May 30, 2008 - Issue #11
Local News | Opinion/Editorials | Letters to the Editor
Local News
Single Catholics fill unique role
Anchorage discussion highlights single vocations
More than a dozen single Catholics gathered recently at Holy Family Cathedral in Anchorage to talk about matters of the heart.
Unlike many singles’ groups, attendees at the May 7 meeting didn’t come looking for romantic relationships. Instead, they came to better define their spiritual relationship with the Catholic Church.
The discussion, entitled "Being single and living for Christ," sought to spearhead an exploration about the spiritual needs and vocations of single Catholics in the church.
"Often times it seems like the church is focused on families, but not single people," noted participant Mary Patania.
"Single Catholics are often left out," Dominican Father John Mellein acknowledged to the group. "There are not a lot of ministries for the single person."
He added, however, that single Catholics are an incredible asset to the church and a major force.
"Often times the single vocation is described in the church by what it is not," Father Mellein explained.
Not married, no kids.
But Father Mellein stressed that being single is a legitimate vocation for Catholics and one which some are called to live faithfully.
"Sometimes it’s by choice, but sometimes by circumstance," he said. "But it is a valuable role in the church."
Dominican Brother Mark Francis Manzano, also attended the talk and agreed with Father Mellein.
"It’s a dignified vocation," he said. "You don’t often hear it in the church, but it is — it’s not people just slipping through the cracks."
Vatican II played an important role in helping define the role of the single vocation, Father Mellein said.
"In many ways, Vatican II was seen as the Council of the Laity," he said. "In documents like Lumen Gentium, the church reaffirmed that through the laity, people are called to be the salt of the earth with the principle duty of evangelization."
Priests and religious are called to support the laity in that mission, he added, but Vatican II acknowledged that it is the lay people who are on the front lines.
"The (secular) world can write Brother Mark and myself off, we’re weird or we have a special gift, etcetera," Father Mellein said. "But you are a harder group to write off; you can be a witness."
By living in the world and living gospel values, single people provide a tremendous way to bring the Gospel to both Christians and non-believers alike, he added.
Single people, by their vocation, are best suited for this role, Father Mellein explained, because they do not have family responsibilities.
"Let me boil this down for you," he said. "If you are single, you can volunteer!"
Obviously some single people take on familial responsibilities such as taking care of a parent or other family members, Father Mellein acknowledged. But by and large, one of the biggest gifts and challenges of single life is having freedom and mobility to spread the Gospel.
Father Mellein shared an example of a friend who works as a nurse.
"Nurses are in such high demand that my friend is able to work for a year at a hospital and save up enough money that she can volunteer overseas in mission territories," he said.
That’s an extreme example, Father Mellein admitted, but what’s most important for the single vocation is to be open and responsive to God’s call.
"Often times Americans get caught up in numbers and effectives," he explained. "A better word is responsiveness — how responsive am I to God’s call?"
Single people have other gifts, too, he added.
"Single people tend to be naturally drawn to those of different backgrounds," Father Mellein noted. That’s because they have more time to meet and interact with people other than family.
These same gifts can be challenges, people at the gathering pointed out.
Freedom can be a cross to bear along with loneliness. That’s why it’s important to address singles’ issues and make sure they are supported by the church.
"Groups like this are important," Father Mellein said. "My hope is that those of you here will take the initiative to continue to have groups like this, to find a community for support."
He pointed out that Jesus lived the single life and knew the challenges. That’s why it’s important to come back to the idea of community and church support, Father Mellein said."The church is a home and family for everyone," he said. "It’s important to reiterate that."
Sisters bring hope to death-camp survivors
Daughters of Charity serve Magadan mission
Three Catholic nuns in Magadan, Russia, speak quietly of the unspeakable.
Sisters Jean Marie Williams, Marta Bialowas and Malgorzata Slomka are Daughters of Charity who minister to the poor, the sick and the survivors in what was once Joseph Stalin’s arctic death camp, the Kolyma Gulag.
"Branislava Klemavitchute is one of the bravest survivors living in Magadan," Sister Jean Marie said of one woman she ministers to. "She was arrested for her Catholic faith and spent eight years in the camps cutting wood in freezing temperatures. She secretly created a rosary from sawdust and breadcrumbs, salvaged from her meager daily ration. Praying the rosary daily kept her alive."
Sister Malgorzata, who speaks only Polish and Russian, relayed another story of human struggle that is common among residents and survivors of Russia’s dark past.
"Svetlana Ivanovna has not been out of her two-bedroom, fifth floor apartment for the past 15 years due to the ravages of Muscular Dystrophy. She has no family living in Magadan - just her faithful cat, Moosia."
Memories of beatings, starvation, rape, mutilation and torture still haunt many.
An estimated 1 million people died laboring in the gold mines surrounding Magadan, during Stalin’s vicious regime, which lasted from 1932 until the dictator’s death in 1953.
Retired Anchorage Archbishop Francis Hurley first envisioned a Catholic community in Magadan during a visit in 1989. Permission to enter the isolated port city, which is located on the Sea of Okhotska in the far eastern Kolyma region of Russia, was granted through a business and cultural exchange program.
"Archbishop Hurley was astonished to find there were no churches in Magadan and no believers," recalls Sister Margaret Keaveney, Visitatrix (province guide) of the Daughters of Charity, Province of the West, who sponsor the Mission.
On a later visit, Archbishop Hurley realized believers had been silenced.
In 1990, Archbishop Hurley and Father Michael Shields flew to Magadan and celebrated the city’s first-ever public Mass of the Roman Rite in a rented movie theater. Approximately 270 people attended. Within days, 25 Roman Catholics petitioned the Russian government for permission to establish a church in Magadan. The government agreed.
While parish life offered solace to people in Magadan, more was needed. In 2000, Archbishop Hurley approached the Daughters of Charity. He presented Sister Margaret with a wish list, asking that she seek volunteers willing to serve the poor and sick in Magadan.
"When the archbishop and I first talked of a Daughter of Charity mission in Magadan, we assumed it would be years before it would be possible," Sister Margaret remembers.
In 2002, however, "God touched the heart of an American Daughter of Charity," she continued.
Enter Sister Jean Marie Williams. With a degree in Russian and a profound respect for the Russian people and their culture, Sister Jean Marie was undaunted by the task ahead.
"The spirit moved me to volunteer for the Mission," she says. "I felt I was uniquely qualified with my background."
The fledgling Magadan mission, however, was not quite ready for her. She spent the next three years in Anchorage waiting for the green light. By then, Sister Malgorzata Slomka and Sister Barbara Repetowska, both from Poland, also sensed a calling. Together, they headed to Magadan in 2005.
By the second year, Sister Marta Bialowas and Sister Beata Cwener appeared and replaced Sister Barbara, whose health was not able to withstand the frigid temperatures.
Today, reminders of the past surround Sister Jean Marie, Sister Marta and Sister Malgorzata, who currently serve the Magadan mission.
The highway into town was originally ground out of wood and stone by thousands of prisoners. The "Mask of Sorrow," a stone sculpture memorializing those who suffered in the concentration camps, sits visibly in the vastness of the tundra. And, of course, the physical, emotional and spiritual scars still burden many of those who were imprisoned by Stalin.
Each day, Sister Jean Marie visits the homebound providing food and nursing skills. Sister Marta, a Daughter of Charity for the past 48 years, brings her professional cooking skills to the soup kitchen and the doorsteps of those unable to feed themselves. Sister Malgorzata ministers to the sick and the poor, while teaching catechetics to those whose hearts long to learn of the Catholic faith.
Sister Marta says local hospitals and clinics are surviving, but lacking the technology necessary to offer quality healthcare. "It is hard to see the people struggle for material goods, especially the medicine they need," she says.
Sister Malgorzata agrees, but believes her greatest challenge lies not in filling the material needs of those she serves, but in fulfilling their spiritual needs.
"It is difficult to know Russian people. They hide a lot of feelings and experiences," she explained. "They have a lot of fear and tell you what they think you want to hear."The sisters see daily reminders of their mission. The cornerstone for the Church of the Nativity of Jesus was laid in 2001 and consecrated in July 2004. The Mercy Center, where they feed, commune and minister, is thriving and the Chapel of the Martyrs, where the faithful go to pray and remember, provides a holy respite where people can let go of deep-seated fear and embrace hope.
Catholics desire school on Peninsula
Archdiocesan study will determine support level
Catholics from the Kenai Peninsula met earlier this month in Anchorage with Archbishop Roger Schwietz to discuss the possibility of opening a new Catholic elementary school.
Shortly after the meeting, Adrian Dominican Sister Ann Fallon, the superintendent of Catholic Schools for the Anchorage Archdiocese, drove down to the peninsula to meet with nearly 20 parents during the year-end celebration of the independent Catholic homeschool co-op, St. Michael’s Academy.
Based out of Kenai and Soldotna the co-op of four families was celebrating five years of homeschool success.
But the year-end barbeque was abuzz with discussions about how the co-op might evolve into a full-fledged school of the Anchorage Archdiocese.
"Anything can happen, but you have the answers. I can help, but ultimately it will happen from within," Sister Fallon explained to the group.
She added that the archdiocese is committed to commencing a study of the possibility of opening a school on the Kenai Peninsula. The study will begin after Labor Day.
Currently, the homeschool academy uses the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Connections Home School Program to provide the core curriculum and testing outside the Catholic realm. This is added to a Catholic curriculum which includes regular participation in the sacraments, an active prayer life, Mass three to five times a week, perpetual adoration, and service opportunities such as altar serving and lector duties.
The origin of the co-op stems from a local family’s desire to provide Catholic education for their two youngest daughters.
"We wanted them to be with other Catholic kids, we were all using Connections (curriculum) and this co-op allowed us to share a teacher and have our kids get a good Catholic education," said Diane Hileman. "We were just trying to fill a need that wasn’t there, at least for my kids."
Certified teachers, usually educated at Catholic universities, are hired each year to teach the students. One or two teachers provide instruction each year, depending on current needs and ages of students. The five students in the 2007-2008 school year were all junior high and senior high age, which meant that only one classroom was needed.
Nestled nicely in a small home directly on the Kenai River, the academy serves as both the classroom and the teacher’s lodgings. While the homeschool co-op is successful, Parent Travis Penrod said he and his fellow home school parents want an official Catholic school within the Archdiocesan School System.
Penrod recently co-authored a book, "The Worst Day Fishing," in order to raise funds for the continuation of the co-op. He expressed hope that an archdiocese-supported school would open within a couple years.
Oblate Father Andy Sensenig also attended the barbeque, and had words of encouragement.
"I find the possibility of the school a good thing, and it’s exciting to see people here so interested," he said. "But I also know things like this take one step at a time… so we will be pilgrim people and follow this pilgrimage."
Sister Fallon listed many of the steps that need to take place for a school to open, including logistics such as finding or building a school facility.
The upcoming study will utilize many of the same techniques executed before this year’s opening of Our Lady of the Valley Catholic School in Wasilla. Sister Fallon emphasized that it is important to determine whether there is a broad support base for the endeavor."We have to have the full support of all parishioners, not just people with children. When you send a child to Catholic school there is a tuition involved, but nobody pays the full amount," she said. "That’s where the stewardship of the whole parish comes in."
Annual appeal update
As the 2008 annual fundraiser for the Anchorage Archdiocese enters its final weeks, it remains ahead of schedule from last year and is closing in on the last $115,000 needed to reach the total goal of $872,000.
Overall participation in this year’s "One Bread, One Body" campaign is already up slightly from last year and stood at just over 20 percent as of May 21. That number is expected to increase over the next few weeks.
Archdiocesan leaders have expressed hope that the overall participation level reaches at least 25 percent this year, slightly under the national average of 33 percent. Last year participation was 20 percent.
Across the archdiocese, six parishes had already surpassed their total goal in terms of overall pledges as of May 21. Three other parishes were within a few percentage points of reaching their goals and additional parishes were also closing in on their financial commitments.
The yearly financial appeal provides funding for about 18 percent of the archdiocese’s overall budget. The appeal will continue through mid-June.Parishes are continuing to provide 2008 Annual Appeal pledge cards and parishioners are being encouraged to make a financial commitment to support the ministries and programs of the Anchorage Archdiocese.
Dominicans headed to the Cathedral
The Western Dominican Province has officially named two new Dominican priests to Holy Family Cathedral.
Father Francis-Hung Quang Le will be the new pastor of the cathedral. He is expected to move to Anchorage towards the beginning of August. Outgoing pastor, Dominican Father Donald Bramble, will officially start his sabbatical at the end of August.
Father Le was born in Vietnam, and moved to California as a teenager. He earned a Masters in Electrical Engineering from the University of California in Santa Barbara. After working in the technology sector he felt called to serve God in religious life and joined the Dominicans, making his first profession in 1997. He was ordained a priest in 2004.
Father Le is fluent in Spanish, Vietnamese and English. As a priest, Father Le has served at parishes in California and as a missionary in both Peru and Vietnam.
The second Dominican to join the cathedral staff, Father Dominic DeMaio is a newly ordained priest (ordained May 31 in San Francisco). He is expected to arrive in Anchorage in mid-July.
Father DeMaio is originally from Corvallis, Oregon, just outside Portland. He is also fluent in Spanish, having earned an undergraduate degree in International Studies with a focus on Latin America. Father DeMaio joined the Dominicans after meeting them at the University of Oregon’s Newman Center.
Father DeMaio also served at Holy Family Cathedral in Anchorage as a student-brother intern for a year before finishing his graduate theological studies.
According to the order’s Web site, Father DeMaio is an avid artist, cook and outdoorsman who enjoys rock climbing and outdoor sports.
Holy Family Cathedral will hold an official farewell to outgoing pastor Father Bramble on Friday, August 8 (the feast of St. Dominic) at 6 p.m.
For more information on the Dominicans of the Western province, visit their Web site at www.opwest.org
Ursuline Sisters of the Roman Union
Religious Profile
Editor’s note: This is the ninth in a series that highlights religious orders in the Archdiocese of Anchorage.
The Ursuline Sisters are contemplatives who work in active ministry, serving wherever they are needed, according to individual gifts and talents. The order’s motto states that they are "Women of Compassion, Embracing the World."
Four sisters serve in Alaska. In the Archdiocese of Anchorage, Sister Lorene Griffin is a retired psychologist who currently ministers by teaching Scripture, giving spiritual direction and facilitating the Ursuline Associate program and prayer group. She is also an active volunteer with the Mary Magdalene House.
In Fairbanks, Sisters Monique Vaernewyck and Maria Clarys serve the Athabascan community. Sister Josephine Aloralrea works in Yakutat.
The Sisters began serving in Alaska in 1905. They came to Akulurak, a village that no longer exists, to staff an orphanage and boarding school. In 1950, because of deteriorating soil conditions at Akularak, the Sisters moved the operation to the banks of the Andreafsky River, where the village that grew up around them took the name St. Marys. By that time the number of orphans had dwindled and their focus had shifted to education. Most of the 200 or so schoolchildren who attended the boarding school came from Eskimo families in the area. In 1953 the Sisters started St. Mary’s High School there, which operated until 1987. The order was founded by St. Angela Merici of Italy in 1535. St. Angela founded the order to be one out in the world, which was revolutionary in those times as most orders of sisters were cloistered. The Ursuline sisters first mission was to reach out to victims of the city-state wars in Italy. Later on, they were known for work in schools. Today, the order focuses on using sisters’ individual talents in the best way.
Little-known facts: Sister Griffin is an avid musician; she plays French horn for the Anchorage Civic Orchestra.
The order’s plans are to continue ministry in AlaskaFor more information about the Ursuline Sisters, call Sister Lorene Griffin in Anchorage at (907) 248-9881 or email her at lgriffinosu@cs.com.
News & Notes
Discipleship Days hits the road
The format of Discipleship Days will be a bit different this year.
With the new sacramental guidelines about to be released, the Office of Evangelization plans to head out to the parishes to assist with training, said Father Jim Oberle, who heads the department for the Anchorage Archdiocese.
There are other areas of pastoral leadership, staff development and volunteer training that need attention as well, and the hope is to address as many of those needs as best they can. The plan is to use local presenters in addition to bringing in outside people to help with the training like Brother Loughlan Sofield, S.M., to help with training. Brother Sofield is scheduled for a three-day visit in the fall (and possibly more) to provide training for members of the Archdiocesan Pastoral Council, which is still being formed. He will also speak to local parish councils in the Mat-Su Valley and on the Kenai Peninsula.
The staff of the Office of Evangelization, in collaboration with parish faith formation leaders, also hopes to develop a way to certify catechists this year. The office says they want to recognize the many gifted and talented catechists this year and help them in their faith formation by offering a certification process.
A lot of thought and creativity needs to go into how we can accomplish this and serve the needs of all our parishes and missions, especially outlying areas, Father Oberle said.
"The goal is to make these resources more available for all parishes," he explained. "So we will be moving Discipleship Days on the road."
Archbishop moving his residence
In an effort to economize, Archbishop Roger Schwietz plans on moving into the rectory at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church this August. The archbishop is temporarily postponing plans for the construction of a new archbishop’s residence. Right now, the plan is for the archbishop to live at the rectory for a time span of about 1-2 years until further plans are developed.
Santa Cruzan Celebration
The Filipino community has invited Catholics from around the Anchorage Archdiocese to celebrate Santa Cruzan this year on June 7. The celebration commemorates the tradition of St. Helena’s discovery of the true cross and also includes tributes to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The celebration will have a procession with the sagalas (princesses) and a statue of the Blessed Virgin Mary. It’s an important holiday to Filipinos, Father Luz Flores told the Anchor.
"It’s a chance to honor Mary and to commemorate the cross," he said. "It’s also a way to celebrate the end of catechism classes for those who celebrated sacraments like first communion and confirmation."
Father Luz said organizers hope all parishes participate and send a princess from their parish. The procession is set to begin at noon on June 7, just outside the ConocoPhillips Building. It will end at Holy Family Cathedral with a special Mass at 1 p.m. with Archbishop Roger Schwietz.
Bicycles Needed
The Catholic Social Services’ Refugee Assistance and Immigration Services program needs bicycles for adults needing to get to work. Please contact Lucianne at 222-7359 if you have a bike to donate to the program.
World Refugee Day 2008
Catholic Social Services’ Refugee Assistance and Immigration Services plan to honor World Refugee Day on June 20. CSS will hold a family-friendly event to remember the millions of refugees who have defied incredible odds, holding onto the hope of rebuilding their lives in a peaceful world.
The picnic will be held from 4-7 p.m. at the Mountain View Lion’s Community Park (Mt. View Drive & Pine Street, Shaw Pavilion). BBQ and children’s activities are planned. For more information contact Ellen Krsnak at ekrsnak@cssalaska.org.
49th Eucharistic Congress
Catholics from around the world will gather in Quebec City, Canada in June for the 49th Eucharistic Congress. The Congress is a 10-day diocesan pilgrimage that offers an opportunity for prayer, reflection and action with the universal church, centered around the Blessed Sacrament. Catholics from the Anchorage Archdiocese are invited to attend the conference. Currently, a group is forming with the Diocese of Juneau. The cost is estimated to be about $1,200 for airfare and lodging in Quebec City.For more information and materials about the conference, contact Father Jim Oberle at the Chancery at 297-7778.
Baby Supplies needed
New baby bottle nipples are needed for the Catholic Social Services’ Pregnancy Support Baby Boutique located at 3721 E. 20th Avenue. Bottle nipples must be in original package. For more information, contact Debbie Sell at 222-7315. Items can be dropped of at 3710 East 20th Avenue between 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
ACYC Registration open
The Alaska Catholic Youth Conference is taking registration for their conference this summer. The conference is scheduled for June 2-5 at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Anchorage. Cost is $75 for pre-registration or $85 at the door. For more information, contact Matthew Beck at matthewb@st-mikeparish.org or call him at 745-3229.
Columns
Archbishop to graduates: Follow Pope Benedict XVI’s example
Editor’s note: The following article was adapted from Archbishop Roger Schwietz’s May 13 baccalaureate homily to graduating seniors at Lumen Christi High School.
Our Gospel passage today relates to the Feast of Pentecost – The Gift of the Spirit — which the church has just celebrated.
The Gospel is a challenge for each one of us because every Christian is a member of God’s priestly people through the sacrament of baptism, which started each of us out on our journey with Christ.
"Go, therefore, make disciples of all nations….teach them to observe all the commands I gave you." These words are not meant just for the apostles and their successors, or just for the priests, religious and lay leaders of our parishes. Christ’s words are meant for you graduates also.
"How can this be accomplished?" you ask.
We can learn from the Vicar of Christ.
This spring, in which your graduation takes place, will go down in history as witnessing one of the most astounding visits of a world leader to our country in this young century. Pope Benedict XVI visited both Washington, D.C. and New York less than a month ago. He came, as the theme of his visit proclaims, to assure us that Christ is our hope.
Reflecting on the trip when he was back in Rome, the Pope remarked: "I, too, was confirmed in hope by American Catholics."
Why? Because, he said, "I discovered a tremendous vitality and a decisive will to live and to witness to the faith in Jesus."
You, my graduates, carry that vitality of faith with you as you journey from here. You are fortunate to live in a truly blessed country.
As Pope Benedict remarked: "I had the opportunity to pay homage to that great country, which from its beginnings was built on the foundation of a harmonious union between religious, ethical and political principles," which is the "soul" of the nation and a guarantee of human rights and duties.
You can be proud of the religious tradition as well as the American ideal that you live out. Never let anyone convince you that one of these must be sacrificed for the other. Faith and reason must be in harmony to promote the whole person. Do not allow others to convince you that the two are incompatible.
When speaking to us bishops, the pope said: "The church and the family, as well as schools, must cooperate in offering young people a solid moral education."
This is what you have experienced at Lumen Christi. Be proud of your school, and loyal to it. Be thankful to your families, your church and your school for together preparing you to face a world that will try to convince you of the lies of Satan. Those lies start with the message that freedom means that I can do anything I want. That attitude will bring you only misery.How different the wisdom, and command of Christ: "Teach them to observe all the commands I gave you." This is where true freedom lies. Can you follow this way of truth? Of course you can. Your education and discipline at Lumen Christi have prepared you well. And your faith assures you that you are not alone.
As Jesus says in today’s Gospel: "I am with you always."
Ignorance leads to abortions in Russia
Editor’s note: The following column by Father Mike Shields is the first in an ongoing monthly series.
We had a new birth here in Magadan recently. A young Russian mother gave birth to a lovely little girl. They came to our parish more than a month ago with nothing. Now they rent an apartment, have medicine, clothes and a bed for the baby and food for the mom.
Surprisingly, there is also a common-law husband who, after many long conversations, is ready to care for the child. This sort of family makeup is uncommon here in Russia. Usually, the young mother would be alone and rejected by the child’s father and even her own family. We rejoice with this small success.
But there is a larger picture here. On the way to the hospital where babies are born here in Magadan, Lyuba, our parish director, spoke to the taxi cab driver about our program to help pregnant mothers (I have trained our parishioners to speak about the way we save babies to everyone they meet so more might be saved).
The cab driver was a poor, married, 27-year-old man. Lyuba explained how we reach out to pregnant women. The young man was shocked to discover that abortion kills a child. He was taught that a pregnancy is just tissue. He was also sad to discover that there was help for people like him and his young wife, who had just had an abortion. They felt they couldn’t feed the child.
The young man was disturbed about what he knew, now, to be a lie. One innocent child could have been saved if he knew more.
After that encounter an idea arose in our parish. We decided one of the great problems in Russia is that most people are clueless about what abortion really is. They don’t receive any information from doctors who perform abortions because the doctors receive considerable money for performing abortions.
We decided that we needed a Web site with all kinds of information and tools that could help people decide to give birth, rather than have an abortion. The Web site will also have tools to help people grieve and recognize the pain of abortions.
The post-abortion syndrome is present in so many women in Russia. Our Web site will be the first in all of Russia to give extensive help through information and tools for grieving. It will be a place where people who suffer from abortion — parents, grandparents and friends — can also write in and tell their story.
We hope the Web site will be a tool for healing.
We believe this project will bring more young women to our office in the parish for counseling and ultimately help us save more children and help women heal from abortions.
Providing more information and more assistance is key to helping mothers decide to give birth rather than abort their unborn children. We believe most people are ignorant about the facts of abortion and that children often die and mothers grieve because of ignorance.
The writer is pastor of Church of the Nativity in Magadan, Russia. The church is a mission of the Archdiocese of Anchorage.
Editor’s note: The following column by Father Leo Walsh is the first in an ongoing monthly series, which will alternate, every other issue with Father Mikulski’s regular column. To send a question to Father Leo, email him at lwalsh@caa-ak.org.
The day after my ordination, my twelve year-old niece called me on the phone. "Father Uncle Leo," she said, "I have so many questions! So do my friends. Can you come over?"
"Sure!" I said.
What followed was the first of many "Ask Fr. Leo" sessions, which quickly became a fixture of classes and presentations I have given over the last 14 years. No matter what the subject matter, from time to time, my classes pause and use the last 15 minutes to answer any questions folks have about the church, liturgical or sacramental practices, prayer, or the moral life. You name it, we have covered it.
In a typical "Ask Fr. Leo" session, any question, no matter how seemingly inane or controversial, is welcome.
This column is offered as a journalistic version of the original "Ask Fr. Leo" sessions. Together, I hope we can learn more about ourselves, our church and how to live our wonderful Catholic faith in the world around us.
Q - Why do I have to go to confession to a priest? Why can’t I just tell my sins to God and be forgiven?
Good question! This is one I hear often from my Protestant friends. The answer lies in the notion that reconciliation has always had two dimensions: sin against God and sin against neighbor. Just as love of God cannot be separated from love of neighbor, sin against God is also a sin against one’s neighbor and we need to be reconciled to both.
This is very evident in the parable of the Prodigal Son in Luke chapter 15, as well as St. Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians, 12:12-26.
In his confession, the prodigal son says, "Father, I have sinned against heaven and against you." Likewise Paul says, "If one member of the body suffers, all the other parts suffer with it." Anybody who has ever stubbed their pinky toe can attest to the truth of these words.
Early Christians and the Fathers of the Church were keenly aware of the effects of sin against the community of believers. Originally, those who sinned confessed before the entire parish at Mass! Later, due to the influence of the Irish monks, a more discreet practice developed, where one could speak in private with a priest since by virtue of his ordination he acts both in persona Christi (on behalf of Christ) and in persona ecclesia (on behalf of the Church).
The wisdom of this form of the Sacrament of Reconciliation has since become the norm throughout the Universal Church. It satisfies the twin demands of being reconciled to God and to one’s neighbor.
The writer is pastor at St. Andrew Church in Eagle River and a lifelong Alaskan. To send Father Leo Walsh a question, e-mail him at lwalsh@caa-ak.org.
Community found in bosom of Catholic faith
Over thirty years ago, I sat in a little tavern in my hometown, a farming community in Nebraska and one of those places where everybody knows everybody and they know who your grandfather was, too.
It was well after "last call" and my friend Kak and I — the only people left in the establishment — were sitting at the well-polished bar chatting with Lavern, the man who owned "The Last Chance."
The bar earned its name because it was supposedly your last chance for a beer on your way out of town. However, it wasn’t. My hometown was predominantly Irish and Bohemian with more bars than churches, and for better or worse you always had another chance.
Lavern was intrigued that I was joining the Jesuit Volunteer Corps and heading to Alaska. Alaska was considered even more exotic then than now, and as Lavern wiped his white rag along the counter, he asked me questions. Lavern was barrel-chested and it was hard to tell where his chest stopped and his tummy started. He always wore his apron very high above what was probably his waist.
He paused from his work and eyed me seriously.
"Effie, just where is St. Mary’s?"
How to explain the location of the village I was headed to when I hardly knew myself? I pictured the map of Alaska and tried to find some point of reference which might sound familiar to Lavern.
"Well," I begin tentatively, "it’s south of Nome. . ."
Lavern interrupted immediately, taking on the tone of a father dealing with a confused child.
"Effie," he said emphatically, "Effie, everything is south of Nome."
That story was just one of about a thousand we shared as my brothers and I buried our 88-year-old mother this month in a windy graveyard called "Kelly Hill" in farm country.
So many memories had to do with community, and the way we experienced it growing up, being right in its bosom, and not really understanding how we were nurtured and nourished by the people all around us.
If you’re in your 40’s or beyond, you may have grown up in a community like mine. Or in the Italian section of a city, the way my husband did, where everyone felt free to reprimand everybody else’s kid and grandma lived in the upstairs of the tenement and her son lived below. Or in a Polish enclave in Chicago, or in a Yupik village.
But if you’re younger, community may not mean quite the same to you, and you may not have experienced what it is to live where you always felt safe, and you always, somehow, felt known.
Today, in our urban, and particularly suburban, settings, we’re forced to strive for community. We form intentional communities with people whose values we share. It’s really important that we do so.
As Catholics, we’ve been graced in this endeavor because we belong to a communal religion. Our religion, although we foster it by private prayer, was never intended by Christ or by our tradition to be lived alone. Our faith demands community, it insists that we flourish in parishes, in prayer groups, in small faith communities like those in Central and Latin America.
I was completely buoyed by the response my Catholic community in Anchorage gave me when Mom died. Thank you.
Back in Nebraska, Kak — and literally hundreds of friends and relatives — were present to me during that long week. Lavern no longer owns the Last Chance, but his son owns the funeral home, which my mom had pre-selected.
That’s small town community for you.
The writer is a stewardship and hospitality coordinator at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Anchorage.
Being Catholic means being multicultural
I’m still amazed by the sight of Father Eric Wiseman yodeling, while playing the accordion in traditional German attire, complete with lederhosen.
Amazingly enough, Father Eric topped himself an hour later at the multicultural night earlier this month at St. Anthony Church, when he joined the Hispanic Charismatic Group in full mariachi regalia, complete with guitar.
Father Eric’s background is testimony enough that many have rich cultural diversity within their own families.
Catholics, especially those in Anchorage, have a church family that spans the globe. The giant feast at St. Anthony’s represented a plethora of cultures.
Food on the table, included everything from fresh spring rolls, spicy arroz con pollo (chicken with rice), to hearty pierogis.
In addition to celebrating different cultures, an especially poignant moment came during the evening entertainment.
A group of Samoans came on stage in tribal costume and performed a traditional ceremony. During the performance, they collected money to help send several youth from the parish to a leadership conference in Minnesota. Leaders within the Samoan community walked up to drop money on the stage. Slowly, everyone began to come forward to donate.
It was a powerful moment to see an adult community band together for the youth.
The night garnered several thousand dollars for the youth program — but it also netted something more powerful — a positive response to help promote understanding and work against racism.
St. Anthony pastor Father Fred Bugarin had a simple answer for me when I shared my experiences with him.
"Put people together with lots of food and activities, and racism is taken care of," he remarked.
On the surface, that statement may seem overly simplistic but it’s a step towards understanding, and it is a positive one. The issue of different cultures spreads throughout the history of our church, all the way to the apostles, when they dealt with the differences between Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians.
They solved it through discussion, but at the end of the day, they broke bread and were able to share the eucharistic table.
Racism continues to be a hot button issue in our town, and it needs to be addressed. Debate and discussion are crucial, but equally important are positive interactions to move towards understanding.
Events like St. Anthony’s multicultural night are great first steps towards eliminating prejudices. It is a step towards building genuine relationships — which should be the ultimate goal.
By the way, Father Eric played a mean accordion that night — and I’m not just saying so due to the fact that he is also a skilled fencer!
The writer is the assistant editor of the Anchor and teaches at Lumen Christi.
‘Engaging Islam’ project dispelled errors, fostered unity
On May 5, 2007 about 30 Christian, Jewish and Muslim women gathered for tea at the Holy Spirit Center in Anchorage. This meeting of "Daughters of Abraham" marked the first engagement for "Engaging Muslims: Religion, Cultures, Politics, a community education project."
This project was spearheaded by the chair and designed with the trustees and advisors of the Cardinal Newman Chair of Catholic Theology at Alaska Pacific University.
The year-long project officially ended on May 12, 2008 when more than 100 Muslims, Jews, and Christians, who served this program over the past year, gathered for a pot-luck at APU’s Atwood Center to celebrate the project’s successes.
In September, we plan to invite the public to a final event that features a DVD presentation describing the project. Contact the Newman Chair for details (564-8274).
Over the past year, this project has unfolded many blessings. Some by the dedicated efforts of the planning committee or their community partners, others by serendipity.
"The Perfect Prayer," by Suehyla El-Attar produced at Cyrano’s Playhouse last May turned into a perfect herald to the APU program. Then, Anchorage Opera’s masterful presentation of Mozart’s "Abduction at the Seraglio" offered opportunities to discuss stereotypical disinformation about Islam and Muslims assumed in the opera that have been pervasive in Western Christian cultures.
However it was the letter, "A Common Word Between Us and You," issued last October and signed by 138 Muslims leaders throughout the world to the pope and other Christian leaders, calling for Christians and Muslims to come together to promote peace, that was the best unanticipated blessing. It served to solidify the original concerns that led to this program.
Even before we determined the topic, we were strongly advised to solicit partners among various groups in Anchorage. The Alaska Humanities Forum and KAKM and KSKA took a leading role in promoting this program. Steve Hammel’s Talk of Alaska, interviewed our speakers. Two World Affairs Council luncheons featured our celebrity speakers. The Catholic Anchor published three articles that I wrote relating to the project or Islam and published other reports over the past year that fostered great understanding of Islam.
In my article announcing this program last August, I noted that one goal was to meet our Muslim neighbors. Indeed the highlight of this program has been the friendship formed with the Islamic Community Center of Anchorage Alaska. This friendship was especially fostered by Mary-Margaret Stein our project director.
From August through April, evening after evening , members of the Islamic Communtiy Center participated in classes and discussions at Beth Sholom, as did various churches and universities. The Islamic community invited us to community pot-lucks after Eid-ul-Fitr and welcomed Dr. Muzamil Siddiqi who counseled this community. We are delighted to hear that work on behalf of this project is seen as a blessing within the local Muslim community.
Our Spring Lecture Series featured four of the most desirable authorities of Islam in the nation. Reza Aslan, the "go to guy" for Islamic issues in broadcast media, discussed how the current unrest among Muslims reflects a reformation within the community.
Muzamil Siddiqi, a seasoned leader who has informed American presidents and was one of the Muslim leaders who spoke with Pope Benedict XVI in Washington, D.C, spoke about Muslim diversity including the marked difference between those who submit to the straight path and those who use aspects of the tradition to justify violence. Ingrid Mattson, President of the North American Islamic Society, offered a most helpful discussion of Islamic law and life past and present. Dr. John Esposito, founding director of the Center for Muslim Christian Understanding at Georgetown University, a Catholic scholar of Islam respected throughout the Muslim world, spoke of what Muslims really think from a world survey of Muslim beliefs that counter the disinformation among the islamophobic pseudo-authorities. To have any one of these experts visit Alaska would be significant, to host all four was indeed remarkable. We are also blessed with a video recordings of their talks that can be used in the future for educational purposes.
One of the most astonishing things I learned over the course of this program was that many well-educated members of the Anchorage community are still convinced that Muslim leaders have not condemned the violence perpetrated by some in the name of Islam. However, this is untrue. Each speaker denounced the violence and when the question was asked they pointed to thousands of others who have also done so. The problem many said, is the media makes more of acts of violence than of those who oppose it. Here, for instance, is one site that has compiled a list of such condemnations: http://islam.about.com/cs/currentevents/a/9_11statements.htm
One thing that pleased me was the response of Christian Leaders proposed by the Harry Attridge, a Catholic Biblical Scholar and Dean of Yale Divinity School. "Loving God and Neither Together: A Christian Response to A Common Word Between Us and You" was published in the Sunday New York Times on November 18, 2007. I am honored to be listed among the signatories to this document. Dr. Marilyn Barry, the academic dean at APU is also listed among the signatories.
In the future, we hope to continue to engage with the Muslim community with a formal Catholic-Muslim bi-lateral dialogue this November corresponding to the one that will be held in the Vatican. Other possibilities are being explored. The ICCAA will be joining the Anchorage Interfaith Council. Of course the Jewish, Christian and Muslim Daughters of Abraham will continue to gather for tea and to talk and to build peace, one conversation at a time.
The writer holds the Cardinal Newman Chair of Catholic Theology at Alaska Pacific University.
Confirmation Reflection
Today is the day we have all waited for. We completed our confirmation classes and are prepared to follow and belong to Jesus Christ forever.
As we began this journey, we signed up one day after Mass with heavy hearts and minds, realizing that this marked the end of our free Sunday afternoons for the next two years.
Not knowing what lay ahead or what we would gain from our minute sacrifice, my classmates and I attended the first class with unwelcoming attitudes and negative outlooks.
That first year, I couldn’t wait for Confirmation classes to end for the summer and I did not look forward to returning in the fall.
Even though my immediate family is very religious, some of my aunts and uncles have fallen away. After one year of confirmation, I learned how much knowledge they missed out on about our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. This gave me a greater determination to spread Christianity to my family and to the whole human race.
By the fall, I was ready to go back to confirmation classes because of my new-found ambition to share Catholic values with the entire world. I also missed the kids, teachers and, most of all, the growth of faith and love I was finding in Jesus.
I don’t know if everyone else felt the same way, but I noticed some maturity among my peers toward each other and God.
The second year was fantastic. Our understanding of God grew tremendously, as did our thirst for him. We were all interested and became more engrossed the more we learned about the Lord. The best experiences occurred during our retreats and lock-ins. The activities were amazing and so were the speakers. We grew closer as a group and grew closer to the Lord.
Looking back at the last two years, I often wonder if it really made a difference but then I see one of my newfound friends from class befriend a complete stranger and I realize that the Holy Spirit is at work. My friends grew in faith, prayer and love. Some of us grew up with the religious knowledge and just needed a boost in order to act on it. Others of us were too immature to understand, but through the grace of our teachers and God we strengthened our weaknesses and now truly belong to Christ.
The things we learned and the experiences we had reshaped our faith in God and our lives as Christians. We will carry that with us forever.
The writer is a parishioner at Sacred Heart Church in Wasilla. This column was adapted from a reflection letter she wrote about her April 26 Confirmation.
Editorials
They long to see beauty
A wizened cardinal recently noted that 21st century people have a hard time accepting Christianity when it is presented as "the true religion."
That’s not to say that it isn’t the true religion but modern sensibilities cringe at such absolute claims.
Writing in the May issue of America magazine, Cardinal Carlo Maria Martini recalled a recent encounter he had with a young non-Christian man. The man approached him and said, "Above all, don’t tell me that Christianity is true. That upsets me, that blocks me." Then he added, "It’s quite something else to say that Christianity is beautiful…"
The cardinal walked away from the encounter concluding that for many contemporary people, "beauty is preferable to truth."
The young man wasn’t looking for a philosophical debate as to why he should follow Christ. Instead, he wanted the good cardinal to tell him why Christ mattered at all. What difference did he make in real life? Was life more beautiful by taking up the cross?
This meeting between the young man and the elder cardinal reveals a fundamental truth about evangelism: If the evangelist cannot personally attest that following Christ is more beautiful than the way of the world (or of other religions) then all the greatest rational arguments will fall on deaf ears.
Perhaps there was a time when philosophy and theology were the bedrock of education, that rational debate could comprise the lion’s share of effective evangelism.
Today, however, people don’t grapple with philosophical and theological claims like they once did. Instead, we live in a highly secular, thoroughly materialistic culture and our lives are often a tangle of every imaginable contradiction. We long for permanent love but settle for tenuous relationships. We desire strong families but live in broken homes. We want a great cause to live for but settle for endless distracting entertainments.
In this climate, Christians must be able to show the beauty of Christ and his church. If we cannot reveal that beauty, then it won’t matter if we win the philosophical debates.
Pope John Paul II recognized this when he described the beauty and mystery wrapped inside every human body. His work, "Theology of the Body" maintains that the design of the physical human body points to the fact that each person was created for a high and noble purpose.
John Paul certainly employs plenty of heady theology but his arguments always serve to reveal the beauty of abandoning oneself to Christ.
A few weeks ago, Alaskans got a chance to see this form of evangelism, first hand, when author and speaker Dawn Eden flew north to speak of her conversion from a "Sex and the City" lifestyle to embracing the "Thrill of the chaste." Her talks in Kenai, Anchorage and Wasilla were personal testimonies of how she came to see that the Christian view of sexuality was more beautiful and fulfilling than the one she had grown up with.
Eden didn’t begin with a list of prohibitions from Vatican documents and Scripture references. Instead, she told personal stories. Official documents are important but they aren’t always the best starting place.
The world longs for the beauty and passion of Christ. The task of all philosophy, all theology and every church program is to reveal him.
If this seems difficult, perhaps we need to first reacquaint ourselves with the beauty of a personal life with Christ. Then we can speak authentically about what we have tasted ourselves.
As a side to all this, Alaskans will have another chance, soon, to experience this personal form of evangelism when Father Mike Shields visits from Magadan, Russia. Next month, he plans to give several talks at St. Patrick Church in Anchorage, where he will discuss the beauty of many core teachings within the Catholic faith. Call 337-1538 to find out more.
— Joel Davidson, Anchor Editor
Letter to the Editor
Don’t be a single-issue voter
We should all heed the words from Geoff Kennedy’s most recent column in the Anchor ("Electoral Process is broken," May 16). It is our duty to resist being bought by one or two issues, while our nation is robbed of its very core values by politicians. Please do not let one or two issues become our "pieces of silver."
Chugiak