October 7 , 2005 - Issue #20
Local News | Opinion/Editorials | Letters to the Editor
Hispanic ministry coordinator settles in
When Ishmael Aviles was a boy in Jayuya, Puerto Rico, he remembers women carrying an image of the Virgin Mary through town during the month of October, stopping at each house to pray the rosary with families.
Imagine Aviles’ delight when he learned as a newcomer to Anchorage that a group of Hispanic women from Holy Family Cathedral have continued that tradition in their new homeland. People are praying the rosary in Hispanic homes around town every day this month.
Aviles, the Anchorage Archdiocese’s new Hispanic ministry coordinator, told the Anchor last week that the area’s vibrant, diverse Hispanic culture is part of the reason he decided to stay in Alaska after helping a friend move here last year.
That is not to say that Catholicism here is mostly the same as it is in Latin America.
Hispanics often grow up in countries where virtually everyone is Catholic and saints’ feast days, for example, become huge national festivals, Aviles said.
The religious experience in the States is different, in big ways and small, he added. For example, in his travels through Peru, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Ecuador, Guatemala and Brazil, he never once saw a cry room in a church.
"We have a very strong family concept," Aviles said "They bring all the children. It’s a good thing."
Helping parishes find ways to make Hispanic people feel comfortable and welcome in the archdiocese’s churches is the focus of Aviles’ job in the archdiocese, which he started in July. His ministry is part of the Office of Evangelization; he works out of the pastoral center but spends a lot of time in the parishes.
So far, he’s been trying to identify Hispanic leaders in each parish who can help develop ministries to reach out to Hispanic people.
"It’s not easy to be here in a foreign country (with a) different language, but at least if we can help them with something religious, help them with the faith, keep them in the faith … maybe life will be a little better for them," Aviles said.
The language barrier, low-wage jobs, isolation and a lack of health insurance are some of the issues Hispanic people face when moving to Alaska, Aviles said. It can be difficult for them to come to Mass regularly and get involved in church ministries when they are working more than one job to make ends meet, he added.
Three parishes in the archdiocese offer regular Masses in Spanish: the cathedral, Anchorage’s Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish and St. Mary Parish in Kodiak.
There is a "tremendous" need within the Catholic Church to focus on Hispanic evangelization, said Dominican Father Donald Bramble, rector of Holy Family Cathedral, where up to 300 parishioners fill the pews for the 2 p.m. Sunday Mass in Spanish.
Essential to addressing this need is having someone such as Aviles, of Hispanic heritage and bilingual, coordinating Hispanic evangelization efforts, added Father Bramble, who assists fellow Dominican Father Paul Scanlon in celebrating the cathedral’s Spanish Mass.
No one knows how many Hispanics there are in the Anchorage Archdiocese, but five years ago there were nearly 15,000 in the Anchorage borough alone, according to the 2000 census.
Although most people from Latin America are traditionally Catholic, Father Bramble said that in the United States many immigrants are being "lured away" by evangelical and other churches.
"If we want to keep them as Catholics and vital, we have to have a warm and welcoming place," he said.
Another aspect of Hispanic evangelization is ministering to the practical needs of people who may be struggling with a bevy of issues, from cultural and familial isolation to legal documentation, Father Bramble said.
"You can’t just sit there and pray and say nice things to them," he said. "If the woman has had a tooth knocked out, you have to take her to the doctor and report the violence. If somebody is starving and you give them a lecture on religion, what have you done for them?"
"Migration policies are sometimes very unfair," he said. "When you go to the church we don’t ask if you’re legal or not. … (We) reach out and try to make them feel included."
Aviles said the Spanish-speaking Dominican priests at Holy Family Cathedral made him feel comfortable when he first moved to Anchorage last year. Bilingual priests can make a "huge difference" to Spanish-speakers, he said. Parishioners can follow along at Mass, understand the purpose of the sacraments better and partake of the sacrament of reconciliation in their own language, Aviles said.
Aviles said he’s found a diverse community of Hispanic people here, more so than in Wisconsin, Missouri or Pennsylvania, where he has also lived. In Alaska he’s met Catholics from Argentina, Chile, Colombia, El Salvador and Venezuela. Many work in Alaska’s fishing, oil, construction and travel industries.
"If we have people from all over, then we have different cultures and different ways to see things, not only the Mexican way or Puerto Rican way. It’s a very good thing," Aviles said. "I love to talk to people from all over to see how they do things and see what we could do here."
Aviles, who holds a degree in business administration, has 20 years of experience in banking and taught for a few years at the American Institute of Banking in Puerto Rico.
For about a decade in Puerto Rico, he helped organize his parish’s finances and raise funds as well as plan retreats and liturgical celebrations, he said.
In his new role in Anchorage, he has been meeting with Hispanics in their parishes and searching for leaders within those communities who can help Hispanic evangelization along. He’s also given talks on various ministry opportunities, recommended Spanish-language resources, and helped plan Spanish-language workshops about liturgy, ministry and evangelization. He will also assist with the Spanish content of the archdiocese’s Web site.
Peter Zografos, director of the archdiocese’s Office of Evangelization, said that for Hispanic evangelization efforts, this is a year of "development and listening." That way, "their needs become our needs, rather than the dominant culture telling minorities what they need."
This ministry is essential, Zografos said, because "we’re not a church unless everybody’s at the table."
Archbishop joins ‘apostolic visitation’ of U.S. seminaries
Archbishop Roger Schwietz is one of 62 bishops selected to take part in an "apostolic visitation" of U.S. seminaries and houses of formation.
He departs Oct. 10 for a weeklong visitation at two institutions, Christ the King Seminary in East Aurora, N.Y., and the Pope John Paul II Residence in nearby Buffalo. He has been told he will be assigned to visit another seminary or group of formation institutions early next year.
The apostolic visitation applies to all 229 priest-formation programs in the country, and visitors are supposed to interview each faculty member and each seminarian. Its purpose is to provide the Vatican’s Congregation for Education a better understanding of priestly formation in the United States, Archbishop Schwietz explained.
The Vatican congregation provided the U.S. visitation team a list of 96 questions to guide their discussions with seminary faculty and students. After spending at least four days at an institution, the teams are to prepare a report of their findings and send it to the Vatican.
Archbishop Schwietz stressed that the process is not an investigation.
"If it were an investigation, we would have some particular thing we’re looking for, you know, there’s something that is amiss here … and we (Vatican officials) want you to go and look for that, and tell us how to deal with it," the archbishop said.
"Rather," he continued, "we are there simply to listen to the people and to get a sense of what’s happening in the seminary and (find out) what do they see as the best practices, and what do they see are the areas in which this or that particular program needs to grow."
One of the Vatican’s 96 questions, "Is there evidence of homosexuality in the seminary?" has received a lot of media play.
Archbishop Schwietz said that the visitation is "much broader than any particular area."
"We’re going to look at the curriculum, not only philosophical preparation, but how do they study patristics? … How well are they prepared in terms of the courses on doctrine? How well are they prepared in terms of formation? How well are they prepared to be collaborative, to work with both men and women in ministry? How well are they prepared to work with each other to support each other?"
The archbishop also said there is no connection between the visitations and widespread reports that the Vatican is about to issue a new document about homosexuality and seminaries.
The decision to conduct the apostolic visitation of U.S. seminaries was made at a meeting in April 2002 in Rome between senior Vatican officials, including Pope John Paul II, and 12 U.S. cardinals. The meeting was a summit on the sexual abuse crisis that had erupted the previous year in Boston; at the opening session of the two-day marathon meeting, Pope John Paul made his now famous statement that "there is no place in the priesthood and religious life for those who would harm the young."
Archbishop Schwietz said the seminary visitation was one of several studies that U.S. and Vatican leaders thought would be important to conduct in order to learn as much as possible about clergy sexual abuse. Also, he said, the U.S. bishops’ last large-scale seminary visitation had occurred about 15 years prior, so it was deemed a good time to repeat the process for their own benefit.
The archbishop noted that the U.S. bishops in their June 2002 national meeting not only agreed to cooperate with the seminary visitation, but also set up two major studies to determine the extent of the clergy abuse crisis and its causes.
"The third part is the connection there may or may not be with seminary formation," Archbishop Schwietz said.
The process will be labor intensive, with so many questions to ask and so many people to interview — last year there were more than 4,500 seminarians nationwide — but it will lead to stronger relationships between bishops and seminaries, the archbishop said.
In the past, he said, some seminary personnel have expressed a perceived lack of support from bishops.
The visitation will also help the church as a whole, the archbishop predicted.
"In the long run I think we will have better prepared seminarians who will make the church all the richer," he said.
Catholic Social Services boosts social justice in different ways
Editor’s Note: Third in a three-part series exploring the mission of Catholic Social Services, the Anchorage Archdiocese’s social outreach agency. This installment looks at the organization’s mission to "advocate for social justice." (Click here to read story1 & story2)
Catholic Social Services upholds Catholic social teaching by its commitment to social justice, the third and final section of the organization’s mission statement.
But what exactly is social justice? And how do the programs of Catholic Social Services promote it in the communities they serve?
Social justice has many layers, said Monte Hawver, who has served as director of Kodiak Island’s Brother Francis Shelter since it started in 1991.
"The safety net is one layer we provide," Hawver said. "This country is built on competition, and in a competitive society some folks won’t do well. Social justice makes sure that those folks aren’t forgotten."
But the Kodiak shelter has also partnered with local government to address the causes that lead to homelessness.
"In Kodiak, we are very blessed with both the borough and the city being involved in making the shelter a focus for homeless services and homeless prevention," Hawver said.
"We have virtually eliminated family homelessness here. You don’t see people living in cars."
The operation is called a shelter, but really, it’s a "full-service homeless prevention program," Hawver said.
Archbishop Roger Schwietz called the Kodiak shelter a "model" for the way it has gathered support from the community to face a social problem.
The archbishop said he sees Catholic Social Services as both a provider of services to the needy and an advocate "to foster government programs that tackle the root causes of poverty."
Social service agencies should also band together to efficiently and effectively combat problems, he added.
"Some people in the community see CSS as a stand-alone agency," Archbishop Schwietz said. "But one of our strengths is that we are in partnership with Catholic Charities USA, which is an effective voice for social justice in the country as a whole." He also praised local partnerships with such groups as Anchorage-based Lutheran Social Services.
According to the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, Catholic social teaching is guided by Matthew 25: 31-46, in which Christ offers salvation to the righteous who cared for "the least of my brothers."
This is the bottom line when looking at how law affects Alaskans, said Chip Wagoner, lobbyist for the Alaska Catholic Conference.
The conference monitors public policy issues for the state’s bishops and works closely with Catholic Social Services on legislative matters.
"We have a preferential option for the poor and the vulnerable," Wagoner said.
From a practical standpoint, that means, among other things, that "we look at the budget differently than most legislators and lobbyists," he said. "We look at it from the standpoint of the (U.S.) bishops’ pastoral ‘Economic Justice for All,’ which says we judge any economic system by what it does for and to people and by how it permits all to participate in it. The economy should serve people, not the other way around."
Ellen Krsnak, community development director for Catholic Social Services, occasionally testifies at legislative hearings about issues that affect the poor and vulnerable, and Catholic Social Services is part of the Public Policy Advisory Committee that assists the state’s Catholic bishops when they meet as the Alaska Catholic Conference.
This active involvement in public policy is a part of social justice advocacy because some people have difficulty or find it impossible to advocate for themselves, Krsnak said.
"The poor are not often heard in the same way as the affluent," she explained. Things some take for granted, such as transportation to an assembly meeting, scheduling time off from a job to testify, or simply the ability to speak publicly, can make "the system daunting for the poor."
In recent years Catholic Social Services has testified in favor of stricter regulations on "payday loans" and against cuts to Denali KidCare, the state’s health care program for low-income pregnant women and children.
All of Catholic Social Services’ eleven programs serve the cause of social justice as described by the U.S. bishops, Krsnak said. They promote such bedrock Catholic social principles as the dignity of the human person, the need to organize social and economic policies in a way that is just for all, and the mandate to work in solidarity with others around the globe.
The organization’s Refugee Assistance Program promotes social justice by upholding clients’ "basic human rights," according to Luba Belavtseva-O’Hare, a refugee resettlement coordinator for the agency.
A refugee is someone who flees his or her native land because of persecution based on religion, race, nationality, political opinion or social group.
Refugees served by the agency in recent years include people fleeing Bosnia, Serbia and the former Soviet Union, Belavtseva-O’Hare said. Staff members are helping more than 100 Hmong people resettle in Alaska.
Originally from Laos, many Hmong have lived for more than 20 years in refugee camps in Thailand. Catholic Social Services provides them with interpreters and case managers who speak their language, help finding housing, employment, medical assistance and other basic necessities, plus assistance applying for green cards and later, citizenship.
Belavtseva-O’Hare, who earlier sought political asylum in the United States from the former Soviet Union, sees the job as both challenging and necessary.
"I use my expertise, and also my heart," she said.
Native Christians find their voice in AFACT community group
Editor’s Note: Second in a two-part series on the struggles of Alaska Natives in the Anchorage School District and the work of AFACT (Anchorage Faith and Action — Coming Together) in finding solutions. (Click here to read story1)
Jacqueline Agnew, an Alaska Native mother, said she is pursuing a master’s degree in public health "in spite of" the education she received in Anchorage public schools.
She dropped out before finishing a single semester of high school more than 20 years ago.
"I hated going to school, not because I didn’t like the school work," Agnew said, but because she was taunted by classmates who called her "salmon cruncher" and other racial slurs.
Her memories of kindergarten include frequent time-outs in a bathroom, wondering what she had done wrong. By the time she was in second grade, she was skipping school to avoid "feeling like crap for being Native," she told the Anchor. "It was misery."
Since she dropped out for good in the ninth grade, she’s obtained a GED (General Equivalency Diploma) and earned an associate’s degree and a bachelor’s. She is now mother to a four-month-old son and is on track to complete a master’s degree from the University of Alaska Anchorage next summer.
When Agnew’s mother, St. Anthony (Anchorage) parishioner Gemma Gaudio, first told her daughter about efforts by local Catholic and Lutheran groups to improve the experience of Alaska Native students in the Anchorage School District, Agnew was surprised.
"What? You mean you’re still having to go through that?" she remembered asking.
Gaudio, originally from Hooper Bay, is part of AFACT (Anchorage Faith and Action — Congregations Together), a conglomeration of Christian groups who utilize community organizing to address social problems.
Since January, Gaudio and about 15 other Alaska Native AFACT organizers have met with their neighbors and fellow parishioners to surface community concerns. What they discovered listening to more than 100 Native families and individuals is that Native students aren’t succeeding in the school system and that their parents feel ignored by educators.
Last month, about 300 people, predominately Alaska Natives, filled Central Lutheran Church on a Wednesday night to share their concerns with Anchorage School District Superintendent Carol Comeau.
Comeau listened as AFACT leaders presented research findings on Native student performance and about two dozen others told of hardships in dealing with school district officials.
Comeau agreed to institute pilot programs in two schools to train staff members about cross-cultural communication and to reach out to the families of Alaska Native students.
The lower achievement levels among Native students is a "justice issue," said Sister Donna Kramer, a Daughter of Charity who heads the Anchorage Archdiocese’s Native ministry efforts. "People are not being heard. People are being ignored. People are allowed to drop out of the system and that’s not acceptable."
Acting on concerns about others is "our moral obligation as baptized people," she said. "We’re called to be disciples: You don’t just read the word of God, you act on it."
AFACT has proved an effective way to put faith into action solving community problems, according to people involved in the effort.
"AFACT got us talking to our people, doing one-to-ones, (which) makes us learn something about our community," said Patty Jacobus, a Yup’ik Catholic woman.
She said she would not have known the extent of struggles that Alaska Native students have in Anchorage, nor would she have been able to do much about the problems by herself.
Community organizing "brings us together, and we build relationships with other congregations and the school district and police," Jacobus said.
Father Fred Bugarin, pastor of St. Anthony Parish, where many of the Native ministry leaders are parishioners, said that speaking about pain to someone who may be able to do something about it is empowering, and "empowerment is the work of justice."
He said he’s proud of the transformation he’s seen in parishioners who were once "in the background" and who now "claim their voice and speak."
Gaudio, a Yup’ik grandmother, is one of those people, Father Bugarin said.
"It does something to your life when you become a member of AFACT," Gaudio said. "You want to go out there and reach out to more people."
Learning the AFACT organizing process has developed her speaking and listening skills, she said.
In addition to the changes she’s felt in herself, Gaudio said she feels like the group is "doing something great and giving people a chance to speak out too, when otherwise they couldn’t."
"We emerged from under," she explained.
Aimee Aloysius, a Catholic Yup’ik woman originally from Bethel, said that because the community organizing effort is centered in faith, people trust it and believe it can work.
If the organizing lacked a faith basis, "we would never have had the response that we had," she said.
Being free of politics also helps, according to Kathy Willie, a Holy Family Cathedral parishioner who is also Yup’ik.
"We’ve never really had someone say, ‘What are the issues among your people in the Native community?’ " she said. "No one really asked us without being political and now there’s AFACT that comes and says, ‘OK we want to work together and what can we do?’ "
However it happened, the organizing has created strength and momentum.
As a group, the organizers have identified and begun to address a community problem instead of "just hearing it in the wind," Aloysius said.
"Finally, it’s not one person crying in the dark," she said. "Everybody is there and that’s where the strength of our faith comes in."
Survivor spirit: Parish in Magadan, Russia, serves people who worked in slave-labor camps in the region in the mid-1900s
Editor’s Note: Father Michael Shields grew up in Southcentral Alaska and served as a priest here before discerning a call, as he says, to "go and pray in the camps." Since 1994 Father Shields has been the pastor of Nativity of Jesus Parish in Magadan, Russia. The city served in the 1930s, ’40s and ’50s as a hub for Josef Stalin’s notorious prison camps in the region. This summer Father Shields literally prayed in one of those camps. Here are reflections and images from his visit to Butugychag. The commentary and some of these photos first appeared in the archdiocese’s Mission to Magadan newsletter.
To get from Magadan to Butugychag, a former slave-labor camp, there is 450-kilometer (280-mile) drive on rough and dusty roads, through rivers and up hills, then a six-hour climb to where the camp begins. I accompanied two French Catholic journalists and Father Milosh Krakovski and Deacon Vladimir Lytasov to the area July 5-8, 2005.
Butugychag opened in 1937 under the rule of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin and didn’t close until 1955, after his death. Prisoners called the place "Valley of Death," and thousands remain buried there in the dark earth and barren hills.
The camp was a mine for uranium ore. Prisoners shoveled this yellow dust, packing concentrate to be secretly trucked away in the middle of the night with armed guards. Prisoners died within months of working in the mine. It was truly the valley of death, but some survived.
Today, the old political prison is evidenced by the dilapidated buildings, prison cells and punishment rooms — places of suffering. We celebrated a memorial Mass as soon as we arrived at the Butugychag cemetery, where only a few marked graves remain. There is one cross there. Camp survivors say it marks the grave of a priest.
We prayed together Psalm 23, knowing that evil can be overcome by faith. Such is the message of Christ on the cross and such is the message of these elderly men and women who suffered here and who many times prayed: "Even though I walk in the dark valley I fear no evil, for you are at my side" (Ps 23: 4).
I recently met with the "repressed" survivors of Soviet gulags in Magadan, many unknown and forgotten by the authorities of the country. I also visited the remains of a former slave-labor camp, Butugychag, where prisoners mined uranium from the earth without protection.
Talking with these survivors, it is apparent that their past is still part of our present lives.
The compassion, attention and spiritual help provided by Father Shields and the church to these people, who are all elderly and suffering simply from old age, shows itself in daily meetings and moments of prayer.
The parish organizes monthly gatherings of the elderly survivors. Father Shields said that in the coming years as the repressed lose their mobility and independence, parishioners will go to their homes to care for them there.
Seeing the smiles of these survivors and their delight during the monthly gatherings or the musical concerts at the parish, I realize the incredible gift of life the parish is giving these people who have suffered so much.
It tells them they are worthy of love and attention and they are loved. For someone who was called an enemy of the country, it is a great heartfelt gift.
The stories of the repressed are real lessons of life, strength, courage and also of humanity. People whom evil tried to destroy are still standing with dignity and beauty.
Sharing these meetings and these moving moments, the tears on the elderly wrinkled faces, the laughter, was joyous and also at the same time very difficult.
It moves me still to read notes from my interviews with the repressed, to recall their voices singing in the church. Unfortunately, they are voices that are fading away as they grow older. It’s important to listen to them, so that they won’t be left behind.
I came to Magadan on assignment with the monthly Catholic magazine published by Caritas France. We came to do a photo exhibit of those who were in the gulags, and to see what the Church of the Nativity in Magadan is doing to help them overcome their sufferings.
In Magadan I met three priests deeply given to their parish: Fathers Michael Shields, David Means and Milosh Krakovski. They have managed to create a light-filled church, a real family spirit in which everyone has a place.
Thanks to their diligent work, along with Ludmilla Eritick who is recording interviews for a book of the repressed, these survivors accepted me and opened their lives to me, inviting me right into their apartments.
I came to Magadan with many impressions received from reading books on the history of the 20th century. Yet here I met living witnesses, humble and worthy of our attention and care.
I will never forget the sincere warmth of these elderly grandmothers, these "babushkas."
For me it is impossible to relate their tender faces with the wild, desolate scene we found at the prison camp Butugychag, in which several of them suffered for many years.
Yet now they are full of forgiveness for all who treated them so terribly throughout the dark years of Communist repression. And yet no one has asked them for forgiveness.
This experience has touched my heart deeply. I want to come back to Magadan to see what they suffered in the cold of the winter as well. I am so thankful for this trip and the meeting of those who suffered for their faith.
Editorials
Time for U.S. leadership on disarmament
Last month was a roller coaster ride on the issue of nuclear disarmament. North Korea agreed to give up its nuclear weapons in exchange for guarantees of aid and security. But the United Nations, at its mid-September summit, failed yet again to make progress on nuclear nonproliferation and disarmament.
The North Korea agreement is only a beginning; the U.S. and others involved in the negotiations made it clear afterward that verification of compliance is necessary. But it is a significant step forward, all agree.
Now, if the United States could make progress on its own nuclear arsenal. At a time when this country is outspoken in condemning others suspected of pursuing nukes, the Pentagon continues its quest to develop new nuclear bombs designed to destroy underground bunkers.
So far the Congress has wisely blocked funding. Developing these warheads now would explode our credibility on the nuclear issue and others in which the U.S. is seen as duplicitous.
The Americans, who can destroy the world many times over with their nuclear bombs, attacked Iraq because they (mistakenly) thought the country had weapons of mass destruction?
The Holy See has long considered nuclear disarmament a key goal for world peace. After last month’s U.N. meeting, Archbishop Celestino Migliore, the Vatican nuncio to the U.N., reiterated the church’s position in favor of disarmament.
"All humanity must be concerned that nuclear weapons are becoming a permanent feature of some military doctrines," he said in a speech urging passage of the 1996 Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty, which cannot go into effect until the United States and 10 other countries ratify it. It has already been ratified by 123 countries.
As the undisputed world leader in the war on terror, the United States could gain needed credibility by leading the push for worldwide nuclear arms reduction. Naturally, pursuing new forms of nuclear weapons accomplishes the opposite.
Anonymity amplifies harm of rumors
It used to be that people spreading gossip, rumors and calumny at least had to muster the requisite gall to do so face to face. But blogs — personal Web sites whose owners post thoughts and receive feedback online — make such sins much easier to commit, and much more destructive.
This is bad for unscrupulous bloggers’ victims, of course. But it’s bad for the bloggers too, especially the anonymous ones.
Anonymity deadens the gossiper’s natural feelings of shame — which we’re certain exist to some degree in even the most callous distributor of calumny. Eventually, the person’s conscience (the source of healthy shame) won’t be heard at all.
There’s a nasty anonymous blogger here in Anchorage who focuses his or her venom on matters Catholic. We won’t provide the address for obvious reasons.
This blogger posted a (copyrighted) photo of a local priest posing for the camera with one arm around another adult. An innocent image of friends? Don’t be naive.
To this keen-eyed blogger, the photo reveals an "obviously warped relationship." What’s more, the blogger has "heard quite a few things" (gasp!) about the priest (who is now deceased).
If that isn’t a clear sign of the way anonymous rumormongering warps the rumormonger, we can’t imagine what is.
The posting reveals other insights (about the blogger). Apparently oblivious to the irony, he/she requests information about the dead priest "in the interest of bringing back rigorous honesty into the public square." He/she wants to hear what readers "know about this man," and adds, "And I stress know."
Anonymous bloggers don’t need to "know" or verify or really do anything more than imagine that someone else has sinned in order to bellow about it in the public domain. This ugly trait is part personality, but anonymity exacerbates it. In the darkness of such secrecy the blogger’s own sins grow like mold.
Of course calumny and detraction are nothing new. Every crowd contains a few folks with too much venom and time on their hands and too little humility, discretion and empathy. Unfortunately, the Internet amplifies their vituperation and silences their consciences.
For the sake of those harmed by these rumormongers, and for the sake of the mongers themselves, don’t read this stuff, and certainly don’t respond to it.
Letters to the Editor
Defending church criticized
I found it very interesting to read of the treatment Therese Syren received from the audience while trying to defend the Holy Father’s recent affirmation of long-standing church teaching regarding euthanasia. I guess it’s still true that a prophet is not without honor except in his own country. I admire Therese very much and think that she must have the constitution of St. Joan of Arc. I’m glad Discipleship Days’ promoters didn’t decide to have a bonfire as part of the festivities. No telling what might have happened.
Anchorage
Land purchase had purpose
The story about the "C Street and International Road sale" in the Catholic Anchor, Sept. 9, 2005, needs a correction. "The property was purchased explicitly as an investment, with no set purpose," the story states. That is just wrong.
For the record, the property was not purchased "explicitly as an investment with no set purpose." I have not approached anyone for funds for investment purposes only. I do not know donors who would to respond to such a request.
There had been for some time discussions about the need for one large church that would accommodate a much larger congregation than any Catholic church in Anchorage. The expansion of the cathedral was considered but for a number of reasons was not pursued. The idea of a large church persisted, especially for large and special events. The availability of the 12 acres at "C and International" was proposed to me by a donor who offered to provide the down payment. I presented the idea to the presbyteral council. All agreed that we needed at least one large church.
With my assurance that I would not make any financial appeal to the parishes, they had no objection to my accepting the offer.
"C and International" was the last available large piece of property in Anchorage centrally located with good road access. We obtained the property and, as the Anchor story notes, three families contributed to the purchase.
Conscious of my own impending retirement, I knew that the "to build or not to build" decision would not be mine. My purpose was to secure a choice, well-located property to be available for the growing and expanding Catholic population in Anchorage of the future.
If the decision was not to build there, it might be used for some other archdiocesan facility or it could be sold.
The decision to sell was made.
I am deeply appreciative for the generosity of the families that made it possible to obtain the land and I am also thankful that it has become a significant financial boost to the archdiocese.
Anchorage
Modern Morals
Should homosexuals be banned from seminaries?
The Vatican is preparing to release a document that addresses the question of whether homosexual men should be accepted into priest formation programs. It is not known precisely what the document says, but that hasn’t prevented widespread debate among U.S. Catholics about the question. For some, the answer is clear: The church formally teaches that "homosexual inclination" is "objectively disordered," and the church should not allow men with an objectively disordered inclination to become priests. Others say the question should not be whether or not a candidate is homosexual but whether or not he is judged capable of living the chaste, celibate lifestyle required of unmarried Roman Catholic priests. What do you think? Should men who have a homosexual orientation be allowed to become priests?
Send responses to catholicanchor@gci.net; or fax (907) 279-3885; or mail to
"Modern Morals," Catholic Anchor, 225 Cordova St., Anchorage, AK 99501