October 17, 2008 - Issue #19
Local News | Opinion/Editorials | Letters to the Editor
Local News
Former Protestant minister pursues priesthood
When Steve Olmstead served as a Presbyterian minister in Juneau, he would often finish his duties on Sunday, close up the church and head to Mass with his devout Catholic wife and their children.
“I had a place to worship, which a lot of pastors don’t,” Olmstead said in an interview with the Anchor. “It was nice to go to a place and worship where I wasn’t the minister.”
The Anchorage Archdiocese’s newest seminarian grew up in a Presbyterian home and always had a strong spiritual life. When Olmstead entered adulthood, he felt called to serve as a youth minister, and was later ordained a minister in the Presbyterian Church.
Throughout his life, he said he had many positive contacts with people who were strong in the practice of their Catholic faith, including his wife of 22 years, Janet.
“I married the most devout and most amazing Christian I’ve ever met in my life,” Olmstead said, crediting her with his conversion to Catholicism. Before the two wed, he agreed to raise the children in the Catholic faith. Steve and Janet Olmstead were married in Juneau by then Bishop Michael Kenny.
He continued to serve in a Presbyterian church in Juneau, but over the years grew enamored with Catholicism.
“I love the devotional practices of the Catholic church, its prayers and devotions,” Olmstead said.
He says he was especially drawn to some core beliefs that are often points of contention between Protestants and Catholics; matters of faith like belief in the true presence of Jesus in the Eucharist and devotion to Mary.
“Ultimately those core beliefs created this tug that led me to the (Catholic) Church so that I would be more congruent with myself,” Olmstead said.
His family’s faith helped with that tug. In addition to Janet’s steady faith, the Olmsteads’ seven children, ages 2-18 years, helped play a part.
The Olmsteads have three older biological children, another three they adopted, and one foster child, which they hope to adopt soon.
“My older kids started asking me questions (like), ‘How come you believe this, but you aren’t teaching it,’” Olmstead recalled. “I had this inner conflict and I had to make that decision.”
Ultimately he did, and left his position at the local Presbyterian church in Juneau to officially enter the Catholic Church in 2006, a decision that brought Olmstead much peace.
“A huge thing for me is mystery,” he said. “I really need mystery and mystery in my faith. The Catholic Church (allows) me to have that mystery — Christ held that for me.”
Having served as full-time Protestant minister, Olmstead still felt a strong call to a minsterial or religious vocation.
Last year he participated in a 30-day Ignatian Spiritual Exercises retreat to investigate how God wanted him to serve in his new church, and he felt called to serve as a priest.
“At the end of that retreat, I realized that this is where God was calling me,” he said.
While celibacy is the rule for Latin rite Catholic priests, there are approximately 100 married former Protestant clergymen in the United States who have joined the Catholic Church and received Vatican permission to become priests.
Modern-day sainthood
Alaska Catholic Family Conference promotes quest for personal holiness
Catholics are in the midst of a profound struggle for the well-being of families and the vitality of the church. The good news is that a generation of dedicated young Catholics is willing and increasingly able to strengthen the church by embracing the teachings and practices of their historic faith.
This was the overriding theme at the first annual Alaska Catholic Family Conference, Oct. 10-12, at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Anchorage.
More than 400 people registered for the three-day event, coordinated by the Anchorage chapter of Catholics United for the Faith. The conference included a mixture of high profile national speakers as well as local presenters. Nationally renowned apologist Tim Staples opened the conference on Friday night with something akin to a cultural battle cry.
“Does anyone here believe we are in a war?” he asked the audience.
Staples, a former Pentecostal preacher turned Catholic, now works as a full-time apologist for Catholic Answers, an apologetics ministry based in San Diego, California. His work takes him across the country teaching Catholics how to defend their faith, while also inspiring them to lead lives of personal holiness.
Staples tried to illustrate how the past 50 years have wrecked havoc on religious practice and family life in the United States.
Widespread and easily accessible pornography has lead to a devaluing of women, unprecedented divorce rates and an all-out assault on the dignity of human life through contraception and legalized abortion. All of this has been compounded by weak religious devotion and an inability to pass the faith onto younger generations of Catholics, he said.
“As Catholics we are in the midst of a cosmic conflict,” Staples said. But the struggle is not merely political or sociological, he added. At the heart, it is spiritual and particularly directed at the human family.
In a pre-recorded video address to all conference attendees, Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz also expressed concern for the well-being of the family.
As chairman of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ committee on Laity, Family Life and Marriage, Archbishop Schwietz said strengthening family life is a priority for his fellow bishops. He congratulated conference-goers for taking time to reflect on the importance of Catholic family life.
“The health of family life is something very important to us as bishops,” he said, adding that the issue is also of concern to the universal church.
“The future of families and the health of the family is of great concern to our Holy Father Pope Benedict,” Archbishop Schwietz added.
While problems may seem daunting, the solutions offered during the conference were straightforward. On Saturday, more than 30 presentations addressed topics such as the beauty of married love, living as faithful single adults, how to pass Catholic traditions on to children and how to discern vocations to marriage, religious life or the priesthood.
Other breakout groups discussed bioethical challenges when it comes to respecting human life, authentic masculinity and femininity and the role of Mary in helping to inspire Catholics to live as modern saints.
Throughout the conference, religious sisters and brothers taught catechesis to the roughly 200 attendees who were under the age of 12.
The youth sessions focused on chastity, recognizing true love, appreciation of sacred art and learning to embrace the dignity that comes from being a disciple of Christ.
“This world is dying and the only thing that can save it is real life saints who can bring God into this world,” said Brad Farmer, a juggling comedian who founded Apex Ministries with longtime partner Gene Monterastelli.
In an effort to drive home the connection between personal holiness and cultural renewal, conference organizers deliberately provided ample opportunities for confession, prayer and eucharistic adoration.
The closing Mass on Sunday with Archbishop Schwietz was reflective of the weekend.
With the sanctuary filled with Catholic families, nationally known speaker Father Daniel McCaffrey urged attendees to embrace the challenges of family life head on.
For the past three decades, Father McCaffrey has dedicated his life’s work to traveling the globe, inspiring couples to embrace Catholic teachings regarding contraception, chastity and natural family planning – the church-approved method for spacing children.
His talks throughout the weekend urged Catholics to be radically generous in their approach towards marital faithfulness, the raising of children and the openness to religious and priestly vocations.
His closing homily brought the focus of the conference back to the personal level.
“Most of the graces in this world come through family life,” he said. “(Graces) come from the mother and father, and into the children and then out into the world.”
Father McCaffrey added that the sacrifices required in family life are the “normal” path to sainthood for most people.
“In this is way you are going to become saints,” he added. “You lay people are called to be saints. You are called to great holiness. It’s not just for monks, for priests and for religious.”
Judge: Religious liberties need constant guarding
Q&A with Ninth Circuit federal judge
Justice Diarmuid O’Scannlain, a 22-year federal judge for the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, visited Anchorage last month as part of activities surrounding the annual Red Mass at Holy Family Cathedral. O’Scannlain gave several public talks about religious freedom and the limits of the law. In a Sept. 27 presentation at the Loussac Library, he raised questions regarding the certainty of religious liberties in an increasingly secular culture. The Catholic Anchor interviewed O’Scannlain earlier that morning at the Hotel Captain Cook. The following article was edited for length.
The Ninth Circuit is often accused of judicial activism. This is not just a charge against the Ninth Circuit, but many judges today are accused of judicial activism. Is there any merit to these claims?
Read the Lectures: |
There is some merit. The fact of matter is that the Ninth Circuit is the most frequently reversed court in the entire appellate system of our country.
There has been a tendency for some judges on the Ninth Circuit to get out ahead of the Supreme Court. But even the Supreme Court itself has been accused of judicial activism.
From my point of view, judicial activism means judges going outside the limitations that courts are stuck with. There is a temptation for courts to get into areas that are really the legislative side.
Now good lawyers on both sides of cases will try to push the courts, and sometimes well-meaning judges will be persuaded to rule in favor of a popular litigant, where the law is a little fuzzy or they are being asked to carry a principle out beyond where the Supreme Court has left it.
Of course, you also have a small band of judges who just feel the Supreme Court is dead wrong and we don’t have to follow it. I don’t think anyone can justify that kind of an attitude.
Is it true that law schools are training future judges with a philosophy that makes them more inclined towards judicial activism?
There was a movement within law schools called the Critical Legal Studies movement – CLS. I think we’ve seen it come and go but it was very big in the late 1960s, ‘70s and started to decline in the 1980s. But during about a fifteen to twenty-year period, law students were told by their professors that courts are no different from legislators. In other words, judges are politicians with robes.
If you believe that, there is no limit on what judges can do. Obviously, it increases the power of the judge enormously because the judge can function without any constraints. You don’t have to follow the law; you don’t have to follow prior cases.
When Pope Benedict XVI visited the United States this summer, he urged Americans to allow their deepest beliefs and values to impact reasoned public debate.
Is there still a place for religiously held principles to shape the creation of public policy and law?
There definitely is a place – I believe that very strongly. One of the problems is when the appeal is to one specific religion. That can, at times, turn people off. I think you can appeal to the very same principle, however, except on a moral basis. Moral considerations are absolutely vital in law-making and in how courts function. There is nothing wrong with appealing to values that are fundamental to the creation of our country – that are bound up in the Declaration of Independence for goodness sake.
St. Thomas More is famous for being executed under the reign of King Henry VIII because there was a law of the land, which he could not abide by – namely, taking an oath that denied the authority of the pope to govern the church. Your job is to interpret laws of the land and apply them as faithfully as possible. Can you foresee a situation where the law of the land in the United States might conflict with your religious views?
It could happen. I don’t foresee any situation on the horizon where that would happen. Maybe that is because of our Constitution. The Constitution is a real bulwark of protecting human rights. For example, it is very hard to justify the Roe vs. Wade decision on anything other than raw, judicial power. What’s fascinating now is that you have people like (Supreme Court) Justice (Ruth Bader) Ginsburg, who would support abortion rights, but who still feel that Roe was not properly decided because it is not defensible from an intellectual, philosophical, legal point of view.
Natural law principles are at the foundation of the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution, which makes it unlikely that I would be in a situation where I would have to enforce a law contrary to natural law.
It seems like there is a pattern in law. Once something is legally protected or permitted, then a question arises whether those services can be legitimately denied. You can see this playing out with Catholic pharmacists who are being required to prescribe certain drugs, like contraceptives, even when it goes against their conscience. These laws are not targeted specifically towards Catholic pharmacists, so they seem to have general applicability. In these cases, do we need something like a conscience clause coupled with certain laws in order to protect an individual’s liberty to follow their conscience?
I think this is the genius of the American legislative system. Reasonable people, sitting in Congress can recognize a problem and see that there is a legitimate right that ought to be protected. They can design the law to include an exemption to protect those people who are troubled by this. To the extent that you can exempt somebody from the mandatory impact of a statute like that, this is probably a good solution. What is interesting to me is that - as a matter of law - the exemption may not necessarily follow unless Congress has created the exemption. There is a real question as to whether a judge can carve out an exemption that Congress decided not to make.
It’s sort of like the law in Massachusetts that prohibited adoption agencies in that state from refusing to adopt kids to homosexual couples. The law made no exemption for Catholic adoption agencies.
What happened there is that church just backed out and no longer does adoptions, which I just think is absolutely sad. It is extremely unfortunate.
In the talk you prepared for the Loussac Library, you indicate that the best hope for preserving religious liberty lies with the legislatures. Can you explain this?
Don’t count on the courts to protect a religious liberty, which you might have identified because it will depend on current court doctrine. It will depend on whether the religious liberty is coupled with another right or whether it can be established that the right you are talking about was specifically targeted by a legislature with animus. Don’t count on the courts to solve the problem. Stay in touch with the legislature and make the reasonable case that, within this general rule, the legislature has got to protect the religious practices of a substantial number of people in the process.
Do you see a time when religiously held beliefs might be outlawed because they are viewed as discriminatory? Your talk mentions instances such as schools that only hire people who share their religious beliefs. Or churches, like the Catholic Church, that only hire male priests?
There are elements of our own society that are very, very strict secularists and anti-religious. They will continue to press in that direction. Luckily, we do have a Constitution that protects rights.
With antidiscrimination laws, I think everybody understands that you can’t reject someone for a job because his religious beliefs are unacceptable, if that is the only difference. Beyond that, when you talk about equal opportunity provisions that may or may not apply to religious organizations, to what extent will there be some kind of an effort to force religious organization to do things that are contrary to their beliefs? That is being fought out in courts right now.
Happy priests and religious inspire vocations, says director
Editor’s note: The following is transcribed from an Oct. 8 email interview with Father Leo Walsh, the new director of the Anchorage Archdiocese’s Office of Vocations. The interview was edited for length and clarity.
Due to the limited resources available to the Vocations Office this year, I’m going to first concentrate on working with the priests serving in the archdiocese to give them the skills and know-how to help young men in their discernment. This is essential. Happy parish priests are the primary element in a culture of vocation. I have never met anyone who was inspired to be a priest or religious because of their vocations director. It’s always a priest or religious who has been an example in their life. Usually, they are the primary contact when someone is discerning a vocation.
Yes, I am busy. But this is something I feel very strongly about and that I feel Christ is calling me to at this time. I am the only priest born in the Archdiocese who is serving as a priest in the Archdiocese. (Fr. Michael Shields, who serves in Magadan, was born in Talkeetna.) We cannot mature as the local church until we start “growing our own” so to speak. There is no shortage of men called to the diocesan priesthood here. We just have to be more deliberate about how we go about helping them and put the resources in place to make that happen.
My primary focus is on the diocesan priesthood, since that is where we are experiencing the greatest need. However, I am convinced that there are many vocations to the religious life and diaconate as well. If in the course of one’s discernment, it becomes obvious that they are called to religious life, I try to connect them with an order whose charism seems to be a good fit for them. As for the permanent diaconate, Father Jim Oberle, is the primary contact.
A call to diocesan priesthood comes from Christ through the church. Usually it manifests itself in subtle promptings in the back of one’s mind. Perhaps one might start writing little sermons in his mind or see himself doing the things priests do. Priesthood begins to become a very attractive option. It’s important to pray about, to contemplate and then to act on these inclinations. The first thing one should do is go talk privately with his pastor or another priest. Attending vocations dinners and events can help as well by allowing one to see how others are discovering how Christ is working in their lives. If it looks like there is something to the inclinations, and if the man has the qualities that are necessary for ministerial priesthood, then his pastor might recommend him to me so that we can begin more formal discernment.
There are no cookie-cutter personality traits. Christ calls all different kinds of men to ministerial priesthood because the church is made up of all different kinds of people. I’m looking for a young man, or even one with more experience who is genuinely concerned with his call to holiness and is open to whether Christ might be calling him to ministerial priesthood. The rest is details.
For vocation information, contact Father Walsh at 297-7770 or 694-2170.
Seminarian continues towards ordination
Summer was no vacation for seminarian Patrick Brosamer, who is preparing to become a priest for the Archdiocese of Anchorage.
Brosamer spent 10 hours a week reading graduate level theology and took three other classes with course work and lectures, along with a ministry practicum. All this on top of prayer, spiritual direction and personal formation, filled his days as a first year theology student at Mount Angel Seminary in Oregon.
“I go a hundred hours every day, but I am doing it,” Brosamer said in a phone interview, during one of his rare free moments. “I just have to give up the idea of having time off for now. I have to keep going and realize this is what I am called to do.”
Brosamer said he realizes his life, right now, mirrors what will be expected of him when he is ordained as a priest.
“As hard as it is, it’s very useful in helping you build a tremendous amount of discipline,” he said.
Helping to fuel that discipline is a life of prayer, he added.
“It’s feeding me and helping me get through things,” Brosamer said. “I try to do at least one total of hour in prayer.”
Brosamer completed two years of pre-theology last May at the University of St. Thomas in Minnesota. Instead of packing his bags for some well-deserved time off, however, he headed for Creighton University in Nebraska for a special ten-week program focusing on prayer and Christian spirituality. The program — called the Institute for Priestly Formation — is run by the Jesuits and takes a special look at celibacy and prayer.
“Right off the bat, we started the program with an eight-day silent retreat, where we prayed for at least four hours of directed prayer a day,” Brosamer said. “Afterwards there were three classes: one on Christian sexuality, liturgy and priestly identity.”
The most powerful aspect of the program was the power and necessity of prayer, Brosamer said.
“I never regret having spent that time in prayer — even if there’s a bright sunny day where I might prefer riding my bike,” he said. “Prayer is a bottomless pit of grace!”
Brosamer did manage to squeeze in a little vacation of sorts, via a road trip, when he made the move from the flat plains of the Midwest to the foothills of the Cascade Mountains, where Mount Angel Abbey is nestled in the middle of the Willamette Valley in Oregon.
An avid outdoorsman, he had a chance to experience God in nature during some of his pit stops.
“I drove through Kansas to see Dodge City, through Colorado to Arches National Park,” Brosamer recalled. “It was really fascinating to see God’s hand in creation through the wind and things, and to be able to walk around the desert in the middle of nowhere and be with him.”
After the brief respite, Brosamer got right back to the work of a seminarian. He admits the lifestyle is tough, but he’s grateful for the formation, as he continues his discernment to the priesthood.
“I am glad to be here, but I am looking forward to parish work,” he said. “I like studying, but I prefer hands on, being around people and the parishes.”
Brosamer is on pace to be ordained as a priest for the Archdiocese of Anchorage by 2013.
Lumen Christi: Hot off the presses!
By the end of October, the Lumen Christi Jr./Sr. High School is set to publish its first-ever school newspaper — Light of the Times.
The Times – staffed by Lumen Christi students – will feature school, faith and alumni news, columns, opinion editorials and book reviews. The paper aims to print eight times a year, and copies will be distributed to all Catholic churches in Anchorage.
Faculty sponsor James DeCrane, who teaches theology and Spanish at Lumen Christi, said, “The cool thing is the students are doing things from the ground up,” including developing the paper’s design, layout, logo, mottos and content.
As a Catholic school newspaper, the Times must stay “true to the mission statement of Lumen Christi High School,” DeCrane said. The paper’s articles will “keep God in it,” added Times columnist and sophomore Ted Sturgulewski.
Principal Colleen Larson explained that “learning to write stories that bear witness to their faith increases students’ knowledge of their religion and develops a more intense faith. This allows them another avenue to deepen their love of God.” She added, “It is also a way for students to share their views to a wider audience than just their classmates.”
As the newspaper’s name suggests, DeCrane expects the paper to shine a light on the small archdiocesan high school. “We want to get the word out there that Lumen’s a good school,” echoed Sturgulewski.
But most importantly, DeCrane sees the newspaper project as a way for students to “develop their writing skills and become good storytellers.” He tells his students these are critical skills in an age when “millions” of Internet blogs compete for an audience. The students “have to catch people’s attention and keep it,” he explained.
In an effort to tap into online readers, the new paper plans to launch its own online blog. The site will include all the stories from the newspaper as well as poetry and artwork from students.
DeCrane said the idea is to make the site interactive, where people can post comments and engage each other online.
“We are doing this because this is where technology is going,” he explained.
He added that there will be strong oversight of the blog to protect students and preserve the mission of the paper.
Students will not use their last names on the blog nor will their photos be posted. In addition, DeCrane will be the web master of the site, which means he will approve all comments and materials before they are posted.
Excitement surrounding the paper has already rubbed off on students.
Junior Natasha Ball believes writing for the newspaper will help her develop “good skills for a job or college.” Ball is writing a book review for the first edition of the Times.
The newspaper is the project of an elective class for 10th-12th grade Lumen Christi students, by which they can earn a credit toward English course requirements. Among other possible electives like drama, yearbook, jazz and art, Ball chose the newspaper class because “journalism caught my attention.”
Student interest in the area was piqued last year by the arrival of DeCrane, who holds a degree in communications and who has eight years experience in television news production. He also served as assistant editor of the Catholic Anchor.
When the school’s administration asked DeCrane to teach a newspaper class, he jumped at it. Combining his two loves – teaching and journalism – “is a no-brainer,” he says enthusiastically.
Light of the Times is off to a quick start. DeCrane said Sister Ann Fallon and the Adrian Dominican Sisters provided a grant to purchase a professional digital camera for the paper’s photographs. The owner of Anchorage’s GNC stores, George Neuerburg, is helping fund printing of the paper for Anchorage parishes.
Soon the newspaper’s reach may extend well beyond those churches. DeCrane and the students are keenly interested in expanding the project into TV and radio. DeCrane envisions that his students could produce public service announcements (PSAs) on issues of community concern. He says a PSA – disseminated through local TV stations – could end with the tag line: “This message is brought to you by the students of Lumen Christi High School.’”
Future developments, however, depend on whether the class can find help to secure video equipment. And above all, DeCrane insists that his students first demonstrate good communication skills by way of the newspaper.
Newly arrived religious sisters bring prayerful presence to Anchorage monastery
Cloistered sisters arrive from Mexico to live at Blessed Sacrament Monastery
Most Catholics in Anchorage will probably never meet the two newest religious sisters who serve the Archdiocese of Anchorage, despite the impact they have on the community.
That’s because Sisters of Perpetual Adoration Maria Micaela Valerio Lopez and Maria Elena Abad Espinosa are members of a cloistered order. They live lives of prayer, work and adoration of the Eucharist. Mostly they live in silence, behind the walls of the attractive but modest Blessed Sacrament Monastery in a neighborhood off Lake Otis Parkway.
The two newest sisters arrived from Mexico four months ago. Their presence raises the total number of sisters in their community to six. It also brings an infusion of youth and energy to a community that is advancing in age.
“The Sisters asked for help and we wanted to support them,” said Sister Espinosa, speaking through an interpreter. “We came voluntarily.”
Many Catholics may be surprised to learn that there are still orders of religious who live sequestered from the world. But monasteries are an enduring part of the church’s legacy.
The Sisters of Perpetual Adoration usually commit themselves to one monastery for life, and only leave home for doctors’ appointments or other necessities. A volunteer even takes care of grocery shopping for them.
Unlike the more outwardly active orders, which often have a very visible impact on the community, the monastery sisters minister in more subtle ways – but equally powerful.
Father Tom Lilly, pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish in South Anchorage, has been assigned “protector of the monastery,” a position which requires him to assist the sisters by handling immigration issues, scheduling Masses at the monastery and overseeing medical care along with other duties.
“Sometimes we need people to pray on behalf of the rest of us,” said Father Lilly. “To have a group of contemplative religious in our midst is a true gift and tremendous blessing. They serve as a visible reminder of what is truly important in life: giving praise and adoration to God.”
The Sisters of Perpetual Adoration were founded in the 19th century, and over half of their 84 monasteries are located in Mexico. In 1985, Anchorage Archbishop Francis T. Hurley, now retired, visited Mexico and invited the sisters to begin a presence in Anchorage. The archbishop had grown up near a monastery of their order in San Francisco.
The Kim Syren family donated the five acres to build the monastery, and an outpouring of community support and labor went into the structure. Between the time the eight original sisters arrived and the monastery was completed, the Syren family vacated their home and allowed the sisters to live there.
In large monasteries, at least one sister is present before the Blessed Sacrament at all times. Because of numbers, the sisters in Anchorage retain a presence from morning, following Mass, until 9 p.m. They pray behind a tall cloister grill; local Catholics often join them for Mass and adoration on the public side of the grill in the quiet chapel.
Although silence chiefly characterizes the monastery, the sisters also have recreation times filled with talk and laughter. When the Anchor visited recently to meet the new sisters, despite an interpreter’s presence, the laughter and smiles required no interpretation.
Neither of the new sisters have ever experienced cold weather and snow, which makes them both a bit curious and a little apprehensive.
“We’re cold already,” Sister Espinosa laughed.
Sister Lopez said that they were treated to a car ride to Portage Glacier when they first arrived in town and hope to get to see what the city looks like covered in snow.
When asked if they miss the food of their native Mexico, the sisters replied that they miss the constant availability of fresh food, and remarked that since food is prepared differently from state to state in Mexico, even the Mexican cooking of some of the other sisters is different than their usual fare.
Mother Maria de las Victorias Amezcua, superior of the community, is their spokesperson who has been here since the monastery’s founding. She explained that the sisters keep busy with “our first priority, Holy Adoration” and have plenty to do with cleaning, cooking and a large greenhouse.
The sisters are happy to take prayer requests, which may be left via phone at 344-3330, or placed in a window at the foyer outside the chapel.
Changes coming to Holy Spirit Center
Sacred space adapting with the times
What’s next for Holy Spirit Center, the spirituality center which has operated for more than 40 years on Anchorage’s Hillside?
That was the question of a town hall meeting held at the center on Oct 2.
As Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz listened, nearly 30 people from around the archdiocese expressed concerns and visions for the center’s future.
At issue are several factors. For more than 30 years Jesuit priests have staffed the center, and while Archbishop Schwietz hopes to bring more Jesuits to the archdiocese, there are no concrete commitments. Jesuit Father Vincent Beuzer is the center’s sole remaining Jesuit.
Other factors, outlined by Holy Spirit Board member Mark June and Sulpician Father Jim Oberle, director of the center, are the deteriorating conditions of the site’s buildings, the cost of maintenance, and under-utilization of the facility by area Catholics.
The Knights of Columbus have committed to helping with a facilities’ upgrade beginning next spring, Father Oberle said.
More groups might be persuaded to use the center if costs were lower. Presently the kitchen is under contract to a catering group, which precludes the less expensive alternative of users cooking for themselves. Father Oberle and business manager Alan Muise plan to talk to city health officials to see if problems around catering combined with user-cooking can be resolved.
Holy Spirit Center’s official mission is simple: “To provide a sacred space and to accompany people as they seek to find God in all things.”
Originally built in the late 1960s, the facility housed the administrative offices of the archdiocese under former Anchorage Archbishop Joseph Ryan.
By the 1970s, the facility had become a retreat house run by the Jesuits, and under the directorship of Father Vincent Kelleher, became a center for Ignatian retreats and other archdiocesan events.
Under Jesuit Father Paul Macke, the “retreat house” was renamed a “center” with the intent of providing more spiritual support in and to parishes, taking popular Ignatian programs like Challenge throughout the archdiocese.
In 1989, as a gift from Ben and Dawn Tisdale, Resurrection Chapel, with its breathtaking view of the city and the Chugach Mountains, was opened as the facility’s newest building.
Throughout the center’s history, however, it has been plagued by financial woes and many Catholics have never even visited the site.
For example, Father Oberle presented a list of center users. Last year, 3,100 people used the site. The Mennonites are near the top of the list, using Resurrection Chapel for Sunday services. Other users range from RCIA and Catholic youth groups to U.S. Fish and Wildlife and a Lutheran pastors association.
Father Oberle said he has heard some Catholics claim “the center is so far away.”
“But it’s only five miles off the highway,” said the priest, adding that many places he has served would rejoice to have a facility like the center so close to a population area.
Members of the audience proposed ideas like simple dormitories being built that would attract more youth activities. Joe Sullivan seemed to speak for many when he expressed a desire for a continued Jesuit presence at the facility. The idea of a large, new facility with state-of-art media availability was proposed, with possible funding coming from a joint effort with another organization which might utilize the facility during the week.
Deacon Felix Maguire recalled that years ago, he and his wife Agnes made their decision to call Anchorage home during a reflective time at Holy Spirit Center. It’s time, he said, for everyone to “dream dreams” about making the facility better to serve the needs of the archdiocese.
Discussion tended to revolve around buildings – the bricks and mortar issues. There was discussion of possible water and sewer problems with a larger facility. Others pointed out that the main building is not handicapped accessible and the kitchen is in need of enlargement or renovation. Another person proposed better marketing to attract more users. Someone suggested allowing use of the chapel for weddings as a way to raise funds.
For more about Holy Spirit Center, call 346-2343 or visit holyspiritcenterak.org.
News & Notes
Feasts of All Saints, All Souls
On Nov. 1, Catholics celebrate the feast of All Saints - honoring all the saints in Heaven - who are known and yet unknown by the church. According to Canon Law, the feast is a holy day of obligation, like a Sunday, so Catholics must attend Mass and “abstain from those works and affairs which hinder the worship to be rendered to God, the joy proper to the Lord’s day, or the suitable relaxation of mind and body.”
The vigil celebration of All Saints Day takes place the night before, on Halloween - which means “all hallows eve” or “all saints eve.”
Christians have reverenced the saints from early times. In the fourth century, it was common practice to mark the anniversary of a martyr’s death at the site where he or she was martyred. But there were more martyrs than days in the year — and many were martyred together in groups. In order not to miss anyone, it became necessary to establish a general memorial. In the ninth century, Pope Gregory IV declared Nov. 1 as the day for the entire Church Militant (those on Earth) to honor all the Church Triumphant (those in Heaven).
On Nov. 2 - All Souls Day - the church also remembers the faithful departed souls in Purgatory who are on their way to Heaven.
The Catholic Church teaches that the souls of people who die in the state of grace but who have not completed the temporal punishment for their venial sins make that reparation in Purgatory.
Especially on All Souls Day, Catholics can help the souls in Purgatory speed the purifying process by assisting at Mass, praying for them and giving alms. Also, during the week of Nov. 1 to Nov. 8, the faithful who visit a cemetery, pray for the dead and fulfill certain other conditions, can secure a plenary indulgence for souls in Purgatory. A plenary indulgence entirely remits the punishment due to sin.
In his 2006 All Saints Day homily, Pope Benedict XVI explained that remembering all the saints helps “reawaken within us the great longing to be like them; happy to live near God, in his light, in the great family of God’s friends. Being a Saint means living close to God, to live in his family. And this is the vocation of us all . . . .”
— Anchor reports
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Religious Profile: Sisters of Saint Paul of Chartres
The Sisters of Saint Paul of Chartres make “the first object of their lives” the coming of the Kingdom of God. Their apostolates are education, the care of the sick and the poor, and the spiritual development of the local lay faithful. The community’s constitution explains that, “After the example of Saint Paul, spurred on by the Love of Christ, the Sisters make themselves all things to all men. Faithful to the humility of their origins, they want to live the poverty and simplicity of the Gospel.”
Two Sisters of Saint Paul of Chartres – Sister Martha and Sister Acella – work at St. Andrew Kim Catholic Church, the Korean parish in the Archdiocese of Anchorage.
The history of the Sisters of Saint Paul of Chartres extends over 300 years. The community was established by Father Louis Chauvet at Levesville, France in 1696. The respected priest wished to help the poor, disabled, neglected and uneducated. So he invited a group of young women to help. Although only four initially responded to the call, the group grew and a small community was founded from which Father Chauvet drew teachers for the local villagers. In 1888, four missionary sisters arrived in Korea. Now there are about 1,000 sisters in 170 locations in that country. Since 1994, the Sisters of Saint Paul of Chartres have attended to the spiritual and material needs of the Korean people in Anchorage.
According to their constitution, the Sisters of Saint Paul of Chartres have “no territorial preference.” Some of the community’s “far-off missions” include Canada, France, Italy, China, Mongolia, Guyana and Ukraine.
Sister Martha and Sister Acella will continue their work at St. Andrew Kim in Anchorage until, at some point in the future, other Sisters of Saint Paul of Chartres replace them.
For more information about the Sisters of Saint Paul of Chartres, visit www.spctaegu.or.kr/eng/ or call 337-5307. |
Calling adoptive parents-to-be
Catholic Social Services will host its summer adoption workshop weekend Oct. 17-19. The workshop provides information on adoption, including programs at Catholic Social Services. The fee — $300 a couple – covers the cost of the program, lunches and snacks. The workshop will take place at Catholic Social Services, 3710 East 20th Avenue. For more information and to register, visit cssalaska.org or call 222-7314.
Rally against death penalty
On Oct. 19, 2-3:30 p.m., opponents of the death penalty will rally at the Park Strip Veterans Memorial at 9th and I Streets in Anchorage. The gathering is hosted by People of Faith and Alaskans Against the Death Penalty. Immediately following, cookies and coffee will be served at Holy Family Cathedral’s Education Center. For more information, contact Sue 276-4733 or Blanche 272-0638.
Catholics, Muslims to meet face-to-face
The Interfaith Council of Anchorage, St. Anthony Catholic Church and the Islamic Community Center of Anchorage will host a discussion for those interested in learning more about “one another’s beliefs, cultures and communities.” The exchange will take place on Oct. 21 at 6 p.m. at St. Anthony, 825 South Klevin Street. For more information, visit interfaithanchorage.org.
World Priest Day set for Oct. 26
Worldwide Marriage Encounter celebrates “World Priest Day” on Oct. 26. The group, which says the aim is “to celebrate and affirm the men who commit their lives to the Lord and the Church via the Sacrament of Holy Orders,” is urging the faithful to pray for all priests and deacons. In conjunction with World Priest Day, Worldwide Marriage Encounter’s Alaska affiliate sponsored a children’s poster contest with the theme, “We love our priests.” Over 30 entries came from Anchorage, the Valley and Kodiak. Elizabeth Spivey of St. Mary parish in Kodiak won first place. Antonia Brune of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Anchorage took second, and Josephine Schachle of Sacred Heart in Wasilla earned third.
Prayers for life
In the “40 Days for Life” campaign (Sep. 24 – Nov. 2), local residents are offering prayers and fasts for an end to abortion in America. In addition, during the 40 days, some are providing a prayerful presence and help to expectant moms in need outside Planned Parenthood and the Alaska Women’s Health PC (4001 and 4115 Lake Otis). For more information and to volunteer an hour, contact Christine Kurka at 306-3263 or ekurka@mtaonline.net. Also, visit 40daysforlife.com/anchorage.
Quilting and crafting for babies
Catholic Social Services is seeking submissions for its Quilt, Fiber & Wearable Arts exhibit and auction to benefit Pregnancy Support & Adoption Services. Projects submitted prior to Jan. 9 may be displayed at the First Friday art viewing on Feb. 6 at the Sugarspoon dessert café. The auction takes place Mar. 7 at the ConocoPhillips Atrium. For more information, contact Katie Bender at 222-7738 or kbender@cssalaska.org.
Book highlights refugees in Alaska
Catholic Social Services will publish a book based on its photographic exhibit, “Expressions of Refugee Youth,” which features refugees resettled by the CSS Refugee Assistance & Immigrations Services program. The coffee-table book – available in time for Christmas – costs $45. For more information, contact Katie Bender at 222-7738 or kbender@cssalaska.org.
Local Columns
Immigration is human reality
I cannot remember, a time in my life when I refused an invitation to a meal, much less an invitation to a banquet: Wedding banquets, engagement parties … I’ve attended them all. I love the food, refreshments and the good company.
I must confess also that I was once invited to attend a banquet in my own honor. Think of that, being invited to go to Chicago with Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz to accept the Lumen Christi Award for work in the Alaska missions! It is still all a mystery to me: Why me? Lots of others in the church of Alaska have done more and better.
Anyway, if I had responded to Archbishop Schwietz’ invitation by saying: “Well, Archbishop, you know I really have a lot of things to do. Besides, there are some lunker trout on the Kenai just waiting for my fly rod. You wouldn’t want me to miss that ‘banquet’ would you? Why don’t you just go down there to the Catholic Extension banquet and bring the award back with you, ok?”
The Scriptures: •1 Thessalonians 1:5c-10 •Matthew 22:34-40 |
Would you blame the Archbishop for saying: “Father, you get your stuff packed; we’re heading out on the red eye tomorrow night, ok?”
Bizarre as all this may sound, it is exactly the situation we encounter in Jesus’ story about a king who sends out his social committee members to invite his cronies to his son’s wedding banquet. You know the story, of course: The cronies of the king can’t be bothered with weddings. There are other important matters to attend to.
So, the king says to the social committee: “Forget about these “friends” of mine: Go out and hustle in all the ordinary folks out on the streets. Someone is definitely going to enjoy this banquet.”
So, what is this story all about? Actually, Jesus’ biblical stories always have a historical and local background. As you will notice, Jesus is in “dialog” with the priests and elders of the people, the ones in Israelite society who were responsible for leading the people to the banquet of the kingdom of God, a right that they have from their God. The implication here, then, is that these religious leaders, interpreters of God’s word were preventing the ordinary people from fulfilling their heart’s desire to experience kingdom-banquet. In short, they were irresponsible religious leaders. So, once again, the king says: “Listen, I’m tired of waiting; go out and bring in anyone you find. We’re having a banquet, no matter what.
What then are the implications of this banquet story? First of all, every individual has equal access before God to the kingdom. No one stands between God and His people; God is the host, God makes the decision as to who is invited. That, ultimately is God’s decision, not ours.
My question, therefore, is this: Who is responsible for inviting in the ordinary folks out there, out there on the street, people who have never so much as heard of God’s kingdom? Bishops, priests, RCAI directors, evangelization leaders? No, we’re all responsible, lay folks especially. They know who their neighbors and co-workers are, they know who the folks are who seem so lost.
The point is, we’re all responsible for helping one another into the kingdom-banquet. The table is immense, worldwide. It covers everyone who is still out there searching for answers to the experience of the sacred. And who’s the Host? The One who makes no distinctions between person and person. “Come as you are,” God says, “I’ve got a special seat just for you. The door is always open.”
Immigration won’t go away
When my brother was employed by the meat-packing industry several years ago, he told me the story of a raid by the Immigration and Naturalization Service on another company’s packing plant.
Many employees were found to be undocumented workers, and they were abruptly and unceremoniously loaded onto buses and shipped hundreds of miles south, across the border and deposited in Mexico.
Among the workers was a young mother whose child was left behind in the small Midwestern town where the plant was located. Within a week, my brother said, the woman had journeyed all the way back across the border to the Midwest to claim her child.
Your reaction to this story tells something about how you view the immigration issue in the U.S.
I had a variety of reactions, but my first one was a visceral response to a mother’s plight. I’m a mom. I can’t imagine what that bus ride south must have been like for that woman.
Who would watch her child? What would her baby think when Mommy didn’t come home that night? How would she manage to reunite with her child? I can imagine that mother girding her loins and resolving to get that baby back no matter the personal cost.
I also thought about the cruelty of a system that would so callously separate mother and child. What little respect for human dignity such a system evinces.
Another reaction, and I think the one that caused my brother to recount the story, was its reflection of how porous the borders were, how futile our efforts were at that time to secure our own borders. Is the answer a wall, a fence? Or is the answer to examine the economic problems on both sides of the border?
Then, there’s also the thought: How was the company punished, the company that took advantage of this undocumented but eager labor force? Just as the current Wall Street bailout leaves most Americans hoping the fat cat CEOs will have to pay a price and not be given that golden parachute, I want some accountability from the companies that benefit from undocumented workers, rather than make the poor worker bear the brunt of our “enforcement.”
There’s been little talk of immigration in the current presidential campaign. The second debate hasn’t been held yet as I write this, but my guess is it won’t get much play there, either, because the economy has given us other fish to fry.
And the economy has also slowed the tide of immigration. The Associated Press reported that the nation added only a half million immigrants in 2007, down from 1.8 million the year before. The reason? The U.S. economic slowdown. (Alaska’s immigration rates have continued to rise slowly.)
Since 1990, the U.S. has added an average of one million immigrants a year, including those here legally or illegally.
Despite our current preoccupation with other issues, we need to be reminded of our obligation to a fair system of immigration. A wonderful website that helps us understand our U.S. bishops’ proposals for immigration reform is www.justiceforimmigrants.org.
And here’s a message from Pope John Paul II, given in 1986. Think of that Mexican woman on the bus without her baby as you read it: “The Church repeats with insistence that. . .the protection of families, and particularly of those burdened by further difficulties of being migrants and refugees, constitutes an indispensable priority. . . ‘What God has joined together, let no one separate’ sounds like an implicit condemnation for a society that grants economic advantage to the detriment of moral values.”
The difference between diocesan and religious order priests
I hear you are a “diocesan” priest. What is the difference between a “diocesan” priest and a priest from a religious order like the Dominicans or Jesuits? How do I know if I should become a diocesan priest or join a religious order?
A vocation is a gift from God and a gift from the church. Each of us is created by God, and God’s will for each of us will unfold as our life unfolds. The three keys to vocational discernment are to be regular in prayer and in the sacramental life of the church, to be honest with yourself in where God seems to be leading you and to act on those inclinations by speaking with your spiritual director or pastor.
One of the first questions may be to discover how God is calling you to serve the church. The diocesan priesthood is distinct in that our primary affiliation is geographic. We are called to serve the church in a specific geographical area or “diocese” such as the Archdiocese of Anchorage.
For the diocesan priest, a sense of place is very important. For myself, there was never any question. Alaska is my home. I was born here and I was raised here. South central Alaska is where I want to live. Typically, a diocesan priest lives and serves in his diocese for his entire life, although with the permission of his bishop, he may help out in another diocese if there is a need. Here in the Anchorage Archdiocese, we have a number of these “extern” priests from other dioceses in the Midwest and the Philippines.
Throughout history, apostolic communities of men and women have arisen to address a particular need within the church at that time. Usually they were started by a charismatic founder under particular inspiration by the Holy Spirit.
St. Francis gathered his followers to witness to the value of evangelical poverty in the midst of a consumerist society. St. Dominic founded his order to preach the truth of the Gospel in the face of the Albigensian heresy in southern France. St. Ignatius saw the need for the re-evangelization of Europe and the spread of the Gospel in the New World and beyond. Mother Teresa founded her order to serve Christ in the poorest of the poor. Each order has its unique “charism” or gift that they are for the church.
So while a call to the diocesan priesthood is primarily geographic, a call to a religious community is primarily charismatic. Each makes its own unique gift to the life of the church. The key is to pray, to be honest and to act in order to discover God’s will.
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.
The Road to the Second Vatican Council
Editor’s note: This is the first in an ongoing series that explores the impact and significance of the Second Vatican Council.
As we begin our journey through the documents of the Second Vatican Council, it is important to understand the events of the mid-20th century.
The Catholic Church had just experienced two very long papacies (Pius XI 1922-39 and Pius XII 1939-58). When Blessed John XXIII was elected, many thought he would be a “transition” pontiff. He would provide a short, quiet period during which the church would determine how it would respond to the changing world. When elected, Angelo Cardinal Roncalli was one month short of his 77th birthday. Little did anyone realize how the Holy Spirit would work in his life.
On Jan. 25, 1959 (Feast of the Conversion of St. Paul, Blessed John XXIII announced his intention to call a church council. He used the term: “aggiornamento”. This Italian phrase means “to open the windows and allow some fresh air in.” He desired to have an ecumenical council, so he invited the Orthodox and our Protestant brothers and sisters to send observers.
While he did not formally say so, I think he saw this ecumenical council on a par with the early ecumenical councils of the church. (Nicaea: The Divinity of Christ; Constantinople: The Sacred Trinity; Ephesus: Mary the Mother of God; Chalcedon: The Hypostatic Union).
He also wanted a much broader level of participation than that of Trent (1545-65) and Vatican I (1870-71). More than 2,400 bishops and provincial superiors attended Vatican II. This compares to 750 at Vatican I and 258 at Trent.
It is also important to note how united the Church Fathers were during Vatican II. The document on Divine Revelation (“Dei Verbum”) had only six negative votes; the document on the Church (“Lumen Gentium”) had only five. The church was embracing change and development with a tremendous sense of unity.
So what was happening in the church and the world just prior to the convening of the Council?
In the church, two pioneering encyclicals were authored by Pius XII. In the 1943 encyclical “Divino Afflante Spirtu,” the pope gave permission to Catholic biblical scholars to use modern methods of scriptural interpretation. Prior to the encyclical, they were restricted to the Latin Vulgate translation. The pope acknowledged what was prepared at the Council of Trent and what was written by Pope Leo XIII in “Providentissimus Deus,” and indicated that the permission he was granting was in accord with their teachings.
This was momentous. Catholic researchers could now use the original Hebrew and Greek texts to re-translate the Vulgate. They could use the historical critical method to understand the different literary forms, the historical circumstances of the text and so forth. Modern biblical scholarship was born in the church.
The 1950 encyclical “Humani Generis” was also incredible for its time. It was truly forward-looking. The pope distinguishes the life of the soul from that of the body. It would take another 50 years with Pope John Paul II’s “Theology of the Body” to fully appreciate the magnificence of this decision. Catholics were now free to embrace the theory of evolution with respect to the physical body. What makes us fully human is the infusion of the eternal soul. The Holy Father went on to give Catholic scholars permission to embrace modern scientific methods so long as they observed the Rule of Faith.
On a difficult side was the silencing of some theological minds for teaching what was called “new theology.” These included Fathers Jean Danielou, Henri du Lubac, Yves Congar and John Courtney Murray. All were silenced; all obeyed the Church; all were incredibly valuable at Vatican II. Many of the ideas that were initially expounded in the late 1940s became official Church teaching in the 1960s. Danielou and du Lubac later were named Cardinals of the Church.
Out in the larger world, World War II had just ended but the Iron Curtain had also descended. Independence was coming to many of the former European colonies in Asia and Africa. There was a rapid rise in industrialization; parents worked away from home. Television had been invented; Sputnik had been launched. In the Congo, the “Missa Luba” had emerged and the Church would have to deal with the question of enculturation. The world was split between capitalism, communism and what was being called “the third way.” The Third World was seen as possibly providing an alternative to the two dominant systems.
Blessed John XXIII saw an opportunity for a “new epiphany” and convened Vatican II.
The writer is director of the Office of Evangelization and Worship and is also the associate publisher of the Catholic Anchor.
CAMPAIGN 2008: Questioning George Weigel on life
George Weigel’s Sept. 19 column proposes 18 “life issues” questions for presidential candidates. I have some “life issues” questions for him. Does he support or oppose the following:
1. Taxing Catholics to fund the School of the Americas/WHINSEC with its long history of teaching terrorists how to torture and murder Catholics?
2. Federal government-sponsored experiments with LSD and syphilis on innocent Americans?
3. “Rendition,” kidnapping innocent civilians and delivering them to torturers?
4. Torturing Guantanamo Bay and Abu Ghraib prisoners who can’t prove they’re not terrorists?
5. “Collective punishment,” inflicted by U.S. troops in Iraq and Israeli troops in Palestine who target whole groups of innocent people to retaliate for the acts of suspected combatants?
6. Setting an “acceptable” number of innocent civilians to be killed if U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan believe one of them may be a combatant?
7. The Catholic Catechism’s statement, “The arms race does not ensure peace. Far from eliminating the causes of war, it risks aggravating them?” Or is the arms race merely a military matter to which church teaching does not apply?
8. The contras, U.S. terrorists who murdered innocent civilians in Nicaragua to replace the democratically-elected government there with a coalition which included the Nicaragua Communist Party?
9. Church just-war doctrine requiring that the aggression by the enemy be certain? Can Weigel prove Iraq was certain to attack the U.S.? Do we conform secular politics to church teaching or conform church teaching to secular politics like the “Bush Doctrine?”
10. Military aid rewarding countries for killing: Jean Donovan, and Sisters Maura Clarke, Dorothy Kazel and Ita Ford in El Salvador in 1980; 34 American sailors in Israel’s unprovoked attack on the USS Liberty in 1967; and Rachel Corrie, attacked by a bulldozer in Israel in 2003? Does he agree with the Catholic Catechism that “those who cooperate voluntarily in murder commit a sin that cries out to heaven for vengeance?”
11. A “pre-emptive strike” on the only Middle Eastern country that has attacked the U.S. — Israel, which, unlike Iran, definitely has nukes?
12. The “Salvador Option,” the U.S. government’s plan to introduce El Salvador-type terrorists into Iraq?
13. Treating political murder in the name of “national security” as a political, not a moral, matter?
14. The decision that the half million Iraqis killed by U.S. economic sanctions were a necessary price to pay?
15. Treating abortion, stem cells, assisted suicide and euthanasia as the only “life issues” that should concern Catholics?
Deciding abortion’s a graver sin than murdering Catholics instead of opposing all murder?
And one final question:
17. Do Catholics have as much right to monitor the “life issue” behaviors of government officials in performing their duties as government officials do in monitoring ours?
If Weigel doesn’t consider the above as “life issues,” I suggest reading the Catholic Catechism chapter on the Fifth Commandment.
The author writes from Anchorage.
Churches should welcome Alaska Natives who move to the city
A hot topic these days is rural migration to the cities. Our Alaska Natives of this wonderful state are beginning to abandon their traditional way of life in order to make ends meet.
All of us suffer from inflated gas prices, which drive up food prices and shipping costs…and the dominoes just keep falling.
In a letter to Governor Sarah Palin, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich and Anchorage School District Superintendent Carol Comeau asked that an emergency task force be initiated to determine how both villages and cities can thrive — not just one or the other.
The recent Resource Rebates and Permanent Fund Dividend checks looked like a quick fix over the short term. But the short term has developed into an immediate need to help families bail out of their current situations. Some have sent their children to the cities to attend school. Other families have completely moved out of the village.
I spoke to Doreen Brown from the Office Indian Education. I wanted to know which areas of the city were heavily impacted by the Native exodus from rural Alaska. She said that as of Sept. 30, all the schools were impacted.
Four hundred students have been accepted into the school district and more are arriving as I type this piece.
Doreen said, on the average, 10 new students had been admitted to each school by Sept. 30. Because the numbers keep changing, there is no final count, but she did say that those schools with a high Native student population are more likely to be impacted: Muldoon Elementary, Tyson Elementary, North Star, East High, Bartlett High and West High, in general.
Why be concerned? Many Native Alaskans are Catholic Christians who will be searching for a friendly, welcoming face when they approach our churches and faith formation programs. Are we ready?
One of my dearest friends returned to the Catholic Church in recent years, after a long absence. She just felt the “urge,” as she put it, to go to church one Sunday. The person who greeted her welcomed my friend warmly and helped her get acquainted.
Since then, my Yupik Native friend has become a very active, vibrant leader in the church. Hospitality is the first face people meet when they enter that hallowed door on Sunday. And I’m not talking about ministers of hospitality who have that official “duty.” I’m talking about all of us. Be sensitive to new people. Help them feel at home. Give them a guided tour and introduce them to the major leaders of the community.
These are extremely challenging times in the history of our country and our state. We must be prepared to pray, and then to respond so that some day one of our Alaska Native brothers or sisters can say of us, “They made me feel at home.”
The writer is director of Alaska Native Ministry for the Archdiocese of Anchorage.
Editoral
No spiritual bailout
Gas prices are up – the economy is down. Global temperatures are rising – species are declining.
These reports are typical in mainsteam news cycles. And while thoughtful people disagree on how to respond, the actual issues seem to point to a fundamental flaw of our times.
It’s often said that we should “live within our means.” If you’re poor, you are forced to be thrifty, watch expenses and try not to waste anything.
If you’re middle class, living within your means might allow for a bit of extravagance, a little waste, a little self-indulgence.
For the wealthy, all of this is compounded.
The idea, however, is that you can spend and consume what you can reasonably afford.
In the global context, we Americans are the wealthy. Living within our means, often means we can reasonably consume tremendous amounts of goods and throw out whatever we don’t like. This is how many live.
But as Christians, we were never called to simply “live within our means” and consume whatever we can afford.
Pope John Paul II speaks to this in his 1991 encyclical “Centesimus Annus,” in which he addresses the new opportunities and dangers accompanying the collapse of the communist ideology. With new global market forces unleashed across the world, he cautioned about consumer attitudes and lifestyles that could be damaging physically and spiritually.
“It is not wrong to want to live better,” he wrote; “what is wrong is a style of life which is presumed to be better when it is directed towards ‘having’ rather than ‘being,’ and which wants to have more, not in order to be more but in order to spend life in enjoyment as an end in itself” (No. 36). “Equally worrying,” he goes on, “is the ecological question which accompanies the problem of consumerism and which is closely connected to it. In his desire to have and to enjoy rather than to be and to grow, man consumes the resources of the earth and his own life in an excessive and disordered way” (No. 37).
In as much as our current economic plight and threatened natural environments are products of indiscriminant consumerism and insatiable spending habits, our problems require a spiritual fix.
That sort of solution doesn’t begin with Congress or the president, it begins with a cultivation of virtue in the hearts of mankind.
Yes, we need regulations – we need the law, but only because our hearts are lawless.
If all we have are the regulations, however, the final results will be disappointing because for every regulation there is a loophole and a backdoor.
Its foolishness to think we can go on living without any thought to our God-given mandate to be stewards of creation and keepers of each other.
— Joel Davidson, editor
Letters to the Editor
You can’t divorce morality from politics
According to Blanche Crandall’s Sept. 5 letter to the editor, it seems she would divorce morality from politics.
The Nuremberg court would disagree that morality has no place in politics, as morality was the basis for punishing German war criminals.
In the matter of conscience, there are people who see nothing wrong with killing people, lying, etc. How does their conscience differ from a Catholic conscience? Simply put, a Catholic conscience is formed and based on the teaching of the Catholic Church which Catholics believe came from Jesus himself. To reject any important Catholic teaching is to say that it is in error and couldn’t come from Jesus. Abortion is the killing of an unborn baby. The church teaches that we have a responsibility for sins committed by others when we cooperate in them. This cooperation includes advising, praising or approving them.
In the middle ages, Machiavelli wrote that the end justifies the means. This is the same argument today that evil actions are justified for a good end. Bishops are completely justified in refusing communion to public officials regardless of political party or office who maintain that a Catholic can approve or promote abortion in any manner. To promote this error publicly, is to cause scandal and create confusion on the part of non-Catholics and Catholics who have not been fully taught their faith. Science has clearly shown that the unborn baby is truly human and to kill that baby is an intrinsic evil.
May we all pray that the scourge of abortion will soon end.
Anchorage
Updated policy on Letters to the Editor
The Catholic Anchor welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be limited to 300 words and include the writer’s full name and city of residence. For verification purposes only, we also need contact information for each letter writer, which will not be published. Letters should not disparage the character of any individual but rather stick to the issues at hand and refer to articles, letters and opinion pieces that have been published in the Catholic Anchor. Letters may not endorse a specific political candidate or political party. Letters may be edited for length, taste and clarity. The Anchor does not publish letters that directly challenge clear and established church teaching.