December 16, 2005 - Issue #25
Local News | Opinion/Editorials | Letters to the Editor
New church comes 35 years after parish was founded
Mary Monaghan still remembers when a nun conducting a census for the Anchorage Archdiocese visited her home. She remembers how, after the census was completed, word was that a new church would be built in her West Anchorage neighborhood.
Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish was founded in 1970, before a building had been built, but Monaghan’s family quickly joined others to worship in nearby schools and at Turnagain Methodist Church. It wasn’t until six years later that the parish had its own space, a multipurpose center that was to serve as the interim worship space until an actual church could be built.
Although it took longer than expected to erect the church, parishioners never abandoned the dream, said Monaghan, who is 82.
After more than two years of construction, the large, Spanish mission style church has been dedicated, fittingly on the feast of the patron saint of the parish. Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz celebrated the dedication Mass on Dec. 12, exactly 19 years after the dedication of the parish’s multipurpose facility.
At about 16,580 square feet, and reaching more than 55 feet into the sky, the new church has the largest footprint and tallest profile of all the archdiocese’s churches. There is pew seating for about 560 people, about 100 fewer than the church with the largest seating capacity in the archdiocese, St. Anthony Parish in East Anchorage.
As of Dec. 5, 684 families were officially registered at Our Lady of Guadalupe.
Father Vincent Blanco, the Filipino pastor of the parish, predicts that number may grow. Since he recently began celebrating Masses in the new church, he’s seen some new faces. Time will tell whether they’re spurred by curiosity or will become regular parishioners, he said. He hopes the opening and dedication of the new church will be a draw to Catholics and also inspire current parishioners to be "more caring … and make the church a more welcoming church."
That potential is built into the bones of the structure, designed by principal architect John Crittenden, whose father designed the multipurpose center. For example, Father Blanco said, upon entering the front door, the narthex opens up into a space wide enough to mingle before and after Mass.
He hopes the added occasion for some fellowship will connect people to one another as they "not only just sit in the pew," Father Blanco said, but also "look out for someone who is in need."
A church dedication is a "once-in-a-lifetime thing … like a wedding almost," according to Deacon Ted Greene, who serves the parish.
Our Lady of Guadalupe’s roughly 40-person volunteer "dedication committee" began meeting in October, organizing invitations, poring over historic parish bulletins and helping to plan aspects of the dedication ceremony.
The dedication rite is steeped in long-held Catholic ritual. At Our Lady of Guadalupe, the liturgy included a candle-lit procession from the multipurpose center along the covered walkway to the new church; a transfer of the church’s keys and building plans to the archbishop; sprinkling of holy water; placing relics, or remains, of three saints into the base of the altar; burning incense; anointing of the altar and the walls of the church with sacred chrism oil and a procession with the Blessed Sacrament.
The late Msgr. John Lunney, the parish’s first pastor, was raised in Massachusetts and is remembered as a traditional Irish priest. He named the parish Our Lady of Guadalupe to honor the patroness of the Americas in the far north.
On the occasion of the feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe in 1981, Msgr. Lunney wrote in a letter to parishioners: "What an honor it is for all of us here … in this northern extremity, fostering true devotion to her … . It is fitting that America’s last frontier has the loving support, guidance and blessings of Our Lady as we plant the seeds of His Kingdom in the northland."
Monaghan said Msgr. Lunney led the drive for the new church for almost 25 years. He died in Anchorage four years ago.
The new church features two striking bell towers, a stucco exterior and interior wall niches intended for commissioned devotional artworks. A large wood carving of the resurrected Christ seems to hover over the altar.
"It’s a beautiful building," Monaghan said of the new church. "I’m sure Msgr. Lunney would be very proud of it."
There is also a small chapel that may one day have a grotto-like atmosphere, calling to mind the apparitions of the Virgin of Guadalupe that Juan Diego saw in 1531 in what is now northern Mexico City.
With the building finally complete, Deacon Greene said he is buoyed by the support of so many people who have donated money or efforts to make the church a reality.
About half of the church’s ethnically diverse parishioners — they are about one-third Hispanic, one-third Filipino and one-third other — have pledged to help pay for the $4.4 million church; longtime parishioner and philanthropist Mary Louise Rasmuson, a major donor, was specially honored at the dedication Mass. The Knights of Columbus loaned $1 million to the building fund, and the cherry wood and black granite altar was purchased by Holy Cross Father LeRoy Clementich, the archdiocese’s canonical pastor of parishes without a resident priest, with money from his 2005 Lumen Christi award from the Catholic Church Extension Society. The parish’s One More Time thrift store also pitched in at least $370,000 by selling used clothing and household items for more than two decades.
Deacon Greene said the parish’s generosity is "a real act of faith in the future." The church may serve Catholics into the next century and beyond, he said.
Monaghan said she hopes the church will unite diverse groups of worshipers. "Eventually the different cultures will pretty much become one, I hope," she said.
Eclectic group of priests travels to rural parishes for Christmas
The Anchorage Archdiocese’s chronic shortage of priests means that about a third of its 28 parishes and missions don’t get Mass every Sunday. But thanks to a collection of priests from around the archdiocese and beyond, every Catholic church in the archdiocese should — weather permitting — have a priest for Christmas.
Every year as far back as anyone can remember the archdiocese has assembled a merry medley of men to spend Christmas with a rural Alaska parish. This year priests are coming from Boston, Chicago, San Antonio and Portland, Ore., to join the archdiocese’s faithful standbys, the supply priests who fan out throughout the year to cover priestless parishes as best they can.
"It’s so special to have a priest for Mass through the Christmas season, to fully celebrate the Eucharist when we celebrate Christ’s coming," said Holy Family Sister Marie Ann Brent, pastoral director of St. Francis Xavier Parish in Valdez. "Both (Archbishop Roger Schwietz and retired Archbishop Francis Hurley) have been so good as far as making sure we have a priest here to celebrate the great feasts of the church."
Sister Brent’s parish has been without a resident priest for 17 years, but never without Mass on Christmas and Easter during that time, she said.
Valdez is fortunate to have Sister Brent residing there, available to lead Communion services with her flock when no priest is available. In Unalaska, the Aleutian fishing community 800 miles southwest of Anchorage, St. Christopher by the Sea Mission Parish survives without any resident pastoral staff.
"It’s all volunteer," said Sandra Sandness, a 19-year member of St. Christopher. "It does effect people, spiritual-wise, not having anybody assigned here."
But, Sandness said, the archdiocese has always come through at Christmas and Easter, although a few times the priest has been delayed by spring storms and showed up part way through Holy Week.
"We’re very grateful for anything that the archdiocese can provide for us, since we’re in a far-off place," she said.
So who are these men who forgo a relaxing Christmas surrounded by family to travel to a rural Alaska community to celebrate Christmas with, in many instances, complete strangers?
Father Tone Svetelj is a Slovenian Jesuit who is studying for his doctorate in philosophy at Boston College. He learned about the archdiocese’s needs from another Jesuit with Alaska connections, Father Janus Sever, who encouraged him to volunteer in Valdez as Father Sever had. Father Svetelj spent several weeks in Valdez this summer and was a huge hit with the people, according to Sister Brent.
Regarding the sacrifice of coming, Father Svetelj said he appreciated the opportunity to take a break from his studies and "act as a priest" for Christmas. He wasn’t planning to return to Slovenia for the holiday anyway, and jumped at the opportunity when Sister Brent invited him.
"I am really glad they invited me to come again," he said.
Anchorage-based supply priest Holy Cross Father LeRoy Clementich is slated to spend the Christmas season in Unalaska. For the past several months he has been spending two weekends and the week in between with parishioners, and has started to bond with them, he said.
Father Clementich, who recently received the highest honor for missionary activity awarded by the Catholic Church Extension Society, has been a supply priest in the archdiocese since 1993, when he heard about the need for priests and volunteered to come up.
Now the 81-year-old Father Clementich coordinates the effort to get priests here for Christmas and Easter. He recently invited his fellow Holy Cross priests in the West and heard back from several who are interested.
One, Holy Cross Father Jim Kelly of Portland, will be coming to Alaska for the first time next week. Before his retirement earlier this year, Father Kelly taught sociology at a seminary in Jinja, Uganda, where the temperature ranges from about 60 to 80 degrees due to the moderating effect of nearby Lake Victoria, he said.
The 74-year-old will be borrowing a coat from Father Clementich in Anchorage before shipping out to Kenai, where he will spend a week with Our Lady of the Angels Parish.
Like Father Clementich, Archbishop Schwietz also netted a volunteer from his religious order, the Oblates of Mary Immaculate. Oblate Father Jim Brobst, whom the archbishop ordained a priest 15 years ago, is now a doctoral student based in Chicago. He’s currently on a five-month sabbatical in between semesters and received permission from his superiors, and his family, to stay up here for Christmas.
He’ll be heading north, to cover the churches in Willow, Talkeetna and Trapper Creek.
"It’s a sacrifice," he said of the Christmas assignment. "But when you join a missionary order you have to consider that as part of your life."
Sulpician Father Jim Oberle, vice president of Assumption Seminary in San Antonio, connected with the archdiocese when he attended a national vocations conference in Anchorage last year. Archbishop Schwietz made a plea for priests at that gathering.
Father Oberle volunteered this summer in Homer, Ninilchik and Valdez and had a "great experience," he said.
"Then when I was leaving this summer they said, ‘Could you come back for Christmas?’ and I said, ‘Why not?’ " The seminary closes down for Christmas break anyway.
Father Oberle and other visiting priests praised the people they have met in Alaska’s rural parishes. Families invited them on adventures to fish, sightsee and enjoy meals together.
"People really opened their hearts to me, and not so much to me personally but to the church," said Father Oberle, who will be covering Homer and Ninilchik for Christmas.
In addition to the visiting clergy and Father Clementich, one active pastor and two retired (yet quite active) priests are serving priestless parishes this Christmas.
Father Stan Allie, who retired five years ago at age 70 after serving in the archdiocese for 30 years, still celebrates Mass in Big Lake almost every weekend. He’ll be there for Christmas.
"I think I’m more retreaded than retired," he said.
Another retiree who still serves most weekends in priestless parishes is Father Bill Hanrahan, 61, who was a military chaplain for 28 years before retiring earlier this year. Now he resides in Seward and assists Father Richard Tero, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish there; they are currently the only two priests on the entire Kenai Peninsula, which has 6 active parishes and missions.
Father Tero will leave his own parish to celebrate Christmas Masses in Soldotna and Cooper Landing, and Father Hanrahan will cover for him in Seward.
"It makes me feel good that I can help out in a significant way," Father Hanrahan said. "While I’ve still got priestly energy in me it would be unthinkable to not offer to help."
Medicine Women
Five Sisters of Providence headed West 150 years ago and started a network of hospitals that endures today
It’s a giant in Alaska, the state’s largest private employer, and the place thousands of Alaskans turn to when they need medical care.
But it’s easy to forget, when one looks at Providence Health System, which extends throughout the Northwestern United States, and in Alaska from Valdez to Kodiak and Anchorage to Seward, that the origin of this huge ministry lies in the courage and foresight of a small group of dedicated women religious.
To honor those women, the Sisters of Providence are dedicating a year, starting this month, to celebrating the 150th anniversary of the arrival of the sisters in Washington — the beginning of an extraordinary pioneer venture on the Western frontier.
It was 1856 when Mother Joseph of the Sacred Heart, along with four other Sisters of Providence, made the 6,000-mile, 45-day journey from the motherhouse in Montreal, Quebec, to Vancouver, Washington Territory, an area with no hospitals and few schools. The French-speaking women, two of whom were bilingual, encountered the physical deprivations of the frontier and an English-speaking, male-dominated society.
Yet the extraordinary statistics speak for the success of their efforts: during Mother Joseph’s 45 years in ministry in the West, 33 hospitals, schools and orphanages were established by the sisters under her direction.
And as often as not, it was Mother Joseph who designed the buildings, selected and negotiated for property, and climbed onto rooftops to do inspections.
The legacy of Mother Joseph and her pioneering sisters has endured. Today, Providence Health System operates 18 acute care hospitals, 12 freestanding long-term-care facilities, and 20 low-income and assisted-living facilities Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California.
"It’s important for us to keep the story alive," said Monica Anderson, regional director of mission for Providence Health System in Alaska. "We have a wonderful heritage."
What was the genesis of this burst of missionary activity?
A young French-Canadian widow, Emilie Gamelin, founded the Sisters of Providence in 1843. She saw her calling as serving the poor, the hungry and the sick.
But it was the pioneering spirit of Mother Joseph, a multitalented woman of strong determination, who brought the Providence mission west.
Mother Joseph was born Esther Pariseau in St. Elzéar, Quebec, the third of 12 children. She helped care for her siblings and learned the crafts of carpentry and design from her father, a noted coachmaker who welcomed her into his workshop.
She turned 20 the year Mother Gamelin founded the Sisters of Providence, and soon asked to join.
With parental insight, her father spoke of her to Emilie Gamelin: "She can read and write and figure accurately. She can cook and sew and spin and do all manner of housework well. She has learned carpentry from me and can handle tools as well as I can. Moreover, she can plan and supervise the work of others, and I assure you, Madame, she will some day make a good superior."
After her 45 years of service, Mother Joseph died of breast cancer in early 1902, just as her sisters were on the cusp of their first foray into Alaska.
In June, 1902, Holy Cross Hospital in Nome was opened by the order, at the request of the prefect apostolic of Alaska and Nome town fathers desperate for medical care in the area. The sisters also established a grade school in Nome. Both closed in 1918.
In 1910, six Sisters of Providence arrived to staff St. Joseph’s Hospital in Fairbanks.
In 1939, the Sisters opened Providence Hospital in downtown Anchorage, near Holy Family Cathedral. The hospital moved in 1962 to its present midtown location, where it managed to remain open and provide assistance to the whole community following the devastating 1964 earthquake.
Today, Providence Health System employs 33,940 people in the four West Coast states. Providence is Alaska’s largest private employer with over 3,500 employees.
Although the Sisters of Providence are often associated with their health care mission, they have also been educators throughout the Northwest.
During their 150 years of ministry, the Sisters of Providence staffed 22 schools, including Catholic Junior High School in Anchorage, which operated 1961-67, and Fairbanks’ Immaculate Conception Grade School and Monroe High School, where Providence Sisters served for 30 years ending in 1976.
Today, in addition to Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage, Providence Health System operates seven other facilities within the Anchorage Archdiocese.
They include medical centers in Valdez, Seward and Kodiak, and a 10-physician family practice clinic in Wasilla. Additionally, in Anchorage, Providence Health System operates Providence Horizon House, an assisted-living facility; Providence Extended Care Center, providing long-term care; the Mary Conrad Center, offering nursing and rehabilitation services; and Providence Home Health Care, serving homebound patients.
Although the numbers of Sisters of Providence has declined, and none serve today in Alaska, regional mission director Anderson said Providence is committed to the mission established by Mother Joseph: to continue "the healing ministry of Jesus in the world today, with special concern for those who are poor and vulnerable."
To that end, Providence has joined with four other Catholic health care systems to create a ministry leadership formation program for top management, Anderson said. This year, the Alaska region’s vice president and chief executive, Al Parrish, is one of three Alaskan employees who have completed their first year of the three-year training under the direction of Catholic theologians.
Providence also has "a robust spiritual care department," Anderson said, and a new clinical pastoral education program to train board-certified chaplains.
Providence’s Faith in Action program mobilizes people in local faith communities to provide help to the needy, and Providence has taken a leadership role in the Parish Nursing Program in Anchorage, Anderson added.
Worldwide, the Sisters of Providence have 972 sisters. The Mother Joseph Province, which sponsors Providence Health Systems and to which Alaska belongs, has 183 sisters.
Although plans for the yearlong anniversary celebrations in Anchorage haven’t been finalized, Providence began it’s commemoration with a "Table of the King" meal for its employees. The simple soup meal reenacted the dinners Mother Gamelin would provide for the poor in her home.
While the employees dined, they watched a video of the history of the Providence Sisters.
Homer woman uses her coffee to promote social justice, fair trade
The connection between the Third World’s coffee pickers and Alaska’s coffee sippers is growing stronger with a new agreement between Catholic Relief Services, the U.S. bishops’ overseas relief and development arm, and the Earth Friendly Coffee Company, based in Homer and Wheat Ridge, Colo.
Catholic Relief Services’ fair trade coffee project has been working to ensure that overseas coffee farmers receive a just wage for their work and that U.S. consumers learn about fair trade and get more for their dollar by cutting out middlemen and lowering overhead costs.
Diane Hughes, of Homer, founded Earth Friendly Coffee Company three years ago after traveling through the mountains of Guatemala to purchase chemical-free, shade-grown gourmet Arabica bean coffee directly from a small cooperative of farmers there.
Hughes’ company belongs to the Fair Trade Federation, an association of wholesalers, retailers and producers committed to providing fair wages and employment opportunities to disadvantaged artisans and farmers worldwide. She was selling Guatemalan coffee online out of her home when Catholic Relief Services contacted her last year in the hopes of expanding the fair-trade network. Would she market her fair-trade coffee to Catholics at a reduced price and use Catholic Relief Services’ label and logo and increase awareness about fair trade?
"Not a problem," Hughes responded.
"Our whole emphasis is selling to the Catholic Church. Everything social justice-wise that I’ve been working for is what CRS works for day in and day out," Hughes explained. "In my heart, I would love to see churches use us as a social justice initiative."
And they have. Hughes has spoken about fair trade at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish in Soldotna and she was also present at the September Discipleship Days conference in Anchorage.
Currently three parishes in the archdiocese are selling Earth Friendly-Catholic Relief Services coffee: Our Lady of Perpetual Help, Our Lady of the Angels in Kenai and St. Joseph in Cordova.
Our Lady of the Angels parishioner Margaret Menting said as of Dec. 1, her parish had sold at least 80 ten-dollar bags of coffee after Sunday Masses.
The parishes purchase the coffee from Hughes, who sends a portion of proceeds back to Catholic Relief Services. The parishes then resell the coffee at a higher price and use the profits for parish ministries.
Menting and other parishioners of various churches are also hoping to sell an additional 300 pounds of coffee to benefit the archdiocese’s "global solidarity partnership" with the Cotabato Archdiocese on the island of Mindanao, Philippines.
A year ago, seven delegates joined Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz in Cotabato to learn about the people and issues there. Catholic Relief Services facilitated the partnership.
Menting said Earth Friendly Coffee Company offered a simple way for her to raise money for the archdiocese’s solidarity partnership while selling gourmet coffee that ensures coffee laborers can make a living.
"It’s not just, ‘Let’s make some money and forget about the world.’ With this, we’re going to help other people as well as help ourselves," Menting said. And, it’s good coffee, she added.
Earth Friendly Coffee Company is one of 14 retailers nationwide sought out by Catholic Relief Services to expand the fair trade market to U.S. consumers. The retailers return a portion of their sales to the agency’s fair-trade fund.
By ordering fair-trade coffee from retailers closer to home, transportation and shipping costs are curbed and consumers can support local businesses.
"It’s no-brainer for Catholics," Hughes explained. "The consumer wins, the church wins, Catholic Relief Services wins, our earth wins. Even the parishioner that is too busy to get involved in anything, they can walk by and pick up a pound of coffee. They’re not making a sacrifice to get behind the right thing in life."
The parishes and the global solidarity partnership are selling coffee in their churches and online at www.earthfriendlycoffee.com/shop.htm.
A Letter from the Archbishop:
As we approach the celebration of the birth of our Savior at Christmas, I want to wish you God’s blessings of peace and joy. A special thanks to all who have sent cards and gifts. Also, I wish to express my deep gratitude to all of you who have contributed in so many ways this year to the programs and services of the archdiocese. We are indeed a blessed community, and may God bless each of you.
Archbishop's Column
Media coverage of new Vatican document has been misleading
A few days ago the Anchorage Daily News published a cartoon in which a priest, identified as gay, was pictured in a confessional saying a warped version of the traditional formula for starting confession, something like: "Forgive me Father, for I was born."
The cartoon displays an abject ignorance of reality, especially of Catholic theology, regarding persons with homosexual tendencies.
The occasion for this misleading commentary is the publication of a new Vatican document regarding the admission to seminaries and holy orders of persons with homosexual tendencies.
Equally misleading are the headlines that have been seen lately that declare, to paraphrase, "Vatican bans active gays from priesthood."
It should be noted, of course, that all sexual activity is unacceptable to the celibate priesthood.
The fact is, the new "Instruction Concerning the Criteria For the Discernment of Vocations With Regard to Persons With Homosexual Tendencies In View of Their Admission to the Seminary and to Holy Orders" is a carefully worded document that does not in any way change the Catholic Church’s teaching or practice regarding homosexuality. Its purpose, rather, is to offer some helpful guidelines to vocation directors and seminary personnel in their role helping young men discern a call to the priesthood.
Cardinal Zenon Grocholewski, Prefect for the Congregation of Catholic Education, the Vatican congregation that produced the Instruction, notes in his cover letter that the document does not treat all questions in the area of affective maturity and sexuality. It simply makes the common-sense statement that the church "cannot admit to the seminary or to holy orders those who practice homosexuality, present deep-seated homosexual tendencies or support the so-called ‘gay culture.’ "
On the other hand, the document also states that the church profoundly respects all persons.
Newspaper columnist and church commentator Father Andrew Greely wrote approvingly that "the Instruction breaks new ground in its insistence on respect for gays and its condemnation of ‘unjust discrimination’ against them."
Likewise, Father John Harvey, an Oblate of St. Francis de Sales who is director of Courage International, a support group for men and women with same-sex attractions who wish to live chastely according to the church teachings, said the Instruction was exactly the clarification the church needed: "I was surprised by the moderation of the document. It did not touch on every situation and left a lot to the discretion of theologians and psychologists. I was delighted with it."
Rather than falling prey to inflammatory rhetoric, we can rest assured the church has once again upheld her high moral standards for priesthood candidates while affirming the dignity of every person.
Editorial
Waiting for Christmas, and a priest
Advent has special meaning in the Alaska outback, where folks joyously await Christmas even as they worry whether a priest will make it out to celebrate Mass with them. The priests who battle weather and covetous families back home, wherever that is, are generous, committed men whom the local church owes a great deal of thanks.
Thank God for the men who travel up here in midwinter to help a rural Alaska parish properly celebrate the Christmas feast. And thank God for those durable souls for whom "retirement" is virtually meaningless, priests who keep serving into their 60s, 70s and 80s. Together these clergymen make sure the archdiocese’s rural parishes aren’t without Mass for long stretches, and especially aren’t without at Christmas and Easter.
This is no big deal to the priests; these are men who haven’t forgotten they were ordained to serve God’s people. They naturally put the people’s needs before their own.
But that doesn’t lessen the magnitude of their deeds, and you can bet the rural folks who don’t have a resident pastor warmly welcome them and graciously thank them for coming.
Especially now, when the crimes of a few priests have thrown a shadow of suspicion over the whole lot of them, that show of appreciation is most appropriate.
Anchor Notebook
Maria Ida "Deng" Giguiento, a Catholic Relief Services project officer from the Cotabato Archdiocese in the Philippines, visited Anchorage last month to further the "global solidarity partnership" between her archdiocese and ours. Through Catholic Relief Services (the U.S. bishops’ international relief and development arm) she has worked for years with Christian, Muslim and indigenous people to restore peace to the Philippines and East Timor.
After speaking to a group in Anchorage about Muslim-Christian relations, a middle-aged Catholic man confided to her that he had only ever heard of Islam as a religion of hate, and he thanked her for dispelling that myth.
Hearing that made me remember my own visit to Deng’s homeland last year to witness the creation of the solidarity partnership. On the Philippine island of Mindanao, I met a priest, Oblate Father Roberto Layson, who had helped negotiate a "space for peace" — a miraculous oasis of villages that, during the height of war, got the opposing factions to pledge not fire a shot when passing through. Father Layson, who personally tracked down leaders in the conflict to craft the physical peace spaces, explained that the concept really begins in the individual. As long as there is that war in the hearts and minds of the people, farmlands can once again become battlegrounds, he said.
Space for peace, then, is not just an absence of war but a constant cultivation of reconciliation.
Deng Giguiento and Father Layson are working to create peace every day in Mindanao, and elsewhere. When Deng told her Anchorage audience about peace-loving Muslims in Mindanao, about how Muslims appreciative of her work thank her for being "a good Christian," she created a different kind of space for peace within at least one of her listeners. Now that man has a new awareness and a new space inside where the concept of peace can survive.
Hopefully, our global solidarity partnership will be a powerful way for us to learn about our one human family and help us heed the call of our faith to harbor peaceful hearts.
— Kelly DuFort
Correction
The location of the Dec. 12 pastoral day was changed to St. Nicholas Byzantine Church after the Dec. 2 Anchor went to press. We apologize for any inconvenience this caused.
Letters to the Editor
‘Precious metal’ disappoints
It was a great disappointment to hear that parishes are being encouraged to purchase "precious metal" containers for use on the altar. This certainly is not based on Christian principle, but rather on misguided and destructive custom. Using gold in religious ceremonies only separates us further from the poor who can teach us and save us from our excesses. A church that puts displays of riches ahead of service to the poor has forgotten the central message of Christ and the principles of stewardship. Gold should appear in our churches only when the poorest in our communities are in a position to purchase it. The Scriptures remind us of true penance, e.g., "sharing your bread with the hungry, sheltering the oppressed and the homeless, clothing the naked when you see them and not turning your back on your own" (Is 58). Jesus reinforced the appropriate customs when he blessed the poor in spirit, the lowly, the merciful and the peacemakers. I can recall no special blessings for users of golden goblets.
Anchorage
War benefitted Korea
The 17 seminarians from the soon-to-be canonized Neville Chamberlain seminary say they are proud of Catholic tradition (Opinion, Nov. 18). Do they mean the very bloody Crusades, the inquisitions, Pius XII’s reticence on the treatment of the Jews? No, they will pick and choose history just as I did. Some 56,000 Americans sacrificed their lives to create today’s South Korea. Now that country sends Christian missionaries all around the world. Those who believe that missionary activity should replace war should send missionaries into North Korea and create the same society there that the war created in the South. Put up or shut up! After reading the opinions expressed in that column I will withhold all future contributions to seminarians. I’m every bit as Catholic as them and three times as informed.
Kasilof
Editor’s Note: The authors of the column are not seminarians; they are members of the ordination class of 1966 of St. Mary of the Lake Seminary in Mundelein, Ill.
| Editor’s Note: According to church officials in Anchorage, some bishops and liturgists around the country have been discussing among themselves the proper way to celebrate as a parish community when there is no priest available for Mass. However, Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz said he is not aware of any regulations being prepared in Rome that would eliminate Communion services in the absence of a priest, nor is he planning to ban the practice in the archdiocese. Even though there are only "rumors" of such a ban at this point, people around the archdiocese (including Archbishop Francis Hurley on page 5) are making their views known. |
Please, don’t take this away
How saddened and angry we were (and still are) when we learned our bishops are considering taking away the Eucharist we receive at Communion services. To deprive our spiritual community of its very essence is tantamount to betrayal from these same people who are supposed to be our spiritual leaders — our shepherds. We would urge them to rethink this act. Do not withhold from us that which brings us together to pray, share our communal meal and give thanks to God for the gift of His Son.
Nikiski
Don’t deny rural parishes
I am writing in response to Sister Joyce Ross’ recent column (Opinion, Nov. 18). I have been a pastoral administrator in three rural parishes in the Archdiocese of Anchorage: Unalaska, Dillingham and, for the last 12 years, Valdez. It saddens me that there is talk about doing away with Liturgy of the Word with Communion when a priest is not available for Mass. The documents of Vatican II are very clear (and I thank Sister Joyce for bringing those out) that we are a Eucharistic people. The Eucharist must be the center of our lives, whether a priest is available or not. I have lived and worked with people who are separated by great distances from Anchorage and do not have access to Mass except rarely, especially in winter. It would be a sad day when "Viaticum" — the food for life’s journey — would be denied those who, through no fault of their own, could not celebrate Mass with a priest. In the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy we are reminded that "Eucharist is the source and summit of all Christian Life." Eucharist is what brings us together, and what energizes us — indeed sends us forth — to be the hands and feet and voice of Christ.
Valdez
Priest shortage the problem
This letter is in response to Sister Joyce Ross’ guest column in the Nov. 18 issue of the Catholic Anchor: Current talk of intentions to cease Communion services offered to parishioners who partake in Liturgy of the Word gives cause for great concern. Do those who propose such an action truly believe that all else is running smoothly enough within the church that they feel the need to identify this as an issue that must be addressed? I would think that the need for Communion services in "priestless" parishes is a symptom, while the lack of sufficient priests is the problem that needs to be addressed. These Communion services allow the parishioners in our parish to regularly meet as a body of faithful and celebrate the Liturgy of the Word with Communion. This strengthens our beliefs in our faith and allows us to continue to practice community and stewardship. The absence of a priest should not cause us to be considered "second-class citizens" of the church. It is the responsibility of the archdiocese and its leaders to support the efforts of all within its family.
Kenai
Eucharist is what defines us
As members of a parish that has been without a resident priest for many years, we feel worried and very sad at the possibility the Eucharist may be taken from us. Is this really the way Jesus would choose to serve his people? In many ways we have been blessed as members of Our Lady of Angels Parish. Never have we felt more a part of the "church" than our five years here. It is obvious that the church is not a building but a congregation of diverse people coming together for worship, service and socialization. With the Eucharist being the central part of our worship services and the one part that defines us as "Catholic," why would anyone wish to take this from Christ’s people? We ask anyone involved in these decisions to please pray thoughtfully before making a decision that will allow us and many more parishes to receive the Eucharist only when a visiting priest is available. We will keep you in our prayers and ask everyone to do the same for us.
Kenai
Ban would cause many to leave church
I live in a community without a resident priest and last year, we had to endure the six weeks of Lent without any visiting priest at all. Six weeks! And now the hierarchy wants to take away the comfort of Communion to us. How dare they! In a time of great pain for all Catholics, this would certainly add more agony. Of course, in my 55 years as a Catholic, I’ve seen little evidence that the church cares about its people and this just proves that point once again. The hierarchy would rather protect pedophiles than give comfort to practicing Catholics. If this change occurs, more Catholics will leave the church. Is that the intention of the hierarchy?
Valdez
Precious gift has no strings attached
I am shocked that those of us without a resident priest may soon be deprived of the Eucharist despite of our well-trained Eucharistic ministers. Jesus instituted the Eucharist at the Last Supper for all present. There was no ordination and Peter was and remained a married man. Our priests are in touch and fostered and built community to include all of us as people of God. Jesus attached no strings to this gift of himself to all. "Wherever there are two or more gathered in my name there I am in the midst of them" — no strings! I give thanks for all those who trained and have made Eucharist to those unable to attend a Mass. That includes the Redemptorist missionary priests who worked on the Kenai Peninsula, Father LeRoy Clementich who has helped in our community building, and Archbishop Francis Hurley who came to us from Juneau after serving time earlier in Washington, D.C.
Kenai
Eucharist vitally important to rural parishes
I am responding to Sister Joyce’s article concerning the possibility of stopping the Liturgy of the Word with Communion services. I belong to a parish (Our Lady of Perpetual Help in Soldotna) that does not have a resident priest. We do have qualified people to conduct a Liturgy of the Word with Communion service. It is a loss not to have a Mass, but I believe it is vitally important for our community to gather and listen to the Word of Scripture and share Communion. Sharing Communion together keeps us in communion with one another. It is what nourishes us and sends us forth in our week to be Communion for all those we meet. I sincerely hope those who are thinking of stopping Communion services will reconsider.
Soldotna