archdiocesan Schools Superintendent Martha Frauenheim.

She added that financial assistance will be available to St. Bernard's families that choose to apply at other Catholic high schools.

Request for suipport from a young woman discerning a religious vocation

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My name is Ashley Kleist, a Minnesota native stuck for the year out east with a lack on snow. I am discerning and following the path of entering into formation with the Daughters of Mary Help of Christians. Upon the suggestion of the vocation director, I have started a blog to share in my journey with the world.

I was sent your direction by a college professor that I had, Susan Windley-Daost. I have started a blog to share my journey with as many people as I possibly can. There is the struggle of getting the blog out there. She suggested that I talk to you about possibly posting my blog link on a site that you have. Thank you for any help you can give me! The link is below to the blog.

http://faithbeyondwords.wordpress.com/

These, I believe are the Salesian Sisters of St. John Bosco, a member of the Council of Major Superiors of Religious Women, the more traditional of the two associations of U.S. women religious.

Susan Windley-Daoust is a professor of Theology at St. Mary's University of Minnesota down in Winona (and a mother of four).

Ashley just started her blog the other day; perhaps some of Stella Borealis' readers might check in with her now and then and give her some prayers and support!

Serra Club program keeps college students connected to faith

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The University of Minnesota’s map didn’t identify the closest parish when freshman Aidan Breen was figuring out how to get around the Minneapolis campus last fall.

University of Minnesota freshman Aidan Breen, center, talks with friends after Mass Feb. 7 at St. Lawrence-Newman in Minneapolis. Breen said a program like College Connection for Catholics will help keep Catholics entering college grounded in their faith.

He found information about Catholic organizations at a campus activity fair. But with all the demands and distractions of adjusting to college life, he’s not surprised that other Catholic college students haven’t taken that step to practice their faith.

“You have to have a certain level of comfort to even approach the table, and it would have been real easy to just walk by and not get any information on it,” said Breen, who attends St. Lawrence-Newman in Minneapolis.

Because it’s estimated that fewer than 20 percent of Catholic college students attend Mass after their first year, Minnesota Serra clubs will be working with Catholic high schools and parishes this spring to provide college-bound graduating seniors with the information they need to get involved with the church while at college.

“We’re the bridge that’s connecting the family faith life to the college faith life,” said Judy Cozzens, chair of the College Connection for Catholics program, which hopes to reach 16,000 graduating seniors nationally during 2010. Through 300 nationwide clubs, USA Council of Serra International seeks to foster, affirm and promote vocations to ministry.

Increasing participation

CCC, which has been endorsed by bishops, including Archbishop John Nienstedt, was started seven years ago to encourage some of the 1.25 million U.S. Catholic students who graduate from high school each year to be more involved in their faith during their college years, said Cozzens, a parishioner at Holy Family in St. Louis Park and mother of Father Andrew Cozzens, a priest of the archdiocese.

A 2005 study for the U.S. bishops conducted by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University showed that young Catholics who practiced their faith in college attended Mass more often, became leaders in their parishes and were more likely to consider a religious vocation.

“We’re trying to increase the faith participation of young people in the church, and in order to do that we have to fight for their attention, just like everybody else has to fight. We have to make sure we’re in the game,” she said.

Serrans from at least 11 Minnesota clubs will gather graduating seniors’ names, addresses and the names of colleges they plan to attend from parents, parishes and schools. Then they will send each student a packet of information about one of 2,000 U.S. colleges and universities by the end of June.

Included will be contact information for Catholic organizations such as nearby parishes, Newman Centers, campus ministry and Catholic student groups such as St. Paul’s Outreach (SPO) and Fellowship of Catholic University Students (FOCUS), Cozzens said.

Student information will be compiled on a database set up through National Evangelization Teams (NET) Ministries in West St. Paul and will be sent to the campus ministry or parish at the student’s college so they can contact students, she said.

Serrans will obtain the campus ministry information from the CCC’s website for the mailing to students. The information will not be shared with other organizations and will be deleted at the end of the year, Cozzens said.

Valuable service

Young people who are involved in their high school youth group can get lost in college and the CCC helps prevent that, said Pat Millea, youth ministry director at Our Lady of Grace in Edina, one of a few local parishes involved in the program last year. Because he works with about 120 kids in each grade, Millea can’t get information to all the graduating seniors himself.

Getting the students’ names and addresses at the beginning of the school year has helped in inviting them to SPO, said Dan Kolar, SPO chapter director at the University of Minnesota who received student names from the CCC last year.

“The sooner that we are able to inform students about the options, the more likely they are to connect and continue to practice their faith,” he said. “This program seems that it would inform both the students and the groups of each other and that initiates the conversation.”

However, because students don’t always read “snail mail,” Kolar said an e-mail address or phone number would help more than a mailing address.

Connecting on Facebook

While Serrans aren’t now collecting students’ e-mail addresses, CCC has a Facebook page, and it encourages students to connect before school starts, Cozzens said.

In the future, parents and students will be able to find the information themselves about campus ministry and Catholic organizations on college campuses on the CCC’s Web site. The sooner students get the information the better so they will consider campus ministry as they make friends and join organizations, she said.

Breen agreed that CCC information would help with getting grounded in faith.

“Just receiving something like that, and maybe if it could include sort of a kickoff event that you could attend or where you could meet people and that sort of thing, it really would have been helpful. . . . Right away, meet people who care about their faith. Right away to know where those opportunities are, definitely would be good,” he said.
Catholic Spirit

What and Where are Serra Clubs?

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The Mission of the Serra Clubs is to foster, affirm and promote vocations to ministry in the Catholic Church. Involvement in Serra International challenges its members to live up to their baptismal call as Christians. In essence, the mission and ministry of Serra International is the collection of its members’ personal mission to live a Christian Catholic life. The process of matching an individual’s personal mission with the mission of Serra International harnesses the motivation that makes Serra International a vehicle for fellowship, learning about the Catholic faith, vocations, and outreach.


Minnesota Clubs

Serra Club of DULUTH MN

Serra Club Meeting #1: Pickwick Restaurant
Time: 1st Monday, 12 noon
Serra Club Meeting #2: Pickwick Restaurant
Time: 3rd Monday, 12 noon

New Ulm, MN

Region 08 District 7-S

Serra Club of Sleepy Eye, MN

Serra Club Meeting #1: 702 3rd Ave NW, Sleepy Eye, MN
Time: 1st Thursday, 7:00 PM
Serra Club Meeting #2:
Time:

Serra Club of ST. CLOUD MN

Serra Club Meeting #1: Pastoral Center
Time: 1st Thursday, 6:30 AM (Mass)
Serra Club Meeting #2: St. Mary's School
Time: 2nd Thursday, 12:00 PM (Lunch)

Serra Club of MINNEAPOLIS MN

Serra Club Meeting #1: St Olaf
Time: 2nd Wednesday, 12 Noon
Serra Club Meeting #2:
Time:

Serra Club of ST. PAUL MN

Serra Club Meeting #1: St. Joseph Hospital
Time: 2nd Friday, 7:30 AM
Serra Club Meeting #2: Joseph's Grill
Time: 4th Friday, 12:00 noon

Serra Club of MIDWAY - ST PAUL MN

Serra Club Meeting #1: Lexington Restaurant, St Paul
Time: 3rd Monday, 11:30AM Mass
Serra Club Meeting #2:
Time:

Serra Club of SOUTH SUBURBAN MINNEAPOLIS MN

Serra Club Meeting #1: Our Lady of Grace Church
Time: 2nd Friday 11:30am
Serra Club Meeting #2: Our Lady of Grace Church
Time: 4th Friday 11:30am

Serra Club of NORTH - MINNEAPOLIS MN

Serra Club Meeting #1: Jax Cafe, North Minneapolis
Time: 2nd Tuesday, 12 noon
Serra Club Meeting #2: Jax Cafe, North Minneapolis
Time: 4th Tuesday, 12 noon

Serra Club of NORTHWEST HENNEPIN, MN

Serra Club Meeting #1: Holy Name of Jesus, Medina MN
Time: 2nd Friday, 6:45 AM Mass
Serra Club Meeting #2: Holy Name of Jesus, Medina MN
Time: 4th Friday, 6:45 AM Mass

Serra Club of TWIN CITIES AIRPORT MN

Serra Club Meeting #1: St Bonaventure Ch, Bloomington
Time: 1st Friday, 12 noon
Serra Club Meeting #2: St Bonaventure Ch, Bloomington
Time: 3rd Friday, 12 noon

Serra Club of WRIGHT COUNTY, MN

Serra Club Meeting #1: Christ the King Retreat Center
Time: 2nd Thursday, 6:30 PM
Serra Club Meeting #2: Dunn's Coffee
Time: 1st Monday, 8:00 AM

Serra Club of ST CROIX VALLEY, MN

Serra Club Meeting #1: St. Ambrose Parish
Time: 1st Saturday, 8:00 AM
Serra Club Meeting #2: Green Mill Restaurant
Time: 3rd Thursday, 6:30 PM

Serra Club of WINONA MN

Serra Club Meeting #1: St. Casmir Church
Time: 1st Monday, 5:15 PM
Serra Club Meeting #2: St. Casmir Church
Time: 3rd Monday, 5:15 PM

Serra Club of MANKATO MN

Serra Club Meeting #1: Good Counsel Education Center
Time: 1st Tuesday, 12:10 PM
Serra Club Meeting #2: Good Counsel Education Center
Time: 3rd Tuesday, 12:10 PM

Serra Club of ROCHESTER MN

Serra Club Meeting #1: Church of the Resurrection
Time: 1st Friday, 11:50 AM
Serra Club Meeting #2:
Time:

Serra Club of OWATONNA AREA, MN

Serra Club Meeting #1: St Joseph Catholic Church
Time: 2nd Monday, 6:15 PM Liturgy of the Hours, 6:30 PM Meal, 7:00 PM General Membership Meeting
Board of Trustees Meeting #2:
Time:4th Monday, 7:00 PM

How to Make a Good Confession

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Bumped from 1-26-2010
A reader wrote to Mark Shea of the National Catholic Register:

Mark: I have been dithering about writing to you for weeks now. I thought you might have some insights to offer that my cradle Catholic friends don’t seem to. It doesn’t help that I can’t quite tell them plainly what the problem is. In any case, my problem might inspire a useful column someday, if you ever run out of more important topics—and maybe some encouragement now.

In a nutshell, though I was received into the Church nearly 2 years ago, confession stumps me. The issue is that I don’t know how to articulate my sins. I don’t usually *do* many things that I can confess but my interior life is a mess. I am filled with anger about a number of things; I harbor some really hateful thoughts towards people who have injured me. etc. Now I have the kindest priest on the planet, I do believe, but when I have told him that I don’t know how to express what troubles me, he doesn’t seem to understand. Essentially, I tell him that I am lacking in charity and that satisfies him. It doesn’t really satisfy me. But perhaps the combination of confession to God and to the priest in the formal setting is enough?

As a former evangelical, I have no trouble telling all this to God, who knows it all better than I in any case. But what do I tell my priest? Thanks for any and all advice you might have to offer.

I’m neither a moral theologian nor a priest nor a spiritual director but, speaking as a fellow schlub who needs to go to confession too, my first thought is “Why not tell your confessor what you just told me?” It’s honest, straight from the heart, and seems like a fine place to start; especially that bit about “I harbor some really hateful thoughts towards people who have injured me”. That’s real concrete sin that a confessor can actually absolve.

Feelings, I wouldn’t sweat too much. They have no moral content. They are more or less the weather of your interior life, blowing around, getting hot and cold, tied to physiology. How you feel doesn’t matter as far as a gauge of your sinfulness or virtue. Our Lord felt terrible going up Golgotha. Hitler probably felt pretty good about himself right after humiliating France. What matters is concrete acts of obedience to our Lord. So when your emotions erupt in anger at the jerk who did you wrong, do you indulge the emotion or take it as a cue to pray for the jerk? If the latter, then you are being virtuous, not sinful, whatever your feelings are. If the former, well, that’s more grist for confession.

The main thing I would suggest is a) making use of an examination of conscience (there are lots of them out there) and b) using it not as a law but as a tool for cultivating relationship. The tough part about confession (for me at any rate) is getting recollected. Of course, you can start as a doctor does, with “presenting symptoms”. St. Alphonsus Liguori, I think, was the one who said, “When an elephant walks in the room, you know it.” If there’s a big issue preying on your conscience (like your anger toward those people) then start there. Take a prayer journal and write it down. You don’t need to do a lot of navel gazing and analysis of your motives. Just jot the sin down and any other biggies that are lying pretty close to the surface. Tell the devil “These are marked for execution next time I get to confession so don’t heckle me about them.”

Then, use the examination of conscience for mop up. The nice thing about the Church is that it’s given a lot of thought to things we haven’t. So examinations of conscience can jog your thinking and give you that. “Ohhhhh! I never thought of that!” epiphany that can open up new wells for the Spirit to flush out and fill. The important thing to remember is that, as you bring these things to Jesus, he promises to forgive the sin and to pour out his Spirit into the hole they leave so that you go out of the sacramental encounter with him, not just with the debt cancelled but with a bushel of grace to be better than you’ve ever been.

Catholic Church’s mission is to continue work of Jesus Christ, Archbishop Nienstedt explains

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After learning that the mission of the Church is unclear to some Catholics, Archbishop John C. Nienstedt has emphasized that the Christian mission is to “continue the works of Jesus Christ” and to make his name “known and loved.

The Archbishop of Minneapolis-St. Paul’s comments were published in The Catholic Spirit as part of a reflection on planning sessions for parishes and Catholic schools.

The sessions collected comments from Catholics. According to the archbishop, Catholics hoped their faith would grow stronger in the future. They had “an overall sense of hopefulness.”

Archbishop Nienstedt thought the most interesting statement suggested that the archdiocese should clarify the mission of the Church.

“I found this intriguing because I always assumed that the mission of the Church was clear to all her members,” he wrote.

He quoted from “The Church,” a work of theologian Fr. Hans Kung authored before his more controversial writings:

“…without the raising of Jesus from the dead the community of believers, the Church, is meaningless. Only the certainty that the Crucified Christ lives on as the Risen Christ, glorified by God, gives us the solution to the riddle of Jesus as a person and makes the Church possible and real.”

The first Christian disciples’ affirmation of this faith gave birth to a new community which celebrated the “breaking of the bread” with “glad hearts,” Fr. Kung wrote, quoting Acts 2.

The theologian said this new group was an “eschatological community of salvation.” He used the theological word for “last things” such as heaven, hell, the general judgment of mankind by God, and the resurrection of the body.

Archbishop Nienstedt explained that the source of the Church’s mission is the conviction that Christ is risen and fully alive and present to the community of believing Christians.

He noted Jesus Christ’s words at the start of the Gospel of Mark: “This is the time of fulfillment. The Kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel.”

The prelate then cited Jesus’ words in Matthew 28: “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you, and behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.”

He pointed to Christ’s words in John 20: “As the Father has sent me so I send you… Receive the Holy Spirit. Whose sins you forgive are forgiven them and whose sins you retain are retained.”

Noting the root of the word “mission” means being “sent,” Archbishop Nienstedt said the Church is “sent into the world to continue the works of Jesus Christ.” He listed works such as preaching, teaching, healing, and acts of charity and justice.

Christians, empowered by the Holy Spirit, must “make the name of Jesus known and loved,” the archbishop added, using a phrase of Archbishop emeritus Harry Flynn. The celebration of Christ “in word and sacrament” is basic to this mission.

All the programs and activities of a parish can build up the Church’s mission and should be prioritized for that purpose, the archbishop wrote.

Subscriber comments:

Published by: Radomysl Twardowski
Bismarck, ND, USA 02/12/2010 02:50 PM EST

Unfortunately, millions of Catholics in the U.S. thought in the last few decades that the mission of the Church is to do the work of the Democrat party. Of course, the Church does not do the work of any earthly party, the division is between those in grace and those without, not between the rightists and the leftists (Archbishop Sheen in his book "Peace of Soul, 1949). Still, on a basic level, I found the Republican party more naturally in tune with the teachings of the Church, despite their leadership being traditionally non-Catholic. Nominally Catholic democrats created an open rebellion against the Church in the last 40 years. No wonder that they need clarification.

Catholic News Agency

Vitae Monologues Offer Valentines-Day Alternative

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Valentine's Day is just around the corner, and with it comes the V-Day campaign, which claims to be fighting violence against women, particularly through the controversial Vagina Monologues drama.

The drama has been criticized for its radical feminist ideologies, its explicit portrayal of lesbian sexual encounters -- including the rape of a 13-year-old girl -- and other objectionable material. The campaign, which targets college students in particular, sparked particular controversy as several Catholic universities allowed the production to take place on campus.

However, this Valentine's Day, Epiphany Studio Productions will be offering a new alternative drama, called the Vitae Monologues, which aims to give a voice to authentic femininity as understood in the Catholic Church.

Jeremy Stanbary, founder and director of the studio, spoke with ZENIT about this drama, which he performs around the country with his wife, Sarah.

ZENIT: It seems obvious by the title of your drama that it was made to be a parallel or an alternative to the Vagina Monologues. How does the Vitae Monologues offer a response to this other sexually explicit production? Or how does it oppose the message of the other production?

Stanbary: The title of our play definitely tries to tap into the general familiarity of the title of the Vagina Monologues.

That play is really about exalting radical feminist ideology, which is opposed to authentic feminism, the virtues of womanhood, and the gift, beauty and dignity of our human sexuality.

The Vitae Monologues ties into that title, not only for practical reasons -- because it is actually based on monologues and soliloquies -- but also because our play is counteracting and exposing one of the worst fruits of the radical feminist movement: abortion.

Our drama exposes many of the lies and deceptions of the abortion industry that continue being perpetuated today in our culture.

Thus, while the one play exalts many of the ideologies of the radical feminist movement, as well as cultural or moral relativism, we are trying to counteract these things.

We do this through a drama based on true stories that expose abortion and how it is not good for women; we show that in fact it is quite devastating in the lives of millions of men and women.

Not only is abortion an act that takes innocent human life, but it also leaves a wake of destruction in its path. We try to tell some of these true stories that deserve a voice in our culture.

ZENIT: One criticism of the Vagina Monologues is that the production, and even the title, is so explicit and indecent in its exposure of certain topics. Would critics say that same thing about the Vitae Monologues in its portrayal of abortion? Does your drama have the same shock value?

Stanbary: Certainly some people may try to make that claim, although there is a big difference. The Vagina Monologues seeks to be irreverent; that is part of the play's aim, to have an irreverent shock value. Perhaps this is an effort to try to break down our conceptions of traditional morality and sexuality.

On the contrary, our play is simply telling real people's stories, in a reverent and respectful way.

It is important for people to know when they see the Vitae Monologues -- because there are some shocking elements in it -- is that this isn't simply some imaginative construct out of the playwright's mind.

This play is telling true stories; everything that is in the drama comes from a real person's testimony.

We've pulled from a lot of different testimonies, piecing things together to make the play work theatrically, but everything you hear in the play comes from a real person.

The fact is, abortion is shocking, the truth of what it really is and the devastation it leaves behind.

In the pro-life movement, we have perhaps allowed ourselves to be disarmed by pro-choice or pro-abortion advocates who say: "How could you dare speak of what an abortion really is? How could you dare show these images?"

They are so offended and shocked by these truths when this is the very thing that they're touting and promoting as being perfectly moral and good and good for women. Even they themselves are shocked when they are confronted with the awful reality of an abortion procedure.

Those whose stories we are portraying, and others, have told us that we deal with this very difficult subject in a reverent and respectful way, which is something we've tried to do while constructing the play.

Yet at the same time, we are trying to expose the awful reality of abortion and the devastating effects of it in real people's lives. Certainly there is some shock value to that, but we think it is a positive thing in terms of waking up people who have become complacent on the issue. We need to wake up to the awful reality that is in our midst and realize that we cannot be silent about this anymore; it should not continue.

ZENIT: Is this the main message you're hoping to get across through the drama?

Stanbary: First and foremost, I wanted to get these stories out to as many people as possible. They are very compelling testimonies.

Ever since Roe v. Wade it has been drummed into our culture that abortion is good for women, and that there are no long-term negative side effects.

There are so many levels of deception in the pro-abortion industry, and women are still being told that the young fetus is just a clump of cells. This is what they're being told in these clinics, even at a time in gestation where the child has legs, arms, hands, feet and a beating heart.

We simply want to break through those barriers, expose those deceptions, and portray what actually takes place inside of an abortion clinic.

This is one of the things I was most shocked by in doing my research and interviews for this play: what it is really like inside of a clinic and how biased the so-called counselors in these places really are.

Many times women and men, but women in particular, are scared. Maybe their initial inclination is to keep their child, and yet they are so pressured, misinformed and deceived into thinking that this procedure is no big deal, that life will get back to normal as usual after it happens, that it is just a clump of cells, and that this will be good for them.

What they find out afterwards is that an abortion brought greater devastation to their lives.

Thus the Silent No More Awareness movement is growing by leaps and bounds. We all may know of post-abortive women and men who have suffered in silence for years, even decades, from the devastation of their abortion. They have suppressed the pain and have been trying to justify their decision.

For the people in this movement, eventually the pain and devastation overcame them, and they decided to go through a process of healing and forgiveness in Christ.

So there are thousands, even, I would venture to say, millions of women who are finally coming to terms with the devastation that their abortions have brought them. They admit that this was a bad choice for them, and they are seeking healing and hope.

We're seeing hundreds and thousands of women and men now who have the courage to speak out publically about their experiences. When I heard some of these testimonies in 2005, it planted a seed, and I began wanting to develop a play based on these true stories.

And there are millions of other women and men who are suffering in silence and continue to do so, who aren't even cognizant of the fact that they're suffering from the effects of post traumatic stress disorder from their abortion.

Telling these stories can only facilitate people who are post-abortive and need a process of healing and forgiveness, who need hope, to realize that they're not alone, and these things out there for them. I think most people today at least know someone who is post-abortive.

Hopefully this play provides resources and insights for people to reach out to those people when they need help.

ZENIT: How do you reach out to those women who have had abortions?

Stanbary: It's just amazing -- they come. They end up in the audience somehow.

Or at least the people who know them come to see the drama. And if this play can provide the insights and the understanding that they need to help family or friends eventually come to terms with the negative effects of their abortion and find healing and hope, then we count that as a great success for this play.

We provide resources in our play programs for post-abortion counseling and healing. We also try to provide those materials on our product tables at our performances, and we always mention it after the show.

We invite people to take advantage of these resources if they need them personally or for others that they can pass them along to when the time is right.

It's a matter of education and providing the resources, and this play provides insights into a lot of issues that people aren't necessarily fully aware of otherwise.

Post-abortion grief and post-abortion trauma are very complex issues to deal with oftentimes. And I think this play may help people seek the healing that they need or provide an education for those to reach out to people they know that are post-abortive.

ZENIT: Could you say a little more about your plans to reach out to college students in particular, and what kind of a response you've had on campuses?

Stanbary: We're definitely trying to target this play to college campuses.

We're still very early on in the process, this play being a relatively new play for us. And so far we've performed on a handful of college campuses -- some Catholic and others secular -- and the response has been wonderful.

We plan to work more hands on with pro-life student groups, and help them effectively promote the play.

We're also emphasizing talk-back sessions after our performances, especially on college campuses. A lot of the material in this play is so heavy that we have found it to be helpful to offer a Q and A session after a performance.

This allows people to be able to process and discuss it with myself as the playwright, myself and my wife as the actors, and sometimes also with Silent No More Awareness speakers who join the panel to field questions as well.

Thus, even if people don't agree with a pro-life drama, they can at least voice their opinions afterwards.

We find that it's very difficult to become contentious with the message in this play, because we are simply telling real people's true stories.

We are trying to find ways to draw people in, especially people that need to see the drama.

Thus we're considering as part of a talk-back panel, we can arrange ahead of time to have a prominent pro-choice professor on the campus actually be part of it, with myself and my wife, maybe one of the pro-life professors at the college as well. This will help to draw in people that wouldn't normally see the play, but want to see what is going to happen. They know that someone on their side is going to be represented, so they are more likely to come. This is our goal, to get them there to see it.

ZENIT: What does the future hold for the Vitae Monologues?

Stanbary: On Thursday we will be appearing on the Eternal Word Television Network's "Life on the Rock" show. The network will also be making a studio recording to televise later in the year, to spread the drama throughout the world.

We just performed the play in the Diocese of Phoenix, and Bishop Thomas Olmstead expressed a great deal of support not only for our company but this play in particular.

He expressed his opinion that there is a tremendous need for this play, and said that he is excited to see it getting out to more and more audiences. So we are receiving great feedback and a lot of support.

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On the Net:

Plays are available for booking through the Maximus Group speaker services: http://www.maximusmg.com/

Epiphany Studio Productions: www.EpiphanyStudio.com

Silent No More Awareness: http://www.silentnomoreawareness.org/
Catholic.net

Argument of the Month Club, Tuesday: Marian Femininity vs. Modern Feminism

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The Argument of the Month Club this month is hosting Dr. David Pence ( We like to call him Dr. Intense ) a well known speaker in the metro area will be debating Dr. Ozzie Mayers, a professor of English and Gender Studies from the Saint John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota. If any one of you has heard Dr. Intense, you know he is very entertaining and informative. His nick name give you a good idea of what you are in for. I heard, from a previous student of Dr. Mayer’s, that Dr. Mayers is a man with a great sense of humor and a great speaker. I believe he will be a terrific opponent for Dr. Intense.

You would be hard pressed to say that the Catholic Church has refused to acknowledge and embrace key freedom movements of the 20th century – fair treatment and just wages for workers, protection of the aged and unborn, and Civil Rights, among others fresh in our memory. So why are so many Christians so very skeptical of Feminism, which concerns itself with the dignity and fair treatment of women? And why would so many Feminists reject traditional notions and teachings of femininity set forth by the Church, and (if not explicitly) especially Marian theology? Has Feminism made an overwhelming case for the Catholic to turn away from long-held assertions of womanhood (rooted in Marian Femininity) in favor of modern Feminism?

Dr. Pence examines the connections between “the uprising of Feminism and the dethroning of Mary” and Dr. Mayers makes defends the distinctions that Feminism upholds, as well as those distinctions presented by his work in Gender Studies.

The event is being held at St. Augustine’s Catholic Church, 408-3^rd St N in South St. Paul, at a cost of $12 at the door. A Social with Appetizers begin at 6:00 pm with Dinner served at 7:00 pm and the Fireworks begin at 7:30 pm.

• Appetizer: AOTM Louisiana Hot Wings for starters and yes celery for those girly men who are watching their girlish figure. But for the real man who want taste, we have Blue Cheese dressing to stick that celery in.
• Dinner: Jambalaya This spicy Cajun dish is just fantastic. My own Cajun sausage is fire roasted and then combined with an outlandish tomato Creole sauce. It overflows with onions, bell peppers, black beans and flavor.
• Desert: The dessert is a delicious white cake with strawberry filling and vanilla frosting.

Kenyan Bishop visits St. Paul-Mpls Archdiocese this week

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Bishop Anthony Muheria from the Diocese of Kitui, Kenya, will visit Archbishop John Nienstedt and parishes in the St. Paul-Minneapolis archdiocese this week, including St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church.

“The visit will strengthen the bonds of the partnership between the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, and the Diocese of Kitui – a partnership that began in 2004 with their respective predecessors, Bishop Boniface Lele from Kitui and Archbishop Harry Flynn from the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis,” said Fidelis Linder, member of Seton's charity and justice council and Kitui partnership committee member.

Bishop Muheria will visit parishes who hosted members of his flock last September. He will spend time in discussion with Archdiocesan staff, as well as with seminarians at the St. Paul Seminary.

Kitui is located about 100 miles southeast of Nairobi, the capital of Kenya. As part of the partnership, the Archdiocese is committed to helping provide resources to build water dams in the area. Getting clean drinking water to the people has been a need for many years.

As part of the partnership, the Archdiocese is committed to helping provide resources to build water dams in the area. The other major objective is building on the faith and friendship between the two groups.

“Schools in our archdiocese will benefit from Bishop Muheria's belief that the youth of the world are its future,” Linder said. “He believes in relationship-building at all levels.” He will visit St. Pius X school in White Bear Lake and St. Thomas Academy. Both are involved in new initiatives to establish school-to-school partnerships.

The bishop will visit Hastings and St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church and School Monday, Feb. 8.

“He will be greeted with music at SEAS School Monday,” Linder said. “He will recognize their on-going involvement in the ‘H2O Project’ which supports sustainable food security in Kitui.”

The SEAS Faith Formation classes and SEAS School students will both be doing the H2O Project during Lent. Students drink only tap water for two weeks and give up sodas, chocolate milk, malts, and juices – an exercise in building solidarity. The money saved is donated to the H2O Project.

“By drinking tap water, our students set a great example of sacrificing the luxuries so children in Kitui might have the necessities,” Linder said.

Bishop Muheria will talk with supporters during a parish staff meeting to learn about SEAS' Foods Resource Bank “Harvest of Hope” project. The Archdiocesan Harvest of Hope effort has completed four dams, each holding up to five million liters of water for drinking, livestock, and irrigating food crops.

Roger Fox, FRB co-chair at Seton Church, and Dave Belongia, a 2008 delegate to Kitui, will be part of this discussion. They will be visiting Kenya later this month as part of a FRB-sponsored visit to the development site in Nuu.

Mass will be celebrated at 6 p.m., followed by a potluck dinner.

To build on the faith and friendship, Seton Church has sent its own delegation to Kitui and, most recently in September, four people from Kitui visited Seton Church and the Hastings community. They visited medical care facilities, area farms and schools.

The evening with the bishop is open to the community. Hastings Star Gazette

Why no meat on Fridays in Lent?

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Catholics abstain from flesh meat on Ash Wednesday, Good Friday and the Fridays on Lent.

Abstinence is one of our oldest Christian traditions.

"From the first century, the day of the crucifixion has been traditionally observed as a day of abstaining from flesh meat ('black fast') to honor Christ who sacrificed his flesh on a Friday," according to "The Catholic Source Book."

Written up as law

Up until 1966, church law prohibited meat on all Fridays throughout the entire year. The new law was promulgated in 1983 in the revised Code of Canon Law, which states: "Abstinence [is] to be observed on Ash Wednesday and on the Friday of the Passion and Death of our Lord Jesus Christ" (Canon 1251).

"All persons who have completed their fourteenth year are bound by the law of abstinence" (Canon 1252).

The U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops extended this law to include all Fridays in Lent.

Since Jesus sacrificed his flesh for us on Good Friday, we refrain from eating flesh meat in his honor on Fridays. Flesh meat included the meat of mammals and poultry, and the main foods that come under this heading are beef and pork, chicken and turkey. While flesh is prohibited, the non-flesh products of these animals are not (like milk, cheese, butter and eggs).

Fish do not belong to the flesh meat category. The Latin word for meat, "caro," from which we get English words like "carnivore" and "carnivorous," applies strictly to flesh meat and has never been understood to include fish.

Furthermore, in former times, flesh meat was more expensive, eaten only occasionally and associated with feasting and rejoicing; whereas fish was cheap, eaten more often and not associated with celebrations.

• Abstinence is a form of penance.
Penance expresses sorrow and contrition for our wrongdoing, indicates our intension to turn away from sin and turn back to God, and makes reparation for our sins. It helps to cancel the debt and pay the penalties incurred by our transgressions.

• Abstinence is a form of asceticism, the practice of self-denial to grow in holiness. Jesus asks his disciples to deny themselves and take up their cross (Matthew 16:24).

• Abstinence is a sober way to practice simplicity and austerity, to deny the cravings of our bodies to honor Jesus who practiced the ultimate form of self-denial when he gave his body for us on the cross.

Thus, to give up flesh meat on Fridays, only to feast on lobster tail or Alaskan king crab, is to defeat the ascetical purpose of abstinence. Less is more!

There are countless options for simple Friday meatless dinners: pancakes, waffles, soup and rolls, chipped tuna on toast, macaroni and cheese, fried egg sandwiches, grilled cheese sandwiches, cheese pizza and, of course, fish.
Catholic Spirit

Forming leaders a top priority for archdiocese planning

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Like many Catholics, Stephen Kingsbury “graduated” from CCD as a teenager, marking the end of his formal Catholic education.

Or so he thought.

As an adult, Kingsbury began volunteering at his parish, Guardian Angels in Chaska. Over the years, he became more involved at the parish — heading up the Building, Grounds and Gardens Committee; joining the Knights of Columbus; teaching confirmation classes; and occasionally conducting Word and Communion services when a priest wasn’t available.

Gradually, he transitioned from occasional volunteer to dedicated parish leader.

Kingsbury credits the Archbishop Harry J. Flynn Catechetical Institute in St. Paul for giving him the knowledge and the tools he needed to become an effective leader.

“The Catechetical Institute helps you put your faith into action,” said Kingsbury, who is considering pursuing the diaconate after he completes his studies at the institute in May.

Founded under the direction of Archbishop Flynn in 2008, the Catechetical Institute aims to deepen Catholics’ knowledge of the faith so they can become more competent pastoral leaders in their parishes — one of the goals Archbishop John Nienstedt has set for the archdiocesan planning process currently underway.

“We have very fine lay men and women who are serving the church in various capacities in parishes, and we have priests who are serving well and endeavoring to pastor parishes at a high level of excellence,” said Father Peter Laird, vicar general and co-chair of the archdiocesan Strategic Task Force for Parish and School Planning.

In setting forth this goal of competent pastoral leadership, Father Laird said, the archbishop is asking: “‘How do we continue to ensure that, moving forward, priests as well as lay leaders have the resources as well as the training and ongoing formation necessary to help them meet the needs of the church in the third millennium?’”

Ongoing formation

During a recent interview with The Catholic Spirit, Father Laird mentioned possible outcomes of the archdiocesan planning process with regard to forming competent leaders.

“One likely outcome could be a more standardized approach to ongoing formation for priests,” he said. For example, priest study days, a practice the archbishop already has begun, give priests opportunities to come together on a regular basis to examine particular topics, such as marriage or the role of the priest, Father Laird said.

“I think we also want to look at ways in which we can provide in-service for lay leaders — pastoral ministers in parishes — in a more comprehensive fashion,” Father Laird added.

Planning principles In his March 2009 column in The Catholic Spirit, Archbishop John Nienstedt emphasized that the planning process will ensure: 1 Full sacramental ministry. 2 Competent pastoral leaders. 3 Special concern for the needs of the poor, marginalized, and immigrant. 4 Catholic school support and inclusion in the planning process. 5 Every parish will be involved in this discussion. 6 Every parish will be expected to evaluate their own resources and adjust accordingly. 7 Respect, patience and honesty in all discussions to build on strengths. • What do you think? There are several ways Catholics can share their ideas, hopes and concerns for the planning process with the Strategic Planning Task Force: » Via the Web: www.archspm.org/planningprocess. » By voice mail: (651) 291-4435. » By postal mail: Archdiocese of St. Paul/Minneapolis, PST — Planning Process Comments, 328 Kellogg Blvd. W, ST. Paul, MN 55102. Read more about the planning process at www.archspm.org/planningprocess/resources.html.

As the church confronts the reality of fewer priests and larger parishes, building on the strengths of lay leaders while maintaining the central role of the parish priest will be important, Father Laird said.

“The real key going forward is finding the way in which ordained ministers and lay ministers complement one another,” he said. “They have different spheres of expertise and different responsibilities in the church, and yet the more we can leverage their complementary nature, the more the archdiocese is going to benefit.”

One effort the archdiocese has implemented to improve lay leadership in parishes is a training program for Latinos, a rapidly growing demographic in the archdiocese.

Since 2002, about 170 people have graduated from the Hispanic Leadership Development Initiative, according to Estela Manancero, archdiocesan director of Latino Ministries.

Juan Cuzco Tenezaca, director of religious education at Holy Rosary in Minneapolis, completed the program in 2004. A native of Ecuador, Cuzco Tenezaca had been working as a catechist at the parish when his pastor encouraged him to enroll in the program. He said it helped him improve his management skills, better understand cultural differences, and make connections with the larger church community.

Identifying leaders

One way the archdiocese can improve leadership in parishes is to help lay people identify their gifts, then invite them to take on leadership roles that make use of those gifts, said Jerry Roth, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Parish Leadership in Burnsville.

“Maybe that means an education process to help parishes understand how to do that, maybe it’s a sharing of success stories from parishes that have done that well so that it spurs the creativity of other parishes and other leaders,” Roth said. “It’s so critical to invite and recruit leaders of all ages.”

However, there are several challenges that the archdiocese must consider.

“Time and money are two obstacles,” Roth pointed out. “I think a third one is visibility. . . . Whatever these things are that the diocese can provide and support, will people be aware of them? How do you get the word out in an effective way?”

Another potential outcome of the archdiocesan planning process, according to planning task force member Sister Mary Ma­donna Ashton, CSJ, is that parishes may be required to share resources in the fu­ture. “That includes personnel,” she said.

“I think there’s going to be a real en­couragement for parishes to maybe even combine some of their programs so that they have the best leadership possible for them,” Sister Mary Madonna said. “And, there’s going to be a lot of emphasis, I think, on deaneries working more closely together within their own geographic area.”

Sister Mary Madonna said the task force listened carefully to the input people provided during listening sessions held throughout the archdiocese in recent months.

“I think people should be at ease about the fact that nothing is going to happen without a lot of consideration of the cultures, the particular abilities and the individual natures of the different parishes,” she said. Catholic Spirit

CARA: Longer-term Effects of Attending a Catholic College

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Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate (CARA) at Georgetown University

Following up on CARA Working Paper #9 regarding the short-term effects of Catholic college attendance (from the freshman to junior years) on the faith lives of Catholic students it is also the case that CARA has conducted a significant amount of research on the long-term effects (throughout life) of attending a Catholic higher education institution.

CARA's has conducted 19 national surveys of self-identified adult Catholics, including more than 21,000 respondents, since 2000. Within these surveys we find many differences between Catholics who attended a Catholic college and those who attended a non-Catholic college (thus, excluding those who did not go to college).

A summary of some of these key differences is provided below. More is available from the Association of Catholic Colleges and Universities (ACCU).

Catholics who attended a Catholic college or university are more likely than Catholics who attended a non-Catholic college (public or private) to:

• Attend Mass every week (34 compared to 19 percent)
• Register with a parish (75 compared to 55 percent)
• To agree that “I seriously consider the Church’s statements, such as those of the Pope and U.S. Bishops on social, political and moral issues” (55 percent compared to 38 percent)
• To agree that “all human life, from conception to natural death, is sacred. For this reason, the taking of life—whether through abortion, the death penalty, or assisted suicide—is wrong” (53 percent compared to 35 percent)
• To oppose the death penalty (51 compared to 33 percent)
• To disagree that “a woman should have the right whether or not to abort an unwanted pregnancy” (44 percent compared to 24 percent)
• To oppose “making it legal for a physician to help a dying person commit suicide” (53 compared to 43 percent)
• To agree that “Catholics have a duty to close the gap between the rich and the poor” (54 percent compared to 38 percent)
• To agree that “society has a responsibility for helping poor people get out of poverty” (76 compared to 59 percent)
• To agree that “the United States has a responsibility to take the lead in global peace-building (i.e., non-violent solutions to conflict)” (73 percent compared to 60 percent)
• To agree that “It is important to me to do what I can do to help poor and needy people in countries outside of the United States” (71 percent compared to 54 percent)
• To say that, when making political choices, they draw on their Catholic faith either “very much” or “somewhat” (70 compared to 55 percent)
• Among men, those who have attended a Catholic college are more likely to say they considered becoming a priest or brother (43 compared to 23 percent)
• Among women, those who have attended Catholic college are more likely to say they considered becoming a sister or nun (39 compared to 20 percent)

Across the board, Catholics who have attended a Catholic college or university are more likely than those who attended a non-Catholic college to respond in a manner that is more consistent with Church teachings and practice. CARA 1964 blog