April 3, 2009 - Issue #7
Local News | Opinion/Editorials | Letters to the Editor
Local News
Celebrating holy week
Foundations of Christian faith
The holiest week of the year is fast approaching.
However important is Christmas, “the heart of the liturgical year” is the Easter Triduum — Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter.
In a March 2008 address, Pope Benedict XVI explained that across these days, Christians celebrate and “share in the mystery of Christ’s suffering, death and resurrection.”
It is a week that highlights the basis of faith for Christians and the hope of salvation for humankind.
Celebrating the Easter Triduum should first “deepen our conversion to Christ, particularly through the sacrament of Reconciliation,” said the pope.
To that end, around Easter, many Catholic churches — including in the Archdiocese of Anchorage — provide increased opportunities for confession.
Many parishes host a communal reconciliation service, where after penitential prayers and a short sermon, Catholics individually receive the sacrament of penance in confession with one of a number of priests, some of whom are bilingual.
On March 22, Dominican pastor Father Francis Le cheerfully reminded Mass-goers at Holy Family Cathedral that “you can go talk to a psychiatrist, but a psychiatrist can’t forgive sins.”
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Catholics must go to confession “at least” once a year — to worthily receive the Eucharist and to continue Baptism’s “work of conversion and forgiveness.”
Also, Catholics must receive the Eucharist at least once a year, during the Easter season. It “guarantees as a minimum the reception of the Lord’s Body and Blood in connection with the Paschal feast, the origin and center of Christian liturgy.”
The first day of the great Paschal feast is Holy Thursday — this year, April 9. At the Mass of the Lord’s Supper, the church commemorates the institution of the Holy Eucharist — the Body and Blood of Christ – at the Last Supper in the Upper Room with his Apostles.
During Holy Thursday Mass, the priest traditionally washes the feet of 12 people, as Christ did for his Apostles that night.
And parishes receive holy oil (or chrism) previously blessed by the archbishop or bishop for the anointing of the sick and those being baptized and confirmed through the year.
After Mass, the remaining sacred hosts are transferred — by procession — to an “altar of repose,” where people venerate Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament. According to the church’s Directory on Popular Piety, visiting the altar of repose is “an invitation to silent and prolonged adoration of the wondrous sacrament instituted by Jesus on this day.”
In some areas, the custom is to make an adoration visit at one’s own parish and then continue with visits to other area parishes.
Also after Mass, the church’s main altar is stripped bare of its linens and the holy water in the church’s fonts is removed — as the faithful prepare for Good Friday.
On Good Friday, the church celebrates the redemptive death of Jesus Christ. Christians meditate on the Passion, pray for the salvation of the world, adore the Cross and, according to the Directory, commemorate the church’s “very origin in the sacred wound in Christ’s side.”
The church gathers for the Liturgy of the Lord’s Passion, which includes a reading of a Gospel account of the Passion, Holy Communion and the Veneration of the Cross.
In that tradition, a priest or deacon holds a wood cross while the faithful process to him at the entrance of the sanctuary — as if to receive Communion. There each person reverences the cross — with a kiss or a bow.
In some places, Christians participate in other Good Friday devotions, as well. Especially from noon to 3 p.m. — the hour at which Christ died, some silently meditate, pray the Stations of the Cross or participate in a Passion play or Good Friday procession.
A Passion play is an unbloody reenactment of the Lord’s Passion. And a Good Friday procession is a representation of the procession of Christ’s friends and disciples who, after the crucifixion, carried his body to the tomb — as described in the Gospel of St. Luke.
Another tradition is the memorial of Our Lady of Dolours (or sorrows). Following the Gospel accounts of the Passion, the faithful remember the Blessed Virgin’s association with the saving Passion of her son. In one such tradition, Ora della Desolata, the faithful keep vigil with Mary as she receives her son’s dead body. The faithful realize “that the sorrow of the world for the Lord’s death finds expression in Mary.”
Christian hope “Who is it that you are looking for?” (John 20:14) The first disciples of Jesus were confused. The leap to faith was so great a stretch. The tomb was empty, the body gone. Where was Jesus? What had happened? God has confounded our human expectations. The arrogance of the human intellect has been challenged. Christ is risen as he said. Death where is your victory? As we once again prepare to celebrate the great event of our Lord’s resurrection, we seek the renewed hope that this event brings. Our God is with us and has joined our human family to redeem us. There is reason for hope here. Rejoice! May the joy of the resurrection of Jesus fill your hearts and strengthen you to live the Gospel of hope. Best wishes for Easter, — Archbishop Roger Schwietz |
On Holy Saturday, the church awaits — with prayer and fasting — the resurrection of Christ.
Then, after nightfall, the Easter Vigil begins. According to a centuries-old Christian tradition, a fire outside the darkened church is blessed. Then the Paschal candle is lighted by the fire and carried in.
According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, the Paschal candle symbolizes “the light of Christ, rising in glory, scattering the darkness of our hearts and minds.”
Indeed, in his 2008 Holy Saturday homily, Pope Benedict XVI remarked, “Through his radical love for us, in which the heart of God and the heart of man touched, Jesus Christ truly took light from heaven and brought it to the earth — the light of truth and the fire of love that transform man’s being. He brought the light, and now we know who God is and what God is like. Thus we also know what our human situation is: what we are, and for what purpose we exist.”
“God’s light enters into us,” he continued, “thus we ourselves become children of light. We must not allow this light of truth, that shows us the path, to be extinguished.”
To that end, during the Mass, the faithful renew their baptismal promises. “We rekindle this light, so to speak,” added the pope.
Also, a number of Old and New Testament accounts are read at Mass to detail the dramatic deeds of salvation history. And those who have prepared for baptism are baptized and Christians ready to come into full communion with the church are confirmed.
At Mass on Easter Sunday, the church proclaims the risen Christ and his triumph over sin and death. On this most important day for the world, at each Mass, there is a full complement of liturgical ministers, liturgical music and the sprinkling of holy water on the congregation, a tradition that recalls Baptism.
After Mass on Easter Sunday, there are a number of Christian traditions such as the blessing of eggs — a symbol of joy and new life — and the blessing of the family table.
In addition, the blessing of family homes during the Easter season is a “pastoral practice” the church highly recommends to parish priests to help “exhort parents and children to preserve and promote the mystery of being a ‘domestic church.’”
Also, Easter is the season of a devotion to the Divine Mercy, as described by St. Faustina Kowalska. Starting Good Friday, many faithful around the world pray a novena — a series of prayers said across nine days — focusing on the mercy that comes from Christ’s death and resurrection. The prayers end on the Second Sunday of Easter or Divine Mercy Sunday, as Pope John Paul II named it, with a special prayer service at church.
Global partnership continues to evolve
Partnership with Cotabato began four years ago
Four years into what many hope to be a long-term relationship, the partnership between the Archdiocese of Cotabato, Philippines and the Archdiocese of Anchorage, Alaska continues to evolve.
“We’ve really been blessed in this relationship,” said Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz, who signed the Catholic Relief Services-facilitated solidarity partnership with Cotabato Archbishop Orlando Quevedo in November 2004. “We are already beginning to profit from it, and we will achieve greater profit in the future.”
The profit the archbishop speaks of is the gift of greater understanding between two different cultures. Cotabato has experienced armed violence since the 1970s, where both Muslim and Christian residents are sometimes at odds with one another. Despite — and maybe because of — this, Cotabato is a very faith-filled place.
“Those in the Philippines live their faith publicly, which is sometimes the opposite of American culture,” Archbishop Schwietz told the Anchor. “So often we are told to live our faith privately, outside of the public square. I don’t think this is a good thing.”
Through the global solidarity partnership, the two archdioceses have focused on sharing both practical resources and mutual concern — achieved through partnership projects and delegation visits from both archdioceses.
For Cotabato, the partnership has made it possible for the Archdiocese to realize an aspect of its mission identity, Archbishop Quevedo said in an email to the Anchor.
“ I believe that this would be the greatest result of the program,” he wrote. “We know that the whole church is missionary. For this reason, our archdiocesan vision-mission statement implies the need for our local church to be more missionary conscious.”
But sending priests out from the Cotabato Archdiocese is not without its challenges, Archbishop Quevedo added.
“We need personnel to take care of some 800,000 Catholics (in the Cotabato Archdiocese),” he said. “It is to the credit of our diocesan clergy that they have been willing, despite our personnel shortage, to help us meet the need for priests in Anchorage.”
He added that the religious and lay people in Cotabato “have likewise shown their missionary consciousness by regularly praying the prayer composed for the Global Solidarity Network.”
He added: “Praying not only for missions in the abstract but for the particular church communities in Anchorage makes mission prayer more concrete and meaningful.”
One such gift is the sharing of two priests from Cotabato, who have been on loan to the Anchorage Archdiocese since 2006.
“I don’t bring a different doctrine, but I do bring a new relationship with people here,” explained Father Ben Torreto who, along with Father Jaime Mencias, just signed another three-year commitment to stay in Alaska until 2012. “It’s more of a sharing of what we have in common, not a comparing but relating with the ministries we have in each archdiocese.”
Father Torreto has served at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Anchorage, St. Andrew Church in Eagle River and at St. Michael Church in Palmer. Currently, he is at St. Anthony Church in Anchorage.
Joanne Rousculp, director of faith formation at St. Michael, said she enjoyed the conversations and sharing that took place with Father Torreto about his life and the people of Cotabato.
“It just broadens our perspective and it helps us go beyond ourselves; they may be far away, but they are still our brothers and sisters in Christ. It’s an awesome way to be in solidarity with one another,” she explained. “When people develop relationships we can’t help but respect each other even more. It makes you change your mindset of, us and them — there is just us.”
“The project just gives us something to be in relationship with — it’s not the goal,” said Bonnie Cler, Catholic Relief Services director for the Archdiocese of Anchorage and chair of the Global Solidarity Partnership Committee. “Global solidarity partnerships allow us to have a relationship with our brothers and sisters on a global level. It’s not so much about relief work, though that sometimes is a project, but more about sharing our gifts of ourselves.”
One of the challenges of the partnership is getting those relationships to grow even more among the laity of the two archdioceses. Archbishops Schwietz and Quevedo, along with Father Torreto and Cler all agree that improving communication will play an important role in the future of the partnership, whether through individual emails or newsletters in each archdiocese.
“As electronic communication is made more and more dependable and reliable, the person-to-person contact can happen and the interpersonal dialogue can increase,” said Archbishop Schwietz.
More delegation visits would also develop deeper partnerships as well, added Archbishop Quevedo.
“Unfortunately, it is not possible for us to send people to Anchorage regularly because of our financial situation,” he said. “But we would most welcome people from Anchorage to visit us more frequently.”
He added that Cotabato might be able to offer suggestions for the pastoral care of Alaskan Natives.
“(I) know that the situation of indigenous peoples in Anchorage is quite different from that of our own indigenous peoples, here, (but) perhaps some exchanges on the pastoral care of indigenous peoples would also be good for the Global Solidarity Partnership,” he said.
Conflict resolution and peace building are other avenues where the two dioceses might share experiences.
Currently the partnership is planning a summer delegation visit of at least two youth from Cotabato, with a focus on sharing knowledge about peace building and conflict resolution. Father Torreto says he hopes at least one of the youth will be from the community of Pikit, where armed conflict in 2003 devastated properties and homes, but not faith.
“They (Pikit residents) believe in the peace-building vehicle for restoration of respect. Not by bullets and guns but by dialogue,” said Father Torreto.
Father Torreto and Cler are working to identify youth from the Anchorage Archdiocese to participate in the upcoming visit, which will include sharing about youth violence in Alaska and the violence and peace-building efforts in Cotabato. The dialogue will take place through workshops and other get-togethers throughout the archdiocese. Fund raising efforts are also needed to support the visit.
“It takes a great deal of money to do delegation visits, peace-building retreats and other projects,” explained Cler. Both she and Father Torreto said they are excited to see the youth involved in the partnership, a goal identified during the last visit to Cotabato in 2007.
“We want more parishes, more priests and more lay people to get involved,” said Father Torreto. “We all can’t travel to Cotabato, but we can support the program, we can make it part of our ministry.”
At Bishop’s Attic, second-hand treasures build the kingdom
Thrift store contributes $300,000 a year to Anchorage Archdiocese
It might not be apparent at first, but a definite connection exists between vintage clothing and spreading the Gospel of Christ in the Anchorage Archdiocese.
Nearing lunchtime on a recent Wednesday at Bishop’s Attic in Anchorage, a cheerful, young cashier checked out a steady stream of customers. Standing in line and waiting to pack home newly found thrift store treasures were some of the area’s rich, poor, families and students — an eclectic mix. But then the popular second-hand store – with its gray cement floors and exposed air ducts suspended from the ceiling — is unremarkable in appearance only. Indeed, in the humble project of re-selling donated, gently-used goods, Bishop’s Attic has become a powerhouse in the work of helping spread the Gospel in Alaska.
Bishop’s Attic was founded in 1971 by Beverly Walsh of Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, the late Minnie Swalling and 11 other ladies who had annually hosted the Bishop’s Tea — a fund-raiser for the Anchorage Archdiocese’s seminarians’ fund. Each year, they raised about $800, Walsh explained in an interview with the Anchor.
Thinking they could do more for the young diocese, the group formed a non-profit corporation for a thrift store and started gathering items and volunteers. Aside from the Salvation Army’s, theirs was the only thrift store in town.
The first year, the group sent $16,000 to the archdiocese. Now they send about $300,000 a year.
Bishop’s Attic in Anchorage is not to be confused with similarly named stores in Palmer and Soldotna, which assist local parishes and charities in those areas.
According to archdiocesan chancellor and chief financial officer Sister Charlotte Davenport, most years, Bishop’s Attic of Anchorage makes the largest single donation to the annual Bishop’s Appeal. In 2008, the store’s giving constituted five percent of the archdiocese’s total funding.
Ten percent of the contribution supports the archdiocese’s seminarians; the rest goes to Catholic Social Services, rural parishes and programs through the offices of Evangelization and Worship and Stewardship and Development.
As to the store’s tremendous success, “We offer people bargains and we keep the quality up,” said Walsh, who has managed Bishop Attic’s accounts from the beginning.
Store manager Marilyn Irrigoo mused, “Where are you going to get ladies’ pants for 20 cents?”
In turning cast-off clothing, unused sports equipment and purses bought on a whim into others’ useful treasures, they have practiced “good stewardship,” explained Sister Davenport.
“If there’s some use for it, we try to use it,” noted Walsh.
Good buttons on a worn-out shirt are removed and sold in packages for a $1. Raggedy tops are cut into rags – especially popular with mechanics.
Plus, “it’s a homey place to shop,” said Irrigoo. “There are a lot of lonely people. They come here to hear our laughter, and we get to know them by name.”
Customers include, lawyers, college students, the unemployed and “ladies from Hillside” — including one who, incredulous Irrigoo said, drives an Escalade.
“We don’t give anything away,” added Irrigoo, but “we do our best to help anyone in genuine need.” That includes people who have only 35 cents in their pocket, she said.
Thirty-five cents can secure a pair of jeans or a girl’s dress. A name-brand, Italian-made sweater goes for $3.50, a man’s winter coat for $15. A brand-new purse with its original price tag is $2.50. Typically, items that stay on the floor more than two months are marked down by half, and then three of that item go for $1.
Tina Harness, full-time mother, UAA nursing student and part-time waitress, comes in every other week. On Wednesday, the busy thrift shopper who likes “a lot of vintage,” carried in her handbasket some ceramic mugs – 40 cents each, a “hoodie,” ski pants and silverware. She told the Anchor she expected the total under $10 – a typical Bishop’s Attic shopping bill, she noted.
Walsh said some shoppers come in two or three times in a day “to make sure they haven’t missed anything.”
There are pots and pans, glassware, calculators, picture frames, videos, lamps, skis and ski boots, bikes, bed frames, art work, couches, taffeta party dresses, large-screen TVs, books, pianos and bird cages.
For its inventory, Bishop’s Attic accepts donations from the public during business hours at 1100 Gambell Street. On request, on Tuesdays and Thursdays, it provides a pick-up service.
Bishop’s Attic accepts anything except hazardous materials, big appliances, computers and TVs produced before 2000.
The store also accepts cars, campers, leather coats from stores clearing out inventories and hundreds of mattresses and pallets of pillows from BP’s oil operations on the North Slope – plus, “donations mailed in from the Bush” from “very, very devout Catholics,” said Irrigoo, who is Presbyterian.
“Everything that human beings own,” summarized Walsh.
That included a rare, valuable statue Walsh found once sorting a box of household items, a job she does still every Saturday.
And then, there was the stash of $26,500 – in hundred-dollar bills – an employee found in a bag and a suitcase from estate items donated to the store. Walsh was able to locate and return the cash to the family of the lady, who before her death, had been secretly building the emergency fund.
In contrast, Irrigoo recalled finding a sofa “completely duct-taped” waiting outside the store one morning – a humbling example of how much one family needed and used a couch, she said, and how much they wanted to help another family just like them.
For more information about Bishop’s Attic, call the store at 279-6328.
Palm Sunday traditions
On Palm Sunday, the Catholic Church recalls Jesus’ messianic entrance into Jerusalem. The commemoration takes place on the final Sunday of Lent – a week before Easter. This year, it falls on April 5.
Days before his crucifixion, Christ rode into Jerusalem on a small donkey, while a large crowd gathered around him, throwing cloaks and palm branches on the road as he passed by. The crowds exclaimed: “‘Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest.” (Mt 21: 9)
According to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, Jesus’ triumphant entry “manifested the coming of the kingdom that the King-Messiah was going to accomplish by the Passover of his Death and Resurrection.”
Accounts of Christ’s entrance are in each of the four Gospels, and it is foreshadowed in the Old Testament as well.
Psalm 24 says, “Lift up your heads, O gates; rise up, you ancient portals, that the king of glory may enter.” And the ninth chapter of Zechariah exclaims, “Rejoice heartily, O daughter Zion, shout for joy, O daughter Jerusalem! See, your king shall come to you; a just savior is he, Meek, and riding on an ass, on a colt, the foal of an ass.”
Recalling Christ’s procession into Jerusalem, Palm Sunday Mass begins with a blessing of palms which the faithful hold as they process into the church.
According to The Catholic Encyclopedia, palm branches have been used by many peoples as an emblem of joy and victory over enemies. In Christianity, they are a sign of victory over the flesh and the world.
Since the palms are blessed, they should be taken home after Mass and used as sacramentals – which according to the Catholic Catechism are “sacred signs instituted by the Church” that help prepare people “to receive the fruit of the sacraments and sanctify different circumstances of life.”
According to the church’s Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, palms are kept in the home “as a witness to faith in Jesus Christ, the messianic king, and in his Paschal Victory.”
After Palm Sunday Mass, many fashion the palm into a cross and then affix it to religious artwork or tuck it behind a crucifix. Throughout history, the blessed palms have been placed in prominent places in homes, barns and at gravesites.
According to tradition, the faithful may return the blessed palms to church to be burned, the ashes of which are used on Ash Wednesday.
For more about Palm Sunday and its historical traditions, see the Catholic Catechism at vatican.va/archive/catechism/p122a3p3.htm.
Diocese of Juneau installs new bishop
Edward Burns the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Juneau
Hundreds of people gathered April 2 at St. Paul the Apostle Catholic Church to witness and participate in the installation of the fifth bishop of the Diocese of Juneau.
In a centuries-old rite, the letter of Pope Benedict XVI appointing Bishop Burns, inscribed in Latin on sealed parchment, was first presented to the priests of the diocese and then to the assembled congregation.
Bishop Edward J. Burns then received the crosier, a sign of his pastoral office, from Archbishop Roger Schwietz of Anchorage shortly after the 3 p.m. ceremony began and officially took over the position that has been vacant since Bishop Michael Warfel was installed as bishop of Great Falls-Billings, Mont. in January 2008. Bishop Burns will oversee about 7,300 Catholics in 11 parishes, which includes nine priests, three deacons and two other clergy.
“It is a great honor to stand before you as the fifth bishop of Juneau, Alaska,” Bishop Burns said to a voracious round of applause.
Pope Benedict XVI appointed Bishop Burns on Jan. 12 after the Diocese of Juneau had been without a bishop for a year. Bishop Burns was officially ordained as a bishop on March 3 at Saint Paul’s Cathedral in Pittsburgh, where he is from.
Thursday’s ceremony, which was held on the anniversary of the death of Pope John Paul II, was attended by Archbishop Pietro Sambi, the Apostolic Nuncio of the Vatican to the United States. He is the Vatican’s chief representative to the country.
“At this important moment of your life and that of the Diocese of Juneau, we offer you our heartfelt congratulations and personal best wishes,” Archbishop Sambi said to Bishop Burns.
During the ceremony, Archbishop Sambi read an English translation of the Apostolic Mandate written by Pope Benedict XVI and sent to Juneau for the installation ceremony.
“Be steadfast in faith, joyful in hope and especially fervent in charity, the queen of all virtues. In addition, may a piece of Christ be with you and the ecclesial community in Juneau,” Archbishop Sambi translated from the pope’s message.
After the Apostolic Mandate was read, the neatly written scroll was shown to the archbishop, to the diocesan College of Consultors and to the chancellor of the diocese before it was carried around and shown to all those in attendance.
“We all gather in this ritual, which is a very ancient ceremony filled with symbol and at the same time so tied to the Catholic Church,” Bishop Burns said after being officially installed.
He commented on the importance of a document signed by the pope in Rome and sent to Juneau to help celebrate a new bishop for the diocese.
“I have accepted this honor, this challenge, this adventure and I so look forward to working with all of you along with my brothers that together we as church can bring forth and manifest God’s kingdom,” Bishop Burns said.
The following bishops also participated in the celebration: Archbishop Francis Hurley, retired Archbishop of Anchorage and former Bishop of Juneau; Bishop Michael Warfel, Bishop of Great Falls-Billings, Montana, and former Bishop of Juneau; Bishop Donald Kettler of Fairbanks; Bishop David Zubik of Pittsburgh; Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Washington; Bishop Michael Driscoll of Boise, Idaho; and Bishop Gary Gordon of Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. Priests and deacons from Alaska and other parts of the United States also participated.
Bishop Burns was born Oct. 7, 1957, in Pittsburgh. He was ordained a priest in 1983 for the Diocese of Pittsburgh and has held many positions within the church. Bishop Burns most recently served as rector of St. Paul Seminary in suburban Pittsburgh.
He said prior to taking the post in Juneau, he read about many explorers who came to Southeast Alaska and spiritual adventurers who first brought the Catholic faith to the region. He remarked on Alaska’s first Catholic Church, established in Wrangell in 1879, and the establishment of the Diocese of Juneau by Pope Pius XII in 1951.
“I stand before you wanting to continue the exploration, an exploration of my own soul and my relationship with Jesus Christ,” Bishop Burns said.
He said he is looking forward to the “time of formation” to learn his new responsibilities and duties that it takes to be a bishop. At one point in the ceremony, the new bishop mistakenly said Pittsburgh instead of Juneau as he spoke about the new diocese he has been assigned, which drew some light chatter from the audience.
“You are looking at a rookie bishop,” he quipped as people laughed and applauded.
Burns told the crowd he plans to travel to parishes throughout the diocese and meet with people in Ketchikan, Klawock, Hoonah, Sitka, Yakutat and other villages.
“I’m looking forward to gathering around the tables of this diocese - the kitchen tables, the dining room tables ... in all the small villages. I look forward to coming and gaining a sense of what it is to be a bishop,” he said.
— The Catholic Anchor contributed to this report
Faith groups urge Palin to reconsider stimulus funds
Despite volcanic ash that prevented the commissioner of Alaska’s Department of Education and Early Development from flying to the event from Juneau, more than 100 people gathered at St. Anthony Church in Anchorage on March 29 to address native education issues.
Foremost on their minds were the proposed federal stimulus funds, and Gov. Sarah Palin’s suggestion that she might refuse to accept a portion of the federal money slated for education.
Nearly 20 people testified. Many of those identified themselves as Alaskan Natives with roots in places as diverse as Chevak, Bethel, Shismaref and Wales. Some were professional educators, other parents. Some were interested community members like Catholic Social Services Executive Director Susan Bomalaski.
All had a common theme — to urge Gov. Palin to accept the education stimulus money in order to assist Native Alaskan students struggling with the educational system throughout the state.
Carol Beecher, Gov. Palin’s scheduler, filled in for Commissionor Larry LeDoux and rural affairs adviser John Moller, both unable to attend due to the Anchorage airport closure.
Susie Delgado, an Inupiaq Eskimo, gave the opening remarks on behalf of the Alaska Catholic and Lutheran Native Organizing Ministry, which sponsored the forum as part of Anchorage Faith and Action Congregations Together, a faith-based community organizing group to which several local Catholic parishes belong.
Delgado explained the “grim statistics” on Alaska Native drop-out rates — more than 30 percent and worse than other minority groups. She said, “we have worked hard and have proposed ways to better serve our students. But often we’re told about the budgetary problems.”
Lutheran Bishop Michael Keyes, who serves on a city committee that addresses gang related issues, asked Beecher to “please take this back to the governor. This issue (of funding) is directly tied to issues down the road, like gang activity and incarceration.”
Sister of Charity Donna Kramer, of Catholic Native Ministry, presented the results of a research project on Native education.
Since 2005, when more than 300 people met with Anchorage School Superintendent Carol Comeau to address the unique problems facing Native students, very little progress has been made in boosting proficiency scores or slowing the drop-out rate.
“The educational system isn’t working for our students,” Sister Kramer said.
A pilot project at Williwaw Elementary School in Anchorage involving home visitation showed promise and has proved successful in California, Sister Kramer said. It would be cost effective to implement this program through teacher training in other schools, she added.
A telling moment occurred during the meeting when Delgado asked anyone who had a child experiencing difficulty in school to stand. Several people did. When she asked those with young relatives imperiled in the public schools to stand, many more did. By the time she asked anyone who knew of a Native student struggling with education, most of the crowd was standing.
Beecher said she would relay the group’s comments to LeDoux, Moller and Gov. Palin.
Parish profile series Editor’s note: This is part of a series on parishes Number of parishioners: 4,300 parishioners and about 1,100 registered families. Pastor: Father Tom Lilly is resident pastor. Little-known facts: In 1987, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton’s first church building collapsed during a morning Mass. According to parish staff, during the Mass, Father Stan Allie heard some ominous noises. He urged the congregation to flee, and as the last person was out the door, Father Allie felt a rush of wind on his back as the roof fell in. Miraculously, no one was injured. Another little known fact: the former parish of St. Paul Miki was merged into St. Elizabeth Ann Seton. Hence, the St. Paul Miki Council of the Knights of Columbus at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton – and a multi-purpose facility called the Miki Center. History: In 1975, the parish of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton was established. The first church building and hall were dedicated in 1980; shortly thereafter, the parish opened an elementary school. After the church collapsed in 1987, the parish held liturgies in warehouses until the present church was completed in 1990. In 1999, the parish added a multi-purpose facility that includes classrooms and offices. Outreaches: Regularly, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton’s Outreach Committee takes food to Clare House, St. Francis House and Brother Francis Shelter, collects thousands of pounds of goods for immigrant and needy families and responds to a myriad of individual requests for material help. The parish’s faith formation classes host a monthly “Community Sunday” which involves the parish in community service projects. A recent Community Sunday involved filling over 100 homemade baby blankets with baby goods, from clothing to bottles and diapers, and delivering them to organizations that assist pregnant mothers and babies in need. In addition, in 2007, parish teens traveled to New Orleans to help provide relief after Hurricane Katrina, and is involved with Habitat for Humanity. One percent of the parish’s weekly collection goes to charities, as does the “Young Parishioners’” collection. The Blessed Sacrament is taken to the homebound. Also, the church hosts a parish health ministry as well as speakers and events on social justice issues. Of all the area’s Catholic parishes in 2008, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton donated the greatest amount of blood to the American Red Cross. The parish also oversees a K-6 elementary school. Devotional practices/celebrations: Since June 2005, the parish has hosted 24-hour perpetual adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. In addition, parishioners pray the rosary after the weekday Masses. During Lent, the parish hosts soup suppers and Stations of the Cross. In Advent, parishioners participate in the Filipino tradition of Simbang Gabi, a novena of Masses leading up to Christmas. Annually, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton school hosts a May crowing to honor the Blessed Mother. At least once a year, the church hosts parish missions. In various seasons, parishioners attend communal penance services as well as prayer services with several area churches. Successful programs: The church regularly enrolls several hundred children, youth and adults in the parish’s faith formation classes. The parish’s Scripture study courses and its Vacation Bible School are especially successful. In addition, the social committee is highly active, sponsoring an event every month, such as the Lenten Fish Fry, a Christmas party with sleigh rides and a visit from Santa and a chili cook-off. And the parish’s busy Knights of Columbus council has served over 80,000 pancakes since their monthly pancake breakfasts began in 2003. Also, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton regularly hosts a variety of large local and archdiocesan events, including the annual Alaska Catholic Youth Conference, the Alaska Catholic Family Conference and the upcoming Called and Gifted Discernment Workshop sponsored by the Catherine of Siena Institute. Learn more: For more information about St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, call 345-4466 or visit akseas.net. |
News & Notes
Good Friday Faith Walk in Anchorage
All are invited by the Archdiocese of Anchorage to participate in the annual Good Friday Faith Walk through the city of Anchorage April 10. Starting from various locations in Anchorage, the faithful walk and pray the Stations of the Cross until they convene at the Town Square to pray the final station together. For starting sites and times, call 297-7711.
Talk on Jesus of Nazareth, April 17
On April 17, Theology and Brew will host Father Thomas Brundage, JCL, moderator of the curia and judicial vicar for the Archdiocese of Anchorage, who will deliver a presentation on Jesus of Nazareth. Drawing on the reflections of Pope Benedict XVI, Father Brundage will address issues such as Jesus’ humanity, divinity and his ability to know and fulfill his mission. The talk – which is free and open to the public – will take place at Sal’s Diner on Sterling Highway in Soldotna. Doors open at 7 p.m.; the talk begins at 7:30 p.m.
Refugees in need
Catholic Social Services Refugee Assistance and Immigration Services seeks mentor families – and others – to help refugee families new to Alaska. In March, Catholic Social Services is settling Somalian and Burmese refugees who have had to flee their home countries to save their lives; they are designated by the United Nations with official refugee status. For more information, contact Melissa Bartley of CSS at 222-7344 or mbartley@cssalaska.org.
Adoption workshop begins soon
April 17-19 Catholic Social Services is hosting a biannual adoption workshop. Attendance at one of the conferences is required for those seeking to adopt through CSS. It is open, as well, to anyone exploring the possibility of adoption. The workshop is $300 a couple. Workshop materials, lunch and snacks are included. For more information, call Liz Burke at 222-7314.
Divine Mercy service open to public
All are invited to the Divine Mercy Sunday service on Apr. 19, 2:30-4:30 p.m., at Holy Cross Church in Anchorage (at Lake Otis and Lore Street). Based on private revelations to the mystic St. Faustina Kowalska, canonized by Pope John Paul II in 2000, the second Sunday of Easter was designated by the pope as Divine Mercy Sunday.
According to the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, the feast of mercy is “a perennial invitation to the Christian world to face, with confidence in divine benevolence, the difficulties and trials that mankind will experience in the years to come.” Divine Mercy prayer services include the recitation of the Divine Mercy chaplet and litany as well as an opportunity for confession.
For more information about Divine Mercy Sunday, visit ewtn.com/devotionals/ mercy/feast.htm. For more on the service at Holy Cross, call the church at 349-8388.
Conference on sex trafficking in Alaska
A conference titled, “Stop Sex Trafficking in the Last Frontier – A Community Awareness Workshop” will be held Apr. 18, 9 a.m.-3 p.m., at Lutheran Church of Hope, 1847 W. Northern Lights Blvd.
The event is hosted by the ecumenical group Church Women United. Registration is $15. For more information, contact Linda Heim at 345-0204 or lindaheim@att.net.
Dominican Rite Mass April 4
On April 4 at 12 p.m., the Dominican Rite Mass will be celebrated at Holy Family Cathedral. The ancient Dominican Mass – which is said in Latin – predates the Tridentine liturgy (or extraordinary form of the Mass). For more information, call 276-3455.
Pope urges adoration of Eucharist
VATICAN CITY (ZENIT)— Pope Benedict XVI is calling for a renewal of eucharistic adoration, which he said helps to bring about a “fundamental transformation.”
The pope said this March 13, upon receiving in audience participants in the plenary assembly of the Congregation for Divine Worship and the Sacraments, who have been meeting to consider the question of eucharistic adoration.
The pontiff said he hoped the meeting would help to clarify how the church of our time can promote faith in the real presence of the Lord in the Blessed Eucharist, and to ensure that the celebration of Mass fully incorporates the aspect of adoration.”
“The doctrine of the transubstantiation of the bread and wine, and of the real presence, are a truth of faith,” the Holy Father affirmed, “already evident in sacred Scripture and later confirmed by the Fathers of the Church.”
Citing his address at the 2005 World Youth Day in Cologne, Germany, Pope Benedict XVI explained that in the Eucharist, “God no longer simply stands before us as the One who is totally Other. He is within us, and we are in him.”
Alaska Catholic Youth Conference now registering
The Alaska Catholic Youth Conference (ACYC) is scheduled for June 1-4 at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church. The popular, annual youth conference will include eucharistic liturgies, opportunities for the sacrament of reconciliation, service projects, a concert, workshops with local and national speakers and social activities. It opens with Mass on Jun. 1 with four bishops: Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz, Anchorage Archbishop Emeritus Francis Hurley, new Juneau Bishop Edward Burns and Fairbanks Bishop Donald Kettler. Under this year’s theme, “Many Faces, One Alaskan Church,” the conference will address the “challenges that face us as a diverse church with many cultural and geographical differences” – while inspiring the attendees’ faith and commitment “to live as God’s disciples in their parishes and communities.” High school teens, young adults, parents, pastoral administrators and parish staff members are invited. Also, parishes may host fund-raisers or secure scholarships from donors for representatives to attend. Attendance fees are listed in the conference registration materials at archdioceseofanchorage.org. For more information, contact Matthew Beck at 745-3229 x12.
Archbishop’s Calendar Apr. 1-3, Installation of Bishop Edward J. Burns, Juneau Apr. 5, 9:30 a.m., Palm Sunday Mass, Holy Family Cathedral Apr. 7, 8 a.m., Mass, Blessed Sacrament Monastery Apr. 9, 7 p.m., Holy Thursday Mass of the Lord’s Supper, Holy Family Cathedral Apr. 10, Good Friday Faith Walk, Chancery Apr. 10, 12 p.m., Praying the Seven Last Words of Christ, Holy Family Cathedral Apr. 11, 1 p.m., Blessing of Easter baskets and Easter food, Holy Family Cathedral Apr. 12, 10 a.m., Easter Mass, Covenant House Apr. 12, 12 p.m., Easter Mass, Holy Family Cathedral Apr. 13-17, Confirmations, Minneapolis and St. Paul Apr. 18-19, Meeting of Oblates of Mary Immaculate, Denver Note: Events are in Anchorage unless noted.
Community Calendar Apr. 3, 5:30 p.m., Lenten Fish Fry, Holy Cross Church Apr. 10, Good Friday Faith Walk (Stations of the Cross), various starting points Apr. 10, 12 p.m., Praying the Seven Last Words of Christ, Holy Family Cathedral Apr. 11, 1 p.m., Blessing of Easter baskets and Easter food, Holy Family Cathedral Apr. 17, 7 p.m., Theology and Brew talk on Jesus of Nazareth, Sal’s Diner, Soldotna Apr. 18, 5:30 p.m., Native Ministry Mass and potluck dinner, St. Anthony Church Apr. 19, 2:30 p.m., Divine Mercy Sunday prayer service, Holy Cross Church Note: Events are in Anchorage unless noted. |
Volunteers needed in Eagle River
Saintly Seconds/Bread of Life seeks volunteers to help at the Eagle River thrift and book store – as well as donations, especially small furniture pieces, high chairs, portable cribs and kitchen items. Proceeds from the store go to St. Andrew Church and its charitable activities in the community. For more information, call 696-2947.
Valley school now enrolling students
Our Lady of the Valley – the archdiocesan grade school in Wasilla – is accepting applications for enrollment for the 2009-10 school year. Registration deadline is April 15. Space is limited. For more information and to schedule a visit to the school, parents should call the school at 376-0883, weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Pilgrimage to Greece and Turkey
In honor of the Jubilee Year of St. Paul, the Archdiocese of Anchorage is sponsoring a pilgrimage May 4-13 to Greece and Turkey to trace the life and times of the Great Apostle. Pilgrims will visit the major centers of Greece and Asia Minor where St. Paul helped establish the early church’s communities – such as Corinth and Ephesus. Also, there are tours of Athens and Istanbul (Constantinople) and a cruise to Mykonos, Rhodes and Patmos – among other stops. Mass will be celebrated at historical sites. Pilgrims will be accompanied by Father Leo Walsh, S.T.D., pastor of St. Andrew Church of Eagle River and the archdiocese’s ecumenical officer, as well as Dr. Regina Boisclair, professor of religious studies and Cardinal Newman Chair of Catholic Theology at Alaska Pacific University, who will discuss the scriptures and sites associated with St. Paul and the early church. The land cost is $2,950 a person. That includes hotel accommodations (double occupancy), daily breakfast and dinner, cruise, port taxes and an air excursion from Izmir to Istanbul. For more information, contact Dr. Boisclair at boiscl@alaskapacific.edu.
House passes bill to allow stillborn birth certificates
On March 23 – by a vote of 29-1 – the Alaska State House passed HB 2, a bill to allow the state’s Bureau of Vital Statistics to offer parents certificates of birth for children stillborn after 20 weeks of gestation (5 months). In a press statement, sponsor Rep. Carl Gatto, R-Palmer, said that a stillborn birth certificate “formally” recognizes that a child “did, in fact, exist.” Now the bill moves to the state senate for consideration. Currently, 26 states offer birth certificates for babies who are stillborn.
Ministry offers healing after abortion
Pope Benedict XVI has addressed the importance of caring for women who are wounded physically, emotionally and spiritually by abortion. Recently calling abortion a “painful decision” that leaves an “unhealed wound” in women’s souls, the Holy Father urged these women not to succumb to hopelessness and despair but embrace the hope and healing that comes through repentance and forgiveness from God. To this end, Project Rachel offers a confidential, free program to help a woman through this process of reconciliation, grieving and healing. A small support group will begin soon. For more information or to register, please call 297-7781 or toll-free 800-434-3344 outside Anchorage.
Lenten Fish Fry open to all
All are invited to Holy Cross Church’s seventh annual Lenten Fish Fry on April 3 at 5:30 p.m. Fish dinners include beer-battered halibut or citrus-seasoned baked salmon and French fries, cole slaw and tartar sauce. Individual plates are $7 or $25 for a family special. The dinners will be available for dine-in, pick-up or drive-through. Proceeds go to Holy Cross Church’s youth ministry. To order ahead, call 349-8388.
-Catholic Anchor report
Columns
We are called to protect
My Dear sisters and brothers in Christ, April is National Child Abuse Prevention Month. As the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops reminds us:
A hallmark of the Catholic Church is the protection of life and the dignity of the human person. Through scripture and Catholic teachings we are called to protect the life and dignity of all human persons no matter how young or old. Working to prevent child abuse is an important response of what we are called to do as church.
Dioceses throughout the country will be honoring this very important month by renewing their commitment to providing a safe environment for the most vulnerable members of our communities. I encourage each member of the Archdiocese of Anchorage to join in this effort by becoming more aware of what child abuse is, the signs and symptoms of abuse and how to respond appropriately if you suspect abuse. In addition, I ask that you continue to pray for an end to child abuse and for the healing of all those who have been victimized by abuse in any way. Together we can all work towards maintaining a safe and welcoming environment for all of God’s people.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Sister Jackie Stoll, OP at 297-7736.
Sincerely yours in Christ and Mary,
— Roger L. Schwietz, OMI
Archbishop of Anchorage
Take off your shoes and feel the resurrection
Let me quote for you two propositions regarding the meaning of life: One from the pen of Friedrich Nietzsche, the German philosopher and a second from a work by the novelist, Jon Hassler, writer-in-residence before his death at St. John’s University.
Nietzsche: “All life is governed by the eventuality of death.”
And Hassler: “We all crave happy endings in our stories and films because ultimately we believe that we will live forever.”
Personally, I like Hassler’s point of view the better. The memory of it came to me as I read again the Scriptures for Easter Sunday.
Death, obviously, is a human reality; we see evidences of it around us every day. In our own personal lives, we make every effort to live with hope no matter how unpromising the future seems to be. Indeed, everything around us in this world gives evidence of our belief that life is stronger than death. Why do we make plans each day? Why then do we struggle to make a living? We do all this, I believe, not simply because we want to “get ahead” in life but rather because we have this deep intuition that life must be lived from the vantage point of hope, from the promise and the assurance that life, even though it must some day end, still means something.
The Scriptures: Acts 10:34,37-43 1 Corinthians 5:6-8 Mark 16:1-7 |
I am just now reading a short collection of thoughts on nature by Thomas Merton, the late monk of the Abbey of Gethsemane. It is entitled “When the Trees say Nothing.”
Merton was a lover of nature; he could find evidences of God, of the holy, in every change of the weather, every color of the sky. He claimed that he loved to walk barefoot on the wet grass in order to be more closely in touch with the presence of God on the earth.
Merton’s point in his nature experience is that there is meaning in all that surrounds us; every human and earthly experience can be a sign of life, or, even better, a sign of resurrection. In short, resurrection-life is wherever you experience it.
Our problem, as post-modern Americans, however, seems to be that we often fail to recognize evidence of resurrection that appears around us. It is a divine mystery, of course, but with clearer eyes we will find it in all the places and experiences that confront us each day. Mysteries can only be recognized from the vantage point of our humanness. So, of course, that sort of recognition demands a sharp eye and alert ear.
In short, I mean to say that if we wish to get the feel of resurrection, we simply need to look around and live.
A quote from the great Protestant theologian Karl Barth regarding resurrection says it best: “Resurrection is a dark truth, a word that can hardly be tolerated by our ears…we are so deeply imprisoned (distracted) in our world of sin.”
The solution, then, if we truly wish to experience the feast and the reality of Christ’s resurrection, is to seek it out and make it real, wherever even its shadow appears and falls on our fallen world.
If, as Merton says, we need to take off our shoes and walk the damp earth in order to get its feel, so be it. Resurrection, after all, was not a once-for-all experience of Christ alone. Its power continues to envelop us in all those human events that have meaning for us or at least for those who have eyes to see, ears to hear and soles of the feet to feel.
The writer formerly served the Anchorage Archdiocese as director of pastoral education. He now lives in Notre Dame, In.
‘By your holy cross you have redeemed the world’
I have received so many treasures in Russia both spiritual and personal. The priesthood has been strengthened in me and my love for Russia and its people and a new meaning for compassion has been given to me.
I know that to suffer with someone is the best description of compassion. Not to run from suffering but to stand in it is very hard —to allow another’s suffering to affect you, bother you and change you.
The church here in Magadan is an open door. Everyday, various people come with problems that can’t be solved and lives so wrecked there seems no way to put them together again. There is a litany of pain.
Yesterday, a young man lost his job. His family lives in a one-room dormitory, he has huge debts, he and his wife and two kids will be on the streets soon. Another friend fell and after some time of sobriety began drinking again. His family is being destroyed by his alcoholism. Another comes with a sexual addiction problem and wants help. A young woman lives with her mother, who is mentally ill and her brother who has not been sober for over a year. She is tired, depressed and wants to know what really does this Gospel have for her.
This is only one day in Magadan and it can bring you to the point of despondency if you didn’t have the knowledge and the love for the cross of Christ.
I can only do what Jesus did with suffering. Receive it from others and offer it to the Lord. I can’t do this without suffering with these people and I can’t do this without finding in the cross some kind of redemption for each person.
I have come finally to the truth that I can’t fix this life or the life of anyone. I can show them, speak to them and pray with them that there is a way through the pain and there is one who is with them in their pain. I can only give them Jesus because Father Michael is too limited in his understanding and wisdom to fix anyone’s life.
But Jesus is not limited. He is risen and He is present to each life and each pain he shares. These are not religious platitudes, it is real truth that I have seen changed lives — lives wrecked and seemingly beyond hope. The cross of Christ has for me so many faces that come daily to the church.
I must tell you, I am not despondent nor sense defeat in this place of suffering. I have found that I am not God, and I have found who is. This may be the most important conversion for anyone wanting to find peace and live compassionately. We adore you, O Christ and we praise you. Because by your holy cross you have redeemed the world — my world, their world, our world.
The writer is pastor of the Church of the Nativity in Magadan, Russia. The church is a mission of the Archdiocese of Anchorage.
Federal stimulus funds can help Alaska’s most vulnerable
We have all heard a lot lately about the federal stimulus package or the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. My first reaction, like many other Alaskans, was of surprise and concern when Gov. Sarah Palin rejected a large portion of the federal stimulus funds available to Alaska. Leading an agency, like Catholic Social Services, with significant funding from state and federal sources, makes you acutely aware of the state’s political culture and budgetary process.
I see key opportunities that the stimulus money can provide for those most vulnerable in our community.
Hunger is a significant issue in Alaska, one that many parishes in the Anchorage Bowl help to fight each week through their St. Francis House collection efforts. The food programs that may lose stimulus funding if the Alaska legislature does not act are: The Emergency Food Assistance Program, $50,000, School Lunch Program, $300,000, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, $500,000, WIC (Women, Infant and Children), $800,000, and Senior Meals, $500,000.
This is worrisome because our numbers have increased more than 20 percent at our food pantry. A comment I have heard from a St. Francis House client reflects the unfortunate yet sobering reality of those who are unemployed and hungry: “I don’t want to take advantage of the situation. I would not come if I didn’t need the help — if I had a job.”
The stimulus package also contains funding for a project called “Homeless Prevention and Rapid Rehousing.” Yes, these funds are only available for two years, but that would allow Anchorage to pilot a community-wide coordinated, homeless prevention effort to leverage the funds of several different agencies to develop a “single point of entry” — a nationwide best practice that would move us towards achieving the State of Alaska’s 10-year goal to decrease chronic homelessness among our brothers and sisters.
A key component of the project is client education, and a curriculum that includes money management, landlord/tenant issues, life skills and job readiness will be part of the mandatory classes. The education piece can make a significant difference for those lacking these basic skills and help Anchorage successfully achieve the goal of stabilizing families and breaking the cycle of homelessness.
The economically disadvantaged school (Title 1) stimulus funding that was refused by the governor, approximately $12.9 million for Anchorage, is a concern because it could benefit many of the approximately 12,000 kids from low-income families that CSS serves each year. With the 26th anniversary of Clare House, CSS is seeing more and more generational poverty.
We know it is imperative for children to get a solid education in preparation for entering college and the workforce in order to attain financial self-sufficiency.
I am apprehensive about the rejection of special needs education money for the Anchorage School District, also about $12.9 million – since approximately 85 percent of our clients served through the CSS’ Special Needs Services program attend Anchorage schools and benefit greatly from these programs.
As a non-profit tax-exempt entity, much like the church, Catholic Social Services doesn’t take political sides on issues. Each advocacy issue embraced by CSS is evaluated with research, thoughtful consideration and prayer.
As stewards of the church’s desire to implement the social teachings of our faith, it is paramount to evaluate policies from the poor’s perspective – and that is why, on this important issue, Catholic Social Services respectfully disagrees with the cuts recommended to the stimulus package by Governor Sarah Palin.
The federal stimulus funds will benefit the most vulnerable in our society during these strained economic times. Why is that of critical importance to you and to me? Because our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI, teaches in his Encyclical “God is Love” that love of God and love of neighbor have become one; in the least of our brothers and sisters, we find Jesus himself, and in Jesus we find God.
The writer is the executive director of Catholic Social Services in Alaska. For more information about CSS, call 276-5590.
How pro-lifers can save lives
Events of recent years have reinforced several of my beliefs:
First, the bigger and more powerful government becomes, the more evil it does. Second, we need less compassion for lawbreakers and more compassion for their victims.
School of the Americas background Critics of the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly known as the School of the Americas) have tied it to Latin American military personnel involved in murders and human rights violations, but school officials deny such accusations. Yearly demonstrations, sponsored by SOA Watch, are held in mid-November to commemorate the Nov. 16, 1989, murder of six Jesuits, their housekeeper and her daughter by Salvadoran soldiers. In 1990 a congressional task force found that five of the nine soldiers arrested for the killings had received training at the School of the Americas. SOA Watch says many SOA alumni throughout Latin America have been implicated in torture and other human rights violations over the years since the school was first established in Panama in the 1940s — chiefly those trained since the 1960s, when the school began to put a major emphasis on counterinsurgency training following Fidel Castro’s rise to power in Cuba. The School of the Americas, originally called the Latin American Training Center, began instructing Latin American military personnel in 1946. It was named the School of the Americas in 1963 and moved to Ft. Benning. When it was closed in 2001 and reopened as Western Hemisphere Institute, Congress mandated that it include at least eight hours of human rights training in all its courses. The institute’s public affairs officer, Lee A. Rials, told Catholic News Service in 2006 that training at the school covers due process, the rule of law, international human rights conventions, the role of the military in society and civilian control of the military. He said the eight-hour minimum applies to two-week courses, but it may rise to as much as 40 hours in year-long courses. — Source: Catholic News Service reports |
Last November, I went to Ft. Benning, Ga., for the annual prayer vigil to close the Western Hemisphere Institute for Security Cooperation (formerly called the School of the Americas) and to express my outrage at what I consider the misuse of my tax dollars to fund a school that graduates students who have been linked to human rights violations in Latin America.
Here are six reasons why I went to the annual gathering.
First, in September 1996, under intense pressure from religious and grassroots groups, the Pentagon released seven Spanish-language training manuals used at the SOA until 1991. The New York Times reported, “Americans can now read for themselves some of the noxious lessons the United States Army taught thousands of Latin Americans... (The SOA manuals) recommended interrogation techniques like torture, execution, blackmail and arresting relatives of those being questioned.”
According to SOA Watch (a nonprofit group that seeks to close the SOA), a former instructor at SOA, Colombian General Mario Montoya, resigned after a scandal over army killings in Columbia, which a UN official called “systematic and widespread.”
My second reason for attending has to do with the fact that Jesus tells us that what we do to the most defenseless and vulnerable of his people, we do to him. So I carried a cross with the name of one of the murder victims and joined thousands of other pilgrims chanting “presente” to express my presence with the victims and — through them — with Jesus.
The third reason I went: our Catechism describes cooperating with murder as “a sin that cries out to heaven,” and also says “Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness…”
Fourth, all humans have the right to live, support their families on living wages and enjoy the other basic rights which many of us take for granted. No government — no matter how big — can deprive humans of the rights God gave them.
Fifth, attacking the poor does not fight communism. In truth, attacking the poor fights Jesus, who championed the preferential option for the poor.
Sixth, the annual vigil connected me spiritually with Rufina Amaya, the sole survivor, now deceased, of El Salvador’s 1981 massacre of 800 El Mozote villagers. She tells how she was forced to watch the murders — which our taxes helped financed — of her own small children and her husband.
In my judgment, today’s ever deepening financial crisis makes it increasingly more crucial to tell our representatives that we can no longer afford to train terrorists to persecute Catholics. Jesus says, if your eye leads you to sin, pluck it out. The same principle applies to the SOA.
Last year, a bill to end funding for the school for terrorists failed by only six votes. A similar bill is expected to be introduced in April. I pray that this year pro-lifers will prevail.
The writer is one of three women from Anchorage who have attended the annual prayer vigil outside Ft. Benning, Ga.
Looking back four years after Schiavo’s death
March 31 marked the fourth anniversary of Terri Schiavo’s death from dehydration as a result of her feeding tube being withdrawn. The intent of the removal was to cause her death. After 13 days, it succeeded. As a country, we became the survivors of Terri. We must live and deal with what happened.
Four years after Terri’s death, it is important for us, as Catholics, to review what our faith teaches regarding end-of-life issues.
Unlike how the media framed the issue, this was definitely not a case of “What would Terri want?” The Catholic Church teaches that life is a gift, and we are stewards of this gift. We are responsible to take care of it.
For all we honestly know, Terri may have wanted to die. But our Catholic faith affirms life, even in the face of hopelessness and despair. Ours is a faith that provides consolation not condemnation. We help, not hurt. Ours is a faith that finds value in suffering by uniting it with Christ’s own suffering on the cross.
And then there is the issue of the value of life. Far too often in the coverage of Terri’s ordeal the issue of her “recovery” was brought up as a focal point. This word was used as if improvement would bring value to her life. The truth is that the value of her life was the same regardless of whether her medical condition miraculously improved, stayed the same or even worsened.
Our faith does not value life based on productivity. Terri was as precious as a child in the womb, a person on death row, a sports hero, a homeless person, or an elderly person with Alzheimer’s disease. In her diminished capacity, she became one of the most vulnerable members of society. Our faith directs us to care for the most vulnerable, not kill them. As Christ says, “Whatever you did for one of these least brothers of mine, you did for me.”
Pope John Paul II was very clear in March 2004 when he addressed an international congress of health care professionals convened in Rome to discuss the scientific advances and ethical dilemmas in the vegetative state. In the statement, “Life-Sustaining Treatments and Vegetative State,” the Vicar of Christ declares unequivocally that “the sick person in a vegetative state still has the right to basic health care…the administration of water and food, even when provided by artificial means, always represents a natural means of preserving life, not a medical act …Its use furthermore, should be considered in principle, ordinary and proportionate, and as such morally obligatory … Death by starvation or dehydration is, in fact, the only possible outcome as a result of their withdrawal. In this sense it ends up becoming, if done knowingly and willingly, true and proper euthanasia by omission.”
End-of-life issues are difficult. They involve our deepest emotions about ourselves and the people we love the most. But it is in times like these that we must hold firm to our faith over our emotions.
The writer is a coordinator of the Theology and Brew ministry for the Archdiocese of Anchorage
Editorials
Dual treasures
Amid the doom and gloom of daily economic reports about the state of our nation, it is heartening to know that a band of Alaskan Catholics continues to serve the local church through innovative efforts like the Bishop’s Attic second-hand store.
An article on page one of this issue takes a look at how a motivated group of local women took it upon themselves to create a financial support structure to assist the Archdiocese of Anchorage. The goal was to help the local church proclaim and live out the Gospel of Christ.
For almost 40 years now, Bishop’s Attic has transformed second-hand treasures into annual donations to the Anchorage Archdiocese that average about $300,000 a year.
That money goes to support seminary students, Catholic Social Services, the rural parishes and programs through the offices of Evangelization and Worship and Stewardship and Development.
As might be expected, Bishop’s Attic is not your typical business. Sorting through donations, organizing shelves and racks, volunteers live out a community of faith and friendship. They have carved out a corner of the marketplace, where people can find a way to make ends meet, while also contributing to the work of Christ on earth.
As Alaskan families tighten their belts during this economic crisis, we would all do well to stop by Bishop’s Attic. It’s money well spent — in more ways than one.
-Joel Davidson, editor
To care or not to care
In a growing trend, there are some – including in the church – who believe that under certain circumstances we may end our lives. Advocates of this position argue that while sometimes it may “look like” killing, it is not.
They argue that we may do ourselves in — otherwise known as “allowing” us to die — when we lose the part of life that we love most — like being able to carry on a conversation with friends, recall loved ones’ names, smile or even climb a mountain.
But there are limits to personal autonomy. It is not moral or legal to sell one’s organs, prostitute oneself or commit suicide. Likewise, we do not have a right to starve and dehydrate ourselves — or anyone else — to death.
Indeed, a caring community has not just a choice — but an obligation — to protect those who would harm themselves. We are family. We owe care to each other, especially the weak, the disenfranchised, the disabled — and they include people with Alzheimer’s, depression and long-term brain injury.
Care means feeding these members of the family when they are hungry and giving them water when they are thirsty — even when they can no longer articulate the words, “I am hungry” or “May I have a glass of water?” And when those with disabilities cannot sufficiently chew or swallow, they require a feeding tube.
Some say that this is a medical “treatment” which we may choose to forgo. While the plastic tube may be considered a medical means, the administration of food and water through it remains basic care, which may not be deprived.
In 2004, Pope John Paul II stressed that “the administration of water and food, even when provided by artificial means, always represents a natural means of preserving life, not a medical act.” (original emphasis)
In 2007 — with the approval of Pope Benedict XVI — the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith explained that nutrition and hydration — even when administered by a feeding tube — is “obligatory to the extent to which, and for as long as, it is shown to accomplish its proper finality, which is the hydration and nourishment of the patient. In this way suffering and death by starvation and dehydration are prevented.”
The Congregation went on to explain that exceptional cases — such as when a person’s body is unable to assimilate food and fluids any longer — “take nothing away from the general ethical criterion, according to which the provision of water and food, even by artificial means, always represents a natural means for preserving life, and is not a therapeutic treatment.” (original emphasis).
When the “minimal care” (original emphasis) of nutrition and hydration is withdrawn, “death by starvation or dehydration is, in fact, the only possible outcome as a result,” explained Pope John Paul II in 2004.
“In this sense,” he continued, “it ends up becoming, if done knowingly and willingly, true and proper euthanasia by omission” — which is “always ‘a serious violation of the law of God, (original emphasis) since it is the deliberate and morally unacceptable killing of a human person.”
Indeed, sometimes, when it looks like killing, it is.
-Patricia Coll Freeman,
Assistant editor
Letters to the Editor
Archbishop’s call to unity appreciated, needed
Thank you to Anchorage Archbishop Schwietz for the March 20 column clarifying the recent actions of the pope (“Papal call for unity and humility has application for our church in Alaska”). In the column, Archbishop Schwietz shared with us a letter from Pope Benedict XVI in which he clarified the reason he extended mercy to the four excommunicated Society of St. Pius X bishops. The column helped frame how the laity of the church needs to appreciate but be cautious of those members of the church who love and revere the traditions of the church (in particular the Tridentine Mass) to the exclusion of accepting the Mass in the vernacular and those who choose only to rejoice in the practices of the church after the Second Vatican Council.
Archbishop Schwietz gently and pastorally reminds all of us that the pride of rejecting the Magisterial teachings of the church and of doubting the continual inspiration of the Holy Spirit through every church council we have had through the ages can lead to “devouring one another,” scandalizing fellow Catholics and confusing other denominations. Resistance to papal admonishment from the right or the left can also lead to schism or perpetuate a heresy.
May both the desire to preserve the truth and beauty of the church’s traditions — so beloved of the Society St. Pius X community — and the desire of the outspoken advocates of the changes made by the Second Vatican Council to update the church’s practices, have the integrity to place at the center of their efforts the person of Jesus Christ and determine to follow him lest the Enemy sneak up behind the traditional and progressive wings of the church and “consume them.” It is when both sides pridefully and sometimes dogmatically speak out without the blessing of the pope that the devil seizes his chance to divide and conquer. May we all look to the Holy Father who is steadily guiding us as members of his beloved flock.
Anchorage
Gregorian chant is but a part of the church
Remembering and respecting the reliquaries of our religion is vital in honoring the diverse traditions that make us Catholic, that make us church. It is sad irony that we are losing such languages, even as the Catholic Church continues to preserve and use a more sacred one — the Latin of Gregorian chant.
Gregorian chant we will always have with us. The human voice will always strive to echo the ineffable — even with its last breath in a tongue never heard again.
Anachronists will preserve — sometimes at great cost — what is valuable to them from the past. Their work will be judged by history. Truly, Gregorian chant will celebrate its highest calling when its association is with the raising of voices in an equally Catholic way: in our service to others and to God, in the ways of Jesus, Mary and the saints; in our lives lived as witnesses to the truth of what we believe; in our celebration of our beginnings and destinies in our liturgies.
The music of the church is the music of the people — one billion voices. Don’t presume it is only the voice of our own faithful that sings to us, but that of the billion poorest of the world. While we contemplate our response to that telling reality, Gregorian chant should be one of the last things on our minds.
If liturgy truly is our life — and it is — both as Catholics and as humans, it should be celebrated as we live, in community — diverse, flawed, hoarding and sharing the gifts of our Creator.
With a billion voices striving to echo that One, things get messy. Gregorian chant is a beautiful expression of what we believe and how we can pray. We can connect with that expression both privately and communally.
Anchorage
Column oversimplified feeding tube question
This letter is in response to the March 6 guest column by Father Tad Pacholczyk “Are feeding tubes required?”
Although I agree with Father Pacholczyk’s overall assessment of when feeding tubes and/or I.V. hydration can become “disproportionate” or “extraordinary” and thus not “morally obligatory,” I do take issue with his description of a feeding tube as a “long spoon.”
In my 25 plus years of nursing experience, I have had the unfortunate opportunity of having had to insert nasogastric feeding tubes into more patients than I can count.
In this procedure, a tube (that can range in size from a large strand of spaghetti, to one with a diameter larger than that of a pen or pencil), is shoved up the nose of the patient. As it reaches the back of the throat, patients who are conscious will begin to gag, cough and choke (often triggering vomiting). As you continue to push the tube down the throat, there is the risk that it will take a “wrong turn” and end up traveling down the trachea (wind pipe) instead of the esophagus. If this happens, the patient will be completely unable to breathe, the tube will have to be removed and the entire procedure started again.
None of this reminds of a spoon of any kind.
The second form of feeding tube is the “gastric tube,” which is inserted directly into the stomach through an incision in the upper abdomen. While this type of feeding tube may be, overall, more comfortable for the patient, it does come with special risks of infection since it is more or less a direct “highway” for bacteria to enter from the outside of the body to the inside. Again, not much like a spoon in any way.
While I am absolutely against euthanasia, I do think that we need to be clear and honest regarding what it is we are speaking about. I fear that Father Pacholczyk’s oversimplification of feeding tubes may have done a disservice to those who have to deal with these very difficult issues.
— Sister Jacqueline Stoll, OP
Nurse Practitioner, 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.