Reaction to the St Stephen's Walkout: Which One Is The Catholic?

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The StarTribune received two letters commenting on columnist Nick Coleman's tirade about the situation over at St Stephen's that we reported on last week in Stella Borealis. Which letter was received from a Catholic?

Back to the Dark Ages Strib March 6 Electronic edition only

Nick Coleman's March 2 column reveals the troubling tightening of the archdiocesan belt in the Twin Cities.

Catholics must choose to either adhere to every letter of the law (rubrics), with no exception, or go elsewhere. It does not matter if it takes the life out of the liturgy. At least it conforms, and that's what counts, according to spokespeople at the chancery.

On a global scale, Vatican II's "involvement of the people" has unilaterally been thrown out by current hierarchy. Catholic faithful are told to not speak in public, nor in church. Every male pronoun is now back in the liturgy. Every layperson is now back in the pews. Priests will make every decision -- not parish councils -- and everyone must do as they are told.

As a member of St. Stephen's for the past 20 years, I am saddened and must choose. But my choice will be to follow God, not an archbishop.

St. Stephen's has been a place where one is challenged 24/7 to live the Gospel. It is a tough place. The people there must accept their personal relationship with God and the call to be followers of Christ in daily living. Much of this challenge has come from lay preachers. Silencing those voices will adversely affect the poor, the underprivileged, the oppressed, the homeless, the abused.

ANN MARIE MCINTIRE, HUDSON, WIS.;
VICE CHAIR, ST. STEPHEN'S PARISH COUNCIL

Can't pick and choose Strib March 6 Electronic and Print editions

I commend the archdiocese of Minnesota for finally bringing St. Stephen's Catholic Church into conformity with the standards set out in the General Instruction on the Roman Missal ("The push for conformity shoves away parishioners," March 2). People go to church to pray, not to party. Part of the way in which Catholics act to carry out "the message of the Gospels" is by following the "rubrics." Otherwise they are merely social workers.

It has never been "OK" for Catholics to refer to God as "Our Father and Mother." Nor has it been acceptable to dance in the church aisles like a bunch of swingin' Maenads. Rubrics are formulated very precisely and put in place because they express the fundamentals of Catholic theology. One calls to mind the longstanding principle of Catholic worship, "lex orandi, lex credendi": Let the law of prayer be governed by the law of belief. Catholics worship in accordance with what they believe.

St. Stephen's and its band of merry rebels are free to pray the way they "think is right." They are also free to join another religion.

ANTHONY WILSON, MINNEAPOLIS

KFHC - Catholic Radio Sioux City Now on the Air

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Our Bishop's Support

Dear Friends of Catholic Radio:

As Catholics, all of us are called to share the gospel message of Jesus Christ. We do that in many ways. The mission of Catholic radio is bringing Christ to people and people to Christ. What could be more important?

In a world dominated by expanding communications it is essential that there be an alternative to secular media. Catholic radio will give everyone an opportunity to hear the truth of the Catholic faith daily. Jesus' words are truth, not as a community-based consensus, but truth which comes from listening to the Church guided by the Holy Spirt.

Now in the Sioux City area, we will have a chance to make Catholic Radio a reality. Please support the Campaign for Catholic Radio by making a generous pledge. When the radio station is able to begin broadcasts from 88.1 on the FM dial I invite you to listen and grow in the knowledge of our faith.

Your brother in Christ,

Most Reverend Walker Nickless
Bishop of the Diocese of Sioux City

When it comes to "support", don't forget Relevant Radio and your local Catholic Radio or TV. The Twin Cities has one of the very few broadcast Catholic television stations in the country. UHF ("Rabbit Ears") Channel 19! They broadcast virtually all of EWTN's 24 hour schedule, for free for those of you who don't have cable, some local Masses on Sundays and a few other programs including some of Jeff Cavins' programs.

"Misery Memoirs": Known in the trade as "Mis Lit"; Fraudulent Tales of Abuse - Magdalene Laundries

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There is no doubt but that life in orphanages run by civil authorities or by religious organizations, most prominent among them being those of the Roman Catholic Church, was often quite miserable for orphaned or unwanted children. According to Frank McCourt in his "Angela's Ashes", life in 1930s Limerick with his family wasn't much fun at times either. My sister-in-law's grandfather, who was adopted from an orphan train in Ontario by a farmer was treated virtually as a slave, wanted only for his work. He ran away at age 16.

Canadians are dealing with the way their "First People" were treated, often by churches; Australians are facing up to the treatment they gave their aborigines. The United States still has its problem also. A tiny number of tribes have prospered, but most haven't.

But some of the most talked about tales of woe are turning out to have been fictional representations. The Telegraph of the UK, one of its most competent newspapers, writes about this fact today.


The Telegraph - UK: As two 'mis lit' memoirs destined for the bestseller lists are revealed to be works of fiction, Ed West reports on the almighty backlash against a classic of the genre

It was a childhood tale of woe that touched the public's heart. Kathy O'Beirne's 2005 memoir, Kathy's Story: A Childhood Hell Inside the Magdalene Laundries, painted a relentlessly grim picture of growing up in 1960s Ireland. Entitled Don't Ever Tell in Britain, it shifted 400,000 copies, making O'Beirne the second best-selling Irish non-fiction writer of all time, after Frank McCourt, whose Angela's Ashes had been no laugh-a-minute either.

O'Beirne told of being tortured by her labourer father, experimented upon in a psychiatric hospital, and raped by no fewer than four priests and a policeman. Then there was her spell in a Magdalene laundry, one of Ireland's notorious Church-run homes for "fallen women", where, aged 14, she gave birth to a daughter. A reviewer at the time wrote: "Her story is so horrific, it is almost unbelievable."

Which, upon reading the book, was the reaction of Hermann Kelly, a Derry-born journalist. "Alarm bells started ringing," he says. "Even in the introductory chapter, every single thing is black and white. If you were a betting man, the statistical probability of someone having so many terrible events in their life stretched credibility."

According to Kathy's Real Story, Kelly's exposé of O'Beirne's book, published in the UK next week, Don't Ever Tell is not so much misery memoir as a great work of fiction.

The key to O'Beirne's success was the public's fascination with the Magdalene laundries, which are to misery memoir writers what the SAS is to Andy McNab. Established in the 19th century and finally closed in 1996, the laundries, as depicted in the 2002 film The Magdalene Sisters, were notorious for Dickensian harshness and cruelty. The nuns who ran them historically, according to Kelly, were "Catholic Frankensteins, or Daleks out to exterminate all signs of life and love".

O'Beirne wrote: "I was 12 years old and I had just been delivered to hell... the Devil himself could not have dreamed up a better hell than the Magdalene laundry."

Except that the Sisters of Our Lady of Charity of High Park have no record of O'Beirne; and they were certainly meticulous record-keepers. As Kelly says, their archives are "complete and so comprehensive that one woman's two-day admittance was recorded".

O'Beirne simply didn't exist in the files; the laundries did not admit girls as young as 13, or pregnant women. Even former Magdalene residents have said O'Beirne's account rings false. One former friend suggested O'Beirne had seen The Magdalene Sisters, and now "seems to think it's her".

In response, O'Beirne's co-writer, Michael Sheridan, could only say he spoke to a woman who remembers being in a Magdalene home with Kathy. "She died in a psychiatric hospital some time after we spoke," he said. "She is another victim, just like Kathy."

Nor is there any record of "Annie", O'Beirne's child who apparently died from bowel disease at the age of 10. She claims it was because the birth was hushed up. Kelly recently offered €1,000 to anyone who can find proof of Annie having existed. He does not expect to be getting out the chequebook any time soon.

Kelly's exposé could be the start of a widespread backlash against misery literature, a genre kick-started by Angela's Ashes in 1996, and which took off globally four years later with A Child Called It, Dave Pelzer's account of growing up with an alcoholic mother who beat, starved, stabbed, burnt and force-fed ammonia to him. "Inspirational memoirs", the polite term for this type of book, now account for nine per cent of the British book market, shifting 1.9 million copies a year and generating £24 million of revenue for the publishing industry. HarperCollins recently admitted to a 31 per cent increase in annual profits thanks to "mis lit".

"Mis lit" is not an entirely new invention. The Awful Disclosures of Maria Monk, Or, The Hidden Secrets of a Nun's Life in a Convent Exposed, published in 1836, suggested that the Sisters of Charity in Montreal were forced to have sex with the priests next door, who then baptised and strangled any offspring. Unable to distinguish reality and fantasy as a result of a brain injury as a child, Monk had never been in a nunnery. She was, in fact, a prostitute who had spent her early years in a Magdalene laundry. "At least she'd been in one," says Kelly, drily.

Among the most disturbing recent examples of the genre was Damaged by Cathy Glass, which recounted the story of a foster mother and her ward, Jodie, a seven-year-old who had been horribly abused.

But even that was a picnic compared with Stuart Howarth's Please, Daddy, No, which recalled how his father repeatedly raped him and forced him to eat pigswill, among other things too hideous to mention. Stuart is then abused by paedophiles, becomes a homeless, cocaine-addicted arsonist, and ends up killing his father and going to prison. It sold 13,000 copies in its first week.

So why has other people's misery become such big business? One of the biggest factors is the impact of the rise of the supermarket: eight out of 10 misery memoirs are bought at the checkout, mostly by women (who make up 85 per cent of the market) who would not visit a bookshop but buy "true life" magazines such as Pick Me Up or Chat, which feature stories about abusive fathers, cheating husbands and distasteful diseases.

With this demand, it is not surprising that some have been tempted to stretch the truth. Hollywood scriptwriters would have pitched the Belgian writer Misha Defonseca's 2005 memoir, Surviving With Wolves, as "Schindler's List meets The Jungle Book". This yarn about a six-year-old Jewish girl searching for her missing parents on a 1,900-mile trek around occupied Europe - during which she kills a Nazi officer and is given shelter by packs of wolves - was a complete fabrication.

In a statement last week, Monique De Wael (Defonseca's real name) admitted she had made it all up. Her parents weren't resistance fighters. She didn't spend four years wandering alone across Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Romania and Yugoslavia, through Italy across the Alps to France and back to Belgium. She isn't even Jewish.

And yet the fabricated accounts keep on coming. Last week, Love and Consequences by Margaret B Jones was published in America, about growing up in gangland LA and selling drugs at the age of eight. But the book was withdrawn on Monday after Jones - real name Margaret Seltzer - admitted that while many of its details were based on friends' experiences, they were not her own.

True or not, supporters say these books inspire and help us to empathise; others say it is Schadenfreude. The psychologist Oliver James has even suggested there might be some hidden erotic motive.

"Misery literature is huge, especially in Ireland," agrees Kelly. "The public loves this description of a cold, miserable Ireland, where it always rains and priests are always around, abusing someone."

But what makes the O'Beirne saga so troubling, Kelly believes, is that it fuels Ireland's obsession with clerical sex abuse, and the abuse-claim industry. O'Beirne herself accused Fr Fergal O'Connor, founder of the homeless hostel Sherrard House, of raping her in the 1970s. The investigation took a year, during which the 77-year-old University College Dublin professor was prevented from visiting his own workplace. Yet Fr O'Connor was virtually crippled by arthritis when the alleged crimes took place, unable even to shake hands because of the pain, according to a friend. The priest was exonerated two days before his death.

Mainstream Publishing, which published Don't Ever Tell, is steadfast in its support of O'Beirne's book. "We have made our own investigations, and are convinced this is a legitimate account of the harrowing experiences endured by a young girl whose life has been embittered by the abuse she suffered at the institution in which she was incarcerated. We have no doubt about Kathy O'Beirne's account of these events. Mr Kelly's version is his own and, in our opinion, does not relate to any sort of reality."

O'Beirne's own feelings about Kelly's investigation became clear on Irish TV last November, when he pulled out her birth certificate and school records, showing she had lied about her age, education and alleged adoption. O'Beirne, furious, hit him. As he commented at the time: "She can beat my back, but she can't beat my book."

The Remnant has more on O'Beirne and on the comments of Steve Greydanus, Catholic film reviewer about her film.

How Come Sainthood is Becoming More Difficult? The NYT Tells Us.

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Last month, while Americans celebrated the feast days of two secular saints, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln, the Vatican issued a surprising new directive calling for greater rigor in its own saint-making process. Published by the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints, the 45-page document called for “strict adherence” to existing rules, in response to some concerns that the canonization procedures had been watered down over the last two decades.

Such criticisms are only half correct: the Vatican’s rules are actually far more rigorous than many may suspect. Still, the church could increase its credibility even further in this department with a few additional benchmarks.

During his long pontificate, Pope John Paul II beatified 1,340 people and canonized almost 500 — more than all his predecessors combined since the current procedures were introduced in 1588. John Paul also waived the traditional five-year waiting period required before the process, or “cause,” could begin for Mother Teresa, who died in 1997.

[At least 399 of the 462 saints that were canonized by Pope John Paul II were martyrs. And many of them, some who lived two or three centuries ago, were canonized in groups of from 25 to over 100. In fact, 329 of those saints were canonized in three groups of over 100 Blesseds. Martyrdom has traditionally been a reason to put a person on the fast track for sainthood.]

The Vatican’s new document says that some procedures had become “problematic.” As a result, local bishops are now instructed to exercise “greater sobriety and rigor” in determining which saints-to-be they send for approval to Rome. Candidates should not be promoted by small interest groups; rather, their reputation for holiness must be “spontaneous and not artificially procured.” Officials vetting the cases must be impartial, and not omit negative aspects of a person’s life. And the examination of the miracles required for canonization must make use of “all clinical and technical means.”

While Mother Teresa and Pope John Paul may already be saints in the public mind, for example, the Vatican takes a longer view. Canonization has long been an arduous procedure, which includes gathering evidence for a life of heroic sanctity, interviewing contemporaries and examining a person’s writings for any hint of unorthodoxy. One medically certifiable miracle is required for beatification (when the person is declared “blessed”), and one more for canonization. Only then will the pope declare a person a saint and worthy of “public veneration.”

Even the standard for verifying miracles, arguably the aspect of the process that causes the most eye-rolling among agnostics and atheists, is famously strict. The Congregation draws on teams of doctors (not all of them Catholic) who assiduously rule out any other cause for a healing. Typically, the person cured will have prayed for the saint’s intercession. Any miracle must be instantaneous, permanent and medically verifiable. Those “cured” cannot simply have improved, cannot relapse and cannot have sought medical care (or at least must have given it up well before the miracle). Consequently, the verification process can take decades, as doctors monitor the stricken person’s progress.

Vatican standards for miracles are high not simply because the church is seeking irrefutable evidence of divine intervention, but because the church has much to lose if a miracle is later debunked. The Oxford historian Ruth Harris, for example, uncovered evidence of several early “healings” at the French shrine of Lourdes that were widely held to be miracles by the local populace, but which were rejected by exacting church officials worried about a rush to judgment.

The Vatican understands that any canonization procedures that seem rushed, biased or faulty would invite not only public derision, but also the suspicion of the faithful today and in centuries to come. Any whiff of fast-tracking could decrease respect for a new saint. That may be one reason Pope Benedict XVI did not accede to the wishes of the crowds at John Paul’s funeral in April 2005, who loudly called for “Santo subito!” — “Sainthood now!” Benedict’s implicit response was, “Not yet.”

But to combat ingrained and increasing skepticism, the church could go even further. First, officials could resolve that they will continue to adhere to the five-year waiting period, no matter how popular the candidate might be at death. Second, while the desire to recognize sanctity across the globe is laudable and serves as a reminder that holiness knows no boundaries, the church could avoid bumping up someone in line because the person hails from a country with relatively few saints.

Finally, the church could avoid favoring (or disfavoring) candidates out of any political implications. Archbishop Óscar Romero of San Salvador, who was murdered while celebrating mass in 1980 and who spoke out in defense of the embattled poor, seems to fit the classic definition of a martyr. Yet for many years his cause seemed to have stalled, probably because of his affinity for left-leaning “liberation theology,” which is highly unpopular in Rome.

Catholics should welcome the Vatican’s insistence on increased rigor in its saint-making guidelines. The redoubled commitment to an impartial judging of a saint’s life demonstrates that the church does not “create” saints as much as it simply recognizes them. Likewise, its renewed reminders that, for the church, miracles are serious scientific business, may make it more difficult for agnostics and atheists to disbelieve.

And easier for believers to believe. New York Times

More on the Invalid Baptism Issue

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Last Friday it was announced that the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (Cardinal Levada, formerly of San Francisco) had issued a directive saying that priests or deacons who used "feminist" words when baptizing did not actually confer the Sacrament upon the person. The words of Jesus, "I baptize you in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit" must be used.

Here are some comments from Father Tim Finnegan of the Hermeneutic of Continuity blog exploring some ramifications of this decision which pertained not only specifically to a Brisbane, Australia, parish, but to all cases where alternative words were used:

The problem with these formulas is not only that they are contrary to the law of the Church but that they are also contrary to the nature of the sacrament instituted by Christ. He instructed the apostles "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" (Matt 28.19) thus specifying (in a manner Fr Kennedy considers inclusive and patriarchal) the three persons of the Trinity.

Formulas using terms such as creator, liberator and sustainer do not specify the persons of the Trinity. The works of the God ad extra are works of the Trinity. Thus it is the Trinity that creates, liberates and sustains – albeit we may attribute “missions” to each of the persons of the Trinity, speaking of the Father as creator, for example. But we can also quite properly call the Holy Spirit "Creator" as we do when we sing Veni Creator Spiritus.

I have used this case as an example in my course on Sacramental Theology when looking at the form of the sacrament of Baptism. (I have just added a new footnote to my class notes.) As an aside, I always mention the grave consequences of such foolishness. Fr Kennedy had been at Brisbane for 24 years and the parish had 100 baptisms a year. Apparently, he and the curate alternated between the valid form and their own invalid form. So there were, say, ten to twelve thousand invalid baptisms.

None of those people can receive any of the other sacraments validly. If Archbishop Bathersby visited the parish to administer Confirmation, the confirmations would not have been valid for any of the people who were invalidly baptised.

It gets worse when we consider the case of someone who was invalidly baptised marrying a non-Catholic in a civil ceremony. Normally, if a Catholic marries in a civil ceremony without any dispensation, the marriage is invalid and a nullity can be granted by a relatively simple documentary process because of "defect of form". If, on the other hand, two non-Catholics marry in a civil ceremony, it is presumed to be valid.

So if it turns out that the "Catholic" was not actually baptised at all, the marriage, like other marriages of two non-Catholics, is, in fact, valid after all. And any subsequent marriage is not.

And it gets even worse. Remember that the invalid baptisms began about 27 years ago now - and some adults will probably have been baptised during that time using the invalid formula. It is not impossible that one of the roughly 5,000 invalidly baptised men may have since trained for the priesthood. If so, their ordination is quite simply invalid - no question: you cannot be ordained if you have not been baptised. None of the Masses he said were valid, he never gave valid absolution and he never validly conferred the sacrament of anointing.

At this point, I am sure that somebody will want to say "Hang on, God is very nice. He's not going to condemn people to hell because some stupid priest said the wrong thing all those years ago." So OK, to pre-empt such comments let me say that I don't think any of the victims of this injustice are unwittingly going to hell or that they do not receive any grace etc. etc. But God became incarnate. He founded a Church and he instituted seven sacraments for the Church, all of which have real spiritual effects. Of course, God will look kindly on the innocent victims of disobedience. But grace is from God and he gave us the sacraments which the faithful have the right to receive when they are properly disposed. Thousands of people have been denied that right. The Church can supply jurisdiction where there is common error or positive doubt. But it cannot supply grace or the sacramental character. People have been subjected to an injustice here: and all because somebody would not

To give one practical example of the consequences of this injustice, if there are invalidly ordained priests as a result of the invalid baptisms, there will be a whole lot of Mass stipends taken for what will have been invalid Masses. The people who gave the stipends have a strict right in justice to have those Masses said. Somebody should pay stipends for those Masses to be said. It would be a fitting thing if some estimate were made and stipends sent to poor priests in the missions to say however many thousand Masses "for the donor's intention".

Fortunately, Baptism is valid if adminstered by a layman with the correct intention. We can only pray that any invalidly ordained priest did not follow the example of his erstwhile pastor.

"Say the Black Do the Red" refers to the rubrics, or, authoritative instructions. The words to be used are in black ink and the actions that the baptizer or celebrant must take are in red ink. "Rubric" is derived from the Latin word "ruber", or, "red."

Chesterton Academy Announces Advisory Council; No Site Yet

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Chesterton Academy, probably planned for the southwestern suburbs of the Twin Cities, avidly recruiting students, announced recently the members of its advisory council. A pretty classy list. But they have not yet announced where they plan to open for business!

The Board of Directors of Chesterton Academy is pleased to announce the school's Advisory Council. The purpose of the Advisory Council is to provide spiritual and intellectual support to Chesterton Academy and its faculty, students, and families. We are humbled that these generous men and women have taken such an interest in our school and we include them in our prayers.


Sr. Joseph Andrew Bogdanowicz, O.P., Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist
Sister Joseph Andrew Bogdanowicz was one of four Dominican Sisters who, in 1997, founded a thriving new community of women religious, the Dominican Sisters of Mary Mother of the Eucharist. A popular speaker, Sister has given catechetical and vocations talks throughout the United States, Canada, and Austria. Sister has also given talks to the Society of Catholic Social Scientists, the Knights of Malta, and to countless seminarians and high school and college students. A tireless promoter of vocations, Sister has appeared on EWTN and her writings have been published in This Rock, Lay Witness, Dominican Torch, and The National Catholic Register.

Mary Ann Kuharski, Executive Director, ProLife Across America
Mary Ann Kuharski is President of ProLife Across America (The Billboard People) and a nationally known author and speaker. She was a founding member of and past president of Prolife Minnesota and an advisory board member for the National Committee for Adoption. She is the author of Raising Catholic Children (Our Sunday Visitor 1991), Building a Legacy of Love (Queenship Publishing 1997), and Outnumbered! Raising 13 Kids with Humor and Prayer (Servant Books 2006). Mrs. Kuharski is a loving mother of 13 children (six of whom are adopted and several with special needs) and a grandmother of 12. She and her husband, John, live in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

Fr. Mitchell Pacwa, S.J., Host, EWTN; President, Ignatius Productions
Father received his B.A. in Philosophy and Theology from the University of Detroit, summa cum laude. He was ordained a Catholic priest in 1976 with the Society of Jesus and then continued his studies. He received his Master of Divinity and S.T.B. from the Jesuit School of Theology of Loyola University, magna cum laude. At Vanderbilt University, he received his Master of Arts, Ph.D. in Old Testament. Being a well-known biblical scholar, he has lectured at hundreds of conferences and churches around the world, and has appeared and hosted international radio and television programs. He is best known for his appearances on EWTN. Father Pacwa is fluent in twelve languages and has a unique understanding of the peoples and cultures of the Middle East. Father Pacwa also has the privilege of being bi-ritual, which means he can also celebrate the Maronite Mass of the Eastern Catholic Church.

Charles E. Rice, Professor Emeritus of Law, Notre Dame Law School
Charles E. Rice is Professor Emeritus of Law at the University of Notre Dame Law School. Professor Rice was born in 1931, received the B.A. degree from the College of the Holy Cross, the J.D. from Boston College Law School and the LL.M. and J.S.D. from New York University. He served in the Marine Corps and is a Lt. Col. in the U.S. Marine Corps Reserve (Ret.). He practiced law in New York City and taught at New York University Law School and Fordham Law School before joining, in 1969, the faculty of law at Notre Dame. He is a member of the governing boards of Franciscan University of Steubenville and the Eternal Word Television Network (EWTN). He is also chairman of the Center for Law and Justice International in New Hope, Kentucky, and a director of the Thomas More Center for Law and Justice in Ann Arbor. He is an assistant coach of the Notre Dame Boxing Club. He and his wife, Mary, have 10 children and 37 grandchildren. They reside in Mishawaka, Indiana.

Joseph M. Scheidler, Director, Pro-Life Action League
Joseph M. Scheidler is National Director of the Pro-Life Action League, a national pro-life educational and activist organization headquartered in Chicago. The League is dedicated to saving lives through activism and to bringing the abortion issue to the public via the media. It has been said that Joseph Scheidler defined pro-life direct action. Syndicated columnist Patrick Buchanan called Mr. Scheidler "the Green Beret of the pro-life movement." His book on his methods of fighting abortion, CLOSED: 99 Ways to Stop Abortion, was updated in 1993, and he has produced the videos Meet the Abortion Providers and Abortion: The Inside Story, featuring former abortionists who are now telling the truth about what goes on in the abortion clinics. Mr. Scheidler also produced the definitive video on sidewalk counseling, No Greater Joy, and Face the Truth, an 11-minute video on a unique, highly visible pro-life demonstration using large graphic abortion posters to bring the truth about abortion to the American public. Mr. Scheidler lives in Chicago with his wife, Ann, the Executive Director of the Pro-Life Action League. They have 7 children and 15 grandchildren.

Archdiocese Cracks Down on St Stephen's Parish in Minneapolis

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St Joan of Arc Parish in Minneapolis has long had a world-wide reputation as one of the most rebellious and dissident Catholic parishes in the U.S. That is not correct. While they maybe have been dissident, what they really excelled in was their public relations and their web page. They made sure that everyone who might have been interested knew what they were doing.

St Stephen's Parish, a couple miles to the north of them in the Stephens Square neighborhood of Minneapolis, matched SJA in their tremendous social outreach ministries to the poor and needy of the city. And it far surpassed them in their refusal to observe the requirements that the Catholic Church has for all of its parishes around the world.

After having attended a couple of services at SJA, last Spring I attended one at St Stephen's. I knew one of its parishioners and suspected that there were problems far exceeding those that were known about with the "Joanies."

At the time, there was a deacon assigned as the "Parish Life Administrator" and a priest assigned for the 11:15 service as the "Sacramental Minister." His duties seemed mostly to look uncomfortable while the laity of St Stephen's fully participated in the service, often leaving him in his chair, off to the side. The deacon lived in a distant suburb. The Parish Pouncil pretty much ran the parish.

The "Sacramental Minister" and a woman walked together up to the altar, took their microphones and the "Mass" began with the female “minister” welcoming everyone and asking visitors to introduce themselves. The "Sacramental Minister" then said the introductory prayers and then stepped back and let the female “minister” lead the congregation in saying the Kyrie Eleison.

Then a middle aged man gave the second reading, the Epistle, letting us know that it would be accompanied by a poem by an environmental poet. It was Earth Day. Halfway through the reading, a woman (possibly his wife) joined the lector and assisted him in finishing the poem. Relieved, thinking to myself, well I’m glad that’s over, now we can get down to the meat of the Mass.

But the Sacramental Minister, legs crossed, looking extremely uncomfortable, remained seated next to the female “minister” and the couple proceeded to read the Gospel, taking turns. The couple remained at the microphone and then proceeded to give the homily, again in turn.

After the Gospel/Homily abomination, the Creed was omitted and there were “General Intercessions” coming from various members of the congregation. The Sacramental Minister remained seated, still ill at ease, crossing and uncrossing his legs, leaning over his knees, hands in his pocket, while the female “minister” continued to control the flow of the service.

At this time, I declared to myself that I was not in attendance at a Mass and made my plans to go elsewhere at 5:00 to a St Paul parish.

It got worse. The gifts were presented, pita bread and the de rigueur Kool Aid pitchers of wine, normally used by dissenting parishes. The Sacramental Minister remained seated. They were presented to laypeople. At this point, I started to lose track of what was going on. There was just too much wrong.

The female “minister” then said the priest’s “Blessed are you Lord” prayer while the Sacramental Minister watched.

Then at the “consecration” of the host and the wine into the Body and Blood of Christ, THE ENTIRE CONGREGATION RECITED THE WORDS OF THE CONSECRATION ALONG WITH THE PRIEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!

He resumed saying the Eucharistic Prayer and when he raised the platter of pita bread at the “Great Amen”, THE FEMALE "MINISTER" RAISED THE K-MART GLASS GOBLET OF WHAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE PRECIOUS BLOOD UNDER NORMAL CIRCUMSTANCES.

There was more, including the fact that the Extraordinary Ministers assumed the lead in the distribution of Communion and the Sacramental Minister had to search for people who wanted it from him.

I won't document the errors; you can pretty well see them for yourself.

Nick Coleman, a columnist for the StarTribune and a fallen away cradle Catholic himself, has a column this morning on the most recent events at St Stephen's. Apparently a significant proportion of its members have formally, at least for today, decided to leave the parish and form their own parish in a building a few blocks away. Pray for them. And certainly pray for St Stephens' new pastor, Father Joe Williams, who starts at the end of March and for the parishioners who will remain.

For 40 years, St. Stephen's Catholic Church in Minneapolis has been a font of Christian compassion, service to the suffering and help to the poor.

Those good works will continue. But many of the good people who contributed their time, talents and resources to the $3 million-a-year social outreach of a historic, 119-year-old inner-city parish will not.

They will be without their worship home at St. Stephen's.

Exiles in their own parish, 100 or more members of the St. Stephen's community plan to march this morning from the church to a new home five blocks away, where they hope to continue the informal and spiritually arousing service that drew them to St. Stephen's in the first place.

You know the kind of service: with guitars, lay people giving homilies, dancing in the aisles with people who have mental and physical disabilities, gay couples openly participating in worship, along with ex-priests, ex-nuns and sundry other spiritual wanderers.

It's all so 1960s. The new church is more like the 1860s.

The 9 a.m. English-language pray- er service, believed to have begun in 1968, has been shut down by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, which has moved in recent years to bring all of its 219 parishes into conformity.

"They all have to play with the same playbook," says Dennis McGrath, spokesman for the archdiocese. "They've had plenty of warnings to get their act together."

The "playbook" is the GIRM -- "General Instructions of the Roman Missal" -- which spells out the rubrics for worship services. After the Second Ecumenical Vatican Council in the early 1960s, the orthodoxies loosened and churches, especially ones in needy neighborhoods like St. Stephen's, put more emphasis on carrying out the message of the Gospels than following the rubrics.

The 9 a.m. service in the school gym (there's also a 9 a.m. Spanish-language mass in the church sanctuary) became a place where all were welcomed, the wording of prayers was changed to make them inclusive ("Our Father and Mother, Who Art in Heaven," for example), women had leadership roles in services, and simple ceramics were used instead of chalices of precious metal, as called for in the rubrics.

The parish is getting a new pastor next month (it has had only part-time clergy), and McGrath says the archdiocese wanted to get things "straightened out" before the Rev. Joseph Williams arrives.

But similar changes are taking place across the archdiocese, which is getting new, conservative leadership from Co-adjutor Archbishop John Nienstedt, who will shortly succeed Archbishop Harry Flynn.

The changes have caused pain in St. Stephen's, at 2211 Clinton Av. S. in the Whittier neighborhood, near the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

"How can it have been OK for 40 years -- even been encouraged because of the work we do -- and not be OK anymore?" asks Eileen Smith, a parishioner from St. Louis Park, who has been active in fundraising for St. Stephen's and thinks of the prayer service as her spiritual home. "They should hold us up as a model of service. Instead, they are giving us the boot."

"It's incredibly sad," says Mary Condon Peters of Golden Valley, who has belonged to St. Stephen's for 16 years and served on its parish council. "All these years, there was room in the big old Catholic tent for all of us. And now there isn't. And they gave us three weeks' notice."

It was on Feb. 5 that Flynn met with parish representatives and instructed them that the 9 a.m. prayer service must end. McGrath says that "nothing of substance" will change, and that the parish outreach to the poor, the homeless and the Hispanic community will go on.

So will support of those ministries by the St. Stephen's members who will march to a new prayer home today.

The last service was held last Sunday. About 200 people attended, many crying throughout the service, which ended with a tear-stained but joyful singing of "We Are Marching in the Light of God."

Today, they will march again. This time, to Park Avenue.

After gathering at the usual time at the school gym, many parishioners who considered the 9 a.m. prayer service the center of a rich faith experience will say a last prayer on the steps and then head five blocks east, exiles in the desert, to 2120 Park Av., where they plan to continue the Sunday prayer meetings that brought them together.

"We are supposed to learn how to 'pray right' or go away," Peters says. "Well, we are going to pray the way we think is right. And we are going to go away. With great sadness. But we will still pray." StarTribune

The legendary "Fr Z"

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From time to time most readers of Stella Borealis must wonder about "Who is this Father Z guy that he keeps mentioning?" Well, the cover has been blown. Just like how Matt Drudge blew the cover of Prince Harry, fighting in Afghanistan, the Catholic Herald, the "National Catholic Register" of the UK, has blown the cover of Father John Zuhlsdorf, St Agnes alum, now busily pursuing his PhD (at the request of the Pope, believe it or not) in Rome, with regular sorties back to the Sabine Farm, his ancestral estate, rumored to be someplace in Wisconsin (within 90 miles, one speculates).

Fr Z walks through the bitterly cold Oxford night with the firm, fast steps of a man who has relentless energy, determination and strong convictions. With his black trilby tilted at a raffish angle and his black scarf firmly tucked into his black coat, he looks like a character out The Matrix. With three mobile devices on him he certainly carries enough electronic kit to warrant the simile. One can easily imagine him being as adept at programming complex computer codes as he is at celebrating a Mass in the extraordinary form.

For those unfamiliar with the internet, the name Fr Z (the "Z" is pronounced "zee") may mean little, but to thousands of wired-up Catholics across the globe, Fr John Zuhlsdorf's well-informed opinions, translations and analyses of matters liturgical are a daily reading requirement. Rumoured to have direct sources in very high places, he is read by members of the Roman Curia, bishops, priests, seminarians and lay people around the world. His articles have made their way into Curial meetings and he says that several bishops have consulted him on documents relating to Summorum Pontificum, the Apostolic Letter with which the Pope Benedict XVI liberated the traditional Mass. Fr Z is a true phenomenon of the information age: a power blogger and a priest.

He tells the story of one seminary rector who said some unfavourable things about Summorum Pontificum. Students at the seminary e-mailed Fr Zuhlsdorf shortly after the meeting. He posted it on his blog and within hours the news had made its way across the world.

"It created quite a stir in that particular community," says Fr Zuhlsdorf. "I know now that people are being a lot more careful about what they say. They [the bishops] are realising that the blogosphere and the internet, with the way the media is today, they know that they are going to be called to account for what they say or do."

A confessed tech-geek, Fr Zuhlsdorf started his adventures with the internet in its early days, back in the 1990s. He effectively hotwired a Vatican telephone in order to access cyberspace with an analogue connection back when analogue was the only option and Compuserve almost the only service provider. In the days before proper websites, when forums were the in thing, Fr Zuhlsdorf quickly became the moderator for the Catholic Online Forum, which he still does today. His "What Does The Prayer Really Say?" column in the American weekly newspaper The Wanderer dealt with the inadequacies of ICEL translations by providing new translations which he made. It became the inspiration for his blog.

In the last two years, his blog, at www.wdtprs.com, has had over 2.1 million visitors. By the standards of today's blogosphere, which has well over 50 million blogs struggling to get noticed, this is not bad going at all. He receives over 500 e-mails a day and says he wishes that he could answer all of them. Traffic on his blog has been so heavy that it has caused the server to crash. More often than not, he has the first news on items concerning the Motu Proprio and whenever something new does develop relating to the extraordinary form, his blog is the rapidly becoming the first port of call.

"I feel that I have an obligation to comment now that I'm one of the bigger ones and people are starting to turn to me quickly," he says. "I'm one of the first blogs people go to when something happens and as long as I can have something useful to contribute I feel the responsibility to ante up." But he tries to limit himself from spending too much time at the computer so that he can live "a regular priestly life".

He feels his blog offers marginalised traditionalists a chance to vent their frustrations, discuss their needs and start the healing process that Pope Benedict XVI began with Summorum Pontificum.

As with many high-profile bloggers, Fr Zuhlsdorf's neatly formulated thoughts are only a mouse-click away, but finding the man behind the blog is a little more difficult.

It is apt that our interview in Oxford, where he has been taking part in a Newman Society colloquium on blogging, takes place in the Eagle and Child, the pub where the Inklings used to meet. He tells me that J R R Tolkien's books played a prominent part in his early life and he says that a childhood correspondence with "the Professor" shortly before Tolkien's death may have been one of things that made him more receptive to Catholicism later on in life. Born to Lutheran parents of German extraction in Minnesota, the man who coined the slogan "Save the Liturgy, Save the World" was turned off by the "ugliness" of the Lutheran mindset. Music and Shakespeare were the two passions of his childhood, nurtured by his grandmother, a former school teacher. While he was interested in religion, he had none himself.

Perhaps his love for the extraordinary form, his conviction that lex orandi is indeed lex credendi and his admiration for the beauties of the liturgy, have their roots in his conversion story. As a young drama major at the University of Minnesota, he was introduced to Latin and loved it. Long-haired and mustachioed [Vincenzo, are you paying attention?], the now clean-shaven Fr Zuhlsdorf worked as a cook in a restaurant to support himself through his studies. "I was practically a pagan then," he says.

One Sunday, called in to work as the restaurant was short staffed, his car refused to start. So he borrowed his friend's battered jalopy and drove through the freezing Minnesotan morning, fiddling with the dial of the old AM radio desperately trying to find something decent to listen to. Chancing on some Gregorian chants, he was mesmerised. When he realised that the music was being broadcast live from a church in St Paul, Minnesota, he resolved to go. He was fascinated by what he saw at St Agnes, which is built in Austrian Baroque style and intrigued by the congregation. "I kept asking myself: 'Who are these people and what do they believe that they do this every Sunday?' " he says. "I wrote my name and phone number down on a piece of paper and handed it over to the guy on the other side of the Communion rail."

Mgr Richard Schuler, the parish priest, rang Zuhlsdorf up and invited him to come round and talk. After a year and a half of directly engaging with the liturgy in the church choir, which was complemented with a rigorous reading list, Zuhlsdorf found that he could answer his own objections to Catholicism and decided to convert. For a long time he resisted the vocation to the priesthood, but eventually came round to it and was ordained in May 1991 in Rome by Pope John Paul II. He was incardinated in the suburbicarian diocese of Velletri-Segni.

His work at the Ecclesia Dei commission, the Vatican body which deals with matters pertaining to the older form of the Mass, put him into the corridors of power and it was Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, then the Prefect for the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF), who suggested the topic for Fr Zuhlsdorf's licence thesis.

"One day, not long after the document came out on the ecclesial vocation of theologians, I met Cardinal Ratzinger in the hall and I said: 'Your Eminence, I read the new letter.' He said very politely: 'What did you think?' It was an astonishing thing that the Prefect of the CDF was asking me what I thought of the letter and I said: 'Well, Your Eminence, I didn't really like it very well.' And he was a little surprised and said: 'Why?' And I said: 'Well, you spend so many pages on talking about theologians but you don't say who a theologian is.' He looked at me a little quizzically and said: 'Why don't you tell us?' And I said 'How do I do this?' And he said: 'You're working in Patristics at the Augustinianum; why don't you ask St Augustine who a theologian was?' " Fr Zuhlsdorf is now working on his doctorate in Patristics at the Augustinianum in Rome, but divides his time between the Eternal City and the United States, where he has a rural hideaway in the Midwest which he calls the Sabine Farm, after Horace. In the meantime, with things changing as much as they are, he is blogging up a storm. UK Catholic Herald

Tip O' the Hat to the Curt Jester

Abp. Nienstedt Urges Action on Phyllis Kahn's bill promoting cloning and embryonic stem cell research

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Last week, I added a last minute plea at the end of my column for readers to contact their state legislators as well as the governor about the bill S.F. 100.

Originally, the House was to have voted on this measure last week (hence my urgency!), but now the vote has been delayed. If it should pass in the House, it will go back to the Senate and then on to the governor. The delay offers me the opportunity for a fuller comment.

S.F. 100, sponsored by Rep. Phyllis Kahn and Sen. Richard Cohen, would force taxpayers to pay for the destruction of human life on a scale never seen before in Minnesota's history. Readers are asked to call, write or e-mail their representatives in the House and Senate as well as Gov. Tim Pawlenty to protest passage of this legislation.

Assault on human dignity

Not only would S.F. 100 promote embryonic stem-cell research, it would permit human cloning as well. Surely this is a slippery slope that will inevitably lead to the mass production of human embryos for sale to researchers. How can one not see this cultural deterioration as anything but an assault on the dignity of human life?

But even from a practical point of view, this emphasis on using embryonic stem cells instead of adult stem cells makes no sense.

Adult stem cells are readily available from adult tissues and organs, from fat, bone marrow, umbilical cords, the placenta and amniotic fluid. They can be coaxed into becoming heart tissue, neural matter, skin cells and a host of other tissues.

Their power is real and tangible as they have already successfully treated some 70 health conditions, including autoimmune diseases such as lupus, multiple sclerosis, Crohn's disease and rheumatoid arthritis. They have been used to avert corneal degeneration and restore vision in cases of blindness. They also have been utilized to restore cardiac function to those who have had a heart attack as well as improve movement for patients with spinal cord injuries.

To date, there have been no (read: zero) successful cures with embryonic stem cells.

Supported by science

Last Nov. 20, two scientific papers were published in Science and Cell magazines detailing new ways in which adult stem cells can be "reprogrammed" into becoming "pluripotent" stem cells that are able to develop into any tissue in the human body.

These can do what, until now, only early-stage embryonic cells could do and thus can now provide the same potential therapeutic benefits.

Doesn't it make sense for our government to fund this kind of research, rather than using your tax dollars and mine to continue the slaughter of innocent human life?

Why indeed should we proceed down this path that will inevitably lead to a social situation in which human life is created for the very purpose of being destroyed?

If scientists desire to engage in unethical research projects, it should not be with our concurrence.

Please join me in contacting your state senator, House representative and the governor's office today. Raise your voice against S.F. 100!

God bless you!

Feminist Baptism Words Invalid says Rome; Jesus' Words Must Be Said!

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The Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith clarified that two formulae for baptism that remove the masculine names for God are invalid and undermine faith in the Trinity.

The congregation's statement, made public today, responded to two questions concerning the validity of baptism conferred without referring to God the Father and Son.

The first question is: "Is a baptism valid if conferred with the words 'I baptize you in the name of the Creator, and of the Redeemer, and of the Sanctifier,' or 'I baptize you in the name of the Creator, and of the Liberator, and of the Sustainer'?"

The second question is: "Must people baptized with those formulae be baptized 'in forma absoluta'?"

The responses are: "To the first question, negative; to the second question, affirmative."

Benedict XVI, during a recent audience with Cardinal William Levada, prefect of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, approved these responses, which were adopted at the ordinary session of the congregation. The Pope ordered their publication.

The text of the responses bears the signatures of Cardinal Levada and of Archbishop Angelo Amato, secretary of the dicastery.

An attached note, signed by Monsignor Antonio Miralles, professor of dogmatic theology at the Pontifical Holy Cross University, explained that the responses "concern the validity of baptism conferred with two English-language formulae within the ambit of the Catholic Church. [...] Clearly, the question does not concern English but the formula itself, which could also be expressed in another language."

"Baptism conferred in the name of the Father, the Son and the ! Holy Spirit," the note continued, "obeys Jesus' command as it appears at the end of the Gospel of St. Matthew. [...] The baptismal formula must be an adequate expression of Trinitarian faith, approximate formulae are unacceptable."

"Variations to the baptismal formula -- using non-biblical designations of the Divine Persons -- as considered in this reply, arise from so-called feminist theology," being an attempt "to avoid using the words Father and Son which are held to be chauvinistic, substituting them with other names," the note clarified. "Such variants, however, undermine faith in the Trinity."

In a commentary on the responses, Cardinal Urbano Navarrete, former rector of the Pontifical Gregorian University, clarified: "The response of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith constitutes an authentic doctrinal declaration, which has wide-ranging canonical and pastoral effects. Indeed, the reply impl! icitly affirms that people who have been baptized, or who will in the future be baptized, with the formulae in question have, in reality, not been baptized.

"Hence, they must them be treated for all canonical and pastoral purposes with the same juridical criteria as people whom the Code of Canon Law places in the general category of 'non-baptized.'"

This implies that if they have received other sacraments, they are invalid as well and should be re-administered.


Those who were baptized using those or similar words must be re-baptized, and receive also the sacraments of Confirmation, Matrimony or Holy Orders if they have also been received.

If you know of a parish where this practice was followed, please contact your Bishop. This is a very serious issue. The case that caused the CDF to make this decision arose in Australia.

Chaldean Archbishop Kidnapped in Iraq; Three Aides Killed

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ROME (CNS) -- Kidnappers abducted Chaldean Catholic Archbishop Paulos Faraj Rahho of Mosul, Iraq, and killed the three people who were traveling with him. Chaldean Bishop Rabban al Qas of Arbil told the Rome-based missionary news service AsiaNews that Mosul's archbishop was kidnapped late Feb. 29 after he finished leading the Way of the Cross.

Archbishop Rahho had just left the Church of the Holy Spirit in Mosul and was in his car with three other men when the kidnappers attacked. "The bishop is in the hands of terrorists," Bishop Qas told AsiaNews.

"But we don't know what physical condition (the archbishop is in); the three men who were with him in the car, including his driver, were killed," he explained. "It's a terrible time for our church; pray for us," he said.

The kidnappers have reportedly communicated their demands, which were not made public.

The incident comes less than a year after a Chaldean Catholic priest and three subdeacons were gunned down outside the same Mosul church.

Father Ragheed Aziz Ganni and subdeacons Basman Yousef Daoud, Wadid Hanna and Ghasan Bida Wid were killed June 3 while leaving the Church of the Holy Spirit after having celebrated Sunday Mass.

Father Ganni, the three subdeacons, and the wife of one of the subdeacons were driving away from the church when their car was blocked by a group of armed militants, according to AsiaNews.

The armed men forced the woman out of the car. Once the woman was away from the vehicle the armed men opened fire on Father Ganni and the three subdeacons. Subdeacon is an ordination rank lower than deacon in most Eastern Catholic churches.

The militants then placed explosives around the car to prevent anyone from retrieving the four bodies. Later that night, authorities finally managed to defuse the explosives and retrieve the bodies. Catholic News Service

It's OK to eat lots of meat on Tuesdays in Lent!

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THE ARGUMENT OF THE

MONTH CLUB

A MEN’S FORUM FOR CATHOLIC APOLOGETICS PRESENTS

Satan!

Fairy Tale or Evil Reality?

The modern secular world claims Satan is a myth, but yet, the Vatican must revitalize Exorcist training programs, to keep up with the overwhelming demand for Exorcisms.

If the Catholic Church still believes in the devil why do so few Catholics believe in him? Is the occult and black mass real and serious? What are the dangers for individuals or societies that do not believe in Satan or in evil? In order to answer this and much more the AOTM has called on

• Speaker: Father Robert Altier Tuesday, March 11th
• Basement of St. Augustine Church in South St. Paul.
• 6:30 pm Social (beverages and appetizers)
• Dinner at 7:00 PM
• Total cost for the evening $12 at the door

Come argue against our speaker or defend his position if you agree during the Q&A, which starts immediately following dessert. You are all encouraged to enjoy the good humor, food and fellowship. We enjoy the company of men from all different creeds and ages. Priests and seminarians get in for free but are not shown any partiality in debate. Fathers may bring their underage sons as long as they accompany them.

• St. Augustine Catholic Church
• 5th Ave. N. & 3rd St. N .
• South St. Paul

PLEASE ENTER THE CHURCH BASEMENT FROM THE EAST SIDE

FOR DIRECTIONS AND UP COMING SPEAKERS

GO TO WWW.AOTMCLUB.COM


IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTIONS
CALL KENT WUCHTERL AT 612- 722-8444
OR JOSH TESKE AT 612-227-5674

UST to Honor Five on St Thomas Day, March 1

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The University of St. Thomas community will gather Saturday, March 1, to celebrate its annual St. Thomas Day and to honor recipients of its Humanitarian, Distinguished Alumnus, Professor of the Year, Tommie and Monsignor James Lavin awards.

St. Thomas Day events begin with a 5:30 p.m. Mass in the Chapel of St. Thomas Aquinas. The Mass will be celebrated by Archbishop Harry Flynn, chair of the university's Board of Trustees. It was 90 years ago – on the March 7 St. Thomas Day of 1918 – that the first Mass was celebrated in that chapel. This year, Flynn will consecrate a new altar that was installed as part of the chapel's recent renovation.

A 7 p.m. dinner and awards program will follow in Murray-Herrick Campus Center. More than 500 members of the St. Thomas community are expected to attend.

St. Thomas Day begins a weeklong series of events for the university’s annual Heritage Week. More information about the week is available on the Web at: http://www.stthomas.edu/mission/heritageweek/.

The five St. Thomas Day awards will be presented to:

Distinguished Alumnus – This year's award is being given to explorer and educator Daniel Buettner, a St. Paul resident who graduated cum laude from St. Thomas in 1983.

Buettner's major, Spanish, came in handy three years later when he rode a bicycle 15,500 miles from the top of Alaska to the bottom of South America. It was the first of three Guinness world records he set on bicycles. On Sovietrek in 1990 he biked around the world, and a year later he rode 12,000 miles on a trans-Africa expedition.

Dan Buettner

The development of the World Wide Web helped him link his passions for education and exploration. In 1995 he founded Earthtreks Inc., which over the years has allowed more than a million people, including students in 30,000 classrooms, to follow his adventures in a series of nine interactive Quests. His adventures – described by the Washington Post as "the most successful experiment in interactive education to date" – revisited the Maya collapse, followed Marco Polo's footsteps and investigated the fall of the Anasazi in North America.

More recently, Buettner founded Blue Zones, a project that studies the world's best practices in health and longevity and passes along that information to the public through the Internet, lectures and articles like the 2005 cover story Buettner wrote for National Geographic on "The Secrets for Living Longer."

Over the past decade Buettner had delivered more than 500 keynote speeches, appeared on many television programs, and has been profiled in dozens of publications. Minnesota Monthly magazine included him in a story on "10 Minnesotans Who are Changing the World."

His Sovietrek won a Minnesota Book Award, his Africatrek won Scientific American's "Young Reader Award" and his PBS Africatrek documentary won an Emmy. The National Association of Campus Activities Directors inducted him into its Hall of Fame for his 200 college appearances.

Established in 1971, the Distinguished Alumnus award is presented for leadership and service to the university, to the community and in the person’s field of endeavor.

Humanitarian of the Year – Paul Langenfeld, who holds a 1989 bachelor's degree in theology and a 1992 master of divinity, will receive the 2008 Humanitarian of the Year Award.

Langenfeld, of St. Paul, works as a personal-care attendant for those who are disabled. He founded the Langenfeld Foundation in 2006 to create opportunities in the areas of fishing, hunting, nature, sports and music for women and men with mental, physical and developmental disabilities.

Paul Langenfeld

His Hastings-based foundation, named for his parents Tony and Elizabeth, grew out of an experience several years ago when he took two of his disabled clients hunting.

"I want to show the world what people with disabilities can do," he said in a recent "On the Road With Jason Davis" television interview. "We want to take the world's thinking about disabilities and stand it on its head."

The "On the Road' segment followed two men with disabilities who went on a donated Safari hunt in South Africa.

Last summer, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources partnered with the Langenfeld Foundation to conduct the state's first hunting and firearm safety classes for young adults with special needs. The foundation also helps arrange outings to nonhunting sporting and cultural events.

From 1993 to 2002, Langenfeld lived in a religious community of brothers and served as a youth pastor, pastoral minister and hospital chaplain in Indiana, Oregon and Minnesota.

Established 40 years ago, the Humanitarian of the Year Award is presented by the university’s Alumni Association.

Professor of the Year – Sister Katarina Schuth, who holds the Endowed Chair for the Social Scientific Study of Religion at the St. Paul Seminary School of Divinity of the University of St. Thomas, is this year's Professor of the Year. The 47-year-old award recognizes excellence in teaching, scholarship and inspiration to students.

Sister Katarina Schuth

Recognized internationally as a leading expert on seminaries, Schuth came to St. Thomas in 1991 and currently chairs the university's Faculty Senate.

Schuth, since 1960 a member of the Sisters of St. Francis, Rochester, teaches and does research in the fields of theological education and the relationship between the church and American culture. She holds five degrees: a bachelor's in history from the College of St. Teresa; a master's in theological studies and license in sacred theology from Weston Jesuit School of Theology; and a master's and doctorate in cultural geography from Syracuse University. Her doctoral research took her to India where she studied literacy in rural villages.

She is the author of many articles and five books: Cooperative Ventures in Theological Education (co-author, 1989); Reason for Hope: The Futures of Roman Catholic Theologates (1989); Seminaries, Theologates, and the Future of Church Ministry: An Analysis of Trends and Transitions (1999); Educating Leaders for Ministry (co-author, 2005); and most recently, Priestly Ministry in Multiple Parishes (2006). Her most recent book deals with the shortage of priests in the United States. The Lilly Endowment has supported her research and writing over the past 20 years.

When she received an honorary doctorate from Notre Dame Seminary in New Orleans, the seminary's chancellor, Archbishop Francis Schulte, said that "not only Notre Dame Seminary, but the entire seminary community throughout the United States, is indebted to you for the valuable research and service you have provided for so many years. Your writings have brought enlightenment and renewal to priestly formation."

Schuth has received three other honorary degrees, including one in 2004 from Boston College, as well has many other awards for her research and writing.

Schuth lives in St. Paul, not far from St. Thomas, but grew up on a dairy farm on a bluff overlooking the Mississippi River, just above Wabasha. She was the middle child and only girl in a family with six boys.

In a book about the faith of many Catholics, Yes I Am Catholic: How Faith Plays a Role in My Life, Schuth talked about growing up on the farm and how her family taught her about faith and prayer, "a source of strength in her daily life."

"She believes it is especially valuable in her relationships with students," the book said. "She tries to get to know each one personally. 'When I learn about some of their family situations and about their goals and aspirations in life, I have a more positive and more complete view of them and recognize the struggles many of them are having.'"

Schuth has always taught at both the graduate and undergraduate levels since coming to St. Thomas 17 years ago. One of her goals, she said, "is to open students' minds and hearts to the universe we share, be accepting of others, understand the religious backgrounds of others, and to appreciate that we are all children of God."

Schuth serves on many national committees and boards, and in recent years has been a member of more than 10 boards of theological schools. A friend of the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, she was a 1996 charter member and continues to serve on his Catholic Common Ground Initiative. That project promotes seven "principles of dialogue" that foster respect, charity and civility, especially on topics related to the church.

Her work with that project was cited at St. Thomas' fall 2006 convocation by Father Dennis Dease, president. "I remember a column that James Shannon, president of St. Thomas from 1956 to 1966, wrote in The Aquin," Dease said in his annual address to the university's faculty. "He told his all-male student readers in the language of that day that even in the heat of debate there is one thing a gentleman never does: to question either his opponents' motives or his intelligence.

"This is counsel that would serve well today's polarized U.S. Catholic community. I appreciate the work of the late Cardinal Joseph Bernardin, who founded the Catholic Common Ground Movement. I applaud our own sister Katarina Schuth for her personal investment of time and energy in that movement as one of its founding board members."

Schuth spoke about the Common Ground Movement when she delivered the St. Thomas fall commencement address just a few days before Christmas in 2002. She concluded her address: " I invite you to be among those who renew the face of the earth one step at a time. In this season of hope that is celebrated in so many different traditions, may you be a reconciling messenger of peace to all you meet."

Monsignor James Lavin Award – Michael Thyken, who holds a 1983 bachelor's degree in business administration and quantitative methods-computer science, will receive this year's Lavin award. Established in 1994, the award annually honors a volunteer for service to the St. Thomas Alumni Association.

Michael Thyken

Thyken served as the association's president from 2004 to 2006 and has been involved in a host of alumni activities since his graduation. In addition to serving as the alumni representative on the university's Board of Trustees from 2005 to 2007, Thyken has been involved with class reunions, First Friday lunches, community clean-up days, the President's Council, William Finn Heritage Society, theater events and hockey alumni events.

Thyken, who also holds an M.B.A. from the University of Minnesota, is president of Corporate Information Technology, Merrill Corp.

Tommie Award – Dejen Tesfagiorgis was selected the 2008 Tommie Award winner by a vote of students, staff and faculty. The award has been given annually since 1931 to a senior who exemplifies the ideals of the university. The award recognizes scholarship, leadership and campus involvement.

Tesfagiorgis, of Madison, Wis., was selected from a field of 29 preliminary candidates and three finalists. He holds a 3.67 grade-point average and is double-majoring in music and business administration, with a concentration in entrepreneurship.

Dejen Tesfagiorgis

Principal saxophonist in the Symphonic Wind and Jazz Ensembles, he has served as vice president of the Band Club, as a peer tutor in the Music Department, and vice president of the Music and Entertainment Industry Student Association. He also has been a resident adviser in Ireland Hall and is in the Delta Epsilon Sigma National Honors Society and the National Society of Collegiate Scholars.

The Tommie Award is sponsored by university’s Division of Student Affairs.

The Aquin student newspaper on Feb. 22 carried a front-page story of Tesfagiorgis here. The Aquin said Tesfagiorgis "has an amazing work ethic, dedication to family, friends and colleagues, and general love for St. Thomas," according to Doug Orzolek, the music professor and band director who nominated Tesfagiorgis for the award.

UST Bulletin Today

Shrine O' the Day: Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine, La Crosse

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Who Says They Don't
Build 'em Like They Used To?

Ad Orientem

Ad Populum



Our Lady of Guadalupe Shrine

La Crosse, Wisconsin

Construction Photographs

July 28 - August 3, 2008

Click here for detailed information on the many events of Dedication Week

Tip O' The Hat to the New Liturgical Movement

The Holy Father on "Young Persons of the Third Millenium"

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From Whispers in the Loggia, an excerpted Q&A session with Pope Benedict and his Roman priests:

As recently noted, B16 held his latest Q&A session -- this time with the priests of Rome -- on Mardi Gras... and the Vatican's finally rolled out an official English translation of the full session.

One snip -- from a young priest on engaging the young... and the Ratzi Response:

Fr Graziano Bonfitto: Holy Father, I come from San Marco in Lamis, a village in the Province of Foggia. I am a Religious of Don Orione and have been a priest for a year and a half. I am currently parochial vicar in Ognisanti.... My priestly apostolate takes place among young people in particular. It is precisely on their behalf that I wish to thank you today.

My holy Founder, St Luigi Orione, said that young people are the sunshine or the storm of the future. I believe that at this moment in history young people are as much the sunshine as the storm, and not of tomorrow but of today, of this moment. Today, we young people feel a more pressing need than ever for certainties. We long for sincerity, freedom, justice and peace. We want beside us people who walk with us, who listen to us, just like Jesus with the disciples of Emmaus. Youth long for people who can point out the way to freedom, responsibility, love and truth. In other words, today's young people have an unquenchable thirst for Christ. It is the thirst of joyful witnesses who have encountered Jesus and have staked their whole life on him. Young people want a Church that is ever alert, ever closer to their needs. They want her to be present in the decisions of life, even if they feel a lingering sense of detachment from the Church herself....

Holy Father, - may I call you "father"? - how difficult it is to live in God, with God and for God. Young people feel threatened on many sides.... So what should be done? How should one act? Is it effectively worthwhile continuing to stake one's life on Christ? Are life, the family, love, joy, justice, respect for the opinions of others, freedom, prayer and charity still values we should defend? Is the blessed life based on the Beatitudes a life suited to human beings, to the young person of the third millennium?... Thank you.

Pope Benedict XVI: Thank you for this beautiful witness of a young priest who works with young people, who accompanies them, as you said, and helps them walk with Christ, with Jesus.

What can be said? We all know how difficult it is for a young person today to live as a Christian. The cultural and media context offers very different paths than the one that leads to Christ. It even seems to make it impossible to see Christ as the centre of life and to live life as Jesus showed us. However, it also seems to me that many are becoming more and more aware of the inadequacy of all that is offered, of this way of life that in the end leaves one empty.

In this regard I think that the readings of today's liturgy, that of Deuteronomy (30: 15-20) and the Gospel passage from Luke (9: 22-25), correspond substantially with what we must say to young people and over and over again to ourselves. As you said, sincerity is fundamental. Young people must feel that we are not saying words we ourselves have not lived, but that we speak because we have found and seek to find anew every day the truth, as a truth for my own life. Only if we have set out in this direction, if we ourselves seek to interiorize this life and to make our lives resemble that of the Lord can our words be credible and have a visible and convincing logic.

I repeat: today this is the great fundamental rule, not only for Lent but for the whole of Christian life: choose life. You have before you death and life: choose life. And I think that the answer is natural. There are only a few who in their innermost selves harbour a desire for destruction, for death, for desiring to no longer live because everything has gone wrong for them. Unfortunately, however, this phenomenon is growing. With all the contradictions and false promises, life in the end appears contradictory, no longer as a gift but a condemnation, so there are some who choose death rather than life. But usually, the human being responds: Yes, I choose life.

Yet the question as to how to find life, what to choose, how to choose life remains. And we know what is usually offered: to visit a discothèque, to take as much as possible, to see freedom as doing everything one likes, everything that springs to mind at any given moment. We know instead - and can prove it - that this road is a road of falsehood, for in the end it does not lead to finding life but indeed to the abyss of nothingness. Choose life. The same reading says: God is your life, you have chosen life and have made your choice: God. This seems to me to be fundamental. Only in this way is our horizon sufficiently broad and only in this way are we at the source of life, which is stronger than death, stronger than all death threats. Thus, the fundamental choice is the one pointed out here: choose God. It is essential to understand that those who travel on the road without God find themselves ultimately in darkness, even if there can be moments where they seem to have found life.

Then, a further step is how to find God, how to choose God. Here we come to the Gospel: God is not an unknown Person, a hypothesis perhaps of the very beginning of the cosmos. God is flesh and blood. He is one of us. We know him by his Face, by his Name. He is Jesus Christ who speaks to us in the Gospel. He is both man and God. And being God, he chose man to enable us to choose God. Thus, we must enter into the knowledge of Jesus and then friendship with him in order to walk with him.

I think that this is the fundamental point of our pastoral care for young people, for everyone but especially for the young: to draw attention to the choice of God who is life, to the fact that God exists - and he exists very concretely - and also to teach friendship with Jesus Christ.

There is also a third step. This friendship with Jesus is not a friendship with an unreal person, with someone who belongs to the past or who is distant from human beings, seated at God's right hand. Jesus is present in his Body, which is still a body of flesh and blood: he is the Church, the communion of the Church. We must build and make more accessible communities that reflect, that are the mirror of the great community of the vital Church. She is a whole complex of things: the vital experience of the community with all its human weaknesses but nonetheless real, with a clear path and a solid sacramental life where we can touch even what may seem so remote to us: the Lord's presence. In this way we can also learn the commandments - to return to Deuteronomy, my starting point. For the reading says: choosing God means choosing according to his words, living according to the Word. For a moment this appears almost positivistic: they are imperatives. But the first thing is the gift, it is his friendship. Then we can understand that the road signs are explanations of the reality of our friendship.

This, we can say, is a general vision in which contact with Sacred Scripture and the Church's daily life originates. It is then translated step by step into real encounters with young people: to guide them to dialogue with Jesus in prayer, in reading Sacred Scripture - especially in groups but also on their own - and in sacramental life. All these steps serve to make these experiences present in professional life, even if the context is often marked by the total absence of God and the apparent impossibility of seeing him present. However, it is precisely then, through our lives and our experience of God, that we must also seek to make Christ's presence enter this world far-removed from God.

There is a thirst for God. A short time ago I received the ad limina visit from some Bishops from a country where more than 50 percent of the people declare themselves to be atheists or agnostics. But they said to me: in fact, all are thirsting for God. This hidden thirst exists. Therefore, let us begin first with the young people available. Let us form communities in which the Church is reflected, let us learn friendship with Jesus. In this way, full of this joy and this experience, we can still make God present today in this world of ours.