October 19, 2007 - Issue #21
Local News | Opinion/Editorials | Letters to the Editor
Local News
Young Dominicans up to Alaska challenge
Trio stationed at Holy Family Cathedral
The Dominican friars at Holy Family Cathedral are a young bunch — younger than most.
The U.S. Council of Bishops estimates the average age of new priests at about 37 years old. Newly ordained Fathers John Mellein and Vincent Kelber are both 30. Throw in 25-year-old Brother Mark Manzano and the average age of Anchorage Dominicans drops even further.
Despite their youth, the three men bring a deep spirituality, apostolic zeal and varied gifts to their new work in the archdiocese.
The men work with Holy Family Cathedral pastor, fellow Dominican Father Donald Bramble (see related article on page 8). The Anchor caught up to the friars this month.
"I told people in California that I was going to Alaska for my first assignment and they would look at me with stunned silence," Father Mellein recalled. "I had to tell people that it was okay. I love being so close to nature — I feel closer to God."
The short-haired, clean shaven Father Mellein may be young but he’s no stranger to the state. He spent his apostolic year as a brother at the cathedral several years back. Now he’s back to serve his first year as a priest in Alaska, before returning to school for doctoral studies.
"I love the people in Alaska. People here have a real sense of honesty," Father Mellein said. "What you see is what you get."
His loves working with Alaska Natives and currently ministers to the sick at the Alaska Native Medical Center in Anchorage.
"I like the Alaskan Native ministry. I’ve learned a lot about their culture," he said. "They have a lot to teach the rest of us about culture and spiritual values."
Father Mellein said he has learned much about honoring and respecting elders and respecting the environment from the deep intuition and spiritual life in the Alaska Native community.
"They have a real contemplative spirit — I’ve been surprised by some of the insights from people, especially those who’ve had no formal spiritual training," he said.
Ordained this June, Father Mellein said these spiritual connections have impacted him in his first four months as a priest.
"People seek us out with their deepest sorrows and joys, and we become the instruments that God uses," he said, adding that Father Bramble once told him that priests are not just ordained for Catholics but for everyone.
"People who aren’t Catholic seek us out for advice," he said. "It’s a reminder that we must always seek God for our own spiritual growth and prayer."
Service to others has also left a mark on Father Vincent Kelber during his first few months as a priest. The impact began almost immediately after he was ordained in June.
"The change was immense," he said. "I was giving a blessing after the Mass and people were coming up to me with serious questions and problems right away."
He took it as a sign of the seriousness and enormity of his mission — one he embraces.
"I look forward to confessions, to helping people on their spiritual journey," he said. "I want to help people in their life changing moments, at baptism, death and marriage."
Naturally drawn to the interior calling, Father Kelber said he initially considered the monastic life and spent time at several Benedictine and Trappist communities before realizing God had other plans for him. The realization came during a stay at a contemplative monastery.
"I knew that I wasn’t called to make fruit cakes or tend trees," he said.
That’s when Father Kelber felt called to the Dominicans, where he could spend time in contemplation but also be involved in active ministry.
"It’s the ebb and flow of the altar — everything is connected with the sacrifice," he said. "We celebrate Mass and then are sent forth, but it’s always connected with the idea of sacrifice."
Father Kelber said he looks forward to serving both the Hispanic community and the parish as a whole over the next four years of his assignment.
Now in his fifth year of formation, Brother Mark Francis Manzano will spend a year at the cathedral to get a taste for parish life, as he works in prison ministry, catechesis and a wide variety of other ministries.
He’s not a priest yet, but Brother Manzano feels drawn to follow Christ, especially in his role as a teacher.
"My dream would be to have a priestly vocation to teach math, religion or whatever but also to say Mass on the weekends," he said.
Brother Manzano studied math and music in college before entering the religious order. He was drawn to the monastic life, especially in the observance of the sung office, which especially impacted him after a visit to the Benedictine Monastery in Oceanside, California.
"I was entranced by the sung office at the monastery, but I also wanted to come down off the mountain for apostolic work."
Cathedral Dominicans bring talents to Alaska
Q&A with Father Bramble
Three new Dominican friars recently arrived at Holy Family Cathedral in Anchorage. Last month, the Anchor sent an e-mail to Holy Family Cathedral’s pastor, Dominican Father Donald Bramble and asked him to help introduce the new trio.
— How has the face of the Cathedral Dominicans changed with the recent departure of Dominican Fathers Paul Scanlon and Garry Cappleman and the arrivals of new Dominican Fathers Vincent Kelber and John Thomas Mellein, along with Brother Mark Francis Manzano?
— The most obvious change is the difference in ages, personalities and years of ordination. Father Vincent and Father John Thomas (both 30 years old) were ordained in June 2007, and Brother Mark Francis is a seminarian (25 years old). Father Paul Scanlon (73 years old) with almost 55 years of religious life, former provincial, missionary and writer, had tremendous lived-wisdom. Father Garry Cappleman (57 years old) was newly ordained but had 30 years experience as a social worker.
The new friars bring new energy, youth, enthusiasm and are quite smart. So, they represent the next generation of ministry.
— What’s it like working with a bunch of young guys?
– Sometimes I’m reminded of Fred McMurray in "My Three Sons". I’m old enough to be their dad! Sometimes my references are "out of date" and some jokes fall on them without much understanding. The enthusiasm for ministry and their genuine goodness impresses me very much.
— Do you guys all live together? How has community life changed?
— Dominican friars and sisters usually live in community. Having our sisters, the Adrian Dominicans is a pleasure. The family is more fully expressed by Dominican men and women. The four friars live at the Cathedral. We share meals, prayers, ministry, study and recreation together on a daily basis.
— What special talents do the new Dominicans bring to the Archdiocese?
— Brother Mark Francis is a first generation Filipino American with a background in mathematics and music from Cal Poly University in Pomona, CA. Father Vincent has lived in China, Mexico, and the U.S. and has specialized background in Asian Pacific cultures and history. He also speaks Spanish. Father John Thomas is here for one year. Three years ago he was here for his seminary residency year and he has a special gift for Alaska Native ministry.
— What different ministries will the new friars be involved with?
— Father Vincent will work with the RCIA and Hispanic ministry. Father John Thomas will work in Alaska Native ministry and hospital work and Brother Mark Francis will be doing ministry to shut-ins, inmates, and possibly clinical pastoral education through hospital ministry later in his term.
— What is your role in coordinating all their assignments?
— As superior and pastor, I convene the community, and take each of them through pastoral supervision on a weekly basis.
— Is there anything else you’d like to add?
— It’s a joy to have them here in the parish, and the Dominicans feel the support of the people and priests of the Archdiocese!
Inner call: Local teen takes vows
Br. Christopher Tappel continues discernment
John and Kathy Tappel recently traveled to Germany to be with their 19-year-old son on one of the most important days of his life.
"I hadn’t seen him for two years, and he walked in with a very serious face — he was very focused," John recalled of his son.
"It was the biggest moment in his life — he’s now a religious and no longer a part of the laity," Kathy said. "He later told me how surprised he was about how emotional it was."
On Sept. 8, Brother Christopher Tappel made his first temporary vows of poverty, chastity and obedience as a member of the Legionaries of Christ. While the vows might seem daunting to some, Brother Tappel said his profession brought an unimaginable sense of peace and joy.
"By my vows, I am saying yes to Christ," he explained during a recent phone interview with the Anchor. "It’s been my experience that by giving yourself to religious life you don’t lose anything."
Brother Tappel’s calling to religious life came very early. His first memory of the Legionaries of Christ came when he was a seven-year-old living on an American air base in England.
"My first impression was, ‘these are the coolest priests I’ve ever met," he said.
The Holy Spirit continued to lead him back to the Legion, especially in early adolescence when his call intensified. He later came into contact with the Legion through their youth apostolate in Dayton, Ohio, and participated in their soccer and basketball program.
"Although he was a big guy, he was not the greatest athlete, but yet he kept going back," John said. "I realized then that his interaction with the brothers was charging his spiritual life."
That spirituality continued to draw Christopher into deeper discernment.
"We were praying a decade of the rosary one night at youth group when it hit me. Something very clear that came from God," he said.
Afterwards, the 14-year-old Tappel pulled his mother aside for a serious conversation.
"He told me, ‘I’m scared and confused, I don’t know what to do," Kathy said. She tried to explain the meaning of vocation and called the Legion for a closer look. His interest grew, leading him to go on a summer introductory program at the order’s Immaculate Conception Apostolic School — an all-boys high school in Center Harbor, New Hampshire — for those who want to explore a call to the priesthood. After spending the summer with the Legion, he knew where he belonged. He was accepted and continued on in one of the order’s two-year novitiate program in Bad Muenestereifel, Germany.
His parents admit it was hard to let their young son leave home, especially when he went overseas.
"It was tough at first," John admits. "But after he’d been there for awhile you saw the sense of commitment and the joy. He’s found a goal that’s the ultimate goal (in life)."
"He’s fulfilling his vocation and God is giving us a joy," Kathy echoed.
It’s a sacrifice not being able to see her son as often as she would like, but Kathy said God makes it possible.
"If you can make the sacrifice, Christ will take the place and you will get many blessings in return," she said.
Brother Tappel agrees and offered encouragement to those who might be considering a religious vocation and their families.
"Don’t be afraid. God never takes away…and if he does, it’s only to give you more in return."
Brother Tappel is now back in Cheshire, Connecticut, where he will study classical humanities before going on to study philosophy and theology.
Alaska stewards honored
National conference honors stewardship
The Anchorage Archdiocese isn’t a very big fish in the global Catholic pond but it still made ripples at the International Catholic Stewardship Conference held in Miami last month.
The archdiocese’s own Father Michael Shields landed one of the conference’s biggest honors — the Christian Stewardship Award.
Given in recognition of a person who demonstrates outstanding service on behalf of stewardship," the award cited Father Shields for his 13 years working in Magadan, Russia, with survivors of Soviet prison camps.
During his acceptance speech at a conference luncheon, Father Shields drew laughs with a joke about his mother threatening to send him, as a child, to Siberia if he didn’t eat his oatmeal.
The crowd listened intently, however, when he described the situation in the former Soviet Union. The bearded priest, who wears a long gray habit modeled on that of Blessed Brother Charles Foucald, described the plight of alcoholism and abuse that has marked the Russian people, including many from his own parish.
He also spoke of his hope to assist women who have little support during crisis pregnancies.
St. Andrew Parish in Eagle River also carried home an award from the four-day conference. The "Parish Stewardship Certificate of Recognition." The received the honor along with 13 other parishes nationwide.
The award recognizes parishes "that give witness to stewardship in many areas of parish life," including prayer and worship, formation and education, hospitality, leadership, communications, and promoting the stewardship of time, talent and treasure.
Marcia Valenzeno, director of stewardship and development at St. Andrew, accepted the award and said she and parish pastor Father Leo Walsh were "thrilled."
Although the parish submitted their name and paperwork for the award, Valenzeno said she had no idea they would be chosen from among so many parishes for the honor.
St. Andrew recently dedicated a new church and fosters a large stewardship committee, which has met monthly with Father Walsh. They have met for dinner at his home to plan ministry fairs, welcoming events, and parish socials in an effort to foster stewardship as a way of life.
Program seeks to vitalize Catholic education
Local teachers honored at Holy Rosary Academy
Archbishop Roger Schwietz acknowledged that it is not easy to teach the Gospel and pointed to the saints and the adversity they suffered, during a Mass Oct. 11, preceding an awards ceremony for nine teachers from Holy Rosary Academy in Anchorage.
"That’s what we’re celebrating tonight — those who’ve had the attitude of sacrifice for the promotion of the faith" he told several dozen teachers, staff, students and families from the K-12 Catholic school.
Nine teachers were officially awarded and designated Catholic certified teachers from the National Association of Private, Catholic and Independent Schools (NAPCIS) on Oct 11, at Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Holy Rosary Academy operates independently of the archdiocese with the permission of Anchorage Archbishop Schwietz.
The unique teacher certification is a rigid two-year formation program administered by NAPCIS. During the first year of study, teachers take an intense look at official church writings on education. The following year, they work with a mentor from NAPCIS and learn to put those principles and rules into practice in the classroom.
The program was launched back in 2002 by NAPCIS. Since then, around a dozen teachers have completed the course, said Eileen Cubanski, NAPCIS’s executive director.
Cubanski said the certification helps ensure that teachers approach education with an authentically Catholic paradigm. She added that all of the efforts of NAPCIS schools rest on the restoration and reformation of Catholic education.
Holy Rosary now holds the distinction of having the most NAPCIS certified teachers in the 64-member school association.
"This gives (teachers) the power to teach in a Catholic manner with Catholic virtues and a Catholic demeanor," said Ed Wassell, Executive Administrator of Holy Rosary and a recipient of a Master’s level certification from NAPCIS.
"We immersed ourselves in the writings of the saints and church documents and learned how to pass on the faith to younger generations," said newly designated teacher Catherine Neumayr. "It makes you love what you do and (is) a way to see how to contribute to the Church."
Teachers receiving the award included: Nicole Gagnon, Richard Shaut, Patricia Verreux, Valerie Shaut, Marie Louise Schirda, Marie Nuar and Catherine Neumayr.
Masters Certification: Dr. Gregory Froelich and Ed Wassell.
News & Notes
Women invited to share with sisters
The Adrian Dominican Sisters in Anchorage invite single women 18-45 to come and share prayer, conversation and dessert in our home on the third Wednesday of each month from 7:00-8:30. Their next gathering is Wednesday, October 24. For more information call 770-7675.
Youth violence forum nears
High School youth are invited to participate in the "Yo MAD’ (Youth Making A Difference) Youth Violence Forum on Sunday Oct. 28, 2-5 p.m., at Central Lutheran Church in Anchorage. The Forum is organized by youth and will feature speakers and small group discussions on how to deal with the growing problem of violence among youth in Anchorage.
Archbishop Roger Schwietz and other leaders from various denominations will also be present at the event.
The forum is sponsored by The Alaska Synod of ECLA, Anchorage Faith & Action — Congregations Together (AFACT), the Archdiocese of Anchorage, the Episcopal Diocese of Alaska and the Presbytery of the Yukon. For more information call 297-7731.
Providence sister continues to lead
Sister Kathryn Rutan, a Sister of Providence from the Pacific Northwest, has been chosen to serve a second five-year term as general superior of the Sisters of Providence international religious community, headquartered in Montreal, Quebec. The congregation was founded in that city by Mother Emilie Tavernier Gamelin in 1843 and today numbers more than 800 sisters internationally. In the U.S. the sisters are involved with parish ministry, health care, community service and support, housing, prison ministry, pastoral care, spiritual direction and retreats, and foreign missions. Mother Joseph Province encompasses Alaska, Oregon, California, Idaho, Montana, Washington and El Salvador.
Vatican releases calendar with papal photographs
VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The Vatican’s photo service released its first official wall calendar featuring images of Pope Benedict XVI. The new calendar showing the pope during his July 2007 Alpine vacation in Lorenzago di Cadore in Italy’s northern Veneto region is now available in bookshops and newsstands near the Vatican and can be ordered online. The 2008 Italian calendar sells for 7 dollars (U.S.) and can be ordered by e-mailing a request to: photo@ossrom.va.
Website launched for seniors, caregivers
and those with disabilities
The Alaska Statewide Independent Living Council’s launched a new Web site to help provide information to seniors, caregivers and those with disabilities. Funded in part by a grant from the Alaska Mental Health Trust, the website will provide information about patients rights, funding and other resources. The Website can be found at http://alaska.networkofcare.org.
Columns
‘Defending’ the only superpower
My favorite cartoon is even more appropriate today than when it appeared in the 1980s. A man pulls wooden slats off his roof and stands them up around his yard. He explains to a neighbor that he’s "dismantling da house to build da fence."
We’ve spent half a trillion dollars on attacking a third-world country that posed no threat whatsoever to us. But apparently we can’t afford to cope with Hurricane Katrina and keep a Minnesota bridge from collapsing. Terrorists killed almost 3,000 people on 9-11-01 but we abort more than that daily.
Before a 2004 peace rally, I asked fellow peaceniks how many believed the United States was spending too much on defense. All raised their hands, showing that even the most vocal opponents of the war implicitly accepted the falsehood that we were "defending" ourselves from Iraq. "Defense" has become a euphemism for unprovoked violence against third-world nations.
We as church need to define what it really means to defend the world’s only superpower. Does the theoretical possibility that our country may be invaded justify killing hundreds of thousands of innocent people?
A Nome cop was recently convicted of murder, but does that excuse the man who claimed he shot a Kenai Peninsula cop in self-defense? Was O.J. defending himself from Nicole? Can Mike Schiavo claim he pulled the plug on Terri to defend himself from someone whose damaged brain could’ve turned her into an ax-wielding maniac if she revived from her coma? Why not claim abortion is self-defense? Women still die in childbirth and fetuses could grow up to be terrorists.
The just war doctrine permits violence only when the aggression by another is certain. How certain is it that a little country like Cuba, Iraq or Grenada will invade us and take over our government? How often have Chile, Guatemala and Nicaragua violently replaced our presidents with their own puppets? Which is more likely: that we’ll have to defend ourselves from a little country bullying the world’s only superpower or that the superpower will be the bully? Who needs to defend themselves from whom?
Jesus teaches us to love our enemies, forgive them when they attack us and return good for evil. Satan tells our politicians to see that behavior as weakness and to worship violence, not Jesus, as our country’s savior. In recent years, we’ve taken the disregard for his teachings to a new level; we now attack people for not proving they don’t have weapons they theoretically might use against us. As the faith in the effectiveness of Jesus’ teachings decreases, the faith in the effectiveness of violence and the eagerness to use it increase.
We’ve descended into industrial-strength idolatry. That’s what we really need to defend ourselves against.
The writer lives in Anchorage and welcomes responses.
The rosary taught me about faith
When I was a child, we gathered together in the evening to pray the rosary, all of us children groaning when Mom announced it was time to begin.
It didn’t matter if we were in the middle of the only TV program we got to watch before bed — mom never wavered or relented. All of us knelt together in the living room to pray as a family.
Time passed, children became adults, and parents aged. My parents’ death taught me many lessons, but there was one special lesson my mother wanted to make sure I remembered.
Two years after we lost our dad, my mother’s kidneys failed and as I traveled back and forth to help, the silver rosary that my mother made for my high school graduation always traveled with me. When worry overcame me or sleep eluded me, praying the rosary provided solace.
Soon, mom required dialysis. She needed to stop taking her blood thinner before the surgery, but suffered a stroke and was left without speech, her right side paralyzed.
Standing around her bed in the ICU unit, we prayed the rosary, as there was nothing else we could do.
We seemed to float in a sea of emotion, worry, uncertainty and loss. On the third day of her stay in the ICU, we were praying the rosary and mom joined us, mouthing the words although she still had no voice. We were all stunned and excited. By the end of the rosary she was faintly saying some of the words. The nurses assured us that this was just a learned memory and that it wasn’t significant, that we shouldn’t see it as a sign of hope. However, we were unable not to be hopeful that it was, in fact, an answer to our prayers. We continued to pray the rosary together around her bed, this most favored prayer of mom’s. Happily, with thanks and awe, we witnessed the complete restoration of her speech.
As a family, we continued to pray the rosary with mom daily when she returned home. She liked to pray at three o’clock in the afternoon so it became our habit to say the rosary and the chaplet of divine mercy in the afternoon. No matter how tired we were or how sad with the knowledge that she was dying, we continued to honor her request.
We still lost her that fall but it is important that she could communicate with us until her last moments. We remembered the power of prayer in our lives. We remembered the lessons of our youth. Mother’s actions had borne fruit.
Prayer is a powerful force in the world for peace, healing, and love. I know this to the core of my being. If I could encourage anyone to do something for the sorrows, joys, fears, hurts, and uncertainties in their life, I would tell them to say a rosary.
The writer is a librarian at Eagle River High School.
Postcards from Rome: A city of bells
Editor’s note: This is the first in a series of "Postcards from Rome," in which Father Walsh shares with fellow Alaskans different discoveries from the Eternal City.
It is Sunday morning in Rome and I am not pleased. The inquisitive sun peaks through the Venetian blinds at my window, inviting me to rise and greet the day. I am not eager to respond. I have been fighting jet lag for a week since arriving at the Casa Santa Maria and this is the first time I have slept through the night. I don’t want to ruin the moment. So I roll over, seeking to prolong blissful slumber.
"The Casa," as it is known, is the house for diocesan priests from the Unites States who come to Rome for advanced theological studies. I am here through the grace of Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz to take a break from pastoral life and to finish my doctorate in ecumenical theology. There are 72 priests here from 80 dioceses in the United States as well as a smattering of others from England, Canada and elsewhere. While living here, they attend one of the many Pontifical universities in the city; places with exotic names like "the Gregorian", "the Angelicum", "the Alphonsianum", "the Biblicum." Like all such houses of study, it is an amazing collection of talented men from myriad backgrounds. In my first week here, I have been edified and humbled by the caliber of these men and their dedication to prayer, to their ministry of study and to one another. It is a good place to be. I am finally getting comfortable and a lazy Sunday morning slumber is a luxury I have not enjoyed for more than 13 years.
But I am reminded that Rome is a city of bells. They break the morning’s silence, soft and inviting at first but then grow in intensity. In no time the air is filled with the sound of bells from a dozen churches. They awaken the city, calling the people to prayer, reminding us that this is the day the Lord has made and that we too should ring out our joy, celebrating the salvation that was won for us on that first morning of grace. Then, slowly, they fade away one by one, until only a single bell remains tolling ... inviting … beckoning.
It is an offer I cannot refuse. I rise to the promise of the new day.
The writer is the pastor of St. Andrew Church in Eagle River. He is spending the next several months in Rome to complete his doctorate in ecumenical theology.
Jesus gave hard-hitting sermons
Many Catholics, indeed, many Christians attentively listen to the Gospel in their churches each Sunday. However, I suspect seldom people realize how truly shocking some of Jesus’ stories were when they were first told to those early crowds, which were often a mix of traditionalists and progressives.
My hunch is that many of them, for instance, may have walked away when they heard Jesus praise tax collectors, whom everyone hated, while taking deliberate "jabs" at the pious and generally well-loved religious leaders, the Pharisees.
Most of us know this story so well that it now has little impact on our feelings. We may not have any greater affection for tax collectors today than the Jewish peasants did in their time; nonetheless, we do not expect our homilists to explore and expose the personal habits of public officials in a Sunday homily. Some private matters are still protected.
Perhaps, but if we were to transfer the implications contained in the examples Jesus used and fit them into contemporary society, they might also sound a bit shocking.
Take the following example: A preacher steps to the ambo one Sunday and begins his homily as follows: "My friends, two men (it has to be men to make any sense!) went into church to pray. One was an upright church leader, the other, a drug dealer. The church leader prayed as follows: "O God, I thank you that I am not like other people: Welfare cheats, pornographers, crooked politicians, and especially drug dealers like the one sitting in the back there. As for myself, Lord, you know me: I’ve been a member of this parish since I was a kid. I’m chairman of the pastoral council (third time!). I rank high in the Knights of Columbus, as you know. I take part of my vacation each year working for Habitat for Humanity. I consistently fulfill my pledge for the Annual Appeal. There’s more, Lord, but you already know the rest."
The drug dealer, however, sitting in the back, head bent, tears streaming down his face, prays as follows: "Lord, I’ve been struggling with this habit since high school. Everybody tells me I’m a no-good criminal and I admit it, I have done a lot of lousy things in my life, but, with your help, I will put all this behind me."
The preacher continues: "I tell you, my friends, that drug dealer went home justified before God whereas the church leader did not."
How come, you may ask? Think about it: Do those who are convinced of their own piety have any need for God to intervene? At least the poor guy in the back of the church knows his condition and is willing to let God give him a hand.
Believe me, I have no idea how this homily would go down in a normal American parish. (I’ve never tried it.) Some might simply roll their eyes and walk out, never to cast a shadow on the church entrance again.
The question, of course, is why did Jesus exonerate the sinner and denigrate the name of the righteous church leader?
I suspect that Jesus was making the point that religious piety is ever so much about attitude. You can always make yourself look good in public if you compare yourself to the right person. The old saying that comparisons are generally odious contains a certain kernel of truth. Despite all this, of course, Jesus could always get away with saying certain things in public I could never get away with. Homiletics is a risky business.
The writer is archdiocesan director of Pastoral Education. He also serves as canonical pastor and coordinator of parishes without resident pastors.
We are more than what we do
So you think you’ve got a lousy job?
One afternoon near Labor Day, I was listening to National Public Radio and heard an interview with a man who’d written a book about some of the best and worst jobs.
I can’t remember the author’s name, or even the book title, but I remember clearly his description of one ghastly line of employment.
It seems that the Russians are determined to preserve the body of Vladimir Lenin for public display. This means that once a year, some lucky person has the duty of taking Lenin’s body, undressing it, lowering it into a vat of some of kind of preservative, and then drying and redressing it.
Wouldn’t that spruce up a resume?
We make a big deal in this country about what we "do," as if that somehow defines us, which it doesn’t. We’re something else and something more than what we "do."
Today, most people go through more than one career and lots of jobs.
It strikes me that as we go through life, we often think of the things we do, the jobs we have, as a prelude to something else. We’re always looking for the next thing — the degree, the raise, retirement, the better job, the big break.
We waste a lot of precious time thinking in those terms, don’t we?
The other day, I read a quote from Henri Nouwen, the Belgian priest and spirituality writer. I sent the quote to my kids, with the note that it was wisdom I wish I’d had when I was younger. But, I added, I’m not sure my younger self would have understood.
Nouwen said: "To see that the events of our day are not in the way of our search for a full life, but the way to it, is to experience conversion."
We’re called to conversion, always, and Nouwen suggests we can experience it by stopping in our tracks and realizing that today contains the way to fullness of life. Instead, we’re often tempted to think life will really happen, will begin, tomorrow.
The NPR interview brought back all kinds of job memories.
When my brother was young, he spent his college summers working on the "kill floor" in the packing plant in the small farm town where we lived. Sounds like a charming job, right?
But our little town was down the road a few miles from North Bend, where Marg Helgenberger – now a film and TV star who’s been on CSI – lived. She was my brother’s age and worked on the kill floor, too, thus enhancing the job a little. He was tempted to ask her out, but I’m not sure he ever did.
Another brother’s college job at a hotel involved answering the calls to rooms with plugged toilets. He told me about people who would throw their little empty plastic shampoo bottles into the toilet, or would dump the remains of a vegetable tray, including celery, into the plumbing.
My college jobs were spent in libraries – what luck! For me, that was like being put in a chocolate factory – I couldn’t resist. I think I owe the federal government thousands of work-study dollars for the time I spent reading when I was supposed to be shelving.
Now, I look back at all the stages of my life and my jobs, including the most important one I ever had, raising my three kids, and I wonder how much I valued each little moment, the good ones and the bad.
Did I know I had the key to conversion right there in my hand?
The writer is a stewardship and hospitality coordinator at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Anchorage.
Mary breaks our slumber and points to Christ
The American Dream: the harder we work, the more successful we become, the more money we obtain, the more power we have.
Or so we’re told.
Yet Jesus teaches faith, prayer, humility, and responsibility for our soul and the souls of others. I remember being taught one day that the richest person alive is the one who finds wealth in the Eucharist. I didn’t really understand what my grandmother meant.
Lately, I’ve come to realize that true poverty begins in the soul not the pocket book. Whether we are financially starving or abundantly wealthy, we are all poor in spirit. We need Jesus to fill us and complete us or we will always seek what we cannot find.
Mary, the Blessed Mother, teaches us about the power of our prayer, and the importance of our own conversion.
I’ve been reading, "Meetings with Mary, Visions of the Blessed Mother" by Janice T. Conell. The book is about the Blessed Mother, her apparitions and messages that are eye-opening and challenging. She comes to us, as a Mother guiding, helping and warning her children. Do we have the courage to respond in prayer or shall we ignore Mary and abandon Jesus? I believe Mary is God’s gift to us, to awaken us from our slumber and to return us to her son. These are some of the messages she shared with us, around the world, throughout the last centuries.
In 1846, La Salette, France, the Blessed Mother appeared to two shepherd children, 14-year-old Melanie Mathieu and 11-year-old Maximin Giraud. The Blessed Mother was weeping, She said, "Will you not listen to your Mother’s voice? My Mother’s heart bleeds for each of you. The true faith of the Lord having been forgotten, each individual will want to be on his own and be superior to people of the same identity. Several cities will be shaken down and swallowed up by earthquakes."
In 1917, Fatima, Portugal, the Blessed Mother appeared several times to three children. "To obtain peace in the world, pray the rosary every day in honor of the title God has given me, Our Lady of the Rosary."
In 1973 in Akita, Japan, the Blessed Mother appeared to a stigmatist, Sister Agnes Katsuko Sasagawa, a member of the Servants of the Eucharist. The Blessed Mother said, "Listen carefully, if humanity does not repent and improve, the Eternal Father will allow a terrible punishment to befall all humankind. This punishment will be worse than the flood or any that has ever been seen before. The only weapons that will remain will be the rosary and the sign that the Eternal Father will leave. Pray the rosary every day."
And most recently, beginning in 1981, Medjugorje, Bosnia, Mary has appeared to six children. She gives them encouragement and warnings that peace in the world is fragile. She teaches us through these visionaries about the importance of the rosary, reading and meditating on Sacred Scripture, fasting and reconciliation and the power of prayer.
Our Lady has a special mission for each of us. It begins in our heart. Prayer changes everything. Sometimes we do not realize how powerful our prayer is. During this month of October, I invite us all to pray the rosary. Prayer is the great light that will overcome the darkness of the world in which we live today.
If we are struggling in our faith, let us note, Vicka Ivankovic-Mijatovic, one of the Bosnia visionaries who was taught by the Blessed Mother how to pray in these times of adversity, "Fall on your knees in your imagination before Jesus on the cross. Call to him, ‘Father, do you exist? Father, do you know me? Father, do You care about me? Father, do you love me? Continue to call to him day and night until you have ears to hear him in the world, eyes to see Him in the world, and a heart that beats for him alone."
Editorial
Diversity cannot bring real unity
In January 2001, three Anchorage youths shocked the city when they videotaped themselves shooting frozen paintballs at Alaska Natives.
In nearly seven years since the incident, various governmental and community groups have worked hard to promote a general openness in Anchorage toward other cultures, religions and lifestyles.
In 2004, Mayor Mark Begich launched an ambitious campaign by convening a series of task forces and committees to promote diversity and openness across the city. Begich’s flagship event was "Mayor’s Diversity Week," in which the city promoted dozens of pro-diversity functions. Last month, the mayor stepped up the weeklong campaign by launching his first ever "Mayor’s Diversity Month."
What, exactly, does it mean to promote diversity?
According to the city’s Web site, diversity celebrates "differences" based on ethnicity, gender, age, religion, disability, national origin and sexual orientation. It also advocates celebrating the "infinite range" of "unique characteristics and experiences" and "other variables."
Not much is left out – but that is the point of pushing diversity. If people are open to nearly every difference, they will be less likely to persecute those who are different.
From Sept. 15 to Oct. 15, the city celebrated ethnic cultures, raised awareness about the needs of seniors, youth, people with disabilities, women, minorities, immigrants and refugees. Other events celebrated civil rights, gay and lesbian lifestyles and also featured ethnic foods, music and art. As a whole, Diversity Month urged residents to embrace just about every possible expression of difference imaginable – closed-mindedness and discrimination were the obvious exceptions.
Begich’s increasingly organized and expanded program to eradicate bigotry from the city is admirable but his method misguided. In fact, the whole enterprise may actually undermine real unity.
His project urges people to celebrate their differences but differences alone aren’t necessarily worth celebrating. There’s nothing festive about the difference between the person who views other genders or races as inferior to their own and the one who regards them as equals – one of those differences is flat wrong. Likewise, the belief that people with illnesses or handicaps are a drain on society is not to be celebrated because it differs from humanitarians who care for the sick.
Some differences result from wrong thinking and broken human nature.
In all likelihood, most of the groups that recently held Diversity Month events probably viewed their individual causes as more than just "different." In fact they probably understood their causes as valuable because of qualities other than diversity – elements perhaps grounded in spiritual principles or fundamental beliefs about human nature.
Unfortunately, the city’s description of diversity only speaks of a radical openness for its own sake. In dozens of municipal Web site pages there is no mention of basic dignity inherent in human nature, or inalienable natural rights as the basis for respecting all people. As a result, Diversity Month winds up promoting a smattering of different ideas without a unifying moral code or principle that could measures the value of each.
Promoting mere diversity does not acknowledge that there is such a thing as common fundamental truths that all should work towards and defend.
In the end, celebrating diversity for its own sake actually degrades the many distinct traditions in Anchorage and reduces them to "preferences" or "tastes" rather than commitments to actual truths. Real unity comes when we find and celebrate the common core truths that different groups share but often express uniquely. Basic virtues like courage, patience, charity are found across traditions, as is belief in God and spiritual reality.
Deep unity actually celebrates these real beliefs and real ideas, rather than the fact that two ideas or lifestyles are not the same.
Anchorage will wrest hatred and bigotry from its streets, when we can openly debate our differences, with a willingness to cast off error and move toward truth.
The three Anchorage youths were wrong to shoot frozen paintballs at Alaska Natives but not because they were different. The error came from not acknowledging the dignity, which is inherent to every human being – a dignity not based on differences but on a common, universal truth.
The Catholic Church is one of the best examples of a diverse community, which nevertheless share a common vision of the good, the true and the beautiful. The Catholic Church includes people from every language, nation, and ethnic background. It encompasses different cultural traditions, art and music. The differences, however, are not our ultimate source of unity.
Christ is the common end to which all differences ought to point. When they veer from his unchanging truth, they divide us and lead to brokenness.
Young children intuit bad guys and good guys, heroes and villains and they naturally pretend to be the great superheroes, knights and defenders of truth.
In recent years, however, Western countries have begun to advocate a radical openness that does not overtly acknowledge moral categories like "right" and "wrong, "good" and "evil."
Today, we teach that differences are merely differences of opinion, taste or cultural and social programming. We wrongly assert that this is the best way to avoid conflicts that arise when one person believes they are "right."
Students are not encouraged to discriminate between various ways of thinking or to judge some ideas as better than others. Rather, they learn that it is best to view these differences like personal tastes — being neither right or wrong. In this way we attempt to teach children to avoid the elitism that claims certain art, literature, philosophy and theology is truer or better than others.
Letters to the Editor
Reader expresses thanks
Dear Editor,
The recent editorial "We are one Church but we have multiple points of view" is another fine example of your ability to stay centered. Reading between the lines I would say you are experiencing pressure to disapprove one group’s view and enhance another’s or possibly even silence a voice altogether. Your candor in addressing the issue speaks highly of your character.
The Catholic Anchor has developed into a quality Catholic publication. The articles seem to express a variety of views while the paper itself has tried to accurately present the church’s stance. The timeliness of the coverage has also improved. There have been articles about the Muslim experience, articles encouraging students heading to college to seek out the sacraments and a good representation of local, state, national and international reporting. The articles with a Joel Davidson byline reflect an obvious effort to report accurately on the matter at hand.
Thank you sir for your part in providing a forum that encourages respectful dialogue. The Archdiocese of Anchorage is blessed to have such a faith-filled and faithful servant.
Anchorage