.
Becca said she knows where she'd be if she didn't live at the Clare Guest House."
Oh, there's no question about it. I'd be back out on the streets looking for drugs," she declared. Instead, Becca and other women who have just gotten out of prison have a chance to rewrite their lives by living in a safe, supportive environment.
Last October the Sisters of St. Francis opened the transitional home for women at 1918 Douglas St. in Sioux City. Clare House is the only transitional house in Northwest Iowa operated by the Dubuque, Iowa-based Roman Catholic order. The Franciscans also founded Briar Cliff University.
"We think we are decreasing the number of women still in prison." Sister Shirley Waldschmitt said. "Many would not be released if there wasn't a transition house such as this one available to them. I see women of great courage who have lots of things that are difficult in their lives and are keeping at working through those issues."
Currently, three women live at Clare House. They have been released from the Correctional Institution for Women in Mitchellville. They can stay for a maximum of six months. All are on probation. [...Snip] Sioux City Journal
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Friday, November 17, 2006
Minneapolis Woman Supports Restoring Vatican Museum Art AND Planned Parenthood Activities, Too!
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The Patrons of the Vatican Museums were formed in 1983 as an international society organized from within the Holy See institution. The Patrons were dedicated to supporting and maintaining the art of the Vatican Museums. While there are chapters of Patrons in several parts of Europe, by far and away the greatest number of patrons can be found in the United States.
[...snip]
The chair for the Minnesota chapter is one Maureen Kucera-Walsh, as can be seen on the Vatican Museums Website on the Patrons page.
Kucera-Walsh was particularly instrumental when the "St. Peter and the Vatican" show toured the States in 2004. She was indicated in the June 2004 issue of Basilica, the magazine of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as the point person for visiting the traveling exhibition. Her Minnesota chapter restored the hammer used to verify the death of the Pope as well as the statues of Sts. Peter and Paul from the sacristy of St. Peter's.
But Kucera-Walsh does not limit her charitable activities to the preservation of sacred art. Last Oct. 9, she served as a host for a Planned Parenthood event in Minneapolis.
This event was organized to marshal support against the proposed law in South Dakota which would have make it a crime for anyone to perform an abortion except where the mother's life was in danger. One of the principal items on the agenda of this event was to "get the inside scoop on the effort to defeat South Dakota's abortion ban."
Benefactors of this event paid between $100 and $1,000 to participate. Kucera-Walsh was listed among the hosts for this event.
This activity, unfortunately, is not the extent of Kucera-Walsh's role in Planned Parenthood. In the Planned Parenthood annual report of 2005, she sits on the 2006 board of directors.
What a sad state of affairs when one can be so involved with the preservation and protection of the works of art in the Vatican but so easily turn one's back on most fundamental moral teachings and beliefs that inspired them.
The position of Kucera-Walsh reflects the common contemporary view that the art of the Vatican is somehow disconnected from the teaching of the Church that commissioned it. That idea is fostered by portraying the artists themselves as mavericks, or religious rebels, a myth demonstrably false in the cases of Michelangelo, Raphael and numerous others, including the hands that fashioned the hammer that would touch the head of Christ's Vicar on earth when his earthly mission came to an end.
[...snip]
Undoubtedly many people who gave and produced the great art of the Vatican were sinners themselves, and found their path back to God through the patronage of great works. Nonetheless, supporting Church art while actively opposing the Church's moral mission confuses the faithful and scandalizes those who embrace the Gospel message in its entirety. Zenit News
The Patrons of the Vatican Museums were formed in 1983 as an international society organized from within the Holy See institution. The Patrons were dedicated to supporting and maintaining the art of the Vatican Museums. While there are chapters of Patrons in several parts of Europe, by far and away the greatest number of patrons can be found in the United States.
[...snip]
The chair for the Minnesota chapter is one Maureen Kucera-Walsh, as can be seen on the Vatican Museums Website on the Patrons page.
Kucera-Walsh was particularly instrumental when the "St. Peter and the Vatican" show toured the States in 2004. She was indicated in the June 2004 issue of Basilica, the magazine of the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis, Minnesota, as the point person for visiting the traveling exhibition. Her Minnesota chapter restored the hammer used to verify the death of the Pope as well as the statues of Sts. Peter and Paul from the sacristy of St. Peter's.
But Kucera-Walsh does not limit her charitable activities to the preservation of sacred art. Last Oct. 9, she served as a host for a Planned Parenthood event in Minneapolis.
This event was organized to marshal support against the proposed law in South Dakota which would have make it a crime for anyone to perform an abortion except where the mother's life was in danger. One of the principal items on the agenda of this event was to "get the inside scoop on the effort to defeat South Dakota's abortion ban."
Benefactors of this event paid between $100 and $1,000 to participate. Kucera-Walsh was listed among the hosts for this event.
This activity, unfortunately, is not the extent of Kucera-Walsh's role in Planned Parenthood. In the Planned Parenthood annual report of 2005, she sits on the 2006 board of directors.
What a sad state of affairs when one can be so involved with the preservation and protection of the works of art in the Vatican but so easily turn one's back on most fundamental moral teachings and beliefs that inspired them.
The position of Kucera-Walsh reflects the common contemporary view that the art of the Vatican is somehow disconnected from the teaching of the Church that commissioned it. That idea is fostered by portraying the artists themselves as mavericks, or religious rebels, a myth demonstrably false in the cases of Michelangelo, Raphael and numerous others, including the hands that fashioned the hammer that would touch the head of Christ's Vicar on earth when his earthly mission came to an end.
[...snip]
Undoubtedly many people who gave and produced the great art of the Vatican were sinners themselves, and found their path back to God through the patronage of great works. Nonetheless, supporting Church art while actively opposing the Church's moral mission confuses the faithful and scandalizes those who embrace the Gospel message in its entirety. Zenit News
St Agnes Students Hungry For God and Gelato in Rome
tyreo.
"Father Z", who blogs at W.D.T.P.R.S., formerly a member of St Agnes Parish in St Paul, now attached to a parish in Rome, blogging regularly on the proper translations of the Mass and the use of Latin, has posted today on a visit of a sizeable group of St Agnes High School students, travelling with their new pastor, Father John Ubel, on pilgrimage to Rome, to explore possible vocations, visit the Pope, and take part in other enjoyable Roman sights and delicasies.
It is nice to get together with folk from back home, especially if they are in Rome for the first time. I had the pleasure of meeting with a group from my home parish of St. Agnes in St. Paul (MN). This was a pilgrimage group of highschool students who are considering a vocation to the priesthood.
Before their departure, they had met with the Archbishop, who gave them his blessing. They came with the pastor of the parish, who organized the whole trip, and some parents as chaperons and group leaders. In addition to time in Rome the went to Assisi and down to San Giovanni Rotondo to visit the tomb of Padre Pio. They were able to be very close to the Holy Father during the Wednesday audience as well. [...snip] Read It All
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Minnesotan's JFK painting bound for Vatican
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A controversial painting of John F. Kennedy's dying moments is on display at the Cathedral of St. Paul. The unveiling of the painting corresponds with a week-long symposium the church has convened on the Kennedy assassination.
Mark Balma's "Pieta" shows a grief-stricken Jacqueline Kennedy cradling the mortally wounded President's head in her lap, just after their limo has arrived at Parkland Hospital in Dallas. It's a moment that changed history, but a moment Balma could only envision because it wasn't photographed.
Balma offered the five-by-seven-foot oil tempera painting to several museums, including the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Smithsonian. Both turned it down for being either too emotional or inappropriate. When he approached the St. Paul Cathedral, which already houses two of Balma's enormous frescoes, it became the inspiration for a week-long event examining the assassination.
Balma says the piece fits well in a church because it represents a moment imbued with spirituality. "I think in those tragic moments we are given certain graces to deal with that kind of tragedy, and I think that's what I tried to represent."
"Pieta" unveiled
The cathedral took on the air of a state funeral as an honor guard presented the flag and a horn quintet played solemn music. When the painting was unveiled, the small audience walked up together to view it more closely. For some, the memories of where they were and what they were doing when they heard were triggered once again.
"I was at home and my husband was having lunch...." "I was in the First National Bank in St. Paul and then my boss told me what happened..."
[...snip]
Father Joseph Johnson is Rector of the Cathedral in St. Paul. Johnson says the assassination was an important moment in the nation's history and the history of the church, given Kennedy's status as the first Catholic elected president. He can understand how the piece might arouse conflicted emotions for some, but Johnson doesn't view it as controversial.
"No one is making a judgment about the President one way or another. The church certainly isn't canonizing him. At the same time, our nation has this as a part of its history and we can't hide from that."
Mark Balma
Mark Balma plans to present "Pieta" to the Pope in Rome where it will become part of the Vatican Museum's collection. Father Johnson says the Vatican may send it to the John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington.
It will be on display at the Cathedral of St. Paul through November 22, the 43rd anniversary of John F. Kennedy's death. The week-long symposium will feature presentations on the Kennedy years, history painting and the assassination, including remarks from former governor and JFK assassination buff Arne Carlson. [...snip] MN Public Radio's Speaking of Faith
A controversial painting of John F. Kennedy's dying moments is on display at the Cathedral of St. Paul. The unveiling of the painting corresponds with a week-long symposium the church has convened on the Kennedy assassination.
Mark Balma's "Pieta" shows a grief-stricken Jacqueline Kennedy cradling the mortally wounded President's head in her lap, just after their limo has arrived at Parkland Hospital in Dallas. It's a moment that changed history, but a moment Balma could only envision because it wasn't photographed.
Balma offered the five-by-seven-foot oil tempera painting to several museums, including the Minneapolis Institute of Arts and the Smithsonian. Both turned it down for being either too emotional or inappropriate. When he approached the St. Paul Cathedral, which already houses two of Balma's enormous frescoes, it became the inspiration for a week-long event examining the assassination.
Balma says the piece fits well in a church because it represents a moment imbued with spirituality. "I think in those tragic moments we are given certain graces to deal with that kind of tragedy, and I think that's what I tried to represent."
"Pieta" unveiled
The cathedral took on the air of a state funeral as an honor guard presented the flag and a horn quintet played solemn music. When the painting was unveiled, the small audience walked up together to view it more closely. For some, the memories of where they were and what they were doing when they heard were triggered once again.
"I was at home and my husband was having lunch...." "I was in the First National Bank in St. Paul and then my boss told me what happened..."
[...snip]
Father Joseph Johnson is Rector of the Cathedral in St. Paul. Johnson says the assassination was an important moment in the nation's history and the history of the church, given Kennedy's status as the first Catholic elected president. He can understand how the piece might arouse conflicted emotions for some, but Johnson doesn't view it as controversial.
"No one is making a judgment about the President one way or another. The church certainly isn't canonizing him. At the same time, our nation has this as a part of its history and we can't hide from that."
Mark Balma
Mark Balma plans to present "Pieta" to the Pope in Rome where it will become part of the Vatican Museum's collection. Father Johnson says the Vatican may send it to the John Paul II Cultural Center in Washington.
It will be on display at the Cathedral of St. Paul through November 22, the 43rd anniversary of John F. Kennedy's death. The week-long symposium will feature presentations on the Kennedy years, history painting and the assassination, including remarks from former governor and JFK assassination buff Arne Carlson. [...snip] MN Public Radio's Speaking of Faith
Banking on Indian Umbilical Cords
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An Indian blood bank plans to take advantage of the country's booming birth rate by opening a repository for blood taken from umbilical cords.
But critics worry that without proper oversight, the massive bank could put a price tag on umbilical cords, putting the country's millions of impoverished women and children at risk of exploitation.
Cord blood is used in the treatment of many ailments, especially blood diseases like leukemia, thalassemia and sickle cell anemia.
With 43 million births a year, India is poised to be the largest supplier of umbilical cord blood in the world.
LifeCell, based here, hopes to open a cord-blood bank in December. The bank would serve anyone in the world with access to FedEx.
Most experts agree that public cord-blood banking is a good idea. Stem cells from both cord blood and bone marrow treat many blood diseases, but cord blood is easier to obtain. Cord blood is also less likely to be rejected than bone marrow, which requires an exact match, usually from a family member. Similar to a blood bank, a cord-blood bank relies on donations to cover a broad range of immune types. The more donors, the more likely patients in need will find a match.
But in India, where female infanticide and body-organ sales are not uncommon, watchdog groups worry that a massive cord-blood bank like LifeCell's could create a dangerous demand for umbilical cords.
"The notion of worldwide registries that can supply transplant tissue to each other has obvious attractions," said Satyajit Rath, a medical activist at the National Institute of Immunology in New Delhi. "The cord-farm notion, on the other hand, is very troubling. Given the reality of poverty, it is not impossible to imagine a situation where people would have (or even abort) babies simply in order to sell umbilical cord blood."
In December, LifeCell will begin collecting thousands of umbilical cord-blood samples, and will charge a fee for withdrawal. The fee hasn't been disclosed. The service will categorize the available stem cells into a searchable database. Doctors who find matches for their patients can order an overnight shipment.
"We will be able to sell to anyone in the world," said Prasad Mangipudi, vice president of LifeCell.
The United States has seven public cord banks that charge up to $18,000 per unit -- a fee that is often paid by insurers. But in India, this is the kind of profitability that raises eyebrows. [...snip] Read the Rest at Wired News
An Indian blood bank plans to take advantage of the country's booming birth rate by opening a repository for blood taken from umbilical cords.
But critics worry that without proper oversight, the massive bank could put a price tag on umbilical cords, putting the country's millions of impoverished women and children at risk of exploitation.
Cord blood is used in the treatment of many ailments, especially blood diseases like leukemia, thalassemia and sickle cell anemia.
With 43 million births a year, India is poised to be the largest supplier of umbilical cord blood in the world.
LifeCell, based here, hopes to open a cord-blood bank in December. The bank would serve anyone in the world with access to FedEx.
Most experts agree that public cord-blood banking is a good idea. Stem cells from both cord blood and bone marrow treat many blood diseases, but cord blood is easier to obtain. Cord blood is also less likely to be rejected than bone marrow, which requires an exact match, usually from a family member. Similar to a blood bank, a cord-blood bank relies on donations to cover a broad range of immune types. The more donors, the more likely patients in need will find a match.
But in India, where female infanticide and body-organ sales are not uncommon, watchdog groups worry that a massive cord-blood bank like LifeCell's could create a dangerous demand for umbilical cords.
"The notion of worldwide registries that can supply transplant tissue to each other has obvious attractions," said Satyajit Rath, a medical activist at the National Institute of Immunology in New Delhi. "The cord-farm notion, on the other hand, is very troubling. Given the reality of poverty, it is not impossible to imagine a situation where people would have (or even abort) babies simply in order to sell umbilical cord blood."
In December, LifeCell will begin collecting thousands of umbilical cord-blood samples, and will charge a fee for withdrawal. The fee hasn't been disclosed. The service will categorize the available stem cells into a searchable database. Doctors who find matches for their patients can order an overnight shipment.
"We will be able to sell to anyone in the world," said Prasad Mangipudi, vice president of LifeCell.
The United States has seven public cord banks that charge up to $18,000 per unit -- a fee that is often paid by insurers. But in India, this is the kind of profitability that raises eyebrows. [...snip] Read the Rest at Wired News
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Prayers needed for Bishop Robert Carlson of Saginaw, formerly of Sioux Falls
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Bishop Carlson is going to have an "unusual cellular growth" removed from his colon. He's going to be out of commission for up to six weeks or so.
Colon cancer runs in my family with my grandmother dying of it and my Dad having had surgery and a section of his colon removed. My siblings and I all have regular checks and so far, none of us have needed any surgery. This does not sound "routine." This is Bishop Carlson's third operation. Routine surgery that puts you out for six weeks in these days of "outpatient surgery" sounds fairly serious.
Catholic bishop's surgery preventive
Bishop Robert J. Carlson will have elective surgery this month to remove an "unusual cellular growth" on his colon, a Catholic Diocese of Saginaw spokesman said.
The surgery is a precaution for the 62-year-old leader, who had surgeries to remove cancer in Sioux Falls, S.D., and at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., both in 1996, and at St. Mary's of Michigan in Saginaw in 2005.
The growth isn't cancerous, but doctors recommend that they remove it as a precaution, said diocese spokesman Matt Treadwell.
The religious leader remains in good health otherwise, the spokesman said.
In a letter this month to priests and staff members, the bishop said his doctors have declared him cancer free.
"While there is no cancer, there is some unusual cellular activity, and this could develop into cancer in the future," he wrote. "The doctors I have spoken to, for a second opinion, have told me it is a real gift to have this knowledge and to take action before any cancer is present.
"I see this as a real blessing from God, and I go into the surgery very positive."
Carlson said after the Tuesday, Nov. 28, surgery, he expects to resume his normal duties in January.
Carlson, who is attending the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops in Washington, D.C., was not available for comment, Treadwell said.
The Vatican named him as the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Saginaw in December 2004. He succeeded Kenneth E. Untener, who died in March 2004 of leukemia.
Carlson formerly was bishop for the Diocese of Sioux Falls, S.D. and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of St Paul-Minneapolis. Saginaw News
Bishop Carlson is going to have an "unusual cellular growth" removed from his colon. He's going to be out of commission for up to six weeks or so.
Colon cancer runs in my family with my grandmother dying of it and my Dad having had surgery and a section of his colon removed. My siblings and I all have regular checks and so far, none of us have needed any surgery. This does not sound "routine." This is Bishop Carlson's third operation. Routine surgery that puts you out for six weeks in these days of "outpatient surgery" sounds fairly serious.
Catholic bishop's surgery preventive
Bishop Robert J. Carlson will have elective surgery this month to remove an "unusual cellular growth" on his colon, a Catholic Diocese of Saginaw spokesman said.
The surgery is a precaution for the 62-year-old leader, who had surgeries to remove cancer in Sioux Falls, S.D., and at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., both in 1996, and at St. Mary's of Michigan in Saginaw in 2005.
The growth isn't cancerous, but doctors recommend that they remove it as a precaution, said diocese spokesman Matt Treadwell.
The religious leader remains in good health otherwise, the spokesman said.
In a letter this month to priests and staff members, the bishop said his doctors have declared him cancer free.
"While there is no cancer, there is some unusual cellular activity, and this could develop into cancer in the future," he wrote. "The doctors I have spoken to, for a second opinion, have told me it is a real gift to have this knowledge and to take action before any cancer is present.
"I see this as a real blessing from God, and I go into the surgery very positive."
Carlson said after the Tuesday, Nov. 28, surgery, he expects to resume his normal duties in January.
Carlson, who is attending the U.S. Catholic Conference of Bishops in Washington, D.C., was not available for comment, Treadwell said.
The Vatican named him as the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Saginaw in December 2004. He succeeded Kenneth E. Untener, who died in March 2004 of leukemia.
Carlson formerly was bishop for the Diocese of Sioux Falls, S.D. and Auxiliary Bishop of the Archdiocese of St Paul-Minneapolis. Saginaw News
Jeff Cavins' "Great Adventure Bible Timeline"; Dec 8-9, Holy Spirit, Fargo
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Jeff Cavins will present ‘The Great Adventure Bible Timeline: A Journey Through the Bible for Adults,’ an event for the entire diocese.
Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 1420 7th Street N, Fargo
Friday, Dec 8 from 8 to 9:30 p.m. and Dec 9 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
You will: learn to identify the 14 narrative books of the Bible and the twelve major time periods of salvation history; learn about God’s marvelous plan of salvation history and how your own faith story fits into “His-story”; understand the major people, places, events, and themes of God’s plan of salvation history; receive a practical plan for reading through the narrative books of the Bible in 90 days.
For more information and to register, please call Melissa Woinarowicz at (701) 232-5900. You must be pre-registered by December 1.
Jeff Cavins will present ‘The Great Adventure Bible Timeline: A Journey Through the Bible for Adults,’ an event for the entire diocese.
Holy Spirit Catholic Church, 1420 7th Street N, Fargo
Friday, Dec 8 from 8 to 9:30 p.m. and Dec 9 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
You will: learn to identify the 14 narrative books of the Bible and the twelve major time periods of salvation history; learn about God’s marvelous plan of salvation history and how your own faith story fits into “His-story”; understand the major people, places, events, and themes of God’s plan of salvation history; receive a practical plan for reading through the narrative books of the Bible in 90 days.
For more information and to register, please call Melissa Woinarowicz at (701) 232-5900. You must be pre-registered by December 1.
Faced With Crisis Pregnancy, Teenagers Chose Open Adoption
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Lauren Swartz and Sam Hipp made a life-changing — and life-giving — decision that has brought joy to their lives and the lives of an Edina couple. As teenagers in high school, Swartz and Hipp decided to place their daughter, Isabelle, for adoption.
In March 2005, they placed their daughter with Melanie and John Hardacker, who adopted Isabelle in March 2005. The couple also has a 12-year-old son, Jake.
Swartz, now 18, and a freshman at the University of Minnesota and her boyfriend, Sam, 20, who works for a Twin Cities-based communications company, are sharing their story with Twin Cities-area teenagers through the Adoption Option Committee’s “In The Know” ITK initiative.
“Sam and I think it’s great that we can share our story with other teens that might be in the same situation as us — [teens] who need someone to talk to about making a choice without any guilt or anxiety,” Swartz said.
“I never thought I would end up pregnant,” Swartz said. “ It was, to say the least, one of the most terrifying bits of news I had received thus far in my life,” said Swartz as she recalled being a 17-year-old junior at Sparta High School in Sparta, Wis. “I realized I seriously needed to sit down and think of what I was going to do about this,” Swartz said. “Was I going to keep the baby? Was I going to get an abortion? Or was I going to make an adoption plan for this baby?” she said.
Swartz said she talked with her parents about the options.
Hipp graduated high school and joined the army without knowing about Swartz’s pregnancy. Later, however, he talked with his parents and Swartz’s parents about what to do, Swartz said.
“My mom suggested going to an adoption agency in order to keep the baby or make an adoption plan,” Swartz said.
After several months of consultation, Swartz and Hipp went to New Life Family Services in Minneapolis to discuss an open adoption plan to place their daughter.
“Out of one envelope, we picked [the Hardackers], a family we really liked,” Swartz said. “For some reason, both of us felt strongly that this was the family that was going to adopt our child.”
[...snip] Read the Rest from The Catholic Spirit
Lauren Swartz and Sam Hipp made a life-changing — and life-giving — decision that has brought joy to their lives and the lives of an Edina couple. As teenagers in high school, Swartz and Hipp decided to place their daughter, Isabelle, for adoption.
In March 2005, they placed their daughter with Melanie and John Hardacker, who adopted Isabelle in March 2005. The couple also has a 12-year-old son, Jake.
Swartz, now 18, and a freshman at the University of Minnesota and her boyfriend, Sam, 20, who works for a Twin Cities-based communications company, are sharing their story with Twin Cities-area teenagers through the Adoption Option Committee’s “In The Know” ITK initiative.
“Sam and I think it’s great that we can share our story with other teens that might be in the same situation as us — [teens] who need someone to talk to about making a choice without any guilt or anxiety,” Swartz said.
“I never thought I would end up pregnant,” Swartz said. “ It was, to say the least, one of the most terrifying bits of news I had received thus far in my life,” said Swartz as she recalled being a 17-year-old junior at Sparta High School in Sparta, Wis. “I realized I seriously needed to sit down and think of what I was going to do about this,” Swartz said. “Was I going to keep the baby? Was I going to get an abortion? Or was I going to make an adoption plan for this baby?” she said.
Swartz said she talked with her parents about the options.
Hipp graduated high school and joined the army without knowing about Swartz’s pregnancy. Later, however, he talked with his parents and Swartz’s parents about what to do, Swartz said.
“My mom suggested going to an adoption agency in order to keep the baby or make an adoption plan,” Swartz said.
After several months of consultation, Swartz and Hipp went to New Life Family Services in Minneapolis to discuss an open adoption plan to place their daughter.
“Out of one envelope, we picked [the Hardackers], a family we really liked,” Swartz said. “For some reason, both of us felt strongly that this was the family that was going to adopt our child.”
[...snip] Read the Rest from The Catholic Spirit
Men's Advent Morning Reflection; Sat Dec 2, 9-1:00, St Michael Parish, St Michael
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Men’s Apostolate of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Mpls,
Office for Family, Laity, Youth and Young Adults
Men’s Advent Morning Reflection
Saturday December 2nd from 9:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
St. Michael’s Catholic Church,
11300 Frankfort Pkwy NE, St. Michael, MN 55376.
The Morning will include: a spiritual reflection given by Fr. John Klockeman, a tour of the new St. Michael’s Church directed by the Pastor, Fr. Michael Becker, time for Eucharistic Adoration and Confession, Mass, presentations by Men’s Groups, and more!
Cost is $10.00 and includes lunch. To register or for more information, go to: www.archspm.org/family or call (651) 291-4488. Don’t miss this great opportunity to join other men from the Archdiocese for a morning of fellowship and faith! Hat Tip to Catholic NewsNet
Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Catholic Colleges; Are they Catholic Enough?
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Sister Edith, who blogs at Monastic Musings, and also teaches at the College of St Scholastica in Duluth, has an interesting post on a recent trend among the nation's Catholic Colleges and Universities where they are attempting to recruit more Catholic professors and expose them to more Catholic culture.
[...] Times change. In 1990, the idea that colleges and universities might be asked to hire in such a way that a certain proportion of the faculty were Catholic was widely perceived as threatening and intrusive. In 1999, the president of Notre Dame was vocal in his opposition to the implementation of Ex Corde. Last month, Notre Dame launched, with much fanfare, an initiative to locate and hire Catholic faculty, now barely more than 50% of the faculty.
[...snip]
Some might say, why all this fuss? Aren't these colleges already doing what a college is supposed to do - attract good students, provide them a variety of programs taught by high-quality faculty and send them into the world ready to take up a productive role in society? I suspect the presidents - and those in charge of mission integration - would say, sure, but that's not the sum total of our vision for this college.
For the most part, Catholic colleges were not founded because of a lack of educational opportunities. The Boston area, home to most of the schools listed above, is home to Harvard, to Boston University, and to dozens of small colleges. It may have more colleges per person than anywhere in the U.S. My college, St. Scholastica, has always been within a mile of UMinnesota-Duluth, which has 5 times as many students, many more buildings, and lower tuition (although fewer scholarships). No, there are plenty of colleges - in fact, most colleges are competing to get good students. Catholic colleges don't exist because of a general need for colleges. Why, then, did religious orders feel called up on to found a college in the first place? Why do they continue today?
The Catholic understanding of education is really of forming the whole person: passing along information and training the mind, certainly. But much more. One branch of Catholic theology is known as "Christian anthropology" - not using the word in the same sense as the academic field, but rather, the Christian answer to questions such as "what does it mean to be a human being" and "what forms of human interaction support and nurture human beings, and which ones detract?" A Catholic education, then, is designed to pass along this worldview, and form the conscience of the individual to act on these values.
In social science jargon, Catholic colleges were founded as institutions which would socialize young people into the adult Catholic world view, not by rules & regulations, but by weaving that perspective through the classrooms, the curriculum, and the activities of the college. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, founders believed in this worldview, and found it worthwhile to take on large debts, work long hours, and assign many of the best educated members of the community to teach in the college. Students - Catholic or not - chose to attend primarily because they shared the values or appreciated the mission of the college, as embodied in the many members of the religious order who taught there.
Zoom forward several decades, and the picture changes. After the Second Vatican Council, the schools tended to grow in size, while there were fewer and fewer members of religious orders teaching on campus. Colleges were incorporated separately from their religious orders for financial reasons; lay presidents and Boards of Trustees became common. None of the changes was designed to alter or abrograte the original mission of the college. The reality is that, over time, the lay leadership of most Catholic colleges did not have the depth of training or understanding of the Catholic intellectual tradition, nor of the holistic model of Catholic education. Many focused on marketing the college to a wider audience, sometimes by diluting references to its Catholic foundations.
[...snip]
At some schools, the non-Catholic faculty and students outnumber the Catholics. The American majority rules culture might lead to a perception that the original mission has simply become irrelevant. Combined with the consumer orientation that occurs as colleges compete to attract students, some in these colleges might feel that any emphasis on the original mission of the college is intrusive, forcing religious beliefs or practices on people who don't agree with them.
In this milieu, the norms of Ex Corde that were perceived, even by Catholic administrators, as intrusions into the academic world may now seem necessary if the identity and mission of the college is to be maintained. Notre Dame's well-funded program to find and hire Catholic faculty members, the Collegium Colloquium on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition(where I caught the fire!), and many other creative missions-and-values programs are designed to invite stakeholders to understand the mission in greater depth, and ask them to support it with greater fervor. Some people at these colleges find this invigorating and enticing; others find it uncomfortable and off-putting.
What will be the result of such effort? Burtchaell's book names what he observed at many institutions: the dying of the original light.
That is clearly one possibility. A very few schools (Thomas Aquinas College in California or Franciscan University in Steubenville) have mandated a very uniform standard of Catholic practice and culture on their campuses, and attracted faculty and students who want that atmosphere. What Notre Dame, Boston College, Fordham, and, yes, small schools like St. Scholastica are attempting is more complex and difficult, but also more likely to achieve the purpose set forth in Ex Corde for a Catholic university. [...snip] Read it all from Monastic Musings
Sister Edith, who blogs at Monastic Musings, and also teaches at the College of St Scholastica in Duluth, has an interesting post on a recent trend among the nation's Catholic Colleges and Universities where they are attempting to recruit more Catholic professors and expose them to more Catholic culture.
[...] Times change. In 1990, the idea that colleges and universities might be asked to hire in such a way that a certain proportion of the faculty were Catholic was widely perceived as threatening and intrusive. In 1999, the president of Notre Dame was vocal in his opposition to the implementation of Ex Corde. Last month, Notre Dame launched, with much fanfare, an initiative to locate and hire Catholic faculty, now barely more than 50% of the faculty.
[...snip]
Some might say, why all this fuss? Aren't these colleges already doing what a college is supposed to do - attract good students, provide them a variety of programs taught by high-quality faculty and send them into the world ready to take up a productive role in society? I suspect the presidents - and those in charge of mission integration - would say, sure, but that's not the sum total of our vision for this college.
For the most part, Catholic colleges were not founded because of a lack of educational opportunities. The Boston area, home to most of the schools listed above, is home to Harvard, to Boston University, and to dozens of small colleges. It may have more colleges per person than anywhere in the U.S. My college, St. Scholastica, has always been within a mile of UMinnesota-Duluth, which has 5 times as many students, many more buildings, and lower tuition (although fewer scholarships). No, there are plenty of colleges - in fact, most colleges are competing to get good students. Catholic colleges don't exist because of a general need for colleges. Why, then, did religious orders feel called up on to found a college in the first place? Why do they continue today?
The Catholic understanding of education is really of forming the whole person: passing along information and training the mind, certainly. But much more. One branch of Catholic theology is known as "Christian anthropology" - not using the word in the same sense as the academic field, but rather, the Christian answer to questions such as "what does it mean to be a human being" and "what forms of human interaction support and nurture human beings, and which ones detract?" A Catholic education, then, is designed to pass along this worldview, and form the conscience of the individual to act on these values.
In social science jargon, Catholic colleges were founded as institutions which would socialize young people into the adult Catholic world view, not by rules & regulations, but by weaving that perspective through the classrooms, the curriculum, and the activities of the college. In the 19th and early 20th centuries, founders believed in this worldview, and found it worthwhile to take on large debts, work long hours, and assign many of the best educated members of the community to teach in the college. Students - Catholic or not - chose to attend primarily because they shared the values or appreciated the mission of the college, as embodied in the many members of the religious order who taught there.
Zoom forward several decades, and the picture changes. After the Second Vatican Council, the schools tended to grow in size, while there were fewer and fewer members of religious orders teaching on campus. Colleges were incorporated separately from their religious orders for financial reasons; lay presidents and Boards of Trustees became common. None of the changes was designed to alter or abrograte the original mission of the college. The reality is that, over time, the lay leadership of most Catholic colleges did not have the depth of training or understanding of the Catholic intellectual tradition, nor of the holistic model of Catholic education. Many focused on marketing the college to a wider audience, sometimes by diluting references to its Catholic foundations.
[...snip]
At some schools, the non-Catholic faculty and students outnumber the Catholics. The American majority rules culture might lead to a perception that the original mission has simply become irrelevant. Combined with the consumer orientation that occurs as colleges compete to attract students, some in these colleges might feel that any emphasis on the original mission of the college is intrusive, forcing religious beliefs or practices on people who don't agree with them.
In this milieu, the norms of Ex Corde that were perceived, even by Catholic administrators, as intrusions into the academic world may now seem necessary if the identity and mission of the college is to be maintained. Notre Dame's well-funded program to find and hire Catholic faculty members, the Collegium Colloquium on the Catholic Intellectual Tradition(where I caught the fire!), and many other creative missions-and-values programs are designed to invite stakeholders to understand the mission in greater depth, and ask them to support it with greater fervor. Some people at these colleges find this invigorating and enticing; others find it uncomfortable and off-putting.
What will be the result of such effort? Burtchaell's book names what he observed at many institutions: the dying of the original light.
That is clearly one possibility. A very few schools (Thomas Aquinas College in California or Franciscan University in Steubenville) have mandated a very uniform standard of Catholic practice and culture on their campuses, and attracted faculty and students who want that atmosphere. What Notre Dame, Boston College, Fordham, and, yes, small schools like St. Scholastica are attempting is more complex and difficult, but also more likely to achieve the purpose set forth in Ex Corde for a Catholic university. [...snip] Read it all from Monastic Musings
"The Pope and The Witch": Review of the Text of the Script
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Cathy_of_Alex, who blogs at The Recovering Dissident Catholic, has posted a review of the actual script of The Pope and the Witch" which is proposed to be performed by the University of Minnesota's Theater Department next March.
With all the hullabaloo about the University of Minnesota's planned production of The Pope and the Witch in March 2007, I decided to buy a copy of the play and read it.
It took me over a month to read. It's a mere 123 pages but it may as well have been 1,230 pages. The Pope and the Witch is an awful play. It exists solely to ridicule the Catholic church. Defenders may say it is biting satire. No, Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal is biting satire. Some of the works of Evelyn Waugh are biting satire. C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters is biting satire. The only people who will enjoy The Pope and the Witch are the people who think the Catholic church, the Pope and all the clergy are inherently ridiculous solely by being leaders in a church that is: "out of touch with modern times". [...snip] Read Cathy's Review
Cathy_of_Alex, who blogs at The Recovering Dissident Catholic, has posted a review of the actual script of The Pope and the Witch" which is proposed to be performed by the University of Minnesota's Theater Department next March.
With all the hullabaloo about the University of Minnesota's planned production of The Pope and the Witch in March 2007, I decided to buy a copy of the play and read it.
It took me over a month to read. It's a mere 123 pages but it may as well have been 1,230 pages. The Pope and the Witch is an awful play. It exists solely to ridicule the Catholic church. Defenders may say it is biting satire. No, Jonathan Swift's A Modest Proposal is biting satire. Some of the works of Evelyn Waugh are biting satire. C.S. Lewis’ The Screwtape Letters is biting satire. The only people who will enjoy The Pope and the Witch are the people who think the Catholic church, the Pope and all the clergy are inherently ridiculous solely by being leaders in a church that is: "out of touch with modern times". [...snip] Read Cathy's Review
St. Andrew Bake and Craft Sale
The Church of St. Andrew, 1051 Como Ave in St. Paul, is having its annual Bake and Craft Sale this Saturday, November 18th, from 9-6 p.m. and Sunday, November 19th, from 9-Noon in Carroll Hall (church basement).
Monday, November 13, 2006
Six Sioux City Diocese parishes to close, combine into one
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Six Roman Catholic parishes in Northwest Iowa will be combined into one, parishioners learned during Masses this weekend.The following six churches will be combined: Our Lady of Assumption Parish in Merrill, St. James Parish in Le Mars, and the St. Joseph parishes in Ellendale, Le Mars, Neptune and Struble.
The Rev. James Tigges, pastor at St. James, said that in general, the farthest parishioners will have to travel to get to the new church is about 15 miles."It's sad because any closing is like a death in the family, and we are a church family," he said. "There's some grief that has to be faced and has to be dealt with, but it's exciting that we can build a new faith and a stronger faith."
This weekend priests in the Le Mars Area Catholic Cluster reportedly read a letter to parishioners from Bishop R. Walker Nickless. The letter announced the formation of one new parish corporation as something that evolved from the long-range strategic plan developed in October 2004 by representatives of the six churches.
Basically, the decision to combine parishes was made after looking at the shortage of priests in the world and in the Diocese of Sioux City, Tigges reported.
[...snip]
We have to realize that the church is people," he said. "It's not a building or a site. It's really the people." Sioux City Journal
Six Roman Catholic parishes in Northwest Iowa will be combined into one, parishioners learned during Masses this weekend.The following six churches will be combined: Our Lady of Assumption Parish in Merrill, St. James Parish in Le Mars, and the St. Joseph parishes in Ellendale, Le Mars, Neptune and Struble.
The Rev. James Tigges, pastor at St. James, said that in general, the farthest parishioners will have to travel to get to the new church is about 15 miles."It's sad because any closing is like a death in the family, and we are a church family," he said. "There's some grief that has to be faced and has to be dealt with, but it's exciting that we can build a new faith and a stronger faith."
This weekend priests in the Le Mars Area Catholic Cluster reportedly read a letter to parishioners from Bishop R. Walker Nickless. The letter announced the formation of one new parish corporation as something that evolved from the long-range strategic plan developed in October 2004 by representatives of the six churches.
Basically, the decision to combine parishes was made after looking at the shortage of priests in the world and in the Diocese of Sioux City, Tigges reported.
[...snip]
We have to realize that the church is people," he said. "It's not a building or a site. It's really the people." Sioux City Journal
Schimmel the Beer Man: He went from pitching Schlitz to pitching Rosaries!
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The customized license plate on Dick Schimmel's station wagon says it all: "ROSARY I."
Not that Schimmel, 77, is too shy to speak for himself. The former Schlitz beer salesman and retired house painter obviously has taken no vow of silence when someone shows a glimmer of interest in what has become his avocation and higher calling - distributing free rosaries in the United States and around the world.
"I don't want a museum," Schimmel said last week as he stood near vacant bar stools in the basement rec room of his Wauwatosa home and surveyed boxes filled with perhaps 35,000 rosaries of many hues. "I want these to go out to people to pray. I want to get them out and into the hands of people, to the missions, the prisons, the nursing homes, the hospitals and the schools all over the world. " 'Dick Schimmel, the Rosary Man,' that's my handle," he added.
His rosaries aren't like the Green Bay Packer-themed rosaries that skyrocketed in popularity at a south side market in 1997, the year the team won its first Super Bowl in 29 years. These are rank-and-file rosaries, serious strings of beads that don't blur the lines between sports and spirituality.
Yet Schimmel found a growing demand for these meditative tools when he started giving them away eight years ago. And he learned some modern-day realities, such as to send only rosaries with black beads to prison chaplains, because other colors can be used to designate gang affiliations.
Turning to a dog-eared notebook and a stack of meticulously written loose-leaf pages, he can point to his first donation - 100 rosaries on Aug. 5, 1998, to the Rosebud Sioux tribe's reservation in South Dakota for Father Richard Jones, a priest now living in retirement at the St. Camillus Jesuit Community in Wauwatosa. "Whenever I needed rosaries, I'd just write to him," said Jones, a former Marquette University High School president who served for more than 40 years on the reservation, where he left rosaries at the back of his church and handed them out at wakes.
Jones eventually got 7,500 rosaries. That's a small part of Schimmel's total, which on Thursday stood at 1,147,023 rosaries . . . not to mention the 3,500 statues of the Blessed Virgin, 25,000 religious medals and 5,000 scapulars he has given away. [...snip] Read More Journal Sentinel
The customized license plate on Dick Schimmel's station wagon says it all: "ROSARY I."
Not that Schimmel, 77, is too shy to speak for himself. The former Schlitz beer salesman and retired house painter obviously has taken no vow of silence when someone shows a glimmer of interest in what has become his avocation and higher calling - distributing free rosaries in the United States and around the world.
"I don't want a museum," Schimmel said last week as he stood near vacant bar stools in the basement rec room of his Wauwatosa home and surveyed boxes filled with perhaps 35,000 rosaries of many hues. "I want these to go out to people to pray. I want to get them out and into the hands of people, to the missions, the prisons, the nursing homes, the hospitals and the schools all over the world. " 'Dick Schimmel, the Rosary Man,' that's my handle," he added.
His rosaries aren't like the Green Bay Packer-themed rosaries that skyrocketed in popularity at a south side market in 1997, the year the team won its first Super Bowl in 29 years. These are rank-and-file rosaries, serious strings of beads that don't blur the lines between sports and spirituality.
Yet Schimmel found a growing demand for these meditative tools when he started giving them away eight years ago. And he learned some modern-day realities, such as to send only rosaries with black beads to prison chaplains, because other colors can be used to designate gang affiliations.
Turning to a dog-eared notebook and a stack of meticulously written loose-leaf pages, he can point to his first donation - 100 rosaries on Aug. 5, 1998, to the Rosebud Sioux tribe's reservation in South Dakota for Father Richard Jones, a priest now living in retirement at the St. Camillus Jesuit Community in Wauwatosa. "Whenever I needed rosaries, I'd just write to him," said Jones, a former Marquette University High School president who served for more than 40 years on the reservation, where he left rosaries at the back of his church and handed them out at wakes.
Jones eventually got 7,500 rosaries. That's a small part of Schimmel's total, which on Thursday stood at 1,147,023 rosaries . . . not to mention the 3,500 statues of the Blessed Virgin, 25,000 religious medals and 5,000 scapulars he has given away. [...snip] Read More Journal Sentinel
Academic Elites Struggle to Remove Respectful References To Native Americans From Popular View
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Those fighting Sioux nickname lose sight of most Indian views
Katherine Kersten, Star Tribune
[...] In 1930, UND adopted a more formidable name -- the Sioux -- and its teams later became the Fighting Sioux. In 1968, says Johnson, the Grand Forks Herald reported that a delegation from the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation traveled to UND to "adopt" its president into the tribe and to give UND the right to use the name for its athletic teams.
In 2005, however, the NCAA banned schools from using nicknames and images it deems "hostile and abusive" in postseason play. UND was on the list. Last week, the school sought a temporary injunction, which was granted Saturday night, ahead of the upcoming Division II football playoffs. Without it, the UND team wouldn't be able to host playoff games or use the nickname or logo on uniforms or in associated athletic program activities.
Never mind that a well-known Indian artist designed the UND logo of a proud Sioux warrior. Never mind that this image resembles the stately Indian on U.S. "buffalo" nickels, and on North
Dakota's highway patrol cars and highway signs. Never mind that sports teams choose names that symbolize what they honor -- courage on the battlefield -- not what they mock or despise. The forces of political correctness have embraced this latest victim-creating issue and won't let it go.
Today some folks insist, with tortured logic, that the Fighting Sioux name is racist and derogatory. More than 100 faculty members (who else?) have expressed their righteous indignation by signing a petition, and many won't even enter UND's Ralph Engelstad Arena, where the team logo is prominently displayed. Although North Dakota's Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe has approved UND's use of the name, Indian bodies such as the Standing Rock Tribal Council have passed resolutions asking UND to reject it.
But Archie Fool Bear, chair of the Standing Rock judicial committee, says his tribe's leadership doesn't represent the vast majority of tribal members.
Fool Bear himself voted for such a resolution in 2005. "They told us just negative things -- that UND was a racist place," he explains. Now, he says, he believes that he and others were fed a bill of goods.
"When I went around to my constituents on the reservation," says Fool Bear, "a majority of people said, 'Why can't we vote on it?' "Most tribal members would support the name if they got the chance," adds Joe White Mountain, another committee member.
That would be consistent with Indians' views nationally. In a 2002 Sports Illustrated poll, 81 percent of Native American respondents said no when asked whether high school and college teams should stop using Indian nicknames.
Members of the Standing Rock judicial committee visited UND early in 2006 to assess the situation for themselves. "We spoke to everyone, from students on the street to people at the gas station," says Fool Bear. "Not one gave us any evidence of racism. We went to a hockey game, and they talked about the courage and integrity of the Sioux people. We looked at each other like, 'Wow, we don't even honor our Sioux warriors or veterans like this on the reservation.' "
White Mountain recalls the committee's meeting with a UND group that opposes the name. "I asked them, 'What tribe do you belong to?' " he says. "Not one was a Sioux Indian."This group insisted that the name promotes racism on campus," adds Fool Bear. "I told them, 'Put any instances of abuse in writing.' Today, I'm still waiting -- I haven't gotten one complaint."
If anything is "hostile and abusive" at UND, it's the way that some activists treat Indian students who take a different view.
"Our young people go there to get an education," says Fool Bear. "When they arrive, they're asked, 'What do you think of the logo?' If they have no problem with it, they are badgered and harassed for four years."
Fool Bear and others are now trying to get the Tribal Council resolution rescinded. They point out that UND has a zero-tolerance policy on racism, and that it makes Indian education a top priority, with more than 30 programs to support its Indian students. The "Indians into Medicine" program, for example, has generated 20 percent of all the American Indian doctors in the United States, according to school officials.
Marc Ranfranz, a 2004 UND grad who played goalie for the hockey team and who is Sioux, says he strongly supports the team name. "You feel so good being Sioux -- the energy that goes through your body when you walk in the rink and see the logo all over," he recalls. "I think of it every day, how good it was to throw on the jersey and play for the Fighting Sioux. It made you want to strive even harder to reach your goal -- to make everybody with a stake in the logo proud." Star Tribune
Those fighting Sioux nickname lose sight of most Indian views
Katherine Kersten, Star Tribune
[...] In 1930, UND adopted a more formidable name -- the Sioux -- and its teams later became the Fighting Sioux. In 1968, says Johnson, the Grand Forks Herald reported that a delegation from the Standing Rock Sioux Reservation traveled to UND to "adopt" its president into the tribe and to give UND the right to use the name for its athletic teams.
In 2005, however, the NCAA banned schools from using nicknames and images it deems "hostile and abusive" in postseason play. UND was on the list. Last week, the school sought a temporary injunction, which was granted Saturday night, ahead of the upcoming Division II football playoffs. Without it, the UND team wouldn't be able to host playoff games or use the nickname or logo on uniforms or in associated athletic program activities.
Never mind that a well-known Indian artist designed the UND logo of a proud Sioux warrior. Never mind that this image resembles the stately Indian on U.S. "buffalo" nickels, and on North
Dakota's highway patrol cars and highway signs. Never mind that sports teams choose names that symbolize what they honor -- courage on the battlefield -- not what they mock or despise. The forces of political correctness have embraced this latest victim-creating issue and won't let it go.
Today some folks insist, with tortured logic, that the Fighting Sioux name is racist and derogatory. More than 100 faculty members (who else?) have expressed their righteous indignation by signing a petition, and many won't even enter UND's Ralph Engelstad Arena, where the team logo is prominently displayed. Although North Dakota's Spirit Lake Sioux Tribe has approved UND's use of the name, Indian bodies such as the Standing Rock Tribal Council have passed resolutions asking UND to reject it.
But Archie Fool Bear, chair of the Standing Rock judicial committee, says his tribe's leadership doesn't represent the vast majority of tribal members.
Fool Bear himself voted for such a resolution in 2005. "They told us just negative things -- that UND was a racist place," he explains. Now, he says, he believes that he and others were fed a bill of goods.
"When I went around to my constituents on the reservation," says Fool Bear, "a majority of people said, 'Why can't we vote on it?' "Most tribal members would support the name if they got the chance," adds Joe White Mountain, another committee member.
That would be consistent with Indians' views nationally. In a 2002 Sports Illustrated poll, 81 percent of Native American respondents said no when asked whether high school and college teams should stop using Indian nicknames.
Members of the Standing Rock judicial committee visited UND early in 2006 to assess the situation for themselves. "We spoke to everyone, from students on the street to people at the gas station," says Fool Bear. "Not one gave us any evidence of racism. We went to a hockey game, and they talked about the courage and integrity of the Sioux people. We looked at each other like, 'Wow, we don't even honor our Sioux warriors or veterans like this on the reservation.' "
White Mountain recalls the committee's meeting with a UND group that opposes the name. "I asked them, 'What tribe do you belong to?' " he says. "Not one was a Sioux Indian."This group insisted that the name promotes racism on campus," adds Fool Bear. "I told them, 'Put any instances of abuse in writing.' Today, I'm still waiting -- I haven't gotten one complaint."
If anything is "hostile and abusive" at UND, it's the way that some activists treat Indian students who take a different view.
"Our young people go there to get an education," says Fool Bear. "When they arrive, they're asked, 'What do you think of the logo?' If they have no problem with it, they are badgered and harassed for four years."
Fool Bear and others are now trying to get the Tribal Council resolution rescinded. They point out that UND has a zero-tolerance policy on racism, and that it makes Indian education a top priority, with more than 30 programs to support its Indian students. The "Indians into Medicine" program, for example, has generated 20 percent of all the American Indian doctors in the United States, according to school officials.
Marc Ranfranz, a 2004 UND grad who played goalie for the hockey team and who is Sioux, says he strongly supports the team name. "You feel so good being Sioux -- the energy that goes through your body when you walk in the rink and see the logo all over," he recalls. "I think of it every day, how good it was to throw on the jersey and play for the Fighting Sioux. It made you want to strive even harder to reach your goal -- to make everybody with a stake in the logo proud." Star Tribune
St. Paul Cathedral presents “The Kennedy Assassination: A Decisive Moment in America’s History"
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“The Kennedy Assassination: A Decisive Moment in America’s History” is a week-long symposium presented Nov. 15 to 22, by the Cathedral of St. Paul and the Sharing the Moment Foundation. It is being held in conjunction with the first public exhibition of the painting “Pieta” by local artist Mark Balma.
The opening ceremony, at noon, Nov. 15, will include the installation of the painting with the Fort Snelling U.S. Marines Honor Guard and a prayer service with Father Joseph Johnson, Cathedral rector.
The painting will be on display in the Sacred Heart Chapel in the Cathedral of St. Paul from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, Nov. 15 to 22.
The schedule of events is as follows:
• Nov. 16, 7 p.m. — “The Assassination of John F. Kennedy: Its Impact on America’s History” presented by former Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson.
• Nov. 17, 7 p.m. — “History Painting in America: What it is, What is Does, Why it Matters” presented by Mark Thistlethwaite.
• Nov. 19, 2 p.m. — “Remembering Kennedy” panel discussion.
• Nov. 19, 3 p.m. — “Creating ‘Pieta’: The Year-long Journey and its Stories” presented by Mark Balma.
• Nov. 20, 7 p.m. — “The Assassination of John F. Kennedy: Opening its History for Public Review” presented by U.S. District Judge John Tunheim.
• Nov. 21, 7 p.m. — “The Kennedy Compromise” presented by Colleen Carroll Campbell.
• Nov. 22, noon — Closing ceremony includes a prayer service followed by retirement of the U.S. Marines Honor Guard and removal of the painting. The Catholic Spirit
“The Kennedy Assassination: A Decisive Moment in America’s History” is a week-long symposium presented Nov. 15 to 22, by the Cathedral of St. Paul and the Sharing the Moment Foundation. It is being held in conjunction with the first public exhibition of the painting “Pieta” by local artist Mark Balma.
The opening ceremony, at noon, Nov. 15, will include the installation of the painting with the Fort Snelling U.S. Marines Honor Guard and a prayer service with Father Joseph Johnson, Cathedral rector.
The painting will be on display in the Sacred Heart Chapel in the Cathedral of St. Paul from 7 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily, Nov. 15 to 22.
The schedule of events is as follows:
• Nov. 16, 7 p.m. — “The Assassination of John F. Kennedy: Its Impact on America’s History” presented by former Minnesota Gov. Arne Carlson.
• Nov. 17, 7 p.m. — “History Painting in America: What it is, What is Does, Why it Matters” presented by Mark Thistlethwaite.
• Nov. 19, 2 p.m. — “Remembering Kennedy” panel discussion.
• Nov. 19, 3 p.m. — “Creating ‘Pieta’: The Year-long Journey and its Stories” presented by Mark Balma.
• Nov. 20, 7 p.m. — “The Assassination of John F. Kennedy: Opening its History for Public Review” presented by U.S. District Judge John Tunheim.
• Nov. 21, 7 p.m. — “The Kennedy Compromise” presented by Colleen Carroll Campbell.
• Nov. 22, noon — Closing ceremony includes a prayer service followed by retirement of the U.S. Marines Honor Guard and removal of the painting. The Catholic Spirit
Assumption Parish in Richfield parish embraces Hispanic community
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[...] Five years ago, Audrey Stafford of Richfield's Assumption Parish said, “we were all white. We didn’t have any African-Americans and no Hispanics to speak of.”
Now Stafford and her husband appreciate the parish’s diversity. Many of the new Hispanic parishioners are young families, who she said bring new life, beautiful customs and strong devotion to the once-aging parish.
Like many parishes in the archdiocese, Assumption has become the spiritual home to a growing number of Hispanic Catholics moving to the Twin Cities area.
But what sets Assumption apart is its success at integrating the English-speaking and Spanish-speaking communities.
In 1994, when the traditionally German parish closed its school, the aging parish population started to decline. However, Assumption began to change dramatically in 2001, when former pastor Father Michael Tix added a Spanish Mass.
About 200 people attended the Spanish Mass in that first year. Over the last five years, that number has more than doubled. Now the parish has two weekend Masses in English and two in Spanish.
The influx of Hispanic parishioners “has been a real shot in the arm for this parish,” said the current pastor, Father Thomas Merrill, a Conventual Franciscan.
A great ‘coming together’
Recently, Assumption unveiled a million-dollar renovation of its 1954 church building and facilities. Both the Spanish-speaking and the English-speaking communities contributed time and money to the project.
Many Hispanic people supporting the renovations were using envelopes for the first time, said Father Merrill. “It showed a real sense of ownership.”
However, Father Merrill used different approaches for the project with members of the English-speaking and Spanish-speaking communities.
“With the Americans, I said we’ve been here for a long time and we want to continue to be proud of our church and continue to make it beautiful,” Father Merrill said. “And with the Hispanics, it’s more the idea that you’re recipients of a great tradition and now you’re going to have to take care of it. . . . The torch is being passed to you.” [....snip] Read the Rest in the Catholic Spirit
[...] Five years ago, Audrey Stafford of Richfield's Assumption Parish said, “we were all white. We didn’t have any African-Americans and no Hispanics to speak of.”
Now Stafford and her husband appreciate the parish’s diversity. Many of the new Hispanic parishioners are young families, who she said bring new life, beautiful customs and strong devotion to the once-aging parish.
Like many parishes in the archdiocese, Assumption has become the spiritual home to a growing number of Hispanic Catholics moving to the Twin Cities area.
But what sets Assumption apart is its success at integrating the English-speaking and Spanish-speaking communities.
In 1994, when the traditionally German parish closed its school, the aging parish population started to decline. However, Assumption began to change dramatically in 2001, when former pastor Father Michael Tix added a Spanish Mass.
About 200 people attended the Spanish Mass in that first year. Over the last five years, that number has more than doubled. Now the parish has two weekend Masses in English and two in Spanish.
The influx of Hispanic parishioners “has been a real shot in the arm for this parish,” said the current pastor, Father Thomas Merrill, a Conventual Franciscan.
A great ‘coming together’
Recently, Assumption unveiled a million-dollar renovation of its 1954 church building and facilities. Both the Spanish-speaking and the English-speaking communities contributed time and money to the project.
Many Hispanic people supporting the renovations were using envelopes for the first time, said Father Merrill. “It showed a real sense of ownership.”
However, Father Merrill used different approaches for the project with members of the English-speaking and Spanish-speaking communities.
“With the Americans, I said we’ve been here for a long time and we want to continue to be proud of our church and continue to make it beautiful,” Father Merrill said. “And with the Hispanics, it’s more the idea that you’re recipients of a great tradition and now you’re going to have to take care of it. . . . The torch is being passed to you.” [....snip] Read the Rest in the Catholic Spirit
Architecture and Monasticism; The Order of St Benedict at the College of St Scholastica
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Sister Edith, who blogs at Monastic Musings and teaches at the College of Scholastica in Duluth, had a really interesting post the other day on how architecture has been shaped by and shaped, too, by the evolving mission of her religious order over 120 years or so.
[...] I have been pondering the history of my own community. Benedictine sisters came to Duluth because they were so aware of the need for teachers and health care - and built those institutions. For most of our history, we really did not have a monastery as a separate building.
On the missions - schools and hospitals throughout the state - there was a convent that had a certain degree of separation - but only for the sisters who lived there. The sisters lived and slept in wings of Tower Hall - our College's first building - surrounded by classrooms, student living quarters (when the school was much smaller), and offices.
They were aware of the toll that it took on their monastic life. One sister, now deceased, had the same response whenever the community was called on to provide a new building for the college, or hospital, or school - "But we need a MONASTERY!" She was right. As changes occurred - the high school was closed, the college needed more space - the possibility of creating a single monastic space took shape. Sister Clare Marie Trettel, during her term as prioress, drew all the threads together. With the building of Stanbrook West, the sisters were able to move out of Tower Hall entirely, and to have a cloister around a central courtyard: a real monastery.
As the community ages and decreases and size, more and more of the sisters come home from missions and live here in Duluth. This, too, is re-shaping our community life. When hundreds of sisters lived and served dozens of schools and hospitals, the sense of vocation was largely in the work. As the number of sisters whose ministry takes them far away decreases, and more have returned to Duluth and to the monastery, there is a very subtle but discernible shift in our self-awareness.
The lived experience of the majority of sisters is now that of living together in one central community. It is not (yet) enough to create a renewed identity; the decades living in the missions were vibrant and filled with memories. We are studying and reading and working at revitalizing our monastic life. As I reflect, though, I realize that perhaps our architecture is doing the best part of the work for us - in the slow and subtle way that bricks and stone can reshape the humans who inhabit them. Read it All
Sister Edith, who blogs at Monastic Musings and teaches at the College of Scholastica in Duluth, had a really interesting post the other day on how architecture has been shaped by and shaped, too, by the evolving mission of her religious order over 120 years or so.
[...] I have been pondering the history of my own community. Benedictine sisters came to Duluth because they were so aware of the need for teachers and health care - and built those institutions. For most of our history, we really did not have a monastery as a separate building.
On the missions - schools and hospitals throughout the state - there was a convent that had a certain degree of separation - but only for the sisters who lived there. The sisters lived and slept in wings of Tower Hall - our College's first building - surrounded by classrooms, student living quarters (when the school was much smaller), and offices.
They were aware of the toll that it took on their monastic life. One sister, now deceased, had the same response whenever the community was called on to provide a new building for the college, or hospital, or school - "But we need a MONASTERY!" She was right. As changes occurred - the high school was closed, the college needed more space - the possibility of creating a single monastic space took shape. Sister Clare Marie Trettel, during her term as prioress, drew all the threads together. With the building of Stanbrook West, the sisters were able to move out of Tower Hall entirely, and to have a cloister around a central courtyard: a real monastery.
As the community ages and decreases and size, more and more of the sisters come home from missions and live here in Duluth. This, too, is re-shaping our community life. When hundreds of sisters lived and served dozens of schools and hospitals, the sense of vocation was largely in the work. As the number of sisters whose ministry takes them far away decreases, and more have returned to Duluth and to the monastery, there is a very subtle but discernible shift in our self-awareness.
The lived experience of the majority of sisters is now that of living together in one central community. It is not (yet) enough to create a renewed identity; the decades living in the missions were vibrant and filled with memories. We are studying and reading and working at revitalizing our monastic life. As I reflect, though, I realize that perhaps our architecture is doing the best part of the work for us - in the slow and subtle way that bricks and stone can reshape the humans who inhabit them. Read it All
Friday, November 10, 2006
U of MN Regents Discuss Catholic-Baiting Play, "The Pope and the Witch", at Board Meeting;
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The drama scheduled to run in March about a drug-addled pope prompted some to express discomfort, but nobody proposed action.
Some of them huffed and puffed, but in the end that's about all that University of Minnesota regents thought they ought to do about a controversial forthcoming play on the Twin Cities campus.
Regent John Frobenius of St. Cloud raised the issue Friday. He called "The Pope and the Witch," a satirical play by Italian Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo, an "enormously disrespectful attack on one of our great institutions."
Some Catholics have criticized the play as hate speech. Frobenius said that he wasn't trying to stop the show but that he wanted legal advice on the ability of regents to comment on the March production by the Department of Theatre Arts.
In the end, that's exactly what a number of regents did -- repeat the earful they'd heard from their constituencies. The production features a paranoid, drug-addled pope, a witch in a nun's habit and a chaotic comedy of errors.
But as a theater major, regent Steve Hunter of Woodbury urged caution. He said there's a distinguished history of plays, such as Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" or ancient Greek plays, that may give offense. [Hunter had to go back 400 years to start his "distinguished history" to justify a play that has only been performed a half dozen times because normal people realize how offensive it its.] "I don't think it's the playwright's job to avoid offending people," Hunter said. Patricia Simmons of Rochester and David Metzen of Sunfish Lake also urged caution.
Peter Bell of Minneapolis said regents retain their free-speech rights to speak out individually or collectively on issues within their university stewardship.
Frank Berman of Edina agreed that there's a difference between an institutional response and speaking as individuals. He said that he'd like to see the play and read the script, but that he's concerned that it "puts a religion in an unfair light."
University of Minnesota President Robert Bruininks said he had read most of the play [the titillating parts only?] and many reviews, and urged regents not to characterize it on the basis of what they're told. He reiterated the value that he said academic freedom represents at the university and his discussions of the issue with clergy members, including Archbishop Harry Flynn.
"We are not a university that countenances disrespect of any point of view," Bruininks said. But he added, "When people try to suppress expression, they start with the university and start with the arts."
In the immortal words of Professor B.J. Kennedy, deceased, of the University's Medical School when informed that as many of 40% of the public do not have medical insurance, "They ought to be ashamed of themselves."
Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438 • sbrandt@startribune.com
The drama scheduled to run in March about a drug-addled pope prompted some to express discomfort, but nobody proposed action.
Some of them huffed and puffed, but in the end that's about all that University of Minnesota regents thought they ought to do about a controversial forthcoming play on the Twin Cities campus.
Regent John Frobenius of St. Cloud raised the issue Friday. He called "The Pope and the Witch," a satirical play by Italian Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo, an "enormously disrespectful attack on one of our great institutions."
Some Catholics have criticized the play as hate speech. Frobenius said that he wasn't trying to stop the show but that he wanted legal advice on the ability of regents to comment on the March production by the Department of Theatre Arts.
In the end, that's exactly what a number of regents did -- repeat the earful they'd heard from their constituencies. The production features a paranoid, drug-addled pope, a witch in a nun's habit and a chaotic comedy of errors.
But as a theater major, regent Steve Hunter of Woodbury urged caution. He said there's a distinguished history of plays, such as Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice" or ancient Greek plays, that may give offense. [Hunter had to go back 400 years to start his "distinguished history" to justify a play that has only been performed a half dozen times because normal people realize how offensive it its.] "I don't think it's the playwright's job to avoid offending people," Hunter said. Patricia Simmons of Rochester and David Metzen of Sunfish Lake also urged caution.
Peter Bell of Minneapolis said regents retain their free-speech rights to speak out individually or collectively on issues within their university stewardship.
Frank Berman of Edina agreed that there's a difference between an institutional response and speaking as individuals. He said that he'd like to see the play and read the script, but that he's concerned that it "puts a religion in an unfair light."
University of Minnesota President Robert Bruininks said he had read most of the play [the titillating parts only?] and many reviews, and urged regents not to characterize it on the basis of what they're told. He reiterated the value that he said academic freedom represents at the university and his discussions of the issue with clergy members, including Archbishop Harry Flynn.
"We are not a university that countenances disrespect of any point of view," Bruininks said. But he added, "When people try to suppress expression, they start with the university and start with the arts."
In the immortal words of Professor B.J. Kennedy, deceased, of the University's Medical School when informed that as many of 40% of the public do not have medical insurance, "They ought to be ashamed of themselves."
Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438 • sbrandt@startribune.com
Publishing a Magazine is Really Easy; First You Make Up a Cover.
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Then you have to get somebody to write 50 or so interesting articles and put them together in a pleasing fashion so people will want to buy your magazine. That's your problem. I can't do everything for you.
But if you want to pop on over to The Ironic Catholic's blog, she's got the link that will show your where to go to make a stunning magazine cover, like mine!
Then you have to get somebody to write 50 or so interesting articles and put them together in a pleasing fashion so people will want to buy your magazine. That's your problem. I can't do everything for you.
But if you want to pop on over to The Ironic Catholic's blog, she's got the link that will show your where to go to make a stunning magazine cover, like mine!
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