October 20, 2006 - Issue #21
Local News | Opinion/Editorials | Letters to the Editor
Local News
Faith groups, city launch after-school program
Faith-based community organizing celebrated a major success last week when Anchorage mayor Mark Begich announced the birth of a new program in West Fairview to provide free after-school care for 26 children from Denali Elementary School.
The program is the direct result of an action by Anchorage Faith and Action — Congregations Together, a multi-faith union with a membership that includes four Catholic parishes.
Lutheran Bishop Michael Keys called the collaboration between AFACT and the Municipality of Anchorage "an extraordinary event."
"We engaged in the conversation and posed the question to the city, and the city responded with ‘yes’ when we said, ‘will you be our partner in creating after-school programs for low-income children in the West Fairview community?’" Keys said at an Oct. 11 press conference at Central Lutheran Church. "This is a very exciting time for us, both as a church community, but also as a neighborhood community, to understand that we have created something brand new that has never been done before."
A May 17 AFACT meeting, or "action," at Central Lutheran drew nearly 200 participants and focused on the problem of affordable, accessible after-school activities for children in the West Fairview area.
"This is an example of that where the city government and the faith community and community leaders can get together and figure out what we can do to make a better life for our young people, not after the fact when crimes are involved, and youth violence, but now, when it’s in the early, formative ages," Begich said. "This is a very unique collaboration to meet a need that is critical in our community."
In addition to the new program, which is being staffed by Camp Fire and funded through a donation from Municipal Light and Power, six slots in the existing Camp Fire program at Denali have been set aside for West Fairview children.
The partnership between AFACT and the city is an ideal way to help meet the needs of the community, the mayor said.
"Every neighborhood has a church or some sort of meeting place. Every neighborhood has a school that has kids that are in need of programs like this. Melding that together can create these types of efforts," Begich said. "This church is reaching beyond its boundaries and its borders of the facility. They’re reaching out to the neighborhood that is adjoining them, which I think is a powerful message."
Global warming heats up St. Pat’s
Parishioners and Anchorage community members gathered earlier this month to watch "An Inconvenient Truth," former vice president Al Gore’s environmental documentary, as part of a nationwide event focused on the effects of global warming and what ministries can do to help negate the pending impacts.
Interfaith Power and Light, a non-partisan ministry active in more than 20 states, sponsored the nationwide Spotlight on Global Warming event, which took place Oct. 1 through 7, in conjunction with three religious holidays: the Feast of St. Francis, Yom Kippur and Ramadan. The Office of Evangelization and Worship at the Archdiocese of Anchorage, the Cardinal Newman Chair of Catholic Theology at Alaska Pacific University, and the APU/UAA Ford Foundation Engaging Controversy Project teamed together with Interfaith Power and Light and the Regeneration Project to bring the film to several locations throughout Anchorage, including St. Patrick Church on Oct. 2.
St. Patrick parishioner Val Glooschenko organized the screening after reading about the opportunity in the church bulletin.
"The issue of global warming is real," Glooschenko said. "The bottom line is that this will ultimately affect the poorest of the world, and so this is what I do. I am passionate about stewardship."
Interfaith Power and Light suggests that the religious community must lead by example and says global warming is also a spiritual issue. The group’s mission echoes a comment Gore makes in the film: "Ultimately, this is not a political issue as much as it is a moral issue."
Regina Boisclair, the Cardinal Newman Chair of Catholic Theology at APU, said Catholics have a responsibility to participate in stewardship activities addressing global warming.
"Our church’s social justice teachings are really clear that this is something we need to respond to," Boisclair said after viewing the film at St. Patrick’s.
More than 60 people participated in the parish event, which included a brief discussion about global warming after the film ended. George and Mary Jones, long-time parishioners at St. Patrick’s, both said they have already seen some of the impact of global warming, including the disappearance of Big Bear Lake in California and the recession of Portage Glacier.
"We’re just interested in the environment," Mary Jones said.
"We have to live in it, and we were taught to leave the world better than we found it," George Jones added. "We’re going to have to make some rough changes in the future."
"An Inconvenient Truth" explores the possibility that if many of the world’s scientists are right about global warming, there may only be about 10 years left to advert major catastrophes of global climate change. Extreme weather, floods, droughts, epidemics and heat waves are some of the possible effects of climate change coming, Gore said in the film. He cited the devastation of Hurricane Katrina as one instance of the extreme weather the world has already begun to experience.
More than 4000 parishes nationwide viewed the film during Interfaith Power and Light’s Spotlight on Global Warming. At St. Patrick’s, Glooschenko said she hopes to continue the discussion about global warming with her fellow parishioners.
"The science is overwhelmingly clear," Glooschenko said. "Now it’s time for social action."
• Electricity – Burning fossil fuels, such as coal and natural gas, for electricity generation accounts for about 1/3 of U.S. global warming pollution.
• Transportation – Vehicles general more than one-quarter of our global warming pollution; passenger vehicles account for more than 60 percent of that total.
• Other – burning fossil fuels for industrial use and home heating.
• Use compact fluorescent light bulbs – they use 1/4 of the energy required to light an incandescent bulb.
• Purchase ENERGY STAR qualified appliances, which use 10 – 50 percent less energy and water than stand models and save money on energy bills.
• Drive climate friendly cars and trucks.
• Adjust your thermostat.
• Turn off unused lights.
• Study, pray, spread the word, help business leaders and elected officials understand that climate protection is a moral issue.
Visit Interfaith Power and Light’s website at www.interfaithpowerandlight.org or the Regeneration Project website at www.theregenerationproject.org to find out more.
-Information provided by Interfaith Power and Light.
Passion for peace takes activist to trouble spots around the world
If the 90 or so people gathered to hear Kathy Kelly speak at St. Anthony Church on Oct. 8 were expecting pomp and circumstance, they were in for a surprise.
Author and three-time Nobel Peace Prize nominee Kelly, the woman that writer Studs Terkel called "The Pilgrim," began by quietly conferring with St. Anthony pastor Father Fred Bugarin, who asked the crowd to move their tables and chairs into the middle of the room. Once her audience had come closer, she simply picked up the microphone and began to talk.
Kelly, who has been arrested more than 60 times but has the gentle demeanor of a religious sister, began by telling the story of her first arrest, for planting corn on a nuclear missile silo in 1988. Finding herself left alone with one of the arresting soldiers, Kelly said, she began to talk about her mission.
"I don’t sometimes have an off-switch," Kelly said. "I asked him, ‘do you think the corn will grow?’ And he said, ‘I don’t know, ma’am, but I sure hope so.’" Kelly asked the young soldier to pray with her, and then he offered her a drink from his canteen — an act of kindness for which Kelly said she’s fairly sure he would have had to put down the gun he was supposed to keep trained on his prisoner.
"That young soldier took a risk … in order to do an act of kindness for a complete stranger," Kelly said. She had the chance to return the favor years later when, during the "shock and awe" campaign in Iraq, her group was trapped inside a hotel near the Tigris River, trying not to panic as they prepared to face the crowd of angry looters they knew were headed their way. Before the mob reached the hotel, though, help arrived.
"As far as you could see in every direction, there were beige vehicles," Kelly said, describing the view from her balcony. "I was one relieved peace activist." The vehicles were filled with U.S. Marines, and Kelly and her friends dropped their antiwar banners and went down into the street to bring the soldiers water and dates.
It’s that mission of kindness and peace that has taken Kelly all over the world, primarily to places most people would prefer to avoid — places like Iraq and the West Bank’s Jenin refugee camp.
For her Sunday afternoon talk at St. Anthony’s, Kelly spoke on the theme "One Bread, One Body," sharing stories of her experiences with soldiers and civilians in the Middle East. One of Kelly’s goals is to promote understanding on all sides. That, she said, means listening to the reasoning behind the rage of desperate and angry Middle Easterners — even people like Osama bin Laden."I want to listen. That doesn’t mean I’m signing up; I just want to listen to what the guy’s saying," Kelly said. "Why? Why would some people be so angry, so full of rage … that they would take the step of putting on a suicide strap and pulling the string?"
While many of Kelly’s stories are somber — they are, after all, stories from a war zone — she managed to make her audience smile even as she gave them food for thought.
"Sometimes it’s good to have been a high school teacher," Kelly said, smiling, as she remembered ordering a group of Israeli soldiers to "put those guns down right now!" as they advanced on her group in the Jenin refugee camp.
Kelly has managed to keep a sense of humor about certain things despite having witnessed events that were nothing to laugh about. That same day in Jenin, Kelly watched as Palestinian children pulled bodies from the rubble and Israeli soldiers threw bottles and dishes at a dying woman from the balcony of the home they were looting.
"This is what happens in war," Kelly said. "People almost have to believe that the enemy isn’t human."
On the same visit to Jenin, Kelly met a pair of sisters, nursing students whose home had been destroyed and who were frantically pulling their few remaining belongings from the wreckage.
"Under here, four televisions, two computers," the woman screamed at Kelly. "We are people just like you." Another woman in Jenin told Kelly, "We blame you … it is your country, too."
"I just kind of murmured, ‘I’m sorry, ma’am, I try not to pay my taxes,’" Kelly said.
Much of Kelly’s work seems inspired by her concern for young people. During a 10-minute "stretch time," Kelly gravitated immediately to the young people in the room, laughing with a group of young brothers in white shirts and neckties, talking to a trio of teenage girls.
Her tales from the Middle East, too, were frequently about young people — the children she’s met as well as young soldiers she’s talked with. Kelly said she’s seen pain in the faces of American soldiers struggling to come to terms with their experiences in Iraq. One young Marine she met could only refer to his gun as "this."
"He said, ‘I joined the Marines because I wanted to get me some respect in this world, some self respect, but I never wanted to use this,’" Kelly said.
"For so many people returning from Iraq, there’ll be that hope that (what they saw) doesn’t register here," she added, placing her hand over her heart.
During a short question-and-answer session, Kelly spoke directly to audience members, answering questions about her mission and her views on the United States’ involvement in the Middle East. One attendee who prefaced his question by saying he was going to "play devil’s advocate," asked Kelly why she chooses to focus her energy on stopping war rather than abortion.
"Whatever brings you passion, you should let that passion liberate," Kelly said in answer. "There’s too few of us to, you know, be elbowing each other out of the way. It’s very difficult to do everything." And, she said, there are other lives to consider — like the hundreds of thousands of innocent people, particularly children, who have died in the Middle East.
"They had a right to life, too," Kelly said.
The talk at St. Anthony’s was Kelly’s third speaking engagement of the day, and Anchorage resident Vicki Burnham said she’d attended all three. Burnham read Kelly’s book, "Other Lands Have Dreams," last year and said it has had tremendous influence on her.
"Actually, I’m going to become a groupie while she’s here," Burnham said. "I’m so in awe. Kathy Kelly walks her talk and has for years. (She) doesn’t pay taxes because she knows that that’s going to go for war, doesn’t drive a car because walking saves energy, she’s just truly —" Burnham paused, looking for the right word and then said simply, "I aspire to be like her."
For Kelly, it was a whirlwind day as she prepared to go straight from St. Anthony’s to the airport, where she would fly to Fairbanks before returning to Anchorage for another set of speaking engagements. She had time on her way out the door to comment on her experience in Alaska.
"It’s been lovely," Kelly said. "There’s been hospitality, warmth, enthusiasm, and a real sense of invitation."
As for how her faith has informed her work, Kelly credited the religious sisters she knew as a child with inspiring her to help others.
"You know, the main role models in our young lives were the nuns," Kelly said. "They never gave any sign of having any interest in accumulating personal wealth. Nuns take care of people, nuns cross borders, and to me there was kind of an expectation that you could follow the teachings of Jesus in your life."
Sixth-graders dream up original version of ‘Oz’
A new production of "The Wizard of Oz" currently being staged by Anchorage Community Theatre had its genesis in an unusual place — a sixth-grade classroom at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School.
Last year, SEAS teacher Madelain Westermann’s students wrote and staged their own version of the classic story. Their script, which is faithful to L. Frank Baum’s novel, will also be marketed and sold to community theaters and school groups nationwide.
The play was just one of many ambitious projects Westermann’s students completed during a year that SEAS parent Mariann Petersen said was "not your typical classroom experience."
"The kids’ sixth grade experience at SEAS was something that you can’t put into words," Petersen said in an e-mail. "(Their teachers) really taught them what being Catholic is all about."
Westermann said her students last year tackled some "pretty heavy" subjects, including an in-depth study of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa. When they began the play project, she said, the class voted to do "Oz"because "the world needs to lighten up."
The sixth-graders wrote the script and came up with a unique three-dimensional staging concept based on a pop-up book and designed to bring the audience into the performance.
"It just kind of took off," Westermann said. "We tried to focus on every kid’s talent."
Their innovation caught the eye of ACT managing director Ron Holmstrom.
"He just said, ‘ wow, that’s something … I think they’ve got something here,’" Westermann said. "Ron is convinced that this is a big seller."
The authors, now in seventh grade, have decided that any proceeds will benefit the Make-A-Wish Foundation and a South African garden project. They attended a private performance of their play at ACT Oct. 18.
Westermann said the scope of the play’s success has reinforced all of last year’s lessons for her students.
"We talked about purpose," she said. "You have to get your ideas outside of the classroom. You have to get them into the community." And, she added, they did.
"I’m just really proud of the kids," Westermann said.
Betsy Bell, 17, a St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parishioner, plays the Scarecrow in the current production of "The Wizard of Oz" and said she’s having a great time performing the SEAS students’ play.
"It’s actually been really amazing," Bell said. "It’s a very good script."
Bell said the students’ script is nothing like the 1939 film version of the story, which she said "went off in its own direction."
"This is very, very, very specific to the book," she said. And, she added, it’s impressive that 11- and 12-year-olds were able to fully capture the spirit of the story.
"They get the deeper meanings," Bell said. "That is very clear in the script." The Scarecrow, Tin Man and Cowardly Lion all wanted something — brains, heart, courage — but in the end each realizes he’s had it inside himself all along.
"They got that underlying lesson," Bell said.
"The Wizard of Oz" runs through Oct. 29 at ACT. 1133 E. 70th Ave. For ticket information, call ACT at 868-4913.
Fun and learning for Scouts of all ages at Day of Prayer
Visitors who made the drive to Boy Scouts of America’s Camp Gorsuch Oct. 7 might have guessed at first that the focus of the day was to help Cub Scouts from across Southcentral Alaska learn about what it means to be a loving Catholic.
A closer look, however, would have revealed that the Cubs weren’t the only ones in the midst of a fun learning opportunity. While parents and adult leaders abounded at the seventh annual Cub Scout Prayer Day, it was really the Boy Scout youth leaders who put on the show.
"I’ve been going to the pray days since I was a Tiger," explained Prayer Day youth chairman and Life Scout Daniel Kaucic. "Now that I am a Boy Scout, I’m taking my brother’s place and learning how to be a better leader, and how to plan (events) and do things like that."
Kaucic’s older brother, now a college student, helped lead earlier Prayer Days with 16-year-old Eagle Scout Samuel Giacalone, who took a more behind-the-scenes role this year to allow 12-year-old Kaucic the experience of planning and running the event. Giacalone, a youth chairman with the Archdiocese of Anchorage Catholic Committee on Scouting, said Prayer Day brings opportunities for both his peers and the Cub Scout youth.
"It brings a deeper understanding of the faith," Giacalone said. "We’re letting (Cub Scouts) know that there are a bunch of opportunities they can do as Catholics and as Scouts, that they can live righteously."
Oblate Brother Craig Bonham, Catholic chaplain for ACCOS, says that the roots planted in events such as Prayer Day go a long way toward inspiring future laity and clergy work in the church.
"Leadership is not something necessarily given by birth, but developed through practice and reflection," Bonham said. "It’s been a joy to watch Scouts start out shy and grow to be comfortable in front of a group."
"A lot of guys in seminary were Scouts," he added.
Filled with games, songs, hikes and even a puppet show all designed to teach Cub Scouts about their faith, this year’s Prayer Day was structured around the theme "St. George: Patron Saint of Scouting." Throughout the day, the boys could be counted on to yell, with fever, "Be a knight, slay the dragon!" any time an adult or youth leader called out "St. George." While the majority of the day was focused on playful learning, the morning started with an opening prayer and a ceremony celebrating the feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary. Archbishop Roger Schwietz welcomed the youth and adults in attendance. Schwietz talked about his recent visit to Rome and audience with Pope Benedict XVI before cheerfully participating in a round of "Stump the Archbishop."
"The Pope is a very human and very loving person," Schwietz, who was a Scout in his youth, explained to the boys. "He wants us to be good; he wants us to be safe and holy. He prays for us and he needs our prayers."
While the older youth honed their leadership skills, the Cub Scouts in attendance just focused on having fun in the name of Catholic Scouting. A "radio broadcast" puppet show educated them about the different Catholic emblems they can earn as Cub Scouts, and outdoor activities such as the inspirational hike gave them opportunities to interact with the Boy Scout youth leaders.
Zac Campbell, a six-year-old Tiger Scout and a first-timer to the Cub Scout Day of Prayer, was happy to talk about his favorite part of the day.
"I’d say the games, because it was fun," Campbell said, adding that he’d like to come next year "because I think it’s just going to be good."
Priest’s son injured in June plane crash is back at college and doing well
"Remarkable."
That’s the word Father Scott Medlock said he heard "probably 300 times" from medical professionals as they described his son Matthew’s swift recovery from a serious head injury suffered in a plane crash June 27.
Despite initial fears of long-term damage, a nearly-back-to-normal Matthew left in early August for the University of Notre Dame, where he’s resumed a slightly reduced class schedule. He also completed training to be a resident advisor in his dormitory.
"He’s doing exceptionally well," said Father Medlock, who is the pastor at St. Patrick Parish in East Anchorage. "He’s pretty much through with rehab."
The tragic accident that injured Matthew also claimed the life of pilot Michael Lawler. He and Matthew were making a traditional "chicken drop" of boxed fried chicken to a group of St. Patrick hikers – nine youths and six adult chaperones – who were on the Resurrection Trail.
Medlock, the only passenger, was sitting behind Lawler and tossing the boxes as Lawler flew.
The accident occurred as the hikers watched, and in the confusion of the first few moments, Father Medlock, one of the chaperones, thought 21-year-old Matthew had been killed.
Matthew recounted the accident in a talk prepared for a retreat: "My dad ran to the plane, saw the body of the pilot, thought it was mine, and immediately ran back to my sister to comfort her. Another adult ran to the plane and found me in the fuselage, unconscious and gasping for breath."
It took four hours for medical help to be contacted and reach the remote site.
Father Medlock said he and his wife Maria Elena "are still recovering from the emotional roller coaster" of the first few days and weeks following the crash when it was uncertain how debilitating Matthew’s injuries might be.
Interestingly, said the priest, it was probably more emotionally devastating for them than for Matthew. Their son, he said, has no memory of the crash itself, and during the first critical week and a half, he was kept in an induced coma to facilitate his recovery while his parents, siblings, and a host of friends and relatives went through excruciating worry.
"By the time he woke up, what he mainly had to deal with was the frustration of everyone telling him what to do," Father Medlock said.
Head trauma can present any number of cognitive problems, the family was told, including difficulty concentrating, multitasking, and maintaining organizational ability.
"For weeks, we were counseled to expect a year’s recovery, more or less," Father Medlock said. Now, the neuropsychologist – who, Father Medlock added, "probably used the word ‘remarkable’ 50 times himself" — expects Matthew to be back at full strength by mid-October.
And how does Matthew look, after facial reconstruction surgery?
"You can’t tell," his dad said. "There are a couple of tiny scars."
In an e-mail from Notre Dame, Matthew told the Anchor that he is "feeling great."
"I mainly feel sad for what the Lawler family has had to go through," Matthew wrote. "(Now) every day is a gift … There is definitely some good reason that I am still alive, just as there is a good reason for all of us to be alive."
Father Medlock and his wife left in mid-September for an eight-month sabbatical that had been planned before the crash occurred. For a short time, it looked as if the sabbatical might be spent providing rehabilitation for Matthew, but now the Medlocks are looking forward to travel and visiting relatives.
The Medlocks’ older son Aaron is a recent Notre Dame graduate, and their daughter Angela is in her freshman year at Gonzaga University in Spokane, Wash.
Quenching a spiritual thirst
Theology on Tap organizers aim to bridge gap between young adults and Catholic Church
A white-collared priest stood in a side room of a popular Anchorage pub last month. He took another swig of locally brewed beer and proceeded to field questions about the Catholic faith as a group of young adults sipped frothy pints and listened closely.
The gathering marked the start of the fourth year of Theology on Tap in Anchorage, a program sponsored by the Archdiocese of Anchorage.
Generation Xers eating burgers and drinking beer at a local pub is nothing unusual. The difference with this crowd is that many came for spiritual nourishment as well. That night, approximately 40 adults, most of them young Catholics, gathered to hear archdiocesan judicial vicar Father Tom Brundage speak about canon law.
"There is a large desire in this age group to learn more about their faith," Bob McMorrow said. The youth director for St. Benedict Parish, McMorrow, 33, worked with Archbishop Roger Schwietz and other area Catholics to launch a local Theology on Tap program.
Organizers said they hope the monthly series will bridge a widening gap between the church and young adults who often hunger for spirituality but increasingly hesitate to go to Mass.
"You don’t see a lot of young adults, especially unmarried, in the churches these days," McMorrow observed. "Unfortunately, I think a lot of this age group has left the church. They’re searching for truth and they want to know what is authentically Catholic, but a lot of times they didn’t find that growing up."
Theology on Tap first started 26 years ago in the Archdiocese of Chicago with the aim of creating a forum in which young adults could explore Catholicism while addressing critical issues and questions in their lives.
A major concern was that many young adult Catholics did not get a strong religious education growing up, said Kate DeVries, the assistant director of young adult ministry for the Chicago archdiocese.
With little understanding of the rich traditions and teachings of the church, young adults drifted away from the Catholic community, DeVries added.
"It seems like with every generation we are getting less and less connectedness to parish life and more pull from the secular culture, pulling for your time, attention and money," she said.
DeVries’ observations echo the findings from a detailed national study in 2000, in which young adult Catholics between the ages of 18 and 39 were found less inclined than previous generations to view the Eucharist, Mass attendance, and church teachings as "very important" to their lives.
The report, issued by the Center for Applied Research in the Apostolate, also found contemporary young adult Catholics less likely to marry or make long-term commitments, more pessimistic, and more pragmatic than ideological.
Theology on Tap aims to bring this generation back to their spiritual tradition by re-introducing them to the teachings and rituals of the Catholic faith, DeVries said.
"Does it pull in Catholics on the fringe? Yes, absolutely," she said. "A lot of young adults don’t understand why we do what we do, but as soon as you understand the depth of the tradition, it makes so much more sense and engages you so much deeper."
So far, Theology on Tap has proved popular with young adults in 46 states and six countries, according to DeVries.
Arthur Roraff is a lanky 39-year-old Anchorage Catholic. He helps organize local Theology on Tap meetings and also happens to fall into the category of those "young adults" who feel shortchanged by religious education programs growing up.
Roraff said he grew up in the years just after the Second Vatican Council, during a time he described as a confusing adjustment period for the Catholic Church.
According to the CARA report, religious education programs underwent substantial changes in the years shortly after Vatican II. Those changes were not all for the best, Roraff said.
"In general, the 1970s were a confusing time for the church, and sometimes the best intentions ended up not having the best results," he said. "I’ve used this phrase in the past — our generation is a lost generation. For a lot of us that were born and raised Catholic, the CCD classes were cutting up felt banners and there wasn’t any real depth of education."
As young adults, many Catholics are tying to remedy the lack of religious education from their childhood, McMorrow added.
"A lot of people are motivated to read church documents and encyclicals," he said.
Chris Kinney, 25, is heavily involved with Theology on Tap in Anchorage and shared McMorrow’s assessment of his generation.
"It wasn’t just here (in Anchorage) but all over the place," Kinney said. "Learning the faith is not something people were taught very well in their parish. Part of what we’ve tried to do at Theology on Tap is rectify that in a way that isn’t awkward. No one wants to be told that fourth-graders should know what you don’t know, so we try to present this in a format where you can get together with your peers, sit down and enjoy a beer or something to eat and maybe get a little educated and meet other Catholics."
Roraff said he hopes Theology on Tap inspires people to learn more about the Catholic faith, whether they’re currently practicing or not. Organizers carefully choose topics that will resonate with young adult concerns and the talks often address the intersection of current events and religious teaching.
"People should be interested in what the Gospel writers have to say, but unfortunately that does not resonate with a lot of them," Roraff said. "They are more interested in topics like ‘The DaVinci Code’ or Christian feminism because those topics engage them in a dialogue."
In the past, speakers also touched on issues such as Catholic politicians, human sexuality, film and media, and the relationship between Christianity and Islam.
Archbishop Schwietz, who speaks at Theology on Tap once or twice a year, said he has observed a spiritual hunger on those visits.
"I find that many young adults do have an interest in spiritual issues and Catholic faith but often they don’t have a good background in issues of philosophy, dogma and faith history," Archsbishop Schwietz said. "I don’t blame them for that but we do have to make the faith understandable."
When people begin to see and understand the treasures of their faith, it inspires them to action and greater participation in the life of the church, DeVries said.
"Young adults are looking for a sense of spirituality," she said. "They want to be connected to the source of life and they want the work of their life to matter."
News & Notes
Next month, Alaskans will elect a new governor. The Anchor invited all the candidates whose names will appear on the gubernatorial ballot to answer five questions of interest to Alaska’s Catholic voters. Candidates Tony Knowles (Democrat) and Sarah Palin (Republican) submitted these responses. (Some answers have been edited for length.) As of Anchor press time, candidates Andrew Halcro (Independent), David Massie (Green) and William Toien (Libertarian) had not submitted responses. Alaskan Independence candidate Don Wright could not be reached to participate. State elections will be held Tuesday, Nov. 7.
—Editor
Tony Knowles Q&A
Knowles: Faith-based initiatives provide many important services, and for that I am thankful. I look forward to a continuing relationship between the state and faith-based initiatives where appropriate, effective, and where the results positively measure up to costs. An example, when I was mayor, I worked with Catholic Social Services to establish the Brother Francis Shelter, which served over 3,000 homeless men and women in Anchorage this year.
Knowles: I do not support the death penalty. I support the Constitutionally protected right of a woman to obtain a medically safe and legal abortion. Government has no place between a woman and her doctor.
Knowles: High energy and medical costs, finding a Medicare doctor and affordable assisted living and long term care are the most pressing issues facing older Alaskans. We can address these issues by providing gas from Alaska’s gasline to reduce energy costs; purchasing bulk prescription drugs; insisting Medicare competitively bid for lower prescription drug prices and pay for drugs not covered in the "donut" hole in their drug coverage program; and fully compensating doctors for Medicare services so they will treat seniors. No senior citizen should be refused treatment. We can begin to address that with a program asking doctors to treat a minimum number of Medicare patients and by working with the federal government to increase Medicare’s rates to Alaska’s doctors, where costs are higher.
Knowles: The best social program is a good job. I propose to put Alaskans to work by rebuilding our infrastructure, starting with construction of the gas pipeline. Under my administration, 6,000 families gained self-sufficiency and were able to leave the welfare system. I initiated Denali KidCare to provide health insurance for the children of working families who earn too much to qualify for Medicaid but too little to afford private insurance. Changes by the current administration have increased the income level to qualify for this vital service. I will restore coverage to 2,500 children who lost health care when the Murkowski administration restricted eligibility to the state-federal program. And I want to build on Denali KidCare success by expanding health coverage to 10,000 more uninsured children.
Knowles: My priorities are to provide access to affordable and effective health care for all Alaskans; to insure the uninsured, including children and working Alaskans; and to improve public health through disease prevention and wellness intervention. Starting the Denali KidCare program is one of my greatest achievements. Unfortunately, this program was cut significantly by the current administration and needs to be expanded. In addition, I am looking for ways to make health care more affordable for Alaska families through a state insurance pool, bulk purchase of prescription drugs, and cost transparency.
Sarah Palin Q&A
Palin: As part of both the non-profit sector and the social services network, Alaska’s faith-based communities play an important role in serving Alaskans. As partners with government, our faith-based communities work closely with agencies such as DHSS providing needed services in an efficient and effective manner. I appreciate faith-based communities as active citizens in the public policy arena advocating on behalf of those they serve. The principle of the separation of church and state does not mean that those of faith lose their right to promote moral values in the public square or that they have no right to petition their government.
Palin: I consider myself as someone who believes in the sanctity of the life of the unborn. I am pro-life supporting laws such as parental consent and opposing laws such as partial-birth abortion. Decisions of the US Supreme Court and the Alaska Court system, however, greatly restrict the ability of Alaska’s elected officials to have much impact on this issue. If the legislature were to pass a bill that established a death penalty on adults who kill children, I would sign it.
Palin: I am supporting reinstating the Longevity Bonus for those seniors who were unexpectantly cut from the budget in 2003. We have to resolve the issue of getting more providers to accept patients who are on Medicare. Although the rates are established at the federal government level, the impact is too widespread and too important. I will work with our Congressional delegation to get this resolved. We need to strengthen our system of home and community based services. Providing a basic level of services to people within their own home is a cost effective way of avoiding the higher costs of long term institutionalized care. It also provides people with the comfort and dignity that allow them a better standard of living.
Palin: The primary way to address poverty is to allow people to have an opportunity to help themselves. Alaska’s Governor needs to focus on keeping our economy strong in order for there to be opportunities for good jobs and business growth. Next – the State has a basic responsibility of providing the opportunity for a quality education to all children. This is not a partisan issue – it is one that impacts us all. My focus on education is to make sure that when we fund our public schools, we are getting as many dollars as possible into the classroom. I am also one who supports the options for parents to home school their children and enroll in charter schools, and the development of vocational training programs.
Palin: The overall issue of health care for Alaskan families is important. If we don’t have our health, we don’t have anything. Obviously, high medical costs are hurting Alaskans and our Medicaid budget, of which Denali Kid Care is a part, has quadrupled in the past ten years. Solutions to this problem are complex, and no one person has all the answers. Like most states in our nation, Alaska faces an overall funding crisis in the Medicaid budget. Denali Kid Care is designed to provide young Alaskans and their mothers with health insurance coverage. It covers pre-natal care and basically takes care of our children from birth to adult. I support making this program available for children who do not have access to basic health care.
Editorial
Last month, Venezuelan oil company Citgo announced that it would donate 100 gallons of heating oil to each of 12,000-plus households in Alaska’s villages. The announcement sparked a fierce public debate. Some said village residents should accept the gift. Some said doing so would be unpatriotic given Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez’s recent remarks at the United Nations about President George W. Bush. Others called it a political move on the part of the Venezuelan government, which owns 100 percent of Citgo, a subsidiary of the country’s national oil company, to make the American government look bad. Still others commented on the phenomenon of a foreign government stepping in to provide what the state couldn’t or — some said — wouldn’t.
International squabbles and political motives aside, what lies at the heart of this issue is need — specifically, the needs of the residents of remote Alaskan villages.
Take, for example, Ambler, a small community on the Kobuk delta in Northwestern Alaska. Ambler has just around 300 residents, most of them Inupiat, and any supplies that come into Ambler either must be shipped up the river or, more frequently, flown in. That puts fuel costs in Ambler somewhere over seven dollars per gallon, which means that the average household in Ambler will spend over $2100 this year on heating oil alone.
At the time of the 2000 U.S. census, the per capita income in Ambler was $13,712, and 14 percent of residents lived below the poverty level.
Tribal advocate Virginia Commack told Alaska Public Radio Network’s AK last weekend that Ambler residents plan to accept Citgo’s offer.
"I have not heard a single word negative about this free oil coming into our village," she said. "A lot of people don’t understand … it’s all about survival when you’re out here in remote villages of Alaska."
Commack is right. A lot of people probably don’t understand. And it’s not up to those people to make the decision for the residents of Ambler or any other remote communities.
It can’t be an easy decision for these villages to make, particularly with the public watching — and commenting. Letters to the Anchorage Daily News have written off villagers who plan to accept Citgo’s offer as unpatriotic and un-American. It isn’t so, says Commack.
"We’re not political people. We’re not being political on this issue here. It’s just means of thinking about survival," she told AK. "I hope a lot of people understand that when we accept this gift from another country, it’s not a political move against our own country. In fact, a lot of us are patriotic. We love our country. We love the United States of America."
The average rural Alaskan household will require around 300 gallons of heating oil this winter. Citgo’s donation will cut that expense by a third. That’s a windfall no one should be expected to turn down without consideration.
The Venezuelan president has insulted the American president. We are not at war with Venezuela. Citgo operates in the United States with more than 4,000 Americans employed at the corporate level and 100,000 more working at Citgo stations nationwide. There is no clear-cut moral decision to be made here.
Some villages have already declined Citgo’s offer, and some will accept. It’s a choice each village must make on its own. Those of us who don’t face this decision are in no position to pass judgment on those who do.
Heat is not a luxury in villages like Ambler. It is a necessity for survival. The cost of oil is skyrocketing. Many people already struggle to keep their families warm, and many have gone into debt trying to pay their electric bills. As a Christian community, how can we condemn them for accepting a gift that will keep their children warm this winter?
Last weekend I met a friend at a South Anchorage coffee shop. I arrived first, and my friend sat down with her coffee a minute later, saying, "I have a story to tell you."
As my friend drove into the parking lot that afternoon, the car in front of her pulled into what looked like the last available parking place. She was frustrated but managed to find another spot, and she got to the café door just before the woman who’d pulled in ahead of her. My friend held the door open and was shocked when the woman rushed past and hurried to get in line first. My friend was fuming to herself and getting ready to tell me all about her encounter with this rude woman, when the woman leaned across the counter and, gesturing to my friend, told the barista, "I’d like to pay for her coffee, too."
That random act of kindness stuck with us. For the rest of the day, when we found ourselves beginning to complain — about school, work, roommates, family — one of us would stop and say, "Remember the coffee lady." One small gesture made a difference not only for my friend, but for me and for the people to whom we’ve told the story since.
It’s easy to forget the impact we can have on the people around us. Thank you, "coffee lady," for reminding me.
—Maia Nolan
Letter to the Editor
I enjoy reading opinion pieces by George Weigel. His work is generally thoughtful, scholarly, and well-written. He doesn't leave the impression he believes the government or the wealthy to be intrinsically evil. It would be a shame for a local writer to discount a popular, nationally syndicated columnist when he could be learning from him. (Readers Respond: "We have violent history too," Oct. 6.)
Willow