September 21, 2007 - Issue #19
Local News | Opinion/Editorials | Letters to the Editor
Local News
When death calls, Anchorage man is there
Volunteer visits those who are facing their final hours
Ed Iwata thoughtfully sipped a latte while talking about his foray into the land of the dying.
Iwata, a convert to Catholicism and a member of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Anchorage, just passed a landmark 60th birthday with multiple celebrations and is very much alive.
But when the AIDS crisis began in the 1980s, Iwata began to think about death and why people, including him, were so afraid of it.
"(AIDS sufferers) were treated like the lepers of Christ’s time," he recalled. "I thought, ‘how could I comfort them?’ Yet it was something I feared."
At the time, he lived in the Washington, D.C. area, and faced his fears by getting involved in AIDS education. Today, retired to Alaska with his wife, he’s become involved in another ministry to the dying — NODA.
NODA – No One Dies Alone – has gotten a spate of publicity in Anchorage recently, including a splashy report on local television and a front page spread in the Anchorage Daily News.
NODA is a national program, with a local chapter sponsored in Anchorage by Providence Alaska Medical Center. In Anchorage, the program ensures that no one dying at one of Providence’s four facilities – the hospital, Mary Conrad Center, Providence Extended Care or Horizon House – will die without someone at their bedside.
A volunteer with the organization since it began in Anchorage last summer, Iwata said being present to death is being present to the sacred.
"Even before NODA, when I visited a person who was seriously ill, I felt I’d seen a suffering Christ. I ask myself, what would it have been like to be brave enough to be at the foot of the cross?"
When Iwata worked in AIDS education, he made almost 100 presentations for the Red Cross on the facts of HIV/AIDS at a time when most people knew little about the disease and its causes.
"This was when people were still saying, ‘can I touch them?’"
Volunteering led him to Damien Ministries, which offered retreats to persons with AIDS. Iwata began by educating the cleaning and cooking staff at the retreat center, but soon found himself drawn to the center’s Friday Masses.
"Too many died while I was there, including the ministry’s founder. It got me in touch with death and dying," he said.
At NODA, Iwata volunteers for the hard-to-fill hours – the midnight shift. While he’s been called to several "activations," which is how NODA describes the call to a deathbed, he has been present for only two deaths.
At both instances, Iwata was struck by how human touch calmed the dying person. One man kept raising his hand as Iwata softly recited the Rosary. He gently took the man’s hand. A few moments later, Iwata realized that the man, whose hand he still held, had quietly died.
As a young man, Iwata, a third generation American of Japanese descent, won a scholarship to Gonzaga University in Spokane. There, the combination of "a roommate and Vatican II" drew him to the Catholic Church.
His call to serve the dying has led him deeper into the mystery of Christ.
Death, Iwata reflected over his coffee, must be like falling into the greatest unconditional love you can imagine.
"Think about a time when you felt love, or in love. The feeling consumes you and you’re floating on a cloud. Then double that and you’re bursting. Multiply it by 10 times and you can’t contain it. Multiply it infinitely – that’s God," he said.
That, explained Iwata, is what the person who dies must experience. It also means Iwata doesn’t leave a deathbed with sadness, but with peace.
"Sometimes when I leave someone, I’ll tell them, ‘if you feel this great warmth, see this great light, embrace it,’" he said.
NODA begins an activation when the staff believes a person is within 72 hours of death, said Kathy Archey, local coordinator.
NODA is a ministry that grew out of personal sorrow. The nurse who founded the program in Oregon had seen someone on her shift die alone. Archey, who helped bring the program to Anchorage, didn’t make it to Texas in time for her own mother’s death. The pain of that still tells in her voice.
People die alone for many reasons, Archey said. Some, like her mother, face death much more quickly than a geographically distant family can anticipate. Alaskans – especially Bush Alaskans – experience this.
"Others have lost all ties with family or friends," said Archey, and still others may have few or frail family members who need help ensuring someone’s presence 24 hours a day.
NODA has about 50 volunteers whom Archey called "the heart and soul of the program."
The program serves from three to five dying patients a month in all four facilities. About two-thirds of volunteers come from the busy ranks of Providence’s own staff.
"There’s wonderful enthusiasm for this program at Providence," said Archey.
Archey described Iwata as "truly compassionate and dedicated. He’s been there from the beginning."
If he’s needed, he’ll come early, she said, and if no one can replace him, he’ll stay late.
Iwata said being present to the dying is a privilege."The thought that hits me is, ‘I will be with you in your greatest time of need.’ This is a holy place," he said.
Kodiak homeless shelter no longer under Catholic Social Services
Move allows more local control
The separation wasn’t a divorce. It was more like a child leaving home for college.
At least that’s how Monte Hawver, the director of Kodiak’s Brother Francis Shelter, described that facility’s break from Catholic Social Services, its parent agency for the past 16 years.
"It basically changes the ownership to local. It opens up the possibility of different kinds of grants, and it makes everything local," said Hawver. "We certainly still have Catholic roots, and we work very closely with the parish here."
Hawver is a member of St. Mary Parish and serves on the pastoral council. He has directed Brother Francis Shelter in Kodiak since it opened in 1991.
"The idea all along was for Brother Francis Shelter in Kodiak to become independent," said Catholic Social Services executive director Susan Bomalaski. "We nurtured them along – sort of like a teenager."
Both Bomalaski and Sister of St. Joseph of Peace Charlotte Davenport, archdiocesan chancellor, traveled to Kodiak to officially celebrate the shelter’s launch as an independent agency Sept. 1.
"They have tremendous community support in Kodiak," Bomalaski said. "Everyone important in the city was present for the ceremony, from the city manager on down."
The great distance from Anchorage posed difficulties for operating the shelter.
Because of regulations concerning oversight, someone from Catholic Social Services was required to fly to Kodiak a couple of times a month for supervision, said Hawver.
The difference in mission of Kodiak’s shelter versus Brother Francis Shelter in Anchorage also helped propel the change in status.
"The fishing industry brings more seasonal homeless workers into Kodiak," said Hawver, resulting in a slightly different clientele than the Anchorage shelter. Often the shelter is full of workers who can’t find housing. A typical night might see 20 people sleeping at Brother Francis in Kodiak.
The Kodiak shelter provides food as well as a place to sleep.
A full supper, a light breakfast and sandwiches to go are offered to its clients as well as other poor in the community.
The agency also runs a homeless prevention program and administers a federal grant which helps people with emergency housing needs.
"Out here in the bush, the utility costs, the costs of living, are rising dramatically," said Hawver. "It’s pushed many into the danger of homelessness."
Through the grant money BFS administers, Hawver can pay a utility bill and save someone from eviction.
Brother Francis is the only shelter in Kodiak, and serves men, women and children.
Hawver said he was fortunate in that he had an excellent advisory board when the shelter was a program of Catholic Social Services. Members agreed to continue on and serve as the governing board of directors of the new nonprofit corporation.Hawver credits Kodiak’s community support for the shelter with making independence both possible and a positive move.
‘Holy water’ at Holy Rosary Church quenches town’s thirst
Purified: Dozens fill water jugs at Dillingham rectory
"It’s funny the water is so good because just a few hundred feet down the road at the airport, the water is really bad — rusty and smelly!" parishioner Kris Tierney-Sword wrote in a recent email to the Anchor about the water that flows from the church grounds at Holy Rosary in Dillingham.
"It is the best well around — according to many — and is fondly referred to as ‘holy water,’" Tierney-Sword said.
Many of the local wells in the rural Alaska town contain iron and sulfur in their water, which accounts for the many visits to the rectory, Tierney-Sword said
According to parishioners, dozens of people from around Dillingham fill up at the church spigot each day. Parishioner Angela Clark recounted a story that the late Father Jim Kelly liked to tell parishioners.
"He told the parish that one day he blessed the water in the well, then counted over 75 cars and the trucks over the course of a day that came to fill their water containers," Clark told the Anchor. "He joked to the parish that Dillingham was the holiest city anywhere!"
So many people used the well that Father Kelly installed a donation box to help defray the well’s operating costs, according to Clark.
Father Kelly’s tradition of maintaining the spigot continued when Father Scott Garrett arrived to minister to the rural Alaska Catholics.
Father Garrett worked hard to landscape the spigot area and built a fence around it and the rectory, Clark said.
"He’s taken the rectory from a water logged, mildewing pile of junked up mess and has helped to transform it into a very nice, clean (area)," she added. "Father Scott Garrett’s sister and her fiancée came up this summer to help with the landscaping and planted red geraniums."
Parishioners also contributed to the unique watering hole by making their own flowerpots for each of the church steps and rectory.
But something was missing, or more specifically someone was missing from the spigot.
Father Garrett wanted to put a statue of Mary near the spigot.
In Eagle River, St. Andrew Church parishioner Marguerite Culhan heard about it, and knew just where to look. She’d given one to fellow parishioner Jerry Finkler awhile back and felt led by the spirit to ask him if he’d be willing to part with it.
"She told me about Father Scott needing Mary," Finkler said. "I was just glad to see that someone else would enjoy her as we have."
Father Garrett swung by Finkler’s house and said the statue would be a perfect fit, Finkler recalled.
"He told me the story that people are beating a path to get to the spigot, so he’s making the area look nice for people," Finkler said."With the landscaping and the (new statue of) Mary, it could be called Our Lady of Grace. For all we know she’s gracing the path for visitors who come to the well."
Adventuresome priest covers hundreds of miles across remote Alaska
Father Scott Garrett encountered a rough commute to Anchorage on his way to the Anchorage Archdiocese annual priest’s retreat earlier this month. Unlike many of his fellow priests, Father Garrett’s journey didn’t lead to confrontations with orange pylons, congested intersections or road-raging motorists. His challenges came from above.
"Flying through the mountain passes is always a bit stressful because of the winds," Father Garrett told the Anchor staff during his visit. "The scariest part is knowing that you can’t land while flying through (the mountains)."
The stubbly-faced, flannel-clad priest said he loves adventure, but he admitted that the forces of nature still leave him white knuckled at times — especially when he’s sitting in the cockpit of his single engine airplane.
"I have low hours, so I’m not that experienced of a pilot," Fr. Garrett said. "Weather is the most stressful part (of being a bush priest) because it changes so rapidly."
The plane and weather play a significant role in Father Garrett’s ministry in the Bristol Bay area, where he serves rural Catholics in Dillingham, King Salmon, Naknek and about 20 other small villages.
"It all comes tumbling down when the weather goes down. I have to scramble a lot — a lot of things have to happen in a short time if I get stuck," Father Garrett said.
His weekends are tightly scheduled — set to maximize the amount of villages and people he can serve on the Alaska Peninsula. It’s reminiscent of the missionary spirit of an apostle’s journey coupled with modern-day bush piloting.
On a typical weekend, Father Garrett packs up the plane early Saturday morning and heads out to one of 20 remote villages between Ugashik to the south, Togiak to the west and Iliamna to the east.
He celebrates weekend Masses for Catholics in village schools, canneries or homes. Then, he heads back to King Salmon to spend the evening with the community at St. Theresa Mission, which is located between King Salmon and Naknek. Evening activities could include catechism, sacramental preparation, or physical labor.
Early in the morning, he celebrates Mass at St. Theresa, then hops back in his plane and flies back to Dillingham to hopefully arrive in time for the 12:30 p.m. Mass.
"It’s cutting it kinda close, especially if the weather is bad," Father Garrett said.
Flexibility is the key to successful bush ministry, he added.
"That’s one of my weak points, believe me, I’m not a very flexible person, whoa jeez," Father Garrett laughed. "That’s been the most challenging thing for me, and I think God realized that. He’s helping me be more flexible."
With all the unknowns, parishioners in remote Alaska step up and help things to go smoothly, Father Garrett said.
"I have a lot of people trained to help run a communion service if I am delayed," he said. "There’s been quite a few times that I’ve gotten stuck and I’ve had to call people."
The laid back attitude in the villages, coupled with flexibility help out a lot, especially if there are last minute changes, Father Garrett explained. The idea of community is extremely important to many villages, more so than in bigger towns.
"(In) Anchorage, as soon as Mass is over, they head for the door and they go," he said. "Here, after Mass they all stand up, they don’t move, they start talking with each other for awhile before moseying around down to the basement for cake and cookies or whatever I have down there."
"For me the best thing about being a bush priest is the variety," Father Garrett said. "You’re not just a spiritual priest, you have to do all the all the work around the house, build fences, be a plumber, electrician, fell trees for the wood stove—I mean everything!" he said with a laugh.
But he gets plenty of help from parishioners for most of the chores, he said.
"I just usually migrate to the things that I like to do," Father Garrett explained. "I’m learning a lot of things — I just built a hearth out of brick and mortar for a wood stove for a second source of heat."
Experiences, combined with the adventure of seeing 8,000 caribou while flying out to meet a lively diverse group of people in a village makes rural ministry exciting and fulfilling, Father Garrett said."I get variety and adventure which is the two things I like best about being a priest in (Bristol Bay)," he said.
‘Ugliest’ shoes memorialize popular bush pilot priest
Naknek honors the late priest with footwear display
A pair of worn, scuffed, high-topped size 13 leather shoes sits underneath the credence table at St. Theresa Church in Naknek.
"They’re the ugliest shoes that I’ve ever seen," said St. Theresa pastor Father Scott Garrett. "(But) they sit there as a way to memorialize Father Jim Kelley, and will probably be there as long as the church is."
The late Father Kelley crashed his Piper Cherokee 140 into Tuklug Mountain outside of Dillingham on his way to celebrate Palm Sunday Mass back in 2002. He came to Alaska in the 1990s after retiring as a Navy Chaplain. Father Kelley was known for going to great lengths to bring sacraments to people on the Alaskan and Aleutian Peninsula.
"I am so grateful that he’d left them behind," St. Theresa parishioner Gig Currier said in an email to the Anchor. "He kept them at the church and would wear his snow boots to travel. We’re lucky to have them."
Fellow Alaska priest pilot, Father LeRoy Clementich recalled Father Kelley’s now famous footwear with a smile.
"Those shoes," Father Clementich said. "He’d always change shoes because he’d get out in the mud, so he always left the shoes at the church, and he left them under the credence table."
Letters to the late priest now fill the shoes as a testament to the number of lives he touched while serving the remote Alaska community. Parishioners say that even though they might be unsightly on the outside, they serve as a powerful reminder that the church is more than just a building.
"The night that Father Kelley’s plane went missing, a group of us stayed at the rectory all night, telling stories of Father Kelley. It helped us learn that we, the parishioners, are church," parishioner Angela Clark said in an email."He really helped establish the mission territory," Father Clementich added. "(The shoes) are a symbol of his missionary spirit as he traveled by air, to make sure that people would have Mass and the Blessed Sacrament."
Troubled marriages welcomed at Anchorage retreat
Being in a marriage that’s not working can be the saddest news in the world.
The good news is that the church offers a program that can help. It’s highly confidential, and according to Tim Ebben, coordinator with his wife Julie of Retrouvaille in Anchorage, "can be 100 per cent successful if both marriage partners are committed to making their marriage work."
Retrouvaille began in French Canada, where a priest and several married couples launched the program to help troubled marriages.
The next Retrouvaille retreat in Anchorage is set for October 5-7 at the downtown Howard Johnson’s, and there’s still plenty of room and time to get registered. Following the weekend, there are 12 one-day follow up sessions.
"We can take as many as want to come. We’ve had as many as 15 couples and as few as two," said Tim Ebben.
The weekend is presented by three team couples and a priest. They do not purport to be professionals, said Ebben, and no couple or individual counseling is provided. Instead, team couples share their married struggles and experiences and help participants to develop communication techniques to work through their own issues.
"It is so confidential that you’ll never learn the last names of the other couples on the weekend," said Ebben. And other than being together to listen to presentations and to eat together at meals, there are no group sessions. Rather, couples spend time alone, talking to each other.
The Ebbens came to Retrouvaille through their own marriage difficulties.
"I was gone a lot. I always went to work. It was my desire to be the breadwinner," said Ebben. What he didn’t realize was that his absences were stressful for Julie, who was home with small children and needed to get out of the house and have her own autonomy, too.
"But instead of telling him that, I’d just say, ‘okay, go.’" she said, and unspoken anger mounted.
Although the Ebbens talked to a counselor and a priest, they didn’t have Retrouvaille available to them in the state where they lived then. So they signed up for Marriage Encounter – a program designed to help good marriages grow better.
"When we got to Marriage Encounter, the lady told us, ‘you really don’t belong here,’" said Tim Ebben.
Their marriage was in too much trouble. But she let them stay, and he credits that with keeping their marriage together.
When they moved to Alaska and heard about Retrouvaille at St. Andrew Church in Eagle River, they felt called to help with the program and went to a Retrouvaille formation. It turned out that the program helped them.
"It healed us," said Tim Ebben. "Previously, we had put a bandage on a wound. But by the grace of God, Retrouvaille healed us from the inside out."
Retrouvaille teaches you the "art of dialogue," said Julie Ebben. It opens lines of communications because no matter what the issue – money, intimacy, children – the basic problem is usually the inability to communicate feelings.
"And forgiveness is a big part of Retrouvaille – forgiving yourself as well as your spouse."
When asked what the success rates for Retrouvaille are, the Ebbens said it’s really impossible to measure in the long run. Sometimes, one partner comes willing to work on the marriage, but the second partner is ambivalent about saving the union. It’s hard to save a marriage under those circumstances.
But if you both want a good marriage and are willing to try, Retrouvaille will be the turning point in your life together, said Ebben.For registration and information, visit www.retrouvaille.org, call 360-2227 or 1-800-470-2230.
Deacon candidates take next step towards ordination
Just like the original seven deacons of the church recorded in Acts Chapter 6, seven men of the Archdiocese of Anchorage were officially installed as lectors of the church at a special installation Mass Sept. 15 at Holy Family Cathedral by Archbishop Roger Schwietz.
Installation as a lector is the first formal ceremony along the path to ordination as a deacon. Next year the men will be installed as acolytes and will be ordained to the diaconate in May of 2009.
"As a lector, (these men) are installed for the universal church, and can lector anywhere in the world," said Father Jim Oberle, who is working with the deacon candidates during their formation. "There’s a critical dynamic now in these men’s lives, the word of God influences their lives, they have to walk the talk now, so to speak."
Just as with ordination to the diaconate and priesthood, installation as a lector is permanent.
"They’re holding us to a lot higher standards," echoed newly installed Lector Curtis Leutenberger from Palmer.
"Its one more step (in discernment). It’s a bit scary for the expectations of what God wants out of you," said Daniel Stowe. Stowe was also installed as a lector. He said he made the decision to enter into deeper study and discernment as a deacon candidate out of a desire to serve the Church.
"It was an inner desire to give something back. All my life I’ve had the attitude that God will take care of me and he has. This time it’s a chance for me to give back," Stowe said. "That’s the job of a deacon, to help those who are lost and need guidance. We’re all lost at some point in our lives."
Installed as lectors at the Mass were: Richard Ernst of Kenai; Bill Evans, James ‘Mick" Fornelli and Jon Hermon of Anchorage; Curtis Leutenberger and Harry Moore of Palmer and Daniel Stowe of Valdez.
For more information about the diaconate program log on to www.archdioceseofanchorage.org/diaconate.htm.
The common good
One goal of the Anchorage Archdiocese Pastoral Plan is to promote "action for the common good." This goal entails the following aspects: Serving diverse ethnic and cultural populations within the Archdiocese; providing pastoral outreach for the poor, marginalized and vulnerable; recognizing and caring for those in prison and other difficult situations with the judicial system, working for justice and a consistent ethic of life and peace; and strengthening the mission and vision of Catholic Social Services into parish life.
Stories on this page of the Anchor reveal two more ways in which the rich variety of parish health ministry embodies several aspects of the Pastoral Plan.
Spirituality is front and center in St. Elizabeth’s health ministry
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church has a vibrant model of health ministry. We have a team of nurses, a biologist and a social worker and are hoping for even more members. We have an assets-based model, which means that by looking at the parish assets, we are able to tap into the resources that are already in place. For example, we work with the Moms Group that provides cancer survival kits, which parishioners can give to family members or others in treatment to lift their spirits. We also promote a parish ministry called Comfort Covers, which makes blankets for children of the deployed, divorced, or those grieving the death of a parent, or facing hospitalization. We collaborate with the teens in Operation Oral Health to provide toothbrushes, floss and toiletries for the residents at Brother Francis Shelter during Christmas. This fall we will begin using the assets of our parish nurses to offer regular blood pressure screenings.
We also use the assets of our parish Web site to provide articles regarding health promotion and Web site resources.
Currently there are two certified parish nurses and one certified health minister.
Home visits are another areas of ministry. One aspect that I particularly like about parish nursing is that it is acceptable to pray with the person who has health issues. And who doesn’t need prayer and someone to pray with them when facing a decision or health crisis? In a clinical setting, spirituality is not always part of the nursing care. In parish nursing, spirituality is the central part of getting and staying healthy. It is about taking care of and loving the gift of our bodies, minds and souls.
Making health a priority means healthier individuals throughout the parish.
Parish health ministers are modern saints. I didn’t always feel that way, until I began to learn a little about the work of Anne Gauthier at St. Patrick Church in Anchorage. I phoned Gauthier to find out what St. Patrick parish nurses do.
I first learned that Gauthier and Father Scott Medlock offered presentations at their parish about End of Life Issues. At one meeting on advanced directives, more than 30 people came to ask questions. At the meeting, parish health ministers helped people create their own advance directives if they desired.
Gauthier told me she is preparing a new series to begin Sept. 6 — a set of weekly meetings about living well with chronic illness. This is both a class and a support group that can brainstorm together ways to manage one’s illness.
Saint Patrick parish nurses also collect medical equipment to send overseas to medical missions.
Gauthier said one of the greatest things she does is meet twice monthly with other parish health ministers to pray, offer support and accountability. They call this gathering a "Servants of the Gospel Meeting," which Gauthier said, "develops our faith in a way we cannot on our own, and helps to develop our own spirituality."
One last thing I learned about Gauthier during our telephone interview is that her primary ministry is to bring communion and pray with the homebound. I noted that one important goal of our Pastoral Plan is to "celebrate our Catholic faith as a Eucharistic people." This includes the often forgotten homebound.As you may have noticed, there is much work to do in the Lord’s Vineyard.
Pastoral Plan sheds light on local work
Soldotna parish reviews work in light of Plan
For the past four years, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, has actively worked toward building community within our parish by holding listening sessions, working on a parish mission statement, holding activities that target hospitality and community and increasing awareness of stewardship by sharing the gift of time, talent and treasure. In the broader sense, we are working on putting our faith into action.
All of these things have set the stage to implement the Pastoral Plan, which is a broader presentation of what we were doing but with many more possibilities. So when our pastoral council saw this plan, Father Richard Tero, our pastor asked that the council and all committees review the Pastoral Plan from the lens of their respective communities, seeing how it applied.
In so doing, we realized that we already carry out many of the objectives, while some need more concentration. Others, we will have to work on in the future.Through it all, our parish seeks to build community, forming one family of faith to make present the risen Christ.
News & Notes
Pray Scripture at Holy Family
Lectio Divina is an ancient way of praying the scriptures by listening to the Word of God at ever deepening levels. It is also a primary source for the method of Centering Prayer. An introductory workshop with continuing sessions will be offered Saturday, Oct. 6, in the Education Center of Holy Family Cathedral from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.. There is no fee for this workshop but donations will be accepted for Contemplative Outreach. For registration or more information contact Kess Frey at 338-2894.
Training for parish nursing
Parish Nurses of Alaska and Northwest Parish Nurse Ministries in collaboration with Providence Health System Alaska are sponsoring two training courses for nurses interested in parish ministry. Parish nursing focuses on "whole-person" care "including the patient’s spiritual, physical and emotional needs", according to Adrian Dominican Sister Jackie Stoll, the Anchorage Archdiocesan coordinator for parish nursing and Parish Ministries of Health. The first course will be offered at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Soldotna on Oct. 11-13 and November 1-3. The second course will be offered Jan. 10 to March 6, 2008 at Providence Medical Center in Anchorage. For more information, visit www.archdioceseofanchorage.org/nurse.htm or contact Sister Stoll at 297-7736.
Elder House needs cookware
Catholic Social Services’ McAuley Manor and Charlie Elder House need new pots, pans and bakeware. Items can be dropped off at 3710 East 20th Ave. For more information, contact Cindy Sena-Martinez a 279-5772 or csena-martinez@cssalaska.org.
Father Bramble resumes vicar general post
Dominican Father Donald Bramble is filling in for Father Leo Walsh as the vicar general for the Anchorage Archdiocese while Father Walsh is competing his doctoral dissertation in Rome."While he is gone, I will be substituting in that position, since I am acquainted with the role from my previous three years as vicar," Father Bramble said in an email to the Anchor.Father Bramble last served as vicar general for the archdiocese from October 2003 to October 2006. His current stint is set to run from Sept. 2007 to June 1, 2008.During that time, Father Bramble said he will be doing "whatever the archbishop requires, as well as being his next in line while he is out of the archdiocese."
Father Reitter preps for Australia
Father Frank Reitter is nearly set to travel to Australia. Earlier this month, he spoke to the Anchor as he prepared to leave the East Coast and travel to Australia.
Father Reitter just completed a five-year ministry stint in Alaska last month. By early October he hopes to be working in Gladstone, Australia, where he will work with youth and take on other pastoral tasks as needed.
Ultimately, Father Reitter wants to work with aboriginal groups. In the 1990s he ministered to Sioux Indians in South Dakota.
He then spent several years serving portions of the Native population in rural Alaska.
Father Reitter told the Anchor he hopes to work in Australia for a long while.
"I hope to be there for the rest of my life," he said.
He also plans to attend the 2008 World Youth Day in Sydney, where he hopes to meet up with travelers from the Anchorage Archdiocese.
Nome Catholic radio honored nationally
DAYTON, Ohio (CNS) —The judges of the 2007 Gabriel Awards chose KNOM Radio in Nome, Alaska, as one of two "stations of the year" in TV and radio, respectively.
This is the 15th year KNOM has been honored as station of the year. The Gabriels are in their 42nd year and are sponsored by the Catholic Academy for Communication Arts Professionals, which is based in Dayton. Winners are chosen from among entrants in 60 categories of TV, radio and film — including 20 Spanish-language categories. Their programming is evaluated for content that affirms human dignity and values.
The Gabriel Awards — nine-inch silver figures of the angel Gabriel — will be presented to winners Oct. 26 at a ceremony in Hollywood, Calif. The "personal achievement award" will also be announced at that ceremony.
KNOM is owned by the Diocese of Fairbanks and broadcasts news, music, and educational and public service programming to listeners in western Alaska — one of North America’s most remote regions.
Rosary rally set for October 13
To mark the 90th anniversary of the apparitions at Fatima, there will be a Rosary Rally held October 13 from 7:00 – 8:00 p.m. at Blessed Sacrament Monastery.
Dorothy Miller, who is coordinating the event, said over 1,000 such rallies are planned throughout the U.S. by an organization called "America Needs Fatima."
Fatima is a village in Portugal where three young children claimed they witnessed visions of the Blessed Virgin Mary beginning Oct. 13, 1917.
Shelter to mark 25 years
On Sunday, Oct. 7, the Brother Francis Shelter will celebrate their 25th anniversary of Service in Anchorage. Normally, the celebration coincides with a special Mass on the feast of St. Francis, but this year, the celebration will be ecumenical.
"We wanted to do something different this year because this is a community shelter that receives support from the entire community," said Susan Bombalaksi, Director of Catholic Social Services. "This is larger than the Catholic community because of the support from the greater community."Representatives from other Christian faiths and the Jewish community will participate in the service, which begins at 2 p.m. at the Brother Francis Shelter, located on 3rd Avenue.
Finkler leaves post as Pastoral Plan consultant
Jerry Finkler will be leaving his position as field consultant for the Anchorage Archdiocese Pastoral Plan at the end of the month. Finkler said the move was necessary in order to take up administrative work and consulting with the Galena City School District Home school Support, also known as Interior Distance Education of Alaska.
"My family has participated in that program since 1997 when we lived in North Pole," Finkler said. "I think the world of the teachers and administrators that I’ve come to know at IDEA. I’m very fortunate to work with them, and to be involved in my children’s education."
Finkler said he enjoyed his work with the archdiocese and the relationships he built with colleagues.
"Jerry is a very good person to work with, he has a lot of talent and will be missed," said fellow Ministry Support Team member Sister Joe Gaugier, O.P.
Sister Gaugier said the decision on how to replace Finkler’s position will be postponed until after Discipleship Days.
Finkler, a graduate of Seattle University, has worked in various lay leadership and religious teaching positions for the Archdiocese of Anchorage and the Diocese of Fairbanks.
Stewardship head to be honored
Jim Caldarola, Director of the Archdiocese of Anchorage Office of Stewardship and Development, will receive an international award for fundraising early next year. Caldarola will receive the ‘The Community Counseling Service Award for an Outstanding Fundraising Professional’ next April at the Association of Fundraising Professionals in San Diego.
To be chosen, candidates must demonstrate career excellence in fundraising and leadership skills and a commitment to philanthropy and volunteer service. A committee of fundraising and finance professionals selected the candidates from hundreds of nominations submitted around the world.
For more information on the award or the Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP), log on to the AFP’s Website at www.afpnet.org
Columns
The secret of telling stories
"Once upon a time there was a rich man who dressed in purple and linen and feasted splendidly every day. At his gate lay a beggar named Lazarus who was covered with sores. He longed to eat the scraps that fell from the rich man’s table. The dogs even came and licked his sores." You already know the rest of the story: Lazarus goes to the bosom of Abraham (heaven). The rich man goes to the abode of the dead (hell?). This is undoubtedly one of the most graphic stories Jesus ever told. It is obviously not about two men, but rather about two ways of life, rich and poor, privileged and deprived. It could not have described the two ways of the world any more accurately or sympathetically.
So, why story telling? Why did Jesus choose this mode of communication? Simply, because it works. Stories will not let us forget. They stir up our emotions, our anger, our compassion, our interest and our questions — they leave us pondering. Before there was writing, there was story telling.
Mothers tell stories to their children. Humorists entertain us with stories (some not always so nice!). Philosophers describe the deep issues of life in stories. I remember Aesop’s fables in grade school and Virgil’s Aeneid in college. The fact that I still remember them tells me something important.
The nice thing about stories is that we already know at the outset that they are not factual but that they are nonetheless true. They tell us something about ourselves that we only begin to realize more clearly once having read or heard the words.
Stories also tell us not only what the world is like, but also what the world could be like in the best of all circumstances. That’s why Jesus’ Kingdom stories are always so interesting. We know that they are true.
Another interesting element in stories is that they sneak up on us and astonish us in the last few lines. Jesus was good at that: Just when everyone thought the story was finished, he would say, "Are you listening? Do you have ears to hear?"
That’s the real point of stories, of course: They are lessons, lessons we learn while being entertained. Indeed, we can’t avoid the lesson because the story itself captures our interest from the initial words, "Once upon a time." From that moment forward we are "trapped," happily so!
Another mysterious element in stories (good ones) is that they cross all age levels. The simplest one will appeal equally to the philosopher and the first grader. Some would say that they are so clairvoyant that anyone can see through them to what is really real.
So, that is why Jesus told the Lazarus story. I suspect there was not a single person in his audience who failed to understand who Lazarus was and who the rich man was. This was life as they already understood it. Doubtless, they probably said to themselves: Where do I fit? Which is my character? If that was the case, the story had already had its intended effect.
So, here we are, hearing the Lazarus story once again, always old and always new, always disturbing our peace, always reminding us that life has not changed much since the day Jesus first told the tale. There is always the chance that it will fit our character and our life. If that’s the case, Jesus did not waste his breath. He obviously knew the power of words well chosen.
The writer is archdiocesan director of Pastoral Education. He also serves as canonical pastor and coordinator of parishes without resident pastors.
What is community organizing?
That was one thing I wanted to ask my friend, Adrian Dominican Sister Lorraine Reaume, who recently visited California for community organizing training with a group called PICO. She is a board member of AFACT and hopes to help organize her parish, Our Lady of Guadalupe.
So what’s PICO? What’s AFACT?
During the 1960s, community organizing had a vaguely left-of-center ring to it. A guy named Saul Alinsky was well-known as probably the premier community organizer and the inspiration for people like Cesar Chavez.
But community organizing isn’t so radical – it’s as American as apple pie, having its roots in the American Revolution and the populist movement. Community organizing has as its premise the idea that power comes from the people, and there’s no more American concept than that.
The people who have power, or who are comfortable speaking to power, don’t need organizing, or they do it quite well for themselves, thank you. But sometimes people in the lower economic brackets, who spend most of their time surviving, need to be reminded that they, too, have power. Sometimes new Americans, unfamiliar with the way our system works, need help finding their voice.
Enter AFACT, which stands for Anchorage Faith and Action Congregations Together. AFACT currently has 15 member congregations. Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz has been very supportive of AFACT and four Catholic congregations belong: St. Anthony, Our Lady of Guadalupe, Catholic Native Ministry and Holy Family Cathedral. All total, 15 congregations speak to their people one on one to find out what the needs are. Then, working together, people produce results. You probably read about the meeting with Carol Cuomo and Native Alaskan parents about the problems Native kids face in Anchorage schools. AFACT helped bring that about. All those people who testified about the need for better coverage of poor working families under the Denali KidCare program? Credit AFACT.
PICO is the national network which operates – according to their website – in 150 cities and 17 states, with more than one million families and one thousand congregations. A Jesuit priest, Father John Baumann, founded PICO in 1972.
"Rather than being issue or movement based, PICO is people based," Sister Lorraine told me. "It’s based on helping people discover their power."
The training was attended by 84 people from all over the country. Sister Lorraine said the lesson was "power rests in relationship."
Saul Alinsky, the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, started his career in the neighborhoods around the great packing plants of Chicago – the same ones Upton Sinclair wrote about in "The Jungle." He organized folks into a "Back of the Yards Neighborhood Council" and they fought to improve working conditions.
Here’s something about Alinsky for us to chew on: one of his greatest allies in his fight was the Catholic Church. The Archdiocese of Chicago threw its considerable weight behind Alinsky, and later, dioceses all over the country joined the battle.
Why? Why such commitment then, and a more tepid response, nationally, to social issues now? My theory: American Catholics were the poor then, the people who worked in the plants and stockyards — Poles, Italians, Irish — the immigrants who peopled the Catholic pews and the burgeoning Catholic school system.
As the American Catholic Church grew rich and fat and respectable – the largest single denomination in the U.S., the largest denomination on the Supreme Court – fighting for the poor remains theoretically important, but the passion of personal interest has waned.
Okay, so community organizing is a) American, b) Catholic, and c) available to us in Anchorage by supporting AFACT. What are we waiting for?
The writer is a freelance writer, preschool teacher and mother of three. She lives in Anchorage.
Why reserve prayer for an emergency 911 call?
St. Benedict said, "It is time for us to rise from sleep." What are we asleep to? Are we insensitive or secretly seeking power more than service to others? Are we living a Christian life at all? I remember asking my dad once, "What’s the purpose of life?" He pointed to the cross and said, "Get to know him. Jesus will never let you down."
But hardships come and you wonder.
When faced with tragedy, with challenges, it’s hard to seek the man on the cross. It’s easier to doubt than to hope. It’s easier to stay asleep in pain than rise in prayer.
Our culture seems to be focused on pleasure. It’s afraid of pain and always romantically seeking that perfect someone or perfect position of power to be happy.
But what does it profit a man to gain the whole world (let alone short-term pleasures and power) and lose their soul?
"I don’t believe in God," I hear from friends, time and time again. Then a death in the family comes and I hear, "God, why did you do this?" We shift from certainty to uncertainty, finding ourselves jumping to anything that sounds right or feels good at the moment. When do we take responsibility for who we are, or who we will become? When do we decide to spend more time awake in prayer, and less time asleep?
In my culture, weekends are focused on bar hopping, the gym, work, Internet, iPod, Starbucks, shopping and gossip. Life is soaked in what feels right (for me) and truth seems to be open to any interpretation. Who needs to pray when your cell phone is ringing, you have emails to check, a new flick to watch, MySpace and Facebook to browse, new downloads from iTunes, and your newest date to rush to? Prayer seems to be reserved for tragedy or disaster. We seem to put it aside until the 911 call. When is the last time we prayed, just to be with Jesus or to enjoy the beauty of nature around Anchorage and Alaska?
Our culture is imbedded with greater than a 50 percent chance of divorce, unprecedented levels of teen suicide, abortion of children yet to see their parents, and a way of violence that is now considered a viable option to solve problems. Anybody for a ride on the blame-game? Is it the media’s fault, the drugs, the terrorists, friends, corrupt politicians, God, Satan, or easy access to alcohol? Who shall we blame today for our worlds problems? Is it the Democrats, the Republicans? Maybe we’re all just a little too tired to look inside ourselves.
Gandhi caught my attention years back. He said, "Be the change you wish to see in the world." The words struck me because my world didn’t teach responsibility or courage. Rather, it taught about image and illusion, the power of perception, of living in the fast lane and rarely trusting anyone, because people are living for themselves.
I’m struck by leaders who stand up for what they believe, while teaching the foundations of Christianity through words and actions. It was Martin Luther King who said, "To be a Christian without prayer is no more possible than to be alive without breathing." It’s hard to be Christian. It’s hard to forgive and pick up the daily cross. Without prayer it is impossible.
I struggle in prayer, in forgiveness, in faith — especially during adversity. I’m being taught no matter how I feel, to remain constant and consistent in prayer, and to be faithful to Jesus. To do this, I daily turn to saints to help me live a Christian life even when I don’t feel like it. They reveal a life of prayer as the cornerstone to being the hands and feet of Jesus.
Blessed Mother Teresa taught us not to focus on the business or politics of religion but on Jesus alone, "Let us more and more insist on raising funds of love, of kindness, of understanding, of peace. Money will come if we seek first the Kingdom of God – the rest will be given," she said.
The writer works at Holy Spirit Center in the Anchorage Archdiocese.
Editorials
The terminally ill deserve our presence — even if it’s inconvenient
In this issue of the Anchor we read of Ed Iwata, an Anchorage man who spends his free time sitting with people who are all alone and sometimes anxious as they face death without friends or family members to support them.
Mr. Iwata is one of countless volunteers across the country who answer untimely calls to be with a growing number of people who find themselves separated from all loved ones in their final hours.
While Mr. Iwata’s selfless acts are commendable, the fact that they are necessary reveals a disturbing trend in a society that overvalues personal freedom, independence and mobility.
Most of us don’t consciously plan to live far from our aging parents, or sick relatives. We don’t set out to find colleges, jobs and homes based on how far they separate us from those who will one day need us most. Life just happens, as they say.
Relatively easy travel, global job markets and college years spent far from home gradually pull families apart geographically.
In many cases, kids from opposite sides of the country meet in college, fall in love and one or both are forced to live thousands of miles from home. Alaskans know this reality all too well.
But something else is also at work here. While it may be unconscious, it is also negligent.
If at all possible, we have an obligation to be present to our aging or terminally ill loved ones. It is an obligation of love. Christ spoke of it in no uncertain terms, when he equated himself with those who are most needy. When we neglect them, we neglect Him. When we fail to visit them, we fail to visit Him.
But what of our vacations, retirements, youthful adventures and financial security? Terminal illnesses and aging loved ones tend wreck havoc on these well-laid plans.
Yet the alternative is to put them in professional facilities, where state-subsidized workers can tend to their growing needs, while we continue to live pretty much the same way we did before.
Until we stop and take stock of what really matters, we are going to need many more Ed Iwatas to care for those people that we can’t afford to be with — even at death.For many of us, it is impractical to quit jobs, sell homes and move our families thousands of miles away. And yet, someone must care for the growing number of terminally ill and aging people in our country. Love and human dignity demand it, so we ought to ask whether we can do better.
We are one Church but we have multiple points of view
After a year at the Catholic Anchor, I’d like to share a few thoughts.
Last September, the Anchor’s founding editor, John Roscoe, hired me to be his assistant. The very next day, John was offered a chance to move back to Portland to live and work closer to family. Thus, a few weeks after my first day, the founding editor was gone.
Over the next two months, the Anchor saw yet another editor come and go.
The big turnover left one full-time employee to keep the paper afloat – me.
In a matter of eight weeks, I’d gone from new hire to acting editor. In January, I accepted an offer as official editor. The months since, have been immensely rewarding but also very challenging.
The Anchor, as you know, is not a private matter. The roughly 16 pages of news, opinion and analysis are on full display for approximately 12,000 households. On any given week, reactions to the paper run from adoring praise to heated criticism.
Through innumerable letters to the editor, staff meetings, interviews and private conversations, I’ve experienced a few of the dynamics that shape the local Catholic Church.
A priest described the situation well during a recent meeting about the newspaper. He observed that the Catholic Church is in the midst of trying times, in which radically different visions the church are at odds. He accurately noted that this tension must be especially evident for the editor of the local Catholic paper.
The priest said I was in a tight spot because everyone wants their particular vision of the church represented and approved of.
Yes, we are "one, holy, catholic, and apostolic church," but we frequently argue about the church’s theological and social stances.
As editor, my challenge is to provide space for the fullness of the Catholic faith in the pages of the paper. That means carving out room for stories on spirituality, social justice, life issues and countless other areas.
Finding the right balance has been a growing process and I’m indebted to those who have taken time to contact me and share their ideas.
When reporting or editorializing on these topics, however, the Anchor is entrusted with a responsibility to shed light on how the news either supports or detracts from the sacred Scriptures and Tradition of the Catholic Church.
Occasionally, people say the Anchor should challenge the institutional church. In response, I usually make two distinctions. First, unlike the secular press or an independent Catholic paper, the Anchor has always been part of the teaching arm of the Anchorage archbishop. As such, it helps to support the mission of the global church as worked out locally in the Anchorage Archdiocese.
But the Anchor also is a newspaper, in which people are encouraged to respectfully express their differences.
In Catholic circles, I’ve noticed that disagreements often fall into two broad categories. Some take issue with established church teaching in areas of faith and morals. Others focus on aspects of ecclesial or social life in which church teaching is less established or still developing.
While recognizing that there is a dizzying array of opinions on how to implement official church teaching, the Anchor does not attempt to question the established doctrines themselves.
Rather, the paper’s task is to shed light on how the Scripture and 2,000 years worth of church teaching remains relevant today. This is not easy, especially when much of contemporary life runs contrary to the church’s mission to create holy men and women.
In the case of less established teachings, however, the Anchor is an open forum for discussion. What should immigration policy look like? How do we dialogue with other religions? How do we build a just society and support families? These are just a few areas of robust conversation within the church and they are open for debate in the pages of the Anchor.
Great conversations, however, require at least two elements: a genuine desire to understand others and a willingness to respectfully disagree. As editor, I’m regularly challenged from all spectrums of the church. The goal is to keep the conversation open and dynamic.
As the weather cools, let us stoke the greatest conversations and grapple with the truth.We have a long way to go and much to learn from each other. When the dust settles – and even as it billows – we can’t forget that we are one church, founded by Christ and called to glory.
August C. ‘Augie’ Hiebert, 1917-2007
"To Augie!" we said, our glasses raised in honor of August Hiebert at last December’s ‘Goldie’ Awards banquet, hosted by the Alaska Broadcasting Association.
Hiebert is a pioneer of broadcasting, especially for his work starting KTVA, Alaska’s first television station.
It was a moment of pride for those of us who sat at the KTVA table, to witness Hiebert’s impact on journalists across the state.
Augie and his kin were like extended family to employees at KTVA. At company gatherings and meetings, a visit from Augie was like a visit from a doting grandfather.
Once, when covering Vice President Dick Cheney’s visit to Alaska, the reporter and I spotted Hiebert in the crowd. We stopped by to visit with him, and you would have thought we were the vice president himself by Augie’s reaction.
The kinship I felt with Augie grew when I visited his home to do an interview in 2001. Walking into Hiebert’s house, you can’t help but notice the influence of God on his life through the numerous religious paintings and statues.
Augie represented an idealism that’s almost reminiscent of days gone by. To me, his integrity and Catholic faith will always impact me as much as his role as a broadcasting pioneer.
I offer my prayers and thoughts to the Hiebert family, as well as a toast to the memory of a man who left his mark on Alaska. "To Augie!"
— James DeCrane, Catholic Anchor assistant editor and former KTVA producer
Letters to the Editor
Elders need faith formation too
Last week, my husband and I received our copy of the Catholic Anchor with a full-page advertisement for Discipleship Days. There were programs to promote the spiritual growth of children, young adults, adults, immigrants, etc. We searched the schedule with a magnifying glass (due to our failing eyes) but found no sessions aimed at enlightening those of us in our "Golden" years. We want to keep the faith, but in a world of rapidly changing values, we also need the guidance of the church. Those of us over age 50 also have a vast store of knowledge and talents to share. We were taught to know, love and serve God and would like to continue doing so as long as we are able. Please include us in your planning and don’t forget Psalm 71:9, "And now that I am old and gray, Oh God, forsake me not."
Anchorage
Penance tougher in Sirach’s day
In the Book of Sirach, (Mass reading from Sept. 1-2) is the statement, "Alms atone for sins." Imagine part way through your confessional the priest stops everything. "Whoa! That was a real whopper. It will cost you $75 bucks to atone for that one." Penance was tougher in Sirach’s day.
Anchorage