1. religion and spirituality
2. christianity
3. catholicism

Vol. 72, No. 7
CATHOLIC DIOCESE OF SPOKANE
INLAND REGISTER
P.O. BOX 1453
SPOKANE, WA 99210-1453
Permit No. 17
Current resident or
PAID
SPOKANE, WASH.
U.S. POSTAGE
Non-Profit Organization
Celebrating Our
72nd Year!
From the Diocesan Administrator:
‘Picking up the pace’
– page 5
Pope Francis names
new cardinals
– page 8
Catholic men’s conference
set for March 28
– page 7
Spokane parish hosts benefit
event for Pullman Newman Center
– page 4
Providence Sisters choose
new leadership
– page 9
Guatemala colegio enjoys
partnership with Walla Walla’s
Assumption School
– page 13
‘The evolution of marriage’
– page 18
‘Living truth’
– page 17
January 15, 2015
Page 2
January 15, 2015
Bulletin Board
The Bulletin Board is a free service to our readers on a space available basis.
Call 358-7340; fax to 358-7302; mail to P.O. Box 1453, Spokane,
WA 99210-1453; or e-mail to [email protected]
Prayer Intentions of Pope Francis
January
February
EVERY SUNDAY
EXTRAORDINARY FORM Latin
Mass, 10:30 a.m., St. Francis Xavier Parish, corner of Empire Ave. and Standard
St., Spokane
SPANISH COMMUNITY MASS – St. Joseph, 1503 W. Dean Ave., Spokane. 12:15 p.m.
EVERY MONDAY
CHARISMATIC PRAYER GROUP –
St. Patrick Parish, 408 W. Poplar St., Walla Walla. 7:30 p.m.
EVERY TUESDAY
WOMEN’S BIBLE STUDY – St. Patrick Parish, 408 W. Poplar St., Walla Walla. 9:30-11a.m.
CLARE’S CLAN TOASTMASTERS
– 6:30-7:30 p.m., Monastery of St. Clare,
4419 N. Hawthorne St., Spokane. All are
welcome. Information: Sister Rita Louise,
327-4479.
TUESDAYS, THROUGH
APRIL 14, 2015
THE GREAT ADVENTURE BIBLE
TIMELINE program will be presented
at St. Paschal Parish on Tuesdays at 1 and
6:30 p.m., beginning Sept. 23. A study of
salvation history, covering 12 books of the
Old Testament and two of the New Testament in a chronological order to assist
with understanding the story of salvation
from Genesis to Acts. St. Paschal Parish
Center, 2523 N. Park Rd., Spokane Val-
DEACON SPOUSES ALONE meet for
Adoration and prayer. 11:30 a.m., St. Peter Church, Spokane, on S. Freya between
18th and 19th.
MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. DAY.
Catholic Pastoral Center closed.
DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING JR.
Celebrations: At Providence Spokane
hospitals. Rev. Percy “Happy” Watkins
delivers Dr. King’s “I Have a Dream”
speech. Two events: Providence Holy
Family Hospital, 5633 N. Lidgerwood
St., Health Education Center – lower level, noon-1 p.m. Providence Sacred Heart
Medical Center, 101 W. 8th Ave., Mother
Joseph Room – L3, 3-4 p.m.
Universal: Prisoners. That prisoners,
especially the young, may be able to
rebuild lives of dignity.
Evangelization: Separated Spouses.
That married people who are separated may find welcome and support in
the Christian community.
PRAY THE ROSARY
SATURDAY, JANUARY 17
MONDAY, JANUARY 19
Universal: Peace. That those from diverse religious traditions and all people of
good will may work together for peace.
Evangelization: Consecrated Life. That
in this year dedicated to consecrated
life, Religious men and women may rediscover the joy of following Christ and
strive to serve the poor with zeal.
Monday • St. Francis Xavier Parish, 545
E. Providence Ave., Spokane, 1:30 p.m.
Wednesday • Bilingual Rosary (English/
Spanish), Sacred Heart Church, 440 N.E.
Ash St., Pullman, 6:30 p.m. • St. Francis
Church, 722 W. Alder St., Walla Walla,
7 p.m. • St. Paschal Parish Center Chapel, 7404 E. Marietta, Spokane Valley, 10
a.m. Thursday • Rosary for the Unborn.
Planned Parenthood, 123 E. Indiana Ave.,
Spokane, noon. Friday • Scriptural Rosary, St. Thomas More Church, 8112 N.
Howard St., Spokane, 7 p.m. Saturday
• St. Patrick Parish, 5021 N. Nelson St.,
Spokane, immediately following 8 a.m.
Mass. • Weekday Mornings • Scriptural
Rosary, Assumption Church, 2098 E. Alder St., Walla Walla. 7:50 a.m.
Gertrude’s Spirit Center, Cottonwood,
Idaho. Registration/information: Eric
and Alea Wassmuth, 146 Cemetery Rd.,
Greencreek, ID 83533; (208) 962-2372;
[email protected] or visit the web site:
www.ceelewiston.org
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY 21
ley. Information: call the St. John Vianney
Parish office – 926-5428 – or email [email protected]
EVERY WEDNESDAY
BIBLE STUDY 10 a.m., St. Paschal Parish
Center, 7404 E. Marietta, Spokane Valley.
WEDNESDAYS, THROUGH
FEBRUARY 11
OREMUS, a program for prayer and
developing a prayer life, at St. John Vianny Parish. Wednesdays, 8:30 a.m. and
6:45 p.m., through Feb. 11. St. John Vianney Parish Hall, 503 N. Walnut Rd,
Spokane Valley. Information: St. John Vianney Parish Office, 926-5428, or email
[email protected]
EVERY THURSDAY
CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER, upstairs
old chapel, St. Aloysius Parish Center,
330 E. Boone Ave., Spokane. 10:30 a.m.
CONTEMPLATIVE PRAYER, lower
level conference room of former St. Francis of Assisi School building, 1104 W. Heroy, Spokane. 7-8 p.m.
SACRED HEART PARISH, BREWSTER: Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, after 7 p.m. Mass through 10 a.m.
Friday morning.
EVERY FRIDAY
SACRED HEART PARISH, BREWSTER: Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, after 7 p.m. Mass through 10 a.m.
Saturday morning.
SACRED HEART PARISH, BREWSTER: Spanish/English Ultreya, after 7
p.m. Mass.
THE QUILTING LADIES, located St.
Anne Children and Family Center, 12 E. 5th
Ave. in Spokane, meet 8 a.m.-1 p.m. to create
quilts which are then donated and sold to support charitable causes. New members welcome. Information: 487-4423 or 328-5688.
AA MEETING: “Serenity of the
Heart,” noon, Immaculate Heart Retreat
Center, 6910 S. Ben Burr Rd., Spokane.
Information: (509) 448-1224, or visit the
web site: www.ihrc.net
FRIDAY-SUNDAY
JANUARY 16-18
ENGAGED ENCOUNTER Weekend.
$250/couple ($25 non-refundable). St.
COFFEE AND CONTEMPLATION:
“Water from a Deep Well: Four Christian Practices from the History of
Christianity,” presented by Jerry Sittser
PhD of Whitworth University. 9-11 a.m.
$10/person. Advance registration requested. Immaculate Heart Retreat Center,
6910 S. Ben Burr Rd., Spokane. Information/registration: (509) 448-1224, or visit
the web site: www.ihrc.net
THURSDAY, JANUARY 22
ANNUAL RESPECT LIFE MASS, to
commemorate lives lost to abortion in the
United States. Noon, Cathedral of Our
Lady of Lourdes, 1115 W. Riverside Ave.,
Spokane.
FRIDAY, JANUARY 23
NATURAL FAMILY PLANNING
(NFP): A course in the symptom-thermal
method of fertility awareness in the context of Pope St. John Paul II’s theology of
the body begins at 6:30 p.m. in O’Connor
Hall, Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes,
1115 W. Riverside Ave. in Spokane. Offered by the Couple to Couple League
(CCL). Cost: $140, which covers instruction and materials for a lifetime of NFP.
Register on-line:
register.ccli.org/. Information:
www.live-the-love.org/. Questions: (509)
590-8576) or (509) 768-1862.
FRIDAY-SUNDAY
JANUARY 23-25
WEEKEND RETREAT for Men and
Women: “How to Listen When God is
Speaking: A Guide for Modern-Day Catholics,” presented by Jesuit Father Mitch
Pacwa of EWTN radio and television.
$235/person. Immaculate Heart Retreat
Center, 6910 S. Ben Burr Rd., Spokane.
Information/registration: (509) 448-1224,
or visit the web site: www.ihrc.net
SATURDAY, JANUARY 24
SPOKANE SERRA CLUB Mass and
Breakfast Meeting, 9 a.m., Bishop White
Seminary, 429 E. Sharp Ave., Spokane.
SUNDAY, JANUARY 25
TAIZE PRAYER SERVICE, 7-8 p.m. Immaculate Heart Retreat Center, 6910 S. Ben
Burr Rd., Spokane. Information: 448-9736.
TUESDAY, JANUARY 27
DINNER SERIES: “Evidence for God
from Physics.” Bishop William Skylstad
Publisher: Most Rev. Blase J. Cupich
Editor: Eric Meisfjord
Official News Magazine of
the Catholic Diocese of Spokane
Address all communication to:
INLAND REGISTER
P.O. Box 1453
Spokane, WA 99210-1453
Street address: 1023 W. Riverside Ave.,
Spokane, WA 99201
General Office Phone: (509) 358-7340
E-mail:
[email protected]
Any change of address should include mailing
label and name of new parish
Subscription rate: $20 per year.
Published monthly, at Spokane, Wash.
Third Class Postage paid at
Spokane, WA 99210
Member: Catholic Press Association,
Catholic News Service.
Web site: http://www.dioceseofspokane.org
presents Jesuit Father Robert Spitzer’s
videos on arguments from reason for the
existence of God, using contemporary
proof from new findings in cosmology.
Dinner, video presentation, Q&A, discussion. Part I: “In the Beginning I: The
Big Bang and Our Universe/Did the Universe Have a Beginning?” $30/person.
5:30-8:30 p.m. Immaculate Heart Retreat
Center, 6910 S. Ben Burr Rd., Spokane.
Information/registration: (509) 448-1224,
or visit the web site: www.ihrc.net
THURSDAY, JANUARY 29
“THE ROLE OF RELIGIOUS Reconciliation for Stability in Iraq,” presented
by Sarah AK Ahmed of the Foundation
for Relief and Reconciliation in the Middle East, and Mustafa Mahmood, Iraqi
engineering student at Gonzaga University. Sponsored by Pax Christie Spokane.
Wolff Auditorium in Jepson Hall, Gonzaga University, 7 p.m. Information: 3584273, or email [email protected]
SATURDAY, JANUARY 31
EASTERN WASHINGTON LEGISLATIVE CONFERENCE: “Raising
Prophetic Voices: Faith Communities
Advocate for Justice.” Co-sponsored by
Catholic Charities Spokane, Faith Action
Network, and The Fig Tree ecumenical
newspaper. 9 a.m.-3 p.m., St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, 316 E. 24th Ave., Spokane.
Suggested donation: $20 in advance, $25
at the door; financial assistance available.
RSVP: mail The Fig Tree, 1323 S. Perry
St., Spokane, WA 99202; call (509) 5354112; or email [email protected]
THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5
SAFE ENVIRONMENT TRAINING
for New Employees: New Employee
workshop on child sexual abuse, sexual harassment, and sexual exploitation prevention, including Diocesan Code of Conduct
Training. All new employees are required
to attend. Register by calling (509) 3587330 or (800) 831-1768 or by emailing
[email protected].
1-3:30
p.m., first floor of the Catholic Pastoral
Center, 1023 W. Riverside Ave., Spokane.
THURSDAY AND FRIDAY
FEBRUARY 5 AND 6
CATALDO
SCHOOL
PRESENTS
January 15, 2015
“Disney’s Mulan Jr.” 7 p.m., Ferris
High School, 3020 E. 37th Ave., Spokane. Tickets, $6.50, available Jan. 19
through www.ticketmaster.com or by
calling 1-800-745-3000.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 6
SPOKANE SERRA CLUB First Friday
Mass, 7:30 a.m., Bishop White Seminary,
429 E. Sharp Ave., Spokane.
ROSARY for all families, 6 p.m., St. John
Vianney Parish Chapel. All 20 decades.
503 N. Walnut Rd., Spokane Valley.
CHARISMATIC MASS – St. Michael’s
Chapel, Gonzaga University campus, 105
E. Boone. Praise, worship, fellowship,
6:15 p.m.; Mass, 7:15 p.m.
FRIDAY-SUNDAY
FEBRUARY 6-8
CATHOLIC ENGAGED ENCOUNTER WEEKEND: Catholic Engaged
Encounter of Spokane leads couples
preparing for marriage through a weekend retreat that helps them grow closer
and ready to more fully enter marriage
in the Catholic Church. Hosted at Immaculate Heart Retreat Center, 6910 S.
Ben Burr Rd., Spokane. $325/couple.
Mail registrations to: Catholic Engaged
Encounter, c/o Zach and Cheri Mallahan, 6819 S. Meadow St., Spokane, WA
99224. Questions: Email register@
eespokane.org
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 7
ROSARY FOR PEACE – St. Charles
Church, 4515 N. Alberta St., Spokane, after 8 a.m. Mass. Exposition of the Blessed
Sacrament during the rosary.
ROSARY with the Knights of Columbus. St. Francis Xavier Parish, 545 E.
Providence Ave., Spokane, 3 p.m.
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 8
World Day of Prayer for Consecrated Life
COME AND SEE SUNDAY at Bishop White Seminary, 429 E. Sharp Ave.,
Spokane. For men, high school age and
older, who are are interested in priesthood. Includes a presentation by the rector of Bishop White Seminary and seminarians about the seminary and life there,
as well as a video presentation and group
discussion. Includes a tour of the seminary, Evening Prayer, and dinner. 3-6
p.m. For questions, or to reserve a spot,
call (509) 313-7100, or email vocations@
dioceseofspokane.org
OPEN HOUSE with Religious, to celebrate the Year of Consecrated Life. Local convents and Religious houses open
for tours, times of prayer, and answers to
questions about Religious life. See ad on
page 8 of this issue for details. Information: (509) 481-8862.
SPAGHETTI DINNER, St. John Vianney Parish, 503 N. Walnut Rd., Spokane
Valley. Seniors and children age 6-12: $6;
children under age 6, free; all others, $8.
Noon-5:30 p.m.
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 10
GONZAGA LUNCH BUNCH, Noon,
VFW Hall, 300 W. Mission St., Spokane.
Information: (509) 869-0512.
ST. ALOYSIUS ALTAR SOCIETY annual luncheon and card party. Luncheon
at noon; card playing to follow, including
pinochle, bridge, dominoes, and pitch. $8/
person. 330 E. Boone Ave., Spokane. Reservations: 487-4632.
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 13
[email protected]
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 14
SECULAR FRANCISCANS: “From
Gospel to Life.” Gathers at 1104 W. Heroy Ave., Spokane, 9 a.m. Please call to
confirm. Contact: (509) 991-7937 or (509)
448-0299.
WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 18
ASH WEDNESDAY. Beginning of Lent.
GONZAGA VISITING WRITER SERIES: Marilynne Robinson, Pulitzer
Prize-winning novelist and finalist for the
National Book Award, and teacher at the
University of Iowa Writers’ Workshop.
7:30 p.m., Cataldo Hall Globe Room on
the Gonzaga University Campus. Free and
open to the public.
ASH WEDNESDAY Day of Prayer:
“Finding Christ in the Ashes of Life,” by
Father Joachim Hiên. $35/person ($45
with use of private room). 9 a.m.-3 p.m.
Immaculate Heart Retreat Center, 6910 S.
Ben Burr Rd., Spokane. Information/registration: (509) 448-1224, or visit the web
site: www.ihrc.net
Page 3
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21
RITE OF ELECTION, St. Patrick
Church, 408 W. Poplar, Walla Walla, 5
p.m. Information: (509) 525-1602.
DEACON SPOUSES ALONE meet for
Adoration and prayer. 11:30 a.m., St. Peter Church, Spokane, on S. Freya between
18th and 19th.
FOUNDER’S DINNER AND AUCTION, to benefit St. Thomas More
Catholic Student Center at Washington
State University. Hosted at St. Thomas
More Catholic Church, 505 W. St. Thomas More Way, Spokane. 6:30 p.m. Reservations: call (509) 332-6311, or email
[email protected]
SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22
RITE OF ELECTION, Cathedral of Our
Lady of Lourdes, 1115 W. Riverside Ave.,
Spokane, 2 p.m. Questions/information:
(509) 358-4290.
TAIZE PRAYER SERVICE, 7-8 p.m.
Immaculate Heart Retreat Center, 6910
S. Ben Burr Rd., Spokane. Information:
448-9736.
SPOKANE SERRA CLUB Luncheon
meeting, noon, Immaculate Heart Retreat
Center, 6910 S. Ben Burr Rd., Spokane.
BENEFIT CONCERT: “From the
Heart,” featuring the music of the Eller
Family and others. Proceeds benefit the
food bank of Spokane Valley Partners.
7 p.m. Tickets: $10/adult, $5/student,
$30/family; call (509) 926-7133. St.
Joseph Church, 4521 N. Arden Rd.,
Otis Orchards.
FRIDAY-SUNDAY
FEBRUARY 13-15
RETROUVAILLE WEEKEND, for
couples headed for cold, unloving relationships, or divorce. Many who participate in the program have overcome
significant marriage problems. Contact:
Dave and Joanie Fisher, (800) 470-2230.
Immaculate Heart Retreat Center, 6910 S.
Ben Burr Rd., Spokane.
COME AND SEE WEEKEND with
the Sisters of Mary, Mother of the
Church: Open to women age 18-30
who are discerning God’s call. Spend
time in prayer and recreation with
the Sisters. Cost: $25. Register online at sistersofmarymc.org, or email
The holiday spirit
St. Charles Parish, led by its Knights of Columbus council, fed more
than 400 needy persons a full holiday dinner on Christmas Day. It
was the 37th anniversary of the parish’s Christmas feast. More than
100 volunteers were on hand to help cook the dinner (which included 16 large turkeys), serve and clean up. Besides the Christmas dinner, needy persons from throughout the city were able to select warm
clothing from stacks of items donated by parishioners. (IR photo
courtesy of Paul McNabb)
On the Cover
Pope Francis greets a baby during his general audience in Paul VI
hall at the Vatican Jan. 7. Not a bad way to start the new year. (CNS
photo by Paul Haring)
Catholic web sites
Vatican City: http://www.vatican.va
United States Conference of Catholic Bishops: http://www. usccb.org
Diocese of Spokane: http://www.dioceseofspokane.org
Deadlines for the next issue
The next edition of the Inland Register will be dated February 19.
Deadline: February 11.
Regarding Letters to the Editor
Children’s Mass
Though you could probably make the argument that Christmas brings out
the childlike sense of wonder in many people, Father Miguel Mejia, pastor
of Our Lady of Fatima Parish in Spokane, celebrated a Children’s Mass and
preached to an attentive group of youngsters at 4 p.m. on Christmas Eve
this year. (IR photo courtesy of Jerry Rolwes, Valley Chapel Photography)
The Inland Register welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be no longer
than 500 words. Letters must be signed, with address and phone number for contact,
but names will be withheld upon request. The IR reserves the right to edit letters.
Send letters to: Inland Register, P.O. Box 1453, Spokane, WA 99210-1453
E-mail: [email protected]
Fax: (509) 358-7302
Page 4
January 15, 2015
Spokane’s St. Thomas More Parish hosts benefit dinner/auction for
Pullman’s St. Thomas More Catholic Student Center next month
Story and photo by
Bonita Lawhead
for the Inland Register
The fourth annual Founder’s
Day Dinner and Auction, put on
by the students at the St. Thomas
More Catholic Student Center in
Pullman, will be held in a different location this time around.
The event, held the past three
years in Pullman, will be hosted
by St. Thomas More Parish in
Spokane on Saturday, Feb. 21,
beginning at 6:30 p.m. This different location will allow a greater opportunity for Spokane area
WSU alums and supporters to
attend the event.
The dinner was established
four years ago to honor Father
Jim Kuhns, the priest who in 1963
was given the charge to establish a separate parish for WSU’s
Catholic students. A Newman
Club had served WSU’s Catholic students since the 1900s, but
Bishop Bernard Topel wanted
an autonomous parish for them.
Father Kuhns led fund-raising
efforts to purchase the former
Greystone Church in Pullman for
the new student center, which was
renamed St. Thomas More Newman Chapel. That facility was
used until 1980 when a new chap-
From left: Amber Gale, a Washington State University senior
from Wenatchee, and Christopher Appel, a sophomore from Colfax. Appel is one of the interns at St. Thomas More Catholic Student Center in Pullman. (IR photo)
el and fellowship hall was built
just a half block from campus.
The original idea for the dinner came from Msgr. Kevin Codd,
the student center’s pastor. Father
Kuhns usually attends the dinner;
he has a standing invitation.
Amber Gale, a WSU senior
from Wenatchee, is the dinner’s
organizer this year, assisted by
Christopher Appel, a sophomore
from Colfax who serves as an in-
Lenten Regulations
Lent is the 40-day season of penance in preparation for the
greatest event in human history: the redemption of the human
race by Jesus Christ.
Lent begins this year on Ash Wednesday, Feb. 18, and ends
on Thursday, April 2, followed by the Sacred Triduum, April 2-5.
The following are the regulations for Lent:
All Christians, by the nature of their lives, are obliged
to live in a spirit of penance whereby our exterior acts of
prayer, self-denial and charity bear witness to the inner
values of our Faith.
The Church specifies certain practices of penance during the
season of Lent.
1. Self-imposed observance of fasting on all weekdays of
Lent is strongly recommended.
2. Catholics are obliged to fast and abstain from meat on Ash
Wednesday, Feb. 18, and Good Friday, April 3.
3. The Fridays of Lent are obligatory days of abstinence.
4. Catholics age 14 and older are bound by the law of
abstinence.
5. The law of fasting obliges Catholics from age 18-59.
6. The law of abstinence forbids the eating of meat.
7. The law of fasting prescribes that only one full meal be
taken per day; the other meals should be significantly smaller,
but in accord with one’s health needs. Fasting assumes avoidance
of food between meals.
The “substantial observance” of these laws is a grave
obligation; that is:
1. Anyone who neglects all forms of penance, or deliberately
shows contempt for the Church’s penitential discipline, may be
guilty of serious sin.
2. Occasional failure to observe penitential regulations is not
seriously sinful.
3. Proportionately grave circumstances – sickness, dietary
needs, social obligation – excuse from the obligation of fast and
abstinence, but not from seeking out other forms of penance.
tern at the center. They said 260
invitations were to be sent out after Christmas.
Gale called moving the dinner’s location “an experiment….
We wanted to branch out and
reach alums in the Spokane area.”
Too, the facility at St. Thomas More in Spokane is much larger and better suited to serving a
large crowd of people, she said.
“Plus we wanted to build support
between the two parishes.”
While the money raised at
the dinner goes into the Pullman
Center’s general fund, a good
portion of it is used for the Center’s intern program, designed
to develop leadership and ministry in Catholic students. Four
interns are selected each school
year, and housing is provided for
them. Msgr. Codd mentors them,
and they become student staff involved with the many ministries
at the center.
Gale and Appel explained the
Catholic Student Center’s convenience, hospitality, and other
benefits.
All students are welcome
The St. Thomas More Student Center Founder’s
Day Dinner and Auction is set for Saturday, Feb. 21. The evening starts at 6:30 p.m. with wine, hors d’oeuvres, and a silent auction.
Dinner follows at 7:30 p.m., with dessert and a live auction included
on the evening’s program. The menu includes a beef dish, scalloped
potatoes, popovers, and Gorgonzola and pear salad; for dessert, panna cotta and sacripantina, an Italian cake. Amber Gale, the dinner’s
organizer, said the beef is cooked in a special sauce, making it “really
tender.” There are also gluten-free and vegetarian choices.
Shelley Powers, the chef at Bishop White Seminary in Spokane,
and Father Jeff Core, pastor of Sacred Heart Parish in Pullman, are
the chefs for the evening’s repast. Father Core was a professional chef
before he became a priest.
Gale is also in charge of procuring auction items. Actually, she
said, “it’s a shared project, with lots of people – parents, friends, businesses – donating auction items.” Since it’s early yet, her list of auction
items was short. She had promises of some baskets: a huckleberry
basket, an apple basket, and a pancake breakfast basket, and some
WSU football game tickets. She did have one exciting big-ticket item:
an autographed football from Seahawks quarterback Russell Wilson.
St. Thomas More Church is located at 505 W. St. Thomas More
Way in north Spokane. To make reservations or get more information,
call St. Thomas More Student Center in Pullman, 509-332-6311, or
email [email protected]
to use the pleasant and inviting
lounge for studying or group
meetings or games, or even just
to relax. A computer is also available for student use.
“It’s like a refuge,” Appel
said. “It’s so close to campus and
has become like a home base for
many of us.”
Also, he added, “you don’t
have to worry about your stuff.
You can just leave it if you need to
use the restroom or whatever and
it’ll still be there when you come
back.” Students can bring food
there, too, and not have to worry.
Meeting other Catholics is a
definite plus. “WSU is a secular institution,” Gale said, “and we can
find faith in our fellowship there.”
Both Gale and Appel greatly
appreciate their pastor’s service
to the student community. They
praised Msgr. Codd’s friendliness and his easy availability.
“Everyone has access to him,”
Gale said. “He is always there to
talk with us.”
Msgr. Codd provides plenty
of spiritual opportunities for his
mostly youthful congregation.
The Center offers a full range
of Catholic services: Masses in
both English and Spanish, prayer
services, retreats, fellowship,
community service (sometimes
in a foreign country), and even
free food. Every Friday when
school is in session, a dinner is
held at the center after the 5:30
p.m. Mass. Everyone is invited
and it is not required that hungry
students attend Mass first. The
dinner is open to all.
The Founder’s Day dinner is
also open to all, but reservations
are required by Feb. 6. A head
count of guests is needed for grocery shopping.
The address for the St. Thomas More Church social hall in
Spokane is 505 West St. Thomas
More Way.
For more information or
to make reservations, call St.
Thomas More in Pullman: (509)
332-6311, or email [email protected].
Warm, right down to their toes
The eighth graders at St. Charles School, Spokane, held a sock drive in December. They
collected hundreds of warm socks, which were distributed to the needy at the St. Charles
Parish Christmas Dinner on Christmas day. (IR photo courtesy of St. Charles School)
January 15, 2015
From the Diocesan Administrator
Picking up the pace
by Father Michael Savelesky
During the several days of the just-ended celebration of Christmas I
had the opportunity to
not only celebrate Eucharist with my own
two parishes in Rosalia and St. John, but
also with the Catholic
communities in Brewster and Twisp. This
experience enriched
my awareness of two
facets of our identity
and life as Catholics.
First of all, from
one corner of the Diocese of Spokane to the other, the Eucharist truly is the focus of our lives that
creates a rich and often unrecognized close bond
among us. That is the way it should be. Often we
forget how celebrative and formative our gathering
for the Breaking of the Bread is, and can be even
more, for us disciples of Jesus Christ. Despite our
age, gender or ethnic background, every one of us
who come to the Table of the Lord is in the midst
of a faith journey. And if we took the time to put
it to words, my guess is that our hearts would be
warmed by the testimonies of a rich and living faith.
Secondly, for one who now spends the majority
of his week pecking at a keyboard, pushing papers
at a desk, or attending meetings – all that stuff that
goes into assisting the administration of a diocese
– my experience confirmed the adage that “Church
really happens in the parishes.” As necessary as it is
for the mission of the Church, administration is but
a support for the wide-spread living of the Faith in
the 80-plus parishes and missions in our Diocese.
It is always good for the administrator type to pray
with the People of God in the parish setting. That
truly is where the Gospel touches, molds and transforms lives.
These insights come to mind as the month
of January signals a re-start of what many of us
call the “Ministry Year.” After the several days of
Christmas celebration, it is time to pursue with
renewed faith and commitment the business of
being Church. Whether we be a parishioner in
the pew or a pencil-pusher at the Catholic Pastoral Center, we are the Church. Whether we are a
parent, single person, student, or member of this
or that influential group, we are the Church. Individually and collectively, we are the Diocese of
Spokane. Our decisions and activities bring life
and vitality to the reality of that Church. Forming
the Body of Christ in Eastern Washington, we bear
witness to the gift we have received: namely, the
life-giving Gospel of Jesus Christ. We are more
than Catholics; we are disciples of the One whose
title we bear, “Christians.”
Our present circumstances of waiting word
about our next bishop present us with a unique
challenge as a community of believers. There is
a natural tendency to hold back, waiting to assess
whom the Holy Father may appoint to be our Chief
Shepherd. But hesitation does not build up and foster the mission of Christ. Bold, generous and committed action does. We do need a bishop, as much
as the new bishop will need each and every one of
us. At the same time, being the diocese, being the
local Church, is about Eucharist and living faith.
It is not primarily about who sits in a cathedra
which, at the moment, is vacant. As Catholics, I
sense that we know this very real dimension of our
faith. That’s why in this sede vacante moment, the
life of the diocese has continued to flourish. From
Twisp to Walla Walla, from Metaline Falls to Othello, the Eucharist continues to bind us together and
our professed Faith continues to set us on mission.
May we keep all this in mind in a couple of
weeks when the pastors of our parishes and the
mailboxes of Catholic households announce one
of the most significant ways in which we keep the
mission of the Church alive in Eastern Washington. Yes, it soon will be time to conduct the 2015
Annual Catholic Appeal. This collection is where
the needs of mission (including administration) and
the dedication of Catholics join forces. It is where
our witness to a shared responsibility for our Catholic faith is demonstrated. This year, uniquely more
so than in years past, we have the opportunity to
not only contribute money to the 2015 ACA, but
also contribute the gift of ourselves. When the new
bishop arrives, he will be proud to find us committed to our Faith and even willing to sacrifice for it.
God bless in your goodness and in your generosity this New Year 2015!
(Father Savelesky is the elected administrator
of the Catholic Diocese of Spokane.)
Page 5
From the Archives
Compiled by Father Tom Caswell
For the Inland Register
From the Inland Register – Volume LIII, No.38
Fifty Years Ago: January 17, 1965
Sisters of Charity of Providence: Hospital
administrators see many modernizing tasks
Today’s hospitals are faced with a real challenge in meeting
both the demands of modern
medicine and the standards set by
state health departments.
The Sisters of Charity of
Providence,
who
administer
Spokane’s Sacred Heart Hospital,
Walla Walla’s St. Mary’s Hospital,
and Colfax’s St. Ignatius, have had
– and are having – their share of “modernizing” difficulties.
In neighboring Wallace, Idaho, the order’s hospital is
closing after 75 years of service to the community. Cost
of improvements required by the Idaho Board of Health is
prohibitive and the Sisters do not feel they can assume the
financial obligations of building a new hospital.
A spokesman for the Provincial Administration of the Order
said that the Sisters have been asked to continue to administer
and staff the proposed new Eastern Shoshone County District
hospital and that financing will be put to the voters via a bond
issue. Hill-Burton funds also will be used to finance the new
28-bed, $800,000 structure.
The Sisters came to the booming mining town in the
rugged Coeur d’Alene Mountains in 1891 in answer to a plea
for medical care by the Miners Union – just in time to witness
the bloody and paralyzing war between union men and mine
owners. The disastrous fire of 1910, which turned North Idaho
into an inferno, completely destroyed the city of Wallace –
except for the hospital and its reservoir on the hill.
When the Providence Sisters move operations into the
new district hospital, it will be the first time since the order
was founded in 1843 that they will be operating a hospital not
their own.
A few years ago at Fort Benton, Mont., the order’s St.
Clare Hospital was declared “inadequate” by Montana’s State
Board of Health. The people were told that if they wanted a
hospital, they would have to raise the money. They did – and
built the new hospital on order-owned ground, leaving title to
the institution with the Sisters.
“Both we and they consider St. Clare’s a community
hospital,” the order’s representative said.
A third hospital administered by the order – St. Ignatius
of Colfax – is having its “modernization” difficulties. The
Washington State Department of Health and the fire marshal
have condemned the existing structure, and St. Ignatius obtained
its temporary license to operate “only on condition that a new
hospital would be built.”
St. Ignatius’s problem has been turned over to the
community it serves. In order to qualify for Hill-Burton funds,
money for the new structure – $600,000 – has to be on hand
this spring. Citizens of the area have pledged slightly more than
$400,000 of the total sum. Unless the entire amount is pledged,
Colfax will be without hospital facilities. The 53-bed hospital
serves not only Colfax, but the surrounding communities of St.
John, Endicott, Garfield and Rosalia.
St. Ignatius was deemed “inadequate” two years ago. As
in Wallace, St. Ignatius has limped along with temporary
licenses until community support of a new institution could
be gained.
Adequate funds for a new hospital are only part of the
Colfax problem. If the Sisters agree to administer the new
community-sponsored and financed hospital they want
assurance from members of the advisory board that help will
be forthcoming in recruiting sufficient personnel. There has
been a crippling shortage in all hospital work areas at Colfax
– nurses’ aides and such general employee categories as
maintenance, kitchen help, etc.
(Continued on page 22)
Page 6
January 15, 2015
Regional Report
OREGON
Archdiocese of Portland
ST. BENEDICT – Benedictine Abbot Joseph Wood, abbot
of Mount Angel Abbey from 1997-2001, died. He was 91.
Born on March 22, 1923, in San Francisco, Abbot Joseph
grew up in Chehalis, Wash. After graduating from Chehalis
High in 1941, he served in the Army during World War II. He
was honorably discharged in 1946 and entered the University of
Portland, where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in 1949.
Later that year, at age 26, he entered Mount Angel Seminary. Soon after, he decided to enter the monastery and made
his monastic vows in 1952 and was ordained in 1956.
He went on for further studies at Columbia University and
then Fordham University, where he earned a master’s in sociology in 1959. Upon his return, he taught courses ranging from
sociology to economics and from anthropology to Catholic social doctrine in the seminary until 1975. He was the college prefect of discipline, now known as formation director, and dean of
the graduate school of theology.
After a two-year assignment as director of continuing education and director of the summer program in the seminary,
Abbot Joseph was assigned as assistant pastor of Sacred Heart
Parish in Tillamook in 1975. From 1979-’81, he served as director of ministries for the Archdiocese of Portland, and then as
director of clergy personnel. He was appointed as pastor of St.
Paul Parish in Eugene until 1991.
Returning to monastic life, he served at the Monastery of
the Ascension in Jerome, Idaho. It was then that God surprised
him with a new assignment – Abbot of Mount Angel Abbey – at
the age of 74.
During his tenure as abbot (1997-2001), he made many
changes to the hilltop, including a new approach to development and more effective management of abbey departments.
MOLALLA – Homelessness is an issue commonly associated with heavily populated urban centers, but people are living
outdoors in rural areas, too.
To serve those members of their community, a coalition of
community volunteers launched a warming center at St. James
Church here. When temperatures drop below freezing or severely
inclement weather hits, the parish hall opens so people who are
homeless in this area of Clackamas County can take shelter.
“This has brought the community together,” said Father Ted
Prentice, pastor at St. James. “People from different churches, and diverse backgrounds and ages, are coming together and
working for a common goal.”
The Molalla Warming Center is coordinated by a group of
interfaith volunteers, representing several denominations in the
area, who came together in 2012 to figure out how to offer the
warming center service.
Molalla Warming Center Steering Committee Chairwoman
Leota Childress said their team of volunteers presented the idea
to a group of church leaders, and Father Prentice voiced interest.
After getting the consent of the parish council, he offered
space at his parish.
“This is a community that desires to be of service, but they
are a little far from Portland to have a strong connection to what
is going on at (St. André Bessette Parish, in downtown Portland) and other places that serve the homeless,” he said.
The program receives a small amount of funding from Clackamas County, but is mostly supported by donations. Volunteers
bring vats of soups or casseroles so shelter visitors and volunteers
can have a warm dinner together before people settle in to watch
a movie or play games and then retire to the sleeping area.
“Clackamas County provides a range of services ourselves,
but we’re also part of (a network) of other community organizations, county divisions, school districts, many different people
across community who are also concerned about and working
to end homelessness,” said Erika Silver, Clackamas County’s
Human Services manager.
When the steering committee sent out an invitation for a
volunteer training, 72 people showed up, Childress said.
“That shows what this community is capable of doing and
wants to do,” she said.
– Catholic Sentinel (Oregon Catholic Press)
Winner of 2014 Heisman Trophy says
everything he does is for God’s ‘glory’
by Ed Langlois
PORTLAND, Ore. (CNS) –
The winner of college football’s
2014 Heisman Trophy attended
Hawaii’s only all-boys Catholic
high school, the successor to the
school St. Damien of Molokai
briefly attended in preparation
for his ordination in Honolulu.
Marcus Mariota, the University of Oregon’s dual threat quarterback, is a 2011 graduate of historic St. Louis High in Honolulu.
Though he and his family are not
Catholic, Mariota attended Mass
at St. Louis and also is a regular at
the Ducks’ weekly team Masses
and shows up at campus ministry
liturgies on occasion.
“He is a great kid,” said
Dominican Father Peter Do,
pastor at St. Thomas More
Newman Center in Eugene.
“He is very humble.”
In an interview before the
2014 football season, Mariota
told the Fellowship of Christian
Athletes Magazine that faith
plays a major role in his life.
“When things start to get
rough, you find comfort in your
faith,” he said. “Knowing that no
matter what, you can dust yourself off and be okay. And you
know you do it for (God’s) glory. You do it for your teammates,
your family, but also for his glory
and to represent his name.”
Mariota told the publication
that his faith is “the steadying
force that’s pushed me, along
with my family, my friends and
my teammates.”
He spoke of a responsibility
to represent God and his family
“in the right light.” You do that
through God’s power he said, but
also by maintaining fellowship
with other believers who become
your family away from home.”
Quarterback Marcus Mariota kisses the Heisman Trophy during a
Dec. 13 news conference after he was named the recipient of the trophy. Mariota is not Catholic but he regularly attends team Masses
and graduated from an all-boys Catholic high school in Honolulu.
(CNS photo by Brad Penner, USA Today Sports via Reuters)
In a state without a professional sports team, Mariota has become
a universal hero in Hawaii, not just
because of his play, but because of
the way he lives his life.
Mariota is of Samoan and
German descent. At St. Louis
School, founded in 1846, he was a
star in both track and football. But
he also was known as a good person. A school photographer once
caught him helping a younger student learn how to tie a necktie.
“What an outstanding young
man,” said Alvin Katahara, chief
marketing officer for St. Louis
School, which has 600 students
in grades 6 through 12. “We are
just so proud of him. Everyone
knows about his outstanding
achievements in football. On top
of that, he is just such a wonderful role model for the kids here
and all the kids in the state.”
A crowd in the St. Louis gym
watched the Heisman award announcement Dec. 13 on a big
screen. When their local boy was
called forward during the event
at the New York Marriott Marquis, the group went berserk.
The day after winning, Mariota showed his true colors in
New York, visiting with sick
children and laying a wreath at
the 9/11 memorial.
January 15, 2015
Catholic Men’s Conference
set for March 28
Building on the blessing of
the past three years, the “Hearts
on Fire” Tuesday morning men’s
prayer group has announced the
date, place and speaker for its fourth
annual Catholic Men’s Conference.
The 2015 event will be held on
Saturday, March 28, from 8 a.m.5 p.m., once again in the student
chapel on the third floor of Gonzaga University’s College Hall.
This year’s conference speaker is Deacon Harold Burke-Sivers, a permanent deacon and
Benedictine Oblate of Mount
Angel Abbey in St. Benedict,
Ore. He and his wife, Coleen,
have four children.
By titling the conference
“A Man’s Toolkit for Catholic
Spirituality,” organizers hope to
build on similar gatherings held
the past three years in the same
venue. This year’s conference
will offer practical guidance for
men in living their Catholic Faith
in today’s challenging society. It
also will focus on the influence
of the impact of male leadership
in the family as well as on fostering respect for women.
Pre-event registration cost is
$30 per person (preregistration)
or $40 at the door. Lunch and conference materials are included. Financial assistance is available.
The conference schedule
calls for Deacon Burke-Sivers to
make three major presentations.
Attendees will be given opportunity to gather in groups for
prayer, reflection and discussion.
The conference will close with
the celebration of the Eucharist.
Deacon Burke-Sivers is
known nationally as a powerful
and passionate evangelist and
preacher whose no-nonsense,
hands-on approach to living the
Catholic Faith always challenges
and inspires his listeners.
He is founder and director of
DynamicDeacon.com, a Christian evangelization and apologetics organization dedicated to the
dissemination and promotion of
Catholic values, principles, and
teaching in complete faithfulness
and total submission to Holy
Scripture, Sacred Tradition and
the magisterium of the Church.
The goal of his apostolate is to
bring as many people as possible
to a deeper love of Christ and the
Gospel by sharing the truth of the
Catholic Faith in love.
The deacon numbers among
the most sought-after speakers
in the United States for Catholic
conferences, retreats, workshops,
and missions. He also has been a
regular contributor to Catholic
radio, television and print media.
He holds a bachelor’s degree in
Economics and Business Administration from the University of
Notre Dame and a Master’s Degree in Theological Studies from
the University of Dallas. He led a
parish mission last autumn at St.
Joseph Parish, Otis Orchards.
Registration payment can be
mailed to: Hearts on Fire – Catholic Men’s Conference, Catholic
Diocese of Spokane, P.O. Box
1453, Spokane, WA 99210-1453.
Questions or additional information about the conference
can be found on the conference’s
website – Hearts-on-Fire-Spokane.com – or call Matt Ries at
(509)-998-2193.
Blessing
Pope Francis blesses a woman as he meets Auschwitz
concentration camp survivors during his his general audience in Paul VI hall at the Vatican Jan. 7. (CNS photo from
L’Osservatore Romano via EPA)
Page 7
CYC 2015: ‘Behold … you are loved – chosen – sent’
The CYC 2015 Diocesan
Planning Committee is proud to
announce the opening of registrations for this year’s Catholic
Youth Celebration, March 2022, 2015 at Gonzaga Preparatory School in Spokane.
This year’s theme is “BEHOLD… you are loved – chosen – sent.” What we behold is
what we will be held by; thus,
behold the Lamb of God. High
school youth will behold the
Christ as we celebrate the sacraments and our faith.
This high-energy weekend
features several great speakers
and musicians:
Father Jorge Zarraga is
a dynamic, life-giving priest
from the Archdiocese of Tijuana, Mexico. “Padre Jorge” is
a radio and television host for
his community, the Missionaries of Jesus and Mary. This
former emergency room doctor provides care for the soul
through dynamic storytelling,
and inspirational teaching.
Thousands of youth have
laughed, prayed, and journeyed
with Casey Ross in youth ministry the last two decades. A
veteran of Cultivation Ministries, a former campus minister
and parish youth minister, a
husband and father of four, he
now serves as the Assistant Director of Camp Services for the
Archdiocese of Seattle.
Music will be provided
by Daniel Obberreuter and
his band “The Thirsting.” The
Thirsting offers cutting edge
Catholic music that speaks to
today’s generation. In 2008
they released their first album,
Companions of the Lamb, and
in 2011 their highly anticipated
sophomore album Universal
Youth was produced. The band
was originally founded in order to engage the culture with
a universal message of true
freedom through an encounter with Christ. The Thirsting
provided music for last year’s
CYC gathering.
Articles and photos from past issues of the Inland Register
can be found on the Spokane Diocese web site: www.dioceseofspokane.org
Page 8
January 15, 2015
Pope names 15 new cardinal electors, most
from global South; none from United States
by Francis X. Rocca
VATICAN CITY (CNS) -Underscoring the geographical
diversity of his selections, Pope
Francis named 15 cardinal electors “from 14 nations of every
continent, showing the inseparable link between the church of
Rome and the particular churches present in the world.”
In addition to 15 new electors, Pope Francis named five
new cardinals who are over the
age of 80 and, therefore, ineligible to vote in a conclave. Popes
have used such nominations to
honor churchmen for their scholarship or other contributions.
The pope announced the
names Jan. 4, after praying the
Angelus with a crowd in St. Peter’s Square, and said he would
formally induct the men into the
College of Cardinals Feb. 14.
With the list, the pope continues a movement he started with
his first batch of appointments a
year ago, giving gradually more
representation at the highest levels of the church to poorer countries in the global South. According to the Vatican spokesman,
Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi,
the new cardinals will include the
first in history from Cape Verde,
Tonga and Myanmar.
The Feb. 14 consistory will
bring the total number of cardinals under the age of 80 to 125.
Until they reach their 80th birthdays, cardinals are eligible to
vote in a conclave to elect a new
pope. Blessed Paul VI limited
the number of electors to 120,
but later popes have occasionally
exceeded that limit.
Three of the new cardinal
electors hail from Asia, three
from Latin America, two from
Africa and two from Oceania.
Of the five Europeans on the
list, three lead dioceses in Italy
and Spain that have not traditionally had cardinals as bishops
– another sign of Pope Francis’s
willingness to break precedent.
While giving red hats to the archbishops of Ancona-Osimo and
Agrigento, Italy, the pope will
once again pass over the leaders
of Venice and Turin, both historically more prestigious dioceses.
None of the new cardinals
hails from the U.S. or Canada.
Father Lombardi noted that the
numbers of cardinals from those
countries have remained stable
since February 2014, when Pope
Francis elevated the archbishop
of Quebec. The U.S. currently
has 11 cardinal electors and Canada 3.
The continuing geographic shift is incremental in nature.
With the new appointments, cardinals from Europe and North
America will make up 56.8 percent of those eligible to elect the
next pope, down from 60 percent
on Jan. 4.
The shift reflects the pope’s
emphasis on Africa and Asia,
where the church is growing fastest, and on his native region of
Latin America, home to about 40
percent of the world’s Catholics.
A number of the selections
also reflect Pope Francis’ emphasis on social justice. The new
Mexican cardinal leads a diocese
that has been hard hit by the current wave of drug-related violence in his country.
And one of the Italian cardinals-designate, the archbishop
of Agrigento in Sicily, leads the
Italian bishops’ commission on
migration, an issue on which
Pope Francis has placed particular importance. In July 2013, the
pope visited the southern Mediterranean island of Lampedusa,
a major entry point for undocumented immigrants to Europe,
and mourned the many who had
died attempting to cross the sea.
Only one of the new cardinals, the head of the Vatican’s
highest court, is a member of the
church’s central administration,
the Roman Curia, which currently accounts for about a quarter of
all cardinal electors.
Announcing the appointments, Pope Francis noted that
the ceremony to induct the new
cardinals will follow a two-day
meeting of the entire college,
Feb. 12 and 13, “to reflect on
guidelines and proposals for reform of the Roman Curia.”
The pope’s nine-member
Council of Cardinals is currently working on a major reform of
the Vatican bureaucracy, including a new apostolic constitution
for the curia.
Pope Francis said he had
chosen to honor five retired
bishops “distinguished for their
pastoral charity in service to
the Holy See and the church,”
representing “so many bishops
who, with the same pastoral solicitude, have given testimony
of love for Christ and the people of God, whether in particular churches, the Roman Curia
or the diplomatic service of the
Holy See.”
The five new honorary cardinals hail from Argentina,
Colombia, Germany, Italy and
Mozambique.
Here is the list of the new
cardinals:
• French Archbishop Dominique Mamberti, prefect of the
Apostolic Signature, 62.
• Portuguese Patriarch Manuel Jose Macario do Nascimento
Clemente of Lisbon, 66.
• Ethiopian Archbishop Berhaneyesus Demerew Souraphiel
of Addis Ababa, 66.
• New Zealand Archbishop
John Dew of Wellington, 66.
• Italian Archbishop Edoardo
Menichelli of Ancona-Osimo, 75.
• Vietnamese Archbishop Pierre
Nguyen Van Nhon of Hanoi, 76.
• Mexican Archbishop Alberto Suarez Inda of Morelia, who
turns 76 Jan. 30.
• Myanmar Archbishop Charles
Bo of Yangon, 66.
• Thai Archbishop Francis
Xavier Kriengsak Kovithavanij
of Bangkok, 65.
• Italian Archbishop Francesco Montenegro of Agrigento, 68.
• Uruguayan Archbishop Daniel Fernando Sturla Berhouet of
Montevideo, 55.
• Spanish Archbishop Ricardo Blazquez Perez of Valladolid, 72.
• Spanish-born Panamanian
Bishop Jose Luis Lacunza Maestrojuan of David, 70.
• Cape Verdean Bishop Arlindo Gomes Furtado of Santiago
de Cabo Verde, 65.
• Tongan Bishop Soane
Mafi, 53.
• Colombian Archbishop José
de Jesus Pimiento Rodriguez, retired, of Manizales, who turns 96
Feb. 18.
• Italian Archbishop Luigi
De Magistris, 88, retired pro-major penitentiary at the Vatican.
• German Archbishop KarlJoseph Rauber, 80, a former
nuncio.
• Argentine Archbishop Luís
Hector Villalba, retired, of
Tucuman, 80.
• Mozambican Bishop Julio
Duarte Langa, retired, of XaiXai, 87.
Before you run . . .
Call the Covenant House
9-LINE,
a hotline for troubled
youth and families,
open 24 hours a day,
seven days a week,
from anywhere in the U.S.
1-800-999-9999
The street is no solution.
Old problems get worse,
and new ones are created.
January 15, 2015
Page 9
Sisters of Providence choose five for 2015-19 Leadership Team
Four Sisters of Providence
began a five-year term to provide
leadership for Mother Joseph
Province on Jan. 1: Sister Judith
Desmarais, who continues to
serve as provincial superior; Sister Jo Ann Showalter, serving a
second term as provincial councilor; and Sisters Joan Gallagher
and Josefina (Josie) Ramac, who
are new members of the Provincial Council.
In addition, two laywomen
have been appointed to serve on
the six-member Mother Joseph
Province Leadership Team: Jennifer S. Hall, who continues as
provincial treasurer, and Wendy
Iwami, former executive assistant
to the provincial superior, who
will serve as provincial secretary.
The provincial superior and
provincial councilors were chosen in the Discernment Chapter
of Elections in Renton, Wash.,
in June and were confirmed by
Providence Sister Karin Dufault,
General Superior, and the General Council in Montreal, Quebec.
In addition to leading the religious community, the provincial and council members serve
as corporate members of Providence Pariseau Corporation and
also co-sponsor other ministries,
including Transitions in Spokane.
Sister Judith Desmarais has
been a professed Sister of Providence for 51 years. She became
provincial superior of Mother
Joseph Province in the fall of
2012 after serving as a provincial
councilor and provincial of the
former Sacred Heart Province.
She also served two five-year
terms on the General Council in
Montreal, Quebec. In addition to
community leadership, her ministry experience includes teaching primary grades and pastoral
ministry with deaf people for
the archdioceses of Seattle and
Portland. Her educational background includes a BA degree in
social sciences, an MA degree in
theology and interpreter training.
Sister Jo Ann Showalter has
been a professed Sister of Providence for 20 years. Her ministry
experiences have included medical radiography and sonography,
and serving as a member of the
Formation Team for Mother Joseph Province and the Community Life Team for Mount St. Joseph
in Spokane. She also is a regional
liaison for the Providence Associates in the region in the state of
Georgia. Sister Jo Ann has been
active on the Reclaiming Earth
Committee, as a member since
2004, and as council liaison for
the past five years. Her committee/volunteer/board experience
outside the Religious community
includes the Religious Forma-
Pictured from left, above, the 2015-19 Leadership Team for Sisters of Providence, Mother Joseph
Province: Jennifer S. Hall, provincial treasurer; Wendy Iwami, provincial secretary; Sister Jo
Ann Showalter, provincial councilor; Sister Judith Desmarais, provincial superior; and Sisters
Joan Gallagher and Josefina (Josie) Ramac, provincial councilors. (IR photo courtesy of the Sisters of Providence)
tion Conference (RFC) national
board and Region 15 chairperson; the board of Earth Ministry,
an interfaith organization with a
focus on faith and environment;
and the Leadership Conference
of Women Religious (LCWR)
Global Concerns Committee.
Her educational background includes a BA degree in religion,
a certificate in pastoral care and
counseling, and an MA degree in
earth literacy. She also has spent
12 weeks in Spanish language
studies in El Salvador.
Sister Joan Gallagher has
been a professed Sister of Providence for 29 years. Her ministry
experiences include elementary
and high school teaching and
serving as librarian. She currently manages the Sisters of Providence libraries. Sister Joan also
has worked in parish ministry,
has led retreats, and provides
spiritual direction. She served
in a longtime ministry role in
vocation/formation, serving as
vocation director three times and
serving on boards and committees for the National Religious
Vocation Conference (NRVC),
the Religious Formation Conference (RFC) and the Women
of Providence in Collaboration
(WPC)
Vocation/Formation/
Religious Conference. She also
chaired the religious community’s 150th anniversary committee and was coordinator of the
international formation gathering
in Edmonton in 2002. Her educational background includes
a BA degree in elementary and
secondary education, library science certification, an MA degree
in theological studies and certification for spiritual direction.
Sister Josefina (Josie) Ramac has been a professed Sister
of Providence for 34 years. Her
ministry experience includes
K-12 teaching and parish ministry as director of religious educa-
Salvadoran Sister of Providence becomes U.S. citizen
Providence Sister Vilma Franco, a native of El Salvador,
became a U.S. citizen on Jan. 6 in the U.S. District Court
of Eastern Washington, in Spokane. The oath was administered to her and the other 38 applicants by Magistrate
Judge John T. Rogers as nearly a dozen Sisters of Providence and friends watched. Sister Vilma came to Seattle
in 2012 from El Salvador, where she had lost her father
and six brothers in the civil war from 1980 to 1992. She
professed perpetual vows as a Sister of Providence in
Spokane in the fall of 2012. She has a degree in child development from the Community Colleges of Spokane and
teaches at St. Aloysius School. (IR photo courtesy of the
Sisters of Providence)
tion and as a pastoral associate.
She has been a Formation Team
member and candidate and novice director for the United States,
Canada and the former Philip-
pine Sector. Sister Josie also has
been a Formation Team member
for the Sisters of Providence International Formation Program.
Her committee/board/volunteer
experiences outside the community include serving as a missionary teacher in La Paz, Baja
California, with the Sisters of
Servants of Immaculate Conception; and volunteering in Yakima, Wash., at Rod’s House, at St.
Joseph Parish, and serving on the
planning committee for annual
gatherings of the Filipino-American Women’s Association. Her
educational background includes
a BA degree in languages, certification in Curso de Estudios
Hispanicos (Hispanic Studies),
an MA degree in teaching, and a
certificate in theological studies.
Page 10
January 15, 2015
Pope Francis offers Mass for victims of Paris attack
by Cindy Wooden
VATICAN CITY (CNS) –
The morning after 12 people
were shot to death and 11 others injured at the Paris office of
a satirical weekly newspaper,
Pope Francis dedicated his early
morning Mass to the victims and
their families.
At the beginning of the Mass
Jan. 8, he told the small congregation that the attack in Paris Jan.
7 was a reminder of “the cruelty
man is capable of. Let us pray at
this Mass for the victims of this
cruelty -- there are so many! And,
we pray also for the perpetrators
of such cruelty that the Lord will
change their hearts.”
French police were searching for two heavily armed men
believed to be those who burst
into the offices of Charlie Hebdo
weekly during an editorial meeting. Among the dead were the
weekly’s editor and four cartoonists, who have been criticized in
the past by Muslim groups for
their caricatures of the Prophet
Muhammad.
French President Francois
Hollande called the slayings “a
terrorist attack without a doubt.”
Although he met personally Jan. 8 with Cardinal Andre
Vingt-Trois of Paris, Pope Francis also sent a telegram to the
cardinal expressing his condo-
lences to the victims’ families
and the entire French nation.
Through his prayers, the
message said, the pope shares
“the pain of the bereaved families and the sadness of all the
French” and asked God to comfort and console the injured. He
also reiterated his condemnation
of such violence and asked God
for peace.
Hours after the attack, Pope
Francis condemned the killings
and called on all people of goodwill to work to stem “the spread
of hatred and every form of violence, both physical and moral,
that destroys human life, violates
the dignity of persons and radically undermines the fundamental good of peaceful coexistence
among persons and peoples no
matter their nationality, religion
or culture.”
“The Holy Father expresses
the firmest condemnation of the
horrible attack,” said a statement
from the Vatican spokesman, Jesuit Father Federico Lombardi,
who added that the killings had
deeply disturbed “all persons
who love peace, well beyond the
borders of France.”
“Whatever the motivation
might be, homicidal violence is
abominable, is never justifiable,”
the Vatican statement said. “Every instigation to hatred should
People light candles as they gather in Paris to commemorate the
victims and condemn the killings at offices of Charlie Hebdo, a
satirical newspaper, Jan. 7. Pope Francis condemned the killings
of at least 12 people at the offices of the publication Jan. 7 and denounced all “physical and moral” obstacles to the peaceful coexistence of nations, religions and cultures. (CNS photo by Fredrik
Von Erichsen, EPA)
be rejected, respect for the other
cultivated.”
Father Lombardi said Pope
Francis expressed his “spiritual solidarity and support” for
all those “committed to serving
peace, justice and law, in order
to heal the deepest sources and
causes of hatred, in this painful
and dramatic moment, in France
and every part of the world
marked by tension and violence.”
The office of Cardinal VingtTrois released a statement expressing the cardinal’s “horror” at
the attack and “his deep compassion for the families and friends
of the victims. With the Catholics
of Paris, he condemns this act of
barbarism and calls for people to
work ever more diligently to build
relationships of peace and mutual
respect in our society.”
“This society, made up of
all manner of diversities, must
continually work to construct
peace,” said the Jan. 7 statement. “The barbarism shown in
this killing wounds us all, and in
this situation, when anger may
envelop us, we must devote attention more than ever to our
weakened fraternity.”
News of the attack came as
Pope Francis was holding his
weekly general audience; among
the groups present for the audience and a brief conversation
with the pope were four imams
from France.
Speaking later with the
French Catholic news agency I.
Media and the French Catholic
newspaper La Croix, Mohammed Moussaoui, president of
the French Union of Mosques,
said the country’s Muslims condemned the attack and must react
against their faith being “exploited by criminals.”
Tareq Oubrou, the head of
the mosque in Bordeaux, said
French Muslims were “traumatized” by the attack and feel
their faith is being “taken hostage by crackpots.”
The imams and French Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, president of the Pontifical Council for
Interreligious Dialogue, issued a
joint statement Jan. 8 saying they
shared Pope Francis’ sentiments
and joined him in “denouncing
cruelty and blind violence.”
“We invite believers to
demonstrate, through friendship
and prayer, their human and spiritual solidarity with the victims and
their families,” the statement said.
Given the fact the targets
were employees of a newspaper,
the cardinal and the imams also
said that “without freedom of expression, the world is in danger.”
“Given the impact of the media” on society and on individuals, they said, religious leaders of
every faith must “offer information respectful of religions, their
followers and their practices, thus
promoting a culture of encounter.”
French media reported Jan. 8
that Muslim places of worship had
been raked by gunfire overnight
at Le Mans and Port-la-Nouvelle,
without casualties, while a female
police officer had been shot dead
in southern Paris Jan. 8 during the
manhunt for the terrorists.
(Contributing to this story
were Francis X. Rocca at the
Vatican and Jonathan Luxmoore
in Oxford, England.)
January 15, 2015
Page 11
Programs helps Catholics navigate emotional devastation of divorce
by Donna Petrocelli
for the Inland Register
All those who go through
the process of divorce define its
devastating effects in their own
way. When my marriage of 46
years ended, it felt like a tsunami hit my life. Although typically seen as a force of nature,
tsunami can be defined as “an
arrival or occurrence of something in overwhelming quantities or amounts.”
Something in overwhelming
quantities or amounts … could
that also be associated with the
feelings many experience when
going through a divorce, such as
pain, despair, depression, and most
especially, a sense of failure?
Many people who have divorced say they felt as though
they were seen as losers because
they are judged to have somehow
failed to do the things necessary
to keep their marriage together –
myself included.
In the movie August: Osage
County, the character played by
Julia Roberts explains to her onscreen sister that the reason she
had been trying to keep the separation from her husband a secret
from the family was “because divorce is an embarrassing public
admission of defeat.” Her statement is a sad, but true, reality in
our society.
You may be asking yourself,
Dominican Sister chosen to lead Catholic Charities USA
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (CNS)
– Dominican Sister Donna
Markham has been chosen to
succeed Father Larry Snyder as
the new president of Catholic
Charities USA.
The announcement was
made Jan. 12 at Catholic Charities headquarters in Alexandria, a
suburb of Washington.
Sister Donna becomes the
first woman to lead Catholic
Charities, which was founded
in 1910. She will officially take
over from Father Snyder June 1.
Currently president of the
Behavioral Health Institute for
Mercy Health, Sister Donna, a
board-certified clinical psychologist, has a doctorate in clinical
psychology from the University
of Detroit and was named a fellow in the American Association
of Clinical Psychologists. Last
year, she was awarded the prestigious Harold S. Bernard Training
Award from the American Group
Psychotherapy Association in
February 2014.
“There can be no greater call
than to serve and advocate on behalf of persons who struggle to get
by in a world where they are all too
frequently relegated to the margins
of society and where they long for
dignity, hope and compassion,”
said Sister Donna in a statement,
adding she was “honored and
humbled” by her selection.
With Mercy Health, Sister
Donna is engaged working on
changing how behavioral health
care services are delivered across
seven geographic regions. Beforehand, she served for 10 years
as the president of the Southdown Institute in Ontario, and as
prioress of the Adrian Dominican congregation in Michigan.
She also served for eight years as
a member of Catholic Charities’
board of trustees, two of those as
board chair.
Catholic Charities USA is
Dominican
Sister
Donna
Markham. (CNS photo courtesy of Catholic Charities USA)
the national office for Catholic
Charities agencies nationwide,
which help a combined 9 million-plus people a year regardless of religious, social or economic backgrounds.
Father Snyder will returning
to his home Archdiocese of St.
Paul and Minneapolis to do ministry there.
can there be any good news in
this article? The answer is – of
course! Good news can always
be found, because we have a
saving and redeeming God.
According to the United States
Catholic Catechism for Adults,
“when divorce is the only possible recourse, the Church offers
her support to those involved and
encourages them to remain close
to the Lord through frequent reception of the Sacraments, especially the Holy Eucharist.”
I am the director for the
Catholic’s Divorce Survival
Guide Program (CDSG), which
I have offered to the churches in
our diocese for the last two years.
The Catholic’s Divorce Survival Guide is a 12-week program
designed for Catholic men and
women who are experiencing
the trauma and upheaval caused
by divorce or separation. Based
on the teachings of the Catholic Church, CDSG is a ministry
that provides valuable insights as
well as practical tools that will
assist them in regaining person-
al confidence, learning how to
rebuild their lives, and most importantly, recognizing they are
valued by the Church.
Just recently, I received an
e-mail from a woman who participated in the fall session of the
program. She gave me permission to share part of her message
in this article. She wrote: “It is so
wonderful to know that as a divorced Catholic, I am accepted
by the Church and need not be
ashamed of myself in any way,
and that God loves me. I believe divorce strips us and makes
us feel naked like the world is
watching and can see all our imperfections. Thank you for allowing me the opportunity to share
with you and others and know
that I am not alone and God is
always near.” It is my greatest
hope that every divorced Catholic would be able to “know that
God is always near.”
(For further information,
email divorceministry.donna@
gmail.com, or call (509) 4688429.)
Page 12
January 15, 2015
Assumption School, Walla Walla, is ‘sister school’ to Colegio Nahualá, Guatemala
by Lisa Sharkey
for the Inland Register
Assumption School in Walla Walla considers Colegio Nahualá, a Catholic school in Nahualá, Guatemala, to be their
sister school. This school is one
of the programs to which donors
within the Spokane diocese can
contribute through the Guatemala Commission. Both Assumption School (Walla Walla) and
St. Augustine Parish in Spokane,
together with individual donors,
contribute over $8,000 annually to the Colegio. This money
serves as a subsidy for the salaries of the teachers.
Father Rene Yobani Ixcamparic, the Colegio’s pastor and director, sincerely thanks everyone
who has supported the school.
Without that financial help, he
said, the school would not have
been able to remain open. The
school has 137 students in primaria (grades K-6) and 255 stu-
dents in basico (grades 7-9). Tuition is $10/month for primaria
and $14/month for basico, collected from those who are able
to pay it.
The school follows the state
curriculum closely, in addition
to teaching religion to all classes. Nearly all of the students are
Roman Catholic. They have Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament
from 8 a.m.-6 p.m. daily, with
confessions available. Students
often participate in processions
in Nahualá for holy days and other special religious events, such
as Archbishop Cupich’s visit earlier this year.
Students at Colegio Nahualá
have excelled in mathematics
and many have gone on to higher
education and achieved very well
in math.
The school’s assistant pastor/
director, Father Santo Tambriz,
attended and graduated from Colegio Nahualá. He is not alone in
Our WSU Catholic Cougs
Warmly Invite You
to the Fourth Annual
Nearly 400 students, grades K-9, are enrolled in Colegio Nahualá in Nahualá, Guatemala. The
school could not continue without the generous support of Eastern Washington Catholic entities
and individuals. (IR photo courtesy of the Guatemala Commission)
this; many of school’s teachers
graduated from the Colegio before entering higher education
programs to learn teaching.
Presently, the school has
great need of student desks –
about $20 each in Guatemala.
World globes and/or maps would
also be greatly appreciated.
Donations can be made to the
Guatemala Missions, P.O. Box
1453, Spokane, WA 99210-1453.
Founder’s Dinner
& Auction
February 21, 2015
6:30 pm
St. Thomas More
Church in Spokane
In the Inn
The students of St. Mary School in Spokane Valley held their annual Christmas program on Wednesday, Dec. 17. This year’s program (a huge success) was titled Hotel
Bethlehem, performed at 10 a.m. and 6:30 p.m. to full houses. (IR photo courtesy of
St. Mary School)
Make your reservation now!
St. Thomas More
Catholic Student Center
at Washington State University
820 NE B Street, Pullman, WA
(509) 332-6311 + [email protected]
January 15, 2015
Page 13
German bishops’ report: Sacraments should be okay for divorced, remarried
by Jonathan Luxmoore
OXFORD, England (CNS) – Germany’s Catholic bishops have published a
report detailing their views on marriage
and family; it suggests most bishops now
believe sacraments should be available to
divorced and remarried Catholics who do
not have an annulment.
“This document contains reflections
only and has no juridical power,” said
Matthias Kopp, spokesman for the Bonnbased bishops’ conference.
He said the German bishops’ conference hopes “to offer its own theological
contribution in this area. While we can
give no information about any follow-up,
the majority of bishops agreed with the
timing of its publication.”
In late December, the bishops published “Theologically Responsible and
Pastorally Appropriate Ways for Accompanying the Divorced and Remarried,” on
the bishops’ conference website.
In a Dec. 30 Catholic News Service interview, he said the bishops had decided to
delay issuing the report, prepared for the
Oct. 5-19 extraordinary Synod of Bishops
on the family, until the end of 2014. He
said the bishops now would concentrate
on preparing a formal submission to the
worldwide synod assembly in October.
The report, drafted by a working group
and approved by the German bishops’ permanent council in June, appeared Dec. 22
alongside official translations of recent
synod documents and German responses
to an October 2013 Vatican questionnaire
Newlyweds kiss after their wedding ceremony in late May in Stein, Germany. Germany's Catholic bishops have published a report detailing their views on marriage
and family, which suggests most now believe sacraments should be available to
divorced Catholics who remarry civilly. (CNS photo by Daniel Karmann, EPA)
to dioceses worldwide.
It said most of Germany’s 66 bishops
now favored allowing divorced Catholics
living in new civil unions to undergo confession and receive Communion in “particular justified instances.”
While a minority of bishops still believed such Catholics “on principle, could
not be admitted to the sacraments,” the
document added, all now agreed on the
need to “intensify pastoral care” for them.
The report said the exclusion of divorced Catholics was “no longer compre-
hensible” to many priests, some of whom
deliberately disregarded church rules in
their pastoral work.
“For many Catholics engaged in
church life, the pastoral care of faithful
with a civil divorce and living in new
unions is a test of the church’s credibility,”
the document continued.
“The church’s teaching and pastoral
work must uphold Jesus’s instruction on
the indissolubility of marriage, but also
his invoking of God’s mercy on those who
are sinful.”
In a statement on the bishops’ website,
Cardinal Reinhard Marx, conference president, said the report had been approved by a
“large majority” of German church leaders.
He said that the search for pastoral approaches to the divorced and remarried was
“one of urgent challenges facing the Catholic Church in its evangelization worldwide.
“Civil divorce and remarriage often
cause people to distance themselves from
the church, or widen the distance they already felt before divorce,” Cardinal Marx
said. “It is not uncommon for this evolution to lead to the abandonment of the
Christian faith, and this is why the German bishops’ conference wants to step up
its pastoral outreach.”
German church spokesmen have previously defended bishops’ conference
proposals to allow some divorced and remarried Catholics to receive sacraments,
citing clauses in Pope Francis’ apostolic
exhortation, Evangelii Gaudium.
In 2013, the Freiburg Archdiocese issued 20-page guidelines for making Communion available, although these were
rejected in in an October 2013 letter by
then-Archbishop Gerhard Muller, prefect
of the Vatican Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith.
German newspapers said several bishops had distanced themselves from the latest conference report, with Bishop Stefan
Oster of Passau telling the Passauer Neue
Presse daily Dec. 22 he saw “currently
no theological possibility” of enabling re(Continued on page 21)
*45)&:&"30'$0/4&$3"5&%-*'&
“Wake up the world!”
“Be witnesses of a different way of doing things,
of acting, of living!”– Pope Francis
As Sisters of Providence, we respond to the cry of the poor and the
vulnerable wherever we encounter them. That is why two sisters
journeyed to the U.S. border with Mexico to assist an unprecedented
wave of families and unaccompanied children from Central America.
That’s also why we have been bringing scholarships and hope for
a brighter future to young people in
El Salvador for nearly 20 years.
Learn more in a video on our website
(www.sistersofprovidence.net). Let us know
if we can help you explore whether you are
called to this very special life.
Sisters of Providence
Mother Joseph Province
www.sistersofprovidence.net
●
Karen Hawkins, SP, Vocation Director
Seattle, WA – (206) 661-5925
[email protected]
www.facebook.com/sistersofprovidencemjp
Page 14
January 15, 2015
Three Washington State Catholic Charities agencies
awarded $492,580 CCHD strategic national grant
The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) awarded a Strategic National Grant
to the three Catholic Charities agencies in Washington State: Catholic Charities Spokane, Catholic
Charities of Yakima, and Catholic Community Services of Western Washington.
The Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) is the domestic anti-poverty program of the U.S. Catholic bishops.
The award provides $492,580 in first-year funding for the “The Life to Justice Initiative,” with the
possibility of up to four additional years of funding
as the project proceeds.
The Strategic National Grant Program is intended to offer substantial support for organizations
working to promote justice or economic development on a statewide, regional or national basis.
“The Life to Justice Initiative” represents the
concerted vision of the Washington State Catholic
Conference – the bishops of the state with their Directors of Catholic Charities – to unify the Catholic principles of Life and Justice in a concrete way
which reaches every parish in the state.
The Washington State Charities agencies are
using the grant to accelerate development of PrePares, an initiative to create the capacity within
every parish to provide pregnancy and parenting
support resources for mothers, fathers and children up to age five. Additionally, the grant will
connect PrePares to two specific initiatives to assist Farmworker and African American communities to lay claim to their fair share of justice and
economic development.
The Black American Initiative will form a
network of African American leaders to organize
Black families as effective change advocates, enabling them to access tools and resources that can
lift them out of poverty and create their own future,
including better access to education, home ownership and community involvement. The Farmworker
Initiative will train leaders in Skagit Valley to engage effectively with government decision makers
and service providers in the areas of health, education and housing, and promote statewide awareness
of the economic and opportunity barriers experienced by all farmworkers. Both of these communities will benefit from the PrePares program’s mission to provide low-income Washington families
with resources, services and referrals resulting in
healthy birth outcomes and committed, knowledgeable parents.
CCHD works to carry out the mission of Jesus
Christ, “... to bring good news to the poor ... release to captives ... sight to the blind, and let the
oppressed go free” (Luke 4:18). Information on
CCHD, along with educational resources for parishes and schools, can be found at www.usccb.org/
cchd and at www.povertyusa.org.
EWTN personality to lead January retreat at IHRC
The “Coffee and Contemplation” series, a spiritual discussion
and prayer event for people of all
denominations at Immaculate
Heart Retreat Center (IHRC), begins 2015 with Dr. Jerry Sittser
of Whitworth University.
The topic on Jan. 21 will be
“Water from a Deep Well: Four
Christian Practices from the History of Christianity,” examining
reflective prayer practices from
various Christian traditions.
Dr. Jerry Sittser grew up
in Grand Rapids, Mich. He attended Hope College and Fuller
Theological Seminary, where he
earned his M.Div. degree. He
earned his Ph.D. in the History
of Christianity at the University of Chicago, under Martin E.
Marty. He has been teaching in
the theology department at Whitworth University since 1989 and
is now a full professor.
The program runs from
9-11 a.m. and includes warm
beverages and rolls. Cost is
$10/person. Advance reservations are requested.
• The weekend of Friday-Sunday, Jan. 23-25, IHRC
will welcome Jesuit Father Mitch
Stories and photos from past
issues of the Inland Register
can be found on the Spokane
Diocese web site:
dioceseofspokane.org
Pacwa, well-known EWTN commentator and personality. Father
Pacwa will lead the weekend’s
retreat, “How to Listen When
God is Speaking: A Guide for
Modern-Day Catholics.”
God speaks to the heart, the
mind, and the will – how can his
voice be heard, especially above
the noise, stress, and distractions
of the modern world? What is the
process of discerning God’s Will?
Father Pacwa confronts modern-day assumptions that can
prevent openness to God’s will,
and emphasizes the many ways a
life of prayer can be developed,
nourishing an authentic relationship with the Lord.
Cost is $235/person, $440/
couple. The retreat is filling
quickly; advance registration is
strongly suggested.
• Bishop William Skylstad,
bishop emeritus of the Spokane
Diocese, will give two dinner
presentations at IHRC on “Evidence for God from Physics” on
Tuesday, Jan. 27, and Tuesday,
Feb. 24.
The evenings begin with dinner at 5:30 p.m.; conferences end
by 8:30 p.m.
During the course of the
evening, Bishop Skylstad will
present videos from Jesuit Father
Robert Spitzer, former president
of Gonzaga University. The videos address arguments, based on
reason and contemporary proofs
from new findings in cosmology,
for the existence of God.
The evenings include a question-and-answer session over
dessert and coffee.
The Jan. 24 presentation is titled “In the Beginning I: The Big
Bang and Our Universe / Did the
Universe Have a Beginning?” In
February, the evening’s presentation is titled “In the Beginning II:
Is there Evidence of Fine-tuning, Design, and Intelligence in
the Universe? Physics, Evolution, and the Bible.” Cost is $30
per person.
• Father Joachim Hiên, a retired priest of the Spokane Diocese, will lead Ash Wednesday’s
Day of Prayer on Feb. 18 at
IHRC. The day is titled “Finding
Christ in the Ashes of Life.”
The day begins at 9 a.m. with
recitation of the rosary. There
will be two conferences, opportunities to celebrate the Sacrament of Reconciliation, Mass,
lunch and, at the close, Adoration
of the Blessed Sacrament. Cost is
$35/person ($45 with use of a
private room).
For information or registration for these and other IHRC
programs and presentations,
call (509) 448-1224, or visit the
web site: www.ihrc.net. IHRC
is located at 6910 S. Ben Burr
Rd. in Spokane.
January 15, 2015
Cuba-U.S. reset long
promoted by church
leaders in both countries
by Patricia Zapor
WASHINGTON (CNS) – A not-insignificant part of the diplomatic coup pulled off by
the White House and Cuban
leaders Dec. 17 was that
hardly anyone knew they
had been working toward
a reset in relations between
the two neighbors and longtime antagonists.
That the two nations
had been negotiating in secret for 18 months and that
the Vatican had played a
key role in keeping the discussions moving were among the factors
that no doubt made the dramatic shift in
policies possible. By keeping negotiations
among a small number of diplomats and
out of the public eye, outside pressures
were kept to a minimum.
In simultaneous news conferences
that day, U.S. President Barack Obama
in Washington and Cuban President Raul
Castro in Havana announced that their
countries were re-establishing official
diplomatic relations. Obama detailed a
lengthy list of things that will become
easier – sales of materials to Cuba’s
small-business owners, for Internet technology and for housing construction; visits
to Cuba by more Americans; banking and
use of credit cards by Americans visiting
Cuba; remittances of greater amounts of
cash – to name some of the major changes.
That’s not to say the 54-year U.S.
embargo has gone away altogether. Congress still holds the reins to portions of
the laws prohibiting trade with Cuba, in-
tended as a sanction for repression and
human rights abuses after the Marxist
revolution that put Fidel
Castro in power in 1959. He
or his brother, Raul, who
took over from the ailing
Fidel in 2006, have ruled
the country ever since.
U.S. President Dwight
D. Eisenhower first imposed
an embargo on Cuba in October 1960. President John F.
Kennedy expanded the embargo, and every president
since has maintained it until Obama. He is the first to
significantly loosen the controls, in 2009
easing restrictions on travel for family and
cultural visits and allowing Americans to
send more money to their relatives there.
Critics of the shift in policy, most conspicuously a handful of Cuban-American
members of Congress, say they will attempt
to block the changes. Among the steps they
suggested are opposing the nomination of
an ambassador and restricting funds needed to reopen an embassy in Havana.
But Congress also holds the power to
retain or end the key parts of the embargo,
which were put in place by federal law.
The law established the main prohibitions
on commerce with Cuba and the ban on
travel except as permitted for family, cultural, educational, religious and humanitarian purposes.
The most recent national polling on the
embargo done by the Pew Research Center in 2009 found a bare majority, 52 percent, of respondents said the U.S. should
renew ties with Cuba. But only 33 percent
Page 15
Viewpoints
opposed renewing ties. That poll came not
long before the Cuban government began
a series of changes, including allowing
individuals to buy and sell property and
to open businesses. More recently, Cuba
began allowing its citizens to travel freely,
without government authorization.
Annual polling of Cuban-Americans
in Miami-Dade County by Florida International University has found steadily
increasing support for ending the embargo, reinstating diplomatic ties and
permitting U.S. citizens to freely travel
to Cuba. This year, 68 percent favored
reinstating diplomatic relations, with
younger Cuban-Americans and recent
arrivals backing the changes by even
greater numbers, as much as 90 percent
and 80 percent, respectively.
Tom Quigley, former foreign policy
adviser on Latin America and the Caribbean to the U.S. Conference of Catholic
Bishops, told Catholic News Service that
it’s true what one of the chief critics, Sen.
Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), says about the need
for more progress in changing the political
systems in Cuba that prompted the call for
an embargo in the first place.
“But it’s not going to get any better by
leaving the status quo in place,” he said.
The Catholic Church in both countries
has long worked to end the embargo. Yet
Stephen Colecchi, director of the USCCB’s Office of International Justice and
Peace, said he was unaware of the talks
between Cuban and U.S. diplomats until
the day of the announcement.
“The seeds were planted a long time
ago,” Colecchi said. “We encouraged this,
but we had no idea it was happening.”
Boston daily and Catholic newspapers
reported that Cardinal Sean P. O’Malley,
one of Pope Francis’ key advisers, played
a behind-the-scenes role, helping relay
messages between a Boston nonprofit
group, Beyond Conflict, that encouraged
Pope Francis to intervene with Obama to
press for an end to the embargo. When
Obama and Pope Francis met in March,
Cuba was reportedly one of their main
topics of conversation.
For years, the Cuban bishops have
worked steadfastly to diminish the
emotional distance between Cubans
and their Cuban-American relatives.
Archbishop Dionisio Garcia Ibanez of
Santiago de Cuba, president of the Cuban bishops’ conference, used the 2012
observance of the 400th anniversary
of Our Lady of Charity of El Cobre, to
encourage Cubans worldwide to unite
across borders.
He became a regular visitor to the
U.S., especially to Cuban emigre communities in Florida and New York.
By the time Pope Benedict visited
Havana, Santiago and the shrine of El
Cobre in 2012, thousands of Americans
went to join him. From Miami alone,
nearly 1,000 people went on flights chartered by the archdiocese.
Under Obama’s 2009 orders allowing
more “people to people” travel to Cuba,
the idea was for interactions between everyday citizens of both countries to help
pressure Cuba’s leaders to bring about
more improvements.
Archbishop Garcia’s goal was framed
in more theological terms, but he was
clear about what he hoped would happen
if people would come together in a spirit
of pilgrimage.
“La Caridad nos une,” (the Virgin of
Charity unites us), Archbishop Garcia said
repeatedly on visits to the U.S. preceding
the anniversary. “Whether inside Cuba or
outside Cuba, there is a sense that we are
all one church.”
‘Biggest human rights rally’ returns for March for Life in D.C.
by Sarah McCarthy
WASHINGTON (CNS) –
“The biggest human rights rally
in the world,” as one regular participant described it, will return
to the nation’s capital for the annual March for Life Jan. 22.
The 42nd rally on the National Mall and march to the U.S. Supreme Court marks the anniversa-
ry of the Supreme Court’s 1973
ruling in the case of Roe v. Wade
that invalidated state and federal
restrictions on abortions, legalizing abortion virtually on demand.
Micaiah Bilger, education
director of the Pennsylvania ProLife Federation, said she sees the
march as an opportunity to move
forward from Roe v. Wade.
“The March for Life is, I
think, the biggest human rights
rally in the world and it’s wonderful to go and be with other people
and unite under that cause,” Bilger said in an interview with Catholic News Service. “It’s important
for us to stand up in our nation’s
capital and say, ‘Abortion is a human rights injustice and we want
to see all life protected.’”
The Pennsylvania Pro-Life
Federation usually brings a few
hundred participants from around
the state, Bilger said. The range
of people who attend – from high
school students to older men and
women who have been going for
many years – offers an opportunity for participants to meet others
of diverse backgrounds who share
the same beliefs about abortion.
“We have a really good, really diverse group of people that
go down every year,” she said.
“There are so many young people who are going to the March
for Life nowadays, so many
(pro-life) clubs that are popping
up ... in high schools and college
campuses, and there are ... just so
many people who are stepping
up and seeing that (abortion) is
an injustice.”
The March for Life also consistently draws many pro-life
groups from college campuses
each year. Katie Daniels, a sophomore at Boston College and
president of the school’s pro-life
club, called the march “the highlight of our year,” and said she
expected about 30 students when
their bus leaves campus the night
before the march.
“It’s a great way to (be) a
witness to life outside our campus on a national scale and it’s
something we look forward to
very much as a club, to kind of
participate in this broader national dialogue about what it means
to be pro-life,” Daniels said.
Harvard University will also
be sending 20 students to the rally. Jim McGlone, a senior at Harvard who has attended six times,
said young people are a significant part of the movement.
“I think it shows that this is
really the future of our country
and our culture,” he said. “The
pro-life movement is alive and
vibrant and young and joyous
and is really a force in our society that can make a really positive change,” he said.
Maggie Bick, a board member of Missouri Right to Life,
said she expects about 250 peo(Continued on page 22)
Page 16
January 15, 2015
Media Watch
‘Denying the Deniers’ testifies to horrors of the Holocaust; great
performances bring Stephen Hawking’s story to screens
by Father Tom Caswell
for the Inland Register
Movie Review
Eddie Redmayne, who was such a
great singer in the film Les Miserables
(“Media Watch,” IR 1/17/13), plays one
of the best dramatic roles of the year in
James Marsh’s The Theory of Everything.
Redmayne plays the great theoretical physicist, Stephen Hawking. While
completing his studies at Cambridge
in 1963, Hawking is diagnosed with
motor neutron disease which is similar to ALS. He is given two years to
live. At the same time he falls in love
with Jane (Felicity Jones), who rushes
to marry Stephen for the two years she
believes they will have together. They are
able to have three children and a marriage
of roughly 25 years.
Jones is equally fine in the more quiet
role of wife, mother, and nurse. Their love
story appears very real.
The acting of Eddie Redmayne is incredible as he allows his body to change as
the disease progresses, even eventually to
the loss of his voice. The computer voice
used in the film is the actual voice of the
real Stephen Hawking’s computer. In addition, so much is done by the eyes in the
case of both of the main actors, especially
in the key scene of their marital breakup.
There is much discussion of Hawking’s theories and give-and-take on the
issue of a creating God, as Jane is a believing Christian.
If you want to see some of the finest
acting of the year in a love story with an
overlay of science, The Theory of Everything is the movie for you.
The Motion Picture Association of
America rates the film PG-13. Catholic
News Service gives it a rating of A-III –
for adults.
Book Reviews
Some years ago I met John Regnier at
a Christmas party north of Minneapolis
that my sister and I were invited to. His
daughter Paula and her family were the
hosts of the party.
Just this year, Regnier, with Susan T.
Hessel, has published a paperback history titled Denying the Deniers: A Soldier’s
Intersection with the Holocaust. It is published by the D.B. Reinhart Institute for
Ethics in Leadership at Viterbo Univer-
sity in La Crosse University, which has
a connection to the Franciscan Sisters of
Perpetual Adoration who once ran Marycliff High School in our diocese. Internet
sources quote a price of around $13.
The author goes back to his family
beginning and the Depression, leading
into the start of American involvement in
World War II. He is drafted and enters the
war with thousands of young men after the
bombing of Pearl Harbor.
The key purpose of the book is to
give an eyewitness account of discovering the concentration camps after the
Battle of the Bulge. One of the camps
visited with General Eisenhower and
photographed for posterity was the
Ohrdrul subcamp of Buchenwald. By
March of 1945 there were 12,000 prisoners there who were forced on a “death
march” of roughly 12 miles to Buchenwald, which was the largest concentration
camp in Germany.
Regnier vividly describes what he
saw as he took pictures of people for
the future. He quotes General Dwight
D. Eisenhower: “The things I saw beggar description.... The visual evidence
and the verbal testimony of starvation,
cruelty, and bestiality were so overpowering as to leave me a bit sick. In one
room where there were piled 20 to 30
naked men killed by starvation.... I made
the visit deliberately, in order to be in a
position to give firsthand evidence of
these things if ever in the future, there develops a tendency to charge these allega-
From left: Felicity Jones and Eddie Redmayne are pictured in a scene from the
movie The Theory of Everything. The Catholic News Service classification is A-III
– adults. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG-13 – parents
strongly cautioned. Some material may be inappropriate for children under 13.
(CNS photo from Focus Features)
tions merely to propaganda.”
This is a book that would be excellent
in any class on World War II or for anyone
interested in that period. In the process
you learn what it was like to be a soldier
who wishes there was no such thing as
war, with a story told by a good man who
wants the world never to forget what happened in World War II.
*****
As a five-to-ten-year-old child I lived
with my folks, Tom and Opal Caswell,
with my sister, Patricia, in the Mt. Baker
district of Seattle. Dad was the manager of
the Men’s Department of the downtown J.
C. Penney store. Today the site is occupied
by an apartment complex, located a block
from the entrance to Pike Street Market.
Our home overlooked Lake Washington,
near the first floating bridge. We were able
to watch the University of Washington
crew members practice their rowing.
Daniel James Brown has written a
wonderfully readable and informative
book titled The Boys in the Boat: Nine
Americans and Their Epic Quest for Gold
at the 1936 Berlin Olympics. It is published by Penguin Books in large-size paperback for a list price of $17.
Brown focuses on one of the members of the Olympic team. Joe Rantz was
born in Spokane but lived much of his life
on the west side of the state. In the Depression years it is very difficult for Joe
to fund the costs of attending the University of Washington. Amid family difficulties he is able to make it through the
University and be a member of the various crew teams. The story of Joe’s training along with teammates from freshman
year through senior year is impressive. As
the story draws closer to the possibility of
UW representing the U.S.A. at the Olympics, we learn much more about the other
members of the final team.
Throughout the story there is information on the building of the unique boats
used in crew. Each chapter begins with an
epigraph by George Pocock, who lived in
(Continued on page 22)
January 15, 2015
Spirituality
The Best of
Living truth
The Question Box
by Father Michael Savelesky
for the Inland Register
No one likes to be called a
liar. For some, the very accusation is an invitation to put up the
dukes. Even if they actually have
been twisting words or leading
a falsified life-style, few people
have the moral fortitude to own
up and admit their guilt. It is easier to live the pretense of being
a paragon of virtue. It’s hard to
admit that we lie, because doing
so is a confession of moral weakness and reflects a lack in our
personal character.
Lying, obviously, must be
seen in contrast to telling the
truth. As Christians, we know
that we are called to live in the
truth of God’s love made known
to us in the Incarnation of the
Word who is Jesus – the reality
we have just celebrated in the
great Christmas Feast. Truth is
unhiddenness – seeing things as
they really are, without prejudice
and the filter of our own opinions
and defenses.
It is not without wisdom that,
as the Church has made the transition from the Christmas Season
into Ordinary Time, it has selected readings from the letters
in New Testament which echo
the Holy Season just past. These
letters rejoice in the Truth which
humanity has seen, touched and
experienced in Jesus of Nazareth, the One born of Mary – the
fullness of God’s truth. God has
revealed a unique love in Jesus which totally transforms the
world and gives it genuine life.
That truth is radically simple but
extremely powerful: God has
first loved us, calling all humankind into a community of shared
love which is characterized by
profound respect for one another
as brothers and sisters in Christ
as well as by self-sacrificing service to the needs of others.
Because God has so loved
us, our vocation, in turn, is to
respond to God through our love
for one another. The truth is: we
are called and we are called to be
lovers. In sum, through the incarnate Word, Jesus, God seeks to
form us into a community of lovers who live the truth. We cannot
be oblivious, however, to the reality of the human condition; we
know that all those who claim
to be followers of Christ do not
live as a community of lovers.
The slippage that is reflected in
explicit sins of back-biting, gossip, unkindness, sexual unfaithfulness and other abuses of the
dignity of the sons and daughters
of God – all those kinds of things
that threaten the fabric and witness of the Christian community.
None of these things has a proper
place in a community of lovers
because they do not give life.
They destroy it and fragment the
community.
In his letters which have
found their way into the New Testament canon, St. John calls people who engage in such activities
“liars.” Their lives do not give
witness to a Christian identity established in Baptism as members
of Christ’s community of lovers.
Their lives do not reflect the light
of God’s love which shines ever
so brilliantly in the person of Jesus and now through his followers. They do not live by his light,
but by the diminishing “light”
of their own choosing. They are
headed toward darkness as their
own deeds of darkness testify. St.
John assures us, however, that
when we humbly and honestly
recognize the lie which our sins
reflect, we have the forgiveness
of God in Christ.
In his letters, St. John’s use of
the word “liar” is reserved most
poignantly for those who boldly
claim to know God but whose
lives do not show evidence of
following his commandments.
These are they who by their baptismal status claim membership in
the Church of Christ, his community of lovers, but whose lives are
a living contradiction. The biggest lie is that of pretense, acting
as if behavior and attitudes are not
really all that important to Christian living – always falling back
on the presumption that God’s
love conquers all and that sin and
selfishness are not a serious reality which needs to be addressed.
The Christmas story which
the Christian world so beauti(Continued on page 23)
Daily Mass Readings
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16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
25
27
28
29
30
31
1
Page 17
January 2015
Thu Heb 3:7-14; Mk 1:40-45
Fri Heb 4:1-5, 11; Mk 2:1-12
Sat Heb 4:12-16; Mk 2:13-17
+Sun 1 Sm 3:3b-10, 19; 1 Cor 6:13c-15a,
17-20; Jn 1:35-42
Mon Heb 5:1-10; Mk 2:23-28
Tue Heb 6:10-20; Mk 2:23-28
Wed Heb 7:1-3, 15-17; Mk 3:1-6
Thu Heb 7:25-8:6; Mk 3:7-12
Fri Heb 8:6-13; Mk 3:13-19
Sat Heb 9:2-3, 11-14; Mk 3:20-21
+Sun Jon 3:1-5, 10; 1 Cor 7:29-31; Mk
1:14-20
Mon 2 Tim 1:1-8; Mk 3:22-30
Tue Heb 10:1-10; Mk 3:31-35
Wed Heb 10:11-18; Mk 4:1-20
Thu Heb 10:19-25; Mk 4:21-25
Fri Heb 10:32-39; Mk 4:26-34
Sat Heb 11:1-2, 8-19; Mk 4:35-41
February 2015
+Sun Dt 18:15-20; 1 Cor 7:32-35; Mk
1:21-28
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
Mon Mal 3:1-4; Heb 2:14-18; Mk 2:22-40
Tue Heb 12:1-4; Mk 5:21-43
Wed Heb 12:4-7, 11-15; Mk 6:1-6
Thu Heb 12:18-19, 21-24; Mk 6:7-13
Fri Heb 13:1-8; Mk 6:14-29
Sat Heb 13:15-17, 20-21; Mk 6:30-34
+Sun Jb 7:1-4, 6-7; 1 Cor 9:16-19, 22-23;
Mk 1:29-39
Mon Gn 1:1-19; Mk 6:53-56
Tue Gn 1:20-2:4a; Mk 7:1-13
Wed Gn 2:4b-9, 15-17; Mk 7:14-23
Thu Gn 2:18-25; Mk 7:24-30
Fri Gn 3:1-8; Mk 7:31-37
Sat Gn 3:9-24; Mk 8:1-10
+Sun Lv 13:1-2, 44-46; 1 Cor 10:31-11:1;
Mk 1:40-45
Mon Gn 4:1-15, 25; Mk 8:11-13
Tue Gn 6:5-8, 7:1-5, 10; Mk 8:14-21
Ash Wednesday Jl 2:12-18; 2 Cor 5:20-6:2;
Mt 6:1-6, 16-18
Thu Dt 30:15-20; Lk 9:22-25
Fri Is 58:1-9a; Mt 9:14-15
Sat Is 58:9b-14; Lk 5:27-32
by Father I.J. Mikulski
Q. At Christmas Mass I
noticed for the first time that
Luke’s Gospel does not agree
with Matthew’s, concerning the
ancestry of Jesus. How we can
have two versions claiming to be
inspired, but they don’t agree?
What’s the answer to that conflict of evidence?
A. Matthew starts from the top
with Abraham the Great and works
his way up to Jesus through three sets of 14 names in each set.
Three is the perfect number, seven is like magic, and 14 is a double seven as the ultimate power. No doubt about it, Matthew presents the firm genealogy that this baby is the promised Messiah.
To make his numbers come out even, Matthew has to adjust. He pads his list a little. He omits three names in a row. Not
to worry.
Luke, always the precise narrator, starts at the top of the list
with Jesus and works all the way back to Adam. He also appreciates the magic of numbers. He has 11 (“seven come eleven”)
sets of seven names each for a total of 77 – that double seven
again. Luke’s list gives Jesus the credentials of the Messiah.
Never mind the genealogical gerrymandering. Early readers
knew what those writers were doing and accepted both Gospels
in the spirit in which they were written.
Bible fundamentalists who insist that every line must be inerrant fact are completely flummoxed by those two puzzling
genealogies. We must understand the intention of the writers,
the context of their writings and the conditions at that time.
Matthew and Luke have done us proud.
Q. We knew Father would not baptize our little girl so
we asked our friend, a nurse in OB, and she agreed. It’s part
of her training, she said. We know the baptism was correctly done. It’s over. Now we want to set things right regarding
our Catholic family faith by belonging to the parish, but
how do we go about this?
A. Re-start your faith by joining the nearest Catholic community. It may well be the parish where the reluctant priest is
pastor. No matter. Make an appointment so you and your spouse
can discuss why you’re standing outside in the cold. Come on
in. We miss you.
Your pastor has heard your story before, many times. You
may be that 100th sheep wandering off alone (Luke 15:4). He’s
been looking for you.
Baptism isn’t just a private ritual for your newborn child.
The Rite of Baptism makes it clear that it’s a celebration of faith
into the larger community of your entire parish. Obviously that
wasn’t done when your baby girl was baptized privately.
The crux of the matter is your desire to re-start your Catholic faith. Your new Christian daughter will show you the way
if you follow her.
Q. If a person has been in God’s graces for his entire life
but then falls into sin during his last day on Earth do you
think he would suffer punishment for all eternity? In one
way that doesn’t seem fair, but in another way that seems to
be God’s justice. What’s the answer?
A. Nobody knows the eternal destiny of anyone. We can debate, we can rationalize, and we can express our strongest convictions, but no one can pass final judgment on anyone, even our own.
Your hypothesis, the last day crumbling of lifetime moral
convictions, is contrary to the tenets of human behavior. We are
creatures of habit, good or bad. Virtue is an ingrained habit of
doing good so often that it becomes part of us. It’s our second
nature. Vice is also an ingrained habit repeated so often that it’s
embedded in us. It’s our second nature. It’s highly unnatural,
after years of virtuous living, to shift gears suddenly from top
level virtue into low gear reverse serious sin. Anything is possible, but such a reverse conversion is nearly impossible.
Everyone would like to be God, but some, only in an advisory capacity.
Page 18
January 15, 2015
Honoring talent and grace – Jean Béliveau RIP
by Father Ron Rolheiser OMI
For those of you who aren’t
Canadian, perhaps
the name might not
mean much, butlast month, Canada
lost one of its great
cultural icons, Jean
Béliveau, a famed
athlete. He died and
all Canadians, including this Canadian in exile, mourn his passing.
Jean Béliveau was more than
an athlete, though certainly he
was a one-in-a-million athlete.
The record of his achievements
almost defies belief. He played in
the National Hockey League for
20 seasons and ended up with 10
championship rings. Later, as an
executive, he was part of another
seven championships. Imagine
anyone, in any sport, at the highest
level, winning 17 championships!
But that wasn’t what defined
his greatness, nor the reason why
a country fell in love with him and
made him a national icon. It was
his grace, the exceptional way
that he carried himself both on
and off the ice. Seventeen championships are remarkable, but his
real achievement was the respect
that he drew from everyone, both
inside the athletic
arena and outside
of it. I don’t know
of any pro athlete,
in any sport, who
has garnered this
type of respect. Indeed, long after his
professional career
was over, the Canadian Prime Minister asked him to
become the Governor-General
of Canada, an office offered
only to someone who is, for
an entire country, a symbol of
unity, dignity, and grace. He
graciously declined.
What made him so unique?
There have been other great athletes and pop stars who were
humble and gracious. What sets
him apart? Greatness is somewhat
of an intangible; it’s hard to nail
down what precisely sets someone apart in this way. Why Jean
Béliveau? He was a just a hockey
player after all. What made him
so singular in drawing respect?
The renowned Polish psychiatrist Kasmir Dabrowski had a
thought-provoking theory about
human maturity and what it takes
to get here. For him, we grow by
breaking down, by being driven to our knees through various
crises which force us to move
beyond our mediocre habits and
immaturities. Franciscan Father
Richard Rohr calls this falling
upwards: We mature through failure, grow arrogant through success. Mostly that’s true. Success,
more than failure, destroys lives.
But is that logical? Isn’t it
more logical to grow through success? Shouldn’t success induce
gratitude within us and make us
more generous and big-hearted?
Someone asked Dabrowski that
question in class one day. This was
his answer: “You’re right, success
should make us more grateful and
big-hearted; that’s the ideal way to
grow … except, in more than 40
years of clinical experience, I have
never seen it work that way. It only
works that way in rare, exceptional
cases … and that, I believe, is what
makes for a great person.” A great
person is someone in whom success enlarges the soul rather than
swells the ego.
When Jean Béliveau broke
into the National Hockey League
he was, at that time, the tallest,
some-skilled, most-graceful, and
handsomest player in the league.
No small gifts to carry. He was
a little like the young King Saul
in the Bible who, when he was
initially crowned king, was described this way: Among the men
of Benjamin was a man called
Saul, a handsome man in the
prime of life. Of all the Israelites
there was no one more handsome
than he; he stood head and shoulders taller than anyone else.
But, sadly, all of that giftedness and success did not make
Saul a good king. Rather, it destroyed him. Clinging falsely to
his giftedness, his life became a
tragedy. His height and grace and
handsomeness left him jealous
before the gifts of others and he
became paranoid and spiteful and
eventually ended up taking his
own life. Saul’s story is one of
the great tragedies ever written;
and sadly it keeps getting written
too many times in the lives of
the hugely talented. Giftedness
comes with its own perils. Giftedness and success just as easily
swell the ego as enlarge the soul.
Sadly, we see a lot of that to-
day, not least in the sports world
where ego and self-promotion
is legitimized and is often even
seen as a desired quality inside
an athlete, a virtue rather than
a vice, because bravado and arrogant strut can help intimidate
opponents, win games, and make
the world watch. It makes for
color, for hype; brings fans to
the park; awards a certain notoriety and fame. Character gets
trumped by color and hype, but
arrogance can help win games.
Even so, I’m glad I once knew
a different time, a time when athletes and most everyone else still
had to be apologetic about ego and
self-promotion. I’m glad that when
I was a boy, obsessed with sports
and looking for a hero among athletes, there was a superstar, Jean
Beliveau, who eschewed arrogance, bravado, strut, the taunting
of opponents, and crass self-promotion, and played the game with
such grace and humility that it invoked the right kind of admiration,
even as it won games.
(Oblate Father Ron Rolheiser is president of the Oblate
School of Theology in San Antonio, Texas.)
Liturgy Reflections
The evolution of marriage
by Father Jan Larson
The controversy over gay marriage has at least
one positive result:
the general public is
hearing and talking
about the meaning of
marriage, and various
religious bodies are
revisiting and usually reaffirming their
traditional beliefs. In
the discussions I have
heard, one interesting
question is that of the
origins of marriage.
Did God institute it, or did Jesus or Christianity, or
did it simply arise from a basic human need?
The fact is that no one knows the origins of
marriage. Some form of marriage has apparently
been a part of every known prehistoric and ancient
culture, and marriage practices in every age have
been as diverse as the cultures in which they were
found. But in every case, marriage has always been
a socially institutionalized way of defining relationships between two people, of establishing and protecting rights and responsibilities for parents and
children, and of providing solidarity and continuity
in each society. Because social relationships were
so important, the marriages that were at their heart
were normally considered sacred, and so in a broad
sense, they had a religious character.
Since Catholic Christians consider marriage
between two baptized people to be a sacrament,
and since marriage is regulated by clear and strict
church laws and norms, we might be led to assume
that Christian marriage has always been in the form
we experience it today. We might be surprised to
discover this is not the case. Marriage as we know
it in the Roman Catholic Church, with the required
preparation programs, the filling out of forms, and
the liturgical ritual, were simply not there through
most of the first half of Christianity’s history.
Early in Christian history marriage was considered to be a sacrament in the broad sense, but certainly not in the sense that we today regard baptism and
the other official sacraments. Our current understanding of marriage as a sacrament can only be traced to
around the 11th century. Prior to that time, civil authorities presided over all marriages, and before the
11th century there was no such thing as a Christian
wedding ceremony. This would change when bishops
became increasingly concerned that couples marry
legally and with proper witnesses. Eventually all couples were required to have their weddings blessed by
a priest, and the clergy increasingly assumed the role
previously exercised by civil authorities. Marriages,
normally celebrated in civil halls or in homes, were
now celebrated near or inside church buildings, and
the liturgy of marriage continued to evolve. It was not
until the 16th century that the standard Catholic wedding ritual came into existence.
Today the civil government still regulates marriage in a number of ways – for example, in the
granting of marriage licenses. When a couple is
married in a church, the priest acts as the Church’s
official witness, and also, in a way, as the agent of
the state. Indeed, in some countries, couples must be
married first by a civil official, then later they come
to the church for the liturgical rite of marriage. In
either case, the people as a whole, and the Church,
continue to have a serious concern for the protection,
rights and responsibilities of those who marry.
(Father Larson is a priest of and liturgical consultant for the Archdiocese of Seattle.)
January 15, 2015
Del Administrador Diocesano
Levantando el ritmo
por el Padre Michael Savelesky
Durante los días en que celebramos la Navidad,
no solamente tuve la oportunidad de celebrar la
Eucaristía en mis propias parroquias en Rosalia y
St. John, sino también en las comunidades Católicas de Brewster and
Twisp. Esta experiencia enriqueció mi
conocimiento de dos
facetas de nuestra
identidad y vida como
Católicos.
En primer lugar,
desde una esquina de
la Diócesis de Spokane a la otra, la Eucaristía es verdaderamente el centro de
nuestras vidas, que
crea un gran vínculo entre nosotros y que con frecuencia no es reconocido. Así debe ser. A menudo
se nos olvida que nuestra reunión para la fracción
del pan es celebrativa y formativa, y puede ser aún
más, para nosotros los discípulos de Jesucristo. A
pesar de nuestra edad, sexo o etnicidad, cada uno
de nosotros que venimos a la Mesa del Señor está
en medio de un camino de fe. Y si nos tomáramos el
tiempo para decirlo con palabras, pienso que nuestros corazones se enternecerían por los testimonios
de una fe rica y viva.
Segundo, para uno que pasa la mayor parte
de su tiempo picoteando un teclado, empujando
papeles en un escritorio, o asistiendo a reuniones
– todas las cosas que ayudan a la administración
de la diócesis – mi experiencia confirma el dicho
que dice “la Iglesia realmente sucede en las parroquias.” La administración es necesaria para misión
de la Iglesia, y es un apoyo a la Fe viva que se tiene
en las más de 80 parroquias y misiones. Siempre es
bueno para un administrador el orar con el Pueblo
de Dios en la parroquia. Ahí es donde el Evangelio
toca, moldea y transforma vidas.
Estas ideas me vienen a la mente ahora que
el mes de Enero señala el re-inicio de lo que para
muchos de nosotros es “el Año de Ministerio.”
Después de la celebración de Navidad, es el momento de seguir con una fe y compromiso renovado
en el trabajo de ser Iglesia. Ya sea que seamos un
feligrés en la banca o un trabajador en el Centro
Pastoral Católico, nosotros somos la Iglesia. Ya sea
que seamos padres, solteros, estudiantes o miembros de tal o cual grupo influyente, somos la Iglesia. Individual y colectivamente, somos la Diócesis
de Spokane. Nuestras decisiones y actividades dan
vida y vitalidad a la realidad de esta Iglesia. Formando el Cuerpo de Cristo en el Este de Washington, nosotros damos testimonio del don que hemos
recibido: el Evangelio de Jesucristo que da vida.
Somos más que Católicos; somos discípulos de
Aquel cuyo título tenemos, “Cristianos”.
Nuestras circunstancias actuales en las que esperamos nuestro próximo obispo nos presentan un desafío único como comunidad de creyentes. Hay una
tendencia natural a detenernos, esperando evaluar
a quien el Santo Padre nos dé como nuestro Pastor
Principal. Pero la vacilación, ni construye ni fomenta
la misión de Cristo. La acción audaz, comprometida y generosa lo hace. Nosotros sí necesitamos un
obispo, tanto como el nuevo obispo nos necesitará a
cada uno de nosotros. Al mismo tiempo, ser diócesis,
ser la Iglesia local, está fundamentado en la Eucaristía y la fe viva. No se trata principalmente de quien está sentado en la cátedra que, por el momento,
está vacante. Como Católicos, tengo la sensación de
que sabemos esta realidad de nuestra fe. Es por eso
que en este momento de sede vacante, la vida de la
diócesis ha seguido floreciendo. Desde Twisp hasta
(Continuará en página 23)
Pastoral plans in process
St. Patrick Parish, Pasco, has been engaged in pastoral planning for years, and has fully
embraced the Know Love & Serve process in response to Archbishop Cupich’s pastoral
letter “Joy Made Complete.” The parish’s pastoral council, in conjunction with the pastor,
Father Steve Werner, have listened to the desires of the people of Pasco and have identified countless gifts and dreams for the parish. The parish has six established commissions: Catechetical Formation, Human Formation, Evangelization, Spiritual Formation,
Worship, and Apostolic Formation. St. Patrick’s commissions, along with countless other
groups throughout the diocese, are working on the final touches of their pastoral plans
in response to the Jan. 15 deadline set forth in the pastoral letter. Now is the time for
action – everyone is encouraged to participate in parish efforts. Pictured is the Worship
Commission, discussing utilization of the homily with Father Werner: from left are Anabel
Escamilla, Janet Harvey, Juanita Contreras, Cocot Ratuiste, Gertrudes Rasca, and Nemesio Racsa. (IR photo courtesy of Brian Kraut, Parish Support and Renewal Services)
Page 19
Noticias de la Región
OREGON
Arquidiócesis de Portland
ST. BENEDICTO – El Abad benedictino Joseph Wood,
abad de la abadía de Mount Angel en el período 1997-2001,
murió. Tenía 91 años.
Nacido el 22 de marzo de 1923, en San Francisco, el abad
Joseph creció en Chehalis, Washington. Después de graduarse
de Chehalis en 1941, sirvió en el ejército durante la Segunda
Guerra Mundial. Fue dado de alta honorablemente en 1946 y
entró a la Universidad de Portland, donde se graduó con una
licenciatura en 1949.
Más tarde ese año, a los 26 años, ingresó en el Seminario
de Mount Angel. Poco después, decidió entrar en el monasterio
e hizo sus votos monásticos en 1952 y fue ordenado sacerdote
en 1956.
Continuó estudiando en la Universidad de Columbia y luego
en la Universidad de Fordham, donde obtuvo su doctorado en
sociología en 1959. A su regreso al seminario como maestro,
enseñó cursos que van desde la sociología de la economía y de
la antropología a la doctrina social de la Iglesia. Fue prefecto de
la universidad de la disciplina, ahora conocido como director de
formación, y decano de la escuela de postgrado de la teología.
Después de una misión de dos años como director de
educación continua y director del programa de verano en el
seminario, el abad Joseph fue asignado como pastor asistente
de la Parroquia del Sagrado Corazón en Tillamook en 1975. A
partir de 1979-81, se desempeñó como director de ministerios
en la Arquidiócesis de Portland, y luego como director de
personal del clero. Fue nombrado párroco de la Parroquia St.
Paul en Eugene hasta 1991.
Volviendo a la vida monástica, vivió en el Monasterio
de la Ascensión en Jerome, Idaho. Fue entonces que Dios le
sorprendió con una nueva misión – Abad de la abadía de Monte
Angel – a la edad de 74.
Durante su mandato como abad (1997-2001), hizo muchos
cambios, entre ellos un nuevo enfoque del desarrollo y una
gestión más eficaz de los departamentos de la abadía.
MOLALLA – La falta de vivienda es un problema
comúnmente asociado con los centros urbanos densamente
poblados, pero también lo es para la gente que está viviendo al
aire libre en las zonas rurales.
Para servir a los miembros de su comunidad, una coalición
de voluntarios puso en marcha un centro de alojamiento en la
Iglesia de Santiago. Cuando las temperaturas bajan a menos
de cero grados, el salón parroquial se abre para que las
personas sin hogar en esta área del Condado de Clackamas
se puedan refugiar.
“Esto ha unido la comunidad”, dijo el Padre Ted Prentice,
pastor de St. James. “La gente de diferentes iglesias, y
de diversos orígenes y edades, se unen y trabajan por un
objetivo común.”
El centro de alojamiento de Molalla es coordinado por un
grupo de voluntarios de distintas religiones, en representación
de varias denominaciones de la zona, que se unieron en 2012
para encontrar la manera de ofrecer el servicio de alojamiento.
La presidenta del comité Leota Childress dijo que su equipo
de voluntarios presentó la idea a un grupo de líderes de la
iglesia, y el Padre Prentice expresó interés.
Después de conseguir el consentimiento del consejo
parroquial, la parroquia ofreció el espacio.
“Esta es una comunidad que necesita el servicio, pero están
un poco lejos de Portland para estar conectados con lo que
sucede en Portland (San André Bessette, Luisiana, en el centro
de Portland) y otros lugares que sirven a las personas que no
tienen un techo,”dijo.
El programa recibe una pequeña cantidad de dinero del
Condado de Clackamas, pero es apoyado principalmente por
donaciones. Los voluntarios traen sopas o guisados para que los
visitantes del refugio y los voluntarios pueden tener una cena
caliente juntos antes de ver una película y luego retirarse a la
zona de dormir.
“Eso muestra lo que esta comunidad es capaz de hacer
cuando lo quiere hacer.”
– Catholic Sentinel (Oregon Catholic Press)
Page 20
January 15, 2015
From the
International Wire
EL PROGRESO, Honduras – Some of those who set
off from Central America’s troubled communities and wind
their way north toward the American dream get lost along the
way. Their family members back home often never learn what
happened to them. Yet hundreds of women in Honduras have
joined together, determined not to suffer alone. “Our committee was born from the anguish of so many mothers crying for
their lost children and not knowing what to do about it,” said
Rosa Nelly Santos, coordinator of the Committee of Mothers
of Disappeared Migrants. The route from Central America to
the United States has grown increasingly treacherous in recent
years. Migrants face constant danger from moving trains, killer gangs, human traffickers and trackless deserts. Thousands
have simply disappeared, leaving their families back home in
Central America wondering why. Like other immigrant groups
throughout the country, the mothers committee has its roots
in the church. Created in 1999 with help from the Jesuits, the
group later became independent of the church.
VATICAN CITY – The Vatican secretary of state said he
expects Pope Francis to visit New York City and Washington,
D.C., during his September trip to the United States. Cardinal
Pietro Parolin, who as secretary of state is considered the highest Vatican official under the pope, spoke to reporters Jan. 6,
following a ceremony to dedicate a new building at the Pontifical North American College, the U.S. seminary in Rome. Asked
if Pope Francis would visit the United Nations in New York
in September, Cardinal Parolin replied: “I think so, I think so,
but no official announcement has been done. But everybody is
speaking of that.” Asked if the same trip would include a visit
to Washington, the cardinal replied: “Of course,” then added
with a laugh, “but no official confirmation has been given.” In
November, Pope Francis confirmed reports that he would attend
the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia in September.
OXFORD, England – Catholic leaders in the Central African Republic said their help for Muslim rebels is part of an
effort to promote interreligious reconciliation in the war-torn
country. “We’re ready to assist everyone in difficulty, whatever their faith or affiliation,” said Msgr. Elysee Guedjande,
national director of the church’s Caritas aid organization.
“The two main fronts aren’t only military forces – they also
consist of uprooted and dispossessed people who need to be
listened to. The church will come to their aid where it can.”
The priest talked to Catholic News Service after accompanying Archbishop Dieudonne Nzapalainga, president of the
bishops’ conference, on a visit to barracks housing fighters
from the Muslim-dominated Seleka rebel movement with
their families in the capital, Bangui. In a Dec. 31 interview,
he said the visit was requested by Seleka, whose forces were
declared disbanded in September 2013 but have continued attacking civilian targets, including Christian churches. “People
are tired of conflict here, and the Seleka leadership now favors
conciliatory initiatives like this,” said Msgr. Guedjande.
JERUSALEM – In his first public address to Christian
religious leaders, Israeli President Reuven Rivlin said he was
particularly encouraged “by the strong and clear voice of Pope
Francis that the corruption of the spiritual position is a desecration of God’s name.” During the traditional presidential
holiday reception Dec. 30, Rivlin expressed concern over religious persecution in the region and restrictions on freedom of
worship for minorities in the Middle East, where he said many
have been forcibly converted, exiled or killed. The military
effort in the region – led by a coalition of forces, including the
United States – is a “war against extremism,” he said. They
are fighting against “those who carry the flag of destruction
and hatred. We will continue to live together and build bridges of peace with God’s help here in the land of our fathers,”
Rivlin said. The president, a former member of parliament of
the Likud party who was elected to the largely symbolic office
in July, has surprised many by his strong condemnation of numerous acts of vandalism against Christian and Muslim sites
and other acts of racism.
— from Catholic News Service
REPORTING ABUSE BY CHURCH PERSONNEL OR VOLUNTEERS: CALL
• Victim Assistance Coordinator, Roberta Smith: (509) 353-0442 (confidential, direct line)
• Diocesan Administrator, Father Michael Savelesky: (509) 998-0209 (cell)
• Write to the Diocese at:
Catholic Diocese of Spokane, P.O. Box 1453, Spokane, WA 99210
Address your letter to either of these individuals: Father Michael Savelesky or Roberta Smith
Mark your letter “Personal and Confidential”
Another option: You may request your counselor or attorney to contact us. If you are unsure of
how best to do this, please do not hesitate to contact Roberta Smith at the above address, phone
number, or via e-mail: [email protected]
To report abuse by any Church personnel or volunteer, in addition to reporting to the agencies
below, please report to the Catholic Diocese of Spokane.
REPORTING OBSERVED OR SUSPICIONS OF CHILD ABUSE
Reports should be made to Child Protective Services and local law enforcement agencies.
Child Abuse/Neglect Referrals:
Child Protective Services, Spokane County
(509) 363-3333 (Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.)
800-557-9671 (Monday-Friday, 8 a.m.-4:30 p.m.)
800-562-5624 (Weekends, and after 4:30 p.m.)
Department of Social and Health Services
866-363-4276 (State-wide)
Law Enforcement
Adams County: (509) 659-1122
Asotin County: (509) 243-4171
Columbia County: (509) 382-2518
Ferry County: (509) 775-3132
Franklin County: (509) 545-3500
Lincoln County: (509) 725-3501
Garfield County: (509) 843-3493
Pend Oreille County: 1-800-669-3407
Spokane Crime Reporting: (509) 456-2233
Stevens County: 1-800-572-0947
Walla Walla County: (509) 527-3265
Whitman County: (509) 397-6266
After 5 p.m.: 397-4341
INFORMAR DE ABUSO POR PERSONAL DE LA IGLESIA
O VOLUNTARIOS: LLAME A:
• Coordinador de Ayuda a las víctimas, Roberta Smith: (509) 353-0442 (línea
confidencial, directa)
• Administrador Diocesano, Padre Michael Savelesky: (509) 998-0209 (cell)
• Escribale a la Diócesis a: Diócesis Católica de Spokane, P.O.Box 1453, Spokane, WA 99210
Dirija su carta a cualquiera de estos individuos: Padre Michael Savelesky • Roberta Smith
Marque su carta “Personal y Confidencial”
Otra opción: Usted puede pedir a su consejero o abogado contactarnos. Si está inseguro
de cómo mejor hacer esto, por favor no tenga miedo de contactarse con Roberta Smith a
la dirección dad anteriormente, al número de teléfono, o via correo electronico:
[email protected]
Para informar un abuso por cualquiera persona de la Iglesia o voluntario, además de
informar a las agencias abajo indicadas, por favor informe a la Diócesis Católica de Spokane.
INFORMAR UNA OBSERVACIÓN O SOSPECHAS
DE UN NIÑO ABUSADO
Se deben hacer informes a los Servicios de Protección del Niño y a las agencias en vigor
de la ley locales.
Niños Abusados / Informe sobre Abandono:
• Servicios de la Protección del niño, Condado de Spokane
(509) 363-3333 (lunes-viernes, 8 a.m. hasta las 4: 30 p.m.)
800-557-9671 (lunes-viernes, 8 a.m. hasta las 4: 30 p.m.)
800-562-5624 (fines de semana, y después de las 4: 30 p.m.)
• Departamento Social y Servicios de Salud
866-363-4276 (En todo el Estado)
Entradas en vigor de la ley:
Condados Adams: (509) 659-1122
Asotin: (509) 243-4171
Columbia: (509) 382-2518
Ferry: (509) 775-3132
Franklin: (509) 545-3500
Lincoln: (509) 725-3501
Garfield: (509) 843-3493
Pend Oreille: 1-800-669-3407
Informe de Crimen en Spokane: (509) 456-2233
Condados Stevens: 1-800-572-0947
Walla Walla: (509) 527-3265
Whitman: (509) 397-6266
Después de las 5 p.m.: 397-4341
January 15, 2015
Sacraments
(Continued from page 13)
married Catholics to receive
communion without “simultaneously undermining the teaching
on marriage’s indissolubility.”
However, in his website statement, Cardinal Marx said most
now concurred that the question
of re-admitting them to sacraments
“could not be excluded” from pastoral discussions “if Jesus’ message of love is to be heard.”
“For the German bishops, it
would not be just to admit all believers whose marriage has broken down and who’ve remarried
without distinction,” the bishops’
conference president added.
“By reason of their pastoral
experience and on the basis of
their theological reflection, they
are pleading above all for differentiated solutions, which will respond equitably to each case and
permit readmission under certain
conditions.”
The accompanying summary of Vatican questionnaire
responses said most Germans
viewed Catholic views of family
life as “too idealistic and unrealistic,” while church teaching on
premarital sex, homosexuality,
divorce and contraception were
“virtually never accepted.”
It added that a third of
marriages ended in divorce
in Germany, with around half
involving minor-age children,
and said Catholic marriages
were only slightly “more stable than average.”
The summary said most divorced Catholics considered
their separation and new relationship “morally justified” and
viewed their consequent exclusion from sacraments as “constituting unjustified discrimination
and being merciless.”
Many also saw the church’s
current canonical annulment procedures as “dishonest,” the document said.
For information, contact:
Brian Kraut, Parish Support and Renewal Services
(509) 358-7314 • [email protected]
Page 21
From the
National Wire
MIAMI – A day after a federal judge’s Jan. 5 ruling struck
down the state’s ban of same-sex marriage, Miami Archbishop Thomas G. Wenski sent a letter to archdiocesan employees
stressing that they need to “understand the church’s position”
on this issue. Along with the letter, which he said he wrote because of “recent decisions by courts in Florida,” the archbishop
attached a statement issued by the Florida Conference of Catholic Bishops that expressed disappointment with the court’s
redefinition of marriage saying it “will have implications not
yet fully understood.” The ruling by U.S. District Judge Robert
L. Hinkle of Tallahassee overturning a state constitutional ban
on same-sex marriage made Florida the 36th state to legalize
same-sex marriage. Archbishop Wenski reminded employees
that they “publicly represent the Catholic Church and the archdiocese” in everything they do and say. He also quoted the archdiocesan employee handbook which points out that “certain
conduct, inconsistent with the teachings of the Catholic Church,
could lead to disciplinary action, including termination, even if
it occurs outside the normal working day and outside the strict
confines of work performed by the employee.”
CHICAGO – Cardinal Francis E. George, retired archbishop of Chicago, has been dropped from the clinical drug trial to
treat his cancer after scans showed the experimental treatment
was not working for him, the Archdiocese of Chicago said.
Although the antibody drug was not effective on the cardinal,
physicians overseeing treatment assured him that the information gathered during the trial will benefit others, the archdiocese
said in a Dec. 31 statement. Cardinal George was participating
in a trial being conducting by University of Chicago Medicine,
but remained under care at Loyola University Medical Center.
He planned to meet with physicians at Loyola to discuss how
to best address some of the side effects of the cancer. The statement said cancer had not spread to any vital organs.
ANNAPOLIS, Md. – Maryland’s outgoing Gov. Martin
O’Malley announced Dec. 31 he would commute the death
sentences of the last four inmates on the state’s death row to
life imprisonment without possibility of parole. In 2013, Maryland’s General Assembly repealed capital punishment, but
that did not affect the sentences of what at the time were five
inmates on death row. One of those inmates, John Booth-El,
died of natural causes earlier in 2014. The state’s last execution
was in 2005. The action was lauded by the Maryland Catholic
Conference, which has long advocated for the end of capital
punishment. O’Malley, a Catholic whose second term as governor ends Jan. 21, said in a statement that recent appeals and an
opinion by outgoing Maryland Attorney General Doug Gansler
have called into question the legality of carrying out those earlier death sentences. “I have now met or spoken with many of the
survivors of the victims of these brutal murders,” said O’Malley’s statement. “They are all good and decent people who have
generously granted me the courtesy of discussing the cases of
their individual family members.”
WASHINGTON – The Diocese of Fort-Wayne-South
Bend, Indiana, plans to appeal a $1.9 million judgment against
it in a lawsuit over the firing of an elementary school teacher
who it claimed violated the morals clause of her contract. A
U.S. District Court jury determined Dec. 19 that the diocese
discriminated against Emily Herx, a former language arts teacher at St. Vincent de Paul School in Fort Wayne, when her contract was not renewed in June 2011 after she informed a school
official that she had undergone in vitro fertilization a second
time. In a statement, Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades said the jury’s
decision was disappointing. “The diocese considers it important
to defend its constitutional and statutorily granted freedom to
make faith-based employment decisions without inappropriate
interference,” he said in the two-sentence statement. The case
revolved around the question of whether the diocese discriminated against Herx because of her gender by treating her differently than male employees who were alleged to have violated
the morals clause, or because she attempted to become pregnant
through IVF.
— from Catholic News Service
Page 22
January 15, 2015
March for Life
(Continued from page 15)
ple to join the 72-hour round trip to Washington. Bick said she feels it is important
to attend because abortion is not only an
injustice, but a mortal sin.
“(Since) our taxpayer dollars are being
used to fund the abortion of other people
who decide to make that fatal decision, I
think we are being complicit in their sin,”
she said. “That is why it is worth the fight
to me to do everything we can to change
the laws, diminish the number of abortions and in particular make the drive for
not using our tax dollars for abortion.”
The federal Hyde Amendment prohibits the use of federal tax funds to pay
for abortion, with exceptions for cases of
rape, incest and danger to the life of the
woman. However, many states cover at
least some abortions in their health plans
for poor women.
Though the March for Life focuses
on abortion, the group representatives
explained that their support extends to all
human lives, regardless of age.
“Part of our mission is also legislative
work, so we work in legislation here in
Pennsylvania to make sure that there are resources available for pregnant and parenting
moms so they don’t feel like they’re being
pressured to have an abortion or feel like
abortion is their only option,” Bilger said.
Bick agreed it is important for prolife groups to assist pregnant women in
need. She said many members of Missouri
Right to Life participate in pro-life causes
beyond the march.
“There are some people focused on
post-abortive women and there are many
people who do ... counseling at ... (the)
one abortion clinic in Missouri,” she said.
“Yes, we want to see Roe v. Wade overturned, but we also want to address our
concerns for these women who are faced
with a decision of whether or not to have
an abortion.”
Media Watch
(Continued from page 16)
Seattle after emigrating from England and who became the premier builder of wooden shells for
all American crew teams.
There is much detail on the
coaches at UW. The freshman
coach was Tom Boles, who was
later recruited for the Ivy League,
and Al Ulbrickson, the head
coach who stayed at UW well into
the 1940s. The book comes alive
with the races on Lake Washington, mainly with the powerhouse
of the University of California. Other fascinating and key
races were on the Hudson River at
Poughkeepsie, N.Y. Key Eastern
teams participated on the Hudson.
There was tendency to look down
on the Western teams of fairly
ordinary backgrounds. The race
leading to the Olympics is portrayed with riveting excitement.
At the Olympics the team
finds itself in the middle of Hitler’s propaganda machine. Crew
racing was the second most popular sport in the Olympics of that
day and Hitler was in the stand
on the fateful day. Leni Riefenstahl was there to film the race
for her film Olympia.
The author does put the issues facing a Jewish family in
a village near the Olympic crew
course into the story and tells us
what happens to that family later in the war. The father felt his
courageous service in World War
I would protect him and his family. Only one of his two daughters
survived, as the rest of the family
died in the concentration camps.
The book is heavily based
on the recollections of Joe Rantz
before he died, and his daughter
Judy Willman.
You need not be a sports’
enthusiast to enjoy this story of
the commitment and challenge
of sports competition. This is a
book most anyone would enjoy,
especially anyone living in the
Pacific Northwest.
Recently Received
Patrick J Graham continues
his collection of historical books
on the Colville area with Book
Five: Catholicism in the Colville
Country (ISBN #978-0-98462292-4. It is printed by Gorham Printing of Centralia, Wash., with a
treasure trove of pictures, including many in color. From the early
Hudson Bay Company era to the
Jesuits, with emphasis on Jesuit
Father Pierre-Jean DeSmet and
the founding of St. Paul Mission,
there is a rich history.
One picture caption says that
over 3,000 people once attended a
pontifical High Mass at the site of
St. Paul Mission, where the first
Catholic Mass was celebrated in
what became Washington State.
The Colville area also had the
Providence Sisters’ Sacred Heart
Academy, founded in 1873. In the
beginning it had 100 Indian girls.
The St. Francis Regis Mission,
operated by the Jesuit priests, was
for boys. It was home to Jesuit
priests who served 12 parishes.
In 1906 the two schools had over
200 students.
The Dominican Sisters from
Speyer, Germany, made their Amer-
ican headquarters in the area until
they moved to Spokane in 1970.
There is much detail and pictures of Immaculate Conception
Church in Colville. The Jesuits
turned the parish over to the diocese in 1941. There is lots of information on various pastors and
renovations of the church through
the years. Color pictures of significant aspects of the interior of the
new church are excellent.
Many parishes would rejoice
with such a fine presentation of
their history. Of course, Colville
and surrounding Stevens County
have a long and important history in the founding and continuation of the Catholic Church in
Washington State.
(Father Caswell is Inland
Register archivist.)
From the Archives
(Continued from page 5)
From the Inland Register – Volume 47,
No. 10
Twenty-five Years Ago: January 18,
1990
‘With Grateful Hearts’ campaign
announced by Foundation
The Catholic Foundation of the
Spokane Diocese has announced the
formation of the “With Grateful Hearts”
campaign to raise additional endowment
for the Diocesan Priests’ Retirement
Benefit Program.
Bishop Lawrence Welsh had requested
that the Foundation’s Board of Trustees
primary focus for the next three-to-five
years would be to assume responsibility
for raising the additional endowment for
the Priests’ Retirement Benefit Program,
said Robert K. Powers, chairman of the
Board of Trustees.
The announcement was made by
Powers, along with Bishop William S.
Skylstad, apostolic administrator of the
diocese, and Paul Russell, chairman of
the ad hoc committee to select and enlist
campaign leadership.
Bishop Skylstad explained that the
Diocese of Spokane currently holds $1.4
million in endowment for the Priests’
Retirement Benefit Program, which will
be transferred to the Foundation as the
initial contribution to the program.
According to the independent actuarial
study which was completed in October of
last year, an additional $3.02 million must
be raised over the next five years to fund
the program fully.
In the Spokane Diocese, normal
retirement for priests is available at age
70. By the time some priests have reached
that age, they may have actively served
the Church for 40 years or more.
Bishop Skylstad added that currently
the Priests’ Retirement Benefit Program
costs the diocese $350,000 annually. It is
the single largest line item in the diocese’s
$2 million annual budget, representing 15
percent of all budget expenditures.
Powers emphasized that the raising
of additional endowment will not only
ensure adequate funding for a just and
dignified program for diocesan priests,
but will also release for other purposes
some if not all of the funds the diocese is
currently spending on this program.
Paul Russell pointed out that the
Foundation conducted a feasibility study
during June and July 1989 to determine
the fundraising potential of the diocese
in order to raise the additional required
endowment.
According to Russell, the study
“recommended that the Foundation is
capable of raising at least $1.7 million,
using a three to five year pledge period.”
That figure could be higher, Russell said,
“depending on the quality of leadership
enlisted and the level of leadership gifts
obtained.” Russell anticipates that “the
campaign goal will be established by Jan.
15, 1990.”
Powers described the “With Grateful
Hearts” campaign as being carried out in
two organizational phases:
• During Phase 1, more than 80
Catholic leaders will be selected, enlisted,
trained and supervised as members
of campaign committees. More than
400 individuals will be offered the
opportunity to participate financially in
the program through specially planned
and programmed visitations made by
members of soliciting committees.
• In Phase II, all other members
of the diocese who were not called
upon during Phase I will be given the
opportunity to participate financially
through an alternate method. The final
decision as to the method to be used
will be made by a specially organized
steering committee.
Bishop Skylstad explained that
the “With Grateful Hearts” campaign
is an opportunity for those contacted
to continue their expression of the
principles of Christian stewardship, the
realistic appreciation that everything
we have is a gift from God, including
our abilities, talents, health, family
and wealth.
The principles of Christian stewardship
express “themselves as an integral force
in our lives by motivating us to share our
God-given gifts with others, and to set
meaningful priorities in our lives.
“In gratitude for God’s generosity, we
pray that all members of the diocese, when
called upon, will dedicate a generous
portion of their gifts of time, talent and
treasure to furthering God’s kingdom,”
Bishop Skylstad said.
According to Powers, the “With
Grateful Hearts” campaign is the
first organized effort by the Catholic
Foundation to raise substantial funds.
The Foundation is a separate, nonprofit corporation, governed by a Board of
Trustees. The Board is presently made up
of 17 volunteer members, both Religious
and lay persons, from Eastern Washington,
including Walla Walla, Clarkston, Colfax,
Colton, Pasco, Colville and Spokane.
The Foundation was established in
1981. Its primary mission is to provide
financial assistance to Catholic programs
and services in the diocese.
Gifts received by the Foundation
are invested. Only the yield from the
investments is used to support Catholic
programs and services in the diocese. The
principal remains untouched, cannot be
withdrawn, and lives in perpetuity.
The Foundation made its first financial
distributions in 1983. Since then, more
than $347,000 has been distributed to
36 Catholic organizations and programs
within the diocese.
In addition, the capital growth from
investments has amounted to over
$550,000 in the past eight years.
Today the Foundation has a total
fund balance of $3,256,976. Considering
all investment and distribution activity,
the Foundation has generated nearly
$900,000 to support Catholic programs
and services.
The Catholic Foundation is determined
to continue its increasing growth and
play a greater and more important role
in funding the work of the Church in the
Spokane Diocese.
“It is our hope that the success of the
‘With Grateful Hearts’ campaign will be
the work of all of us who are committed
to improving the future of our diocese,”
Powers said.
(Father Caswell is Inland Register
archivist.)
January 15, 2015
Unanimous panel advises Vatican:
Archbishop Romero is a martyr
by Carol Glatz
VATICAN CITY (CNS) – A
panel of theologians advising the
Vatican’s Congregation for Saints’
Causes voted unanimously to recognize the late Salvadoran Archbishop Oscar Romero as a martyr,
according to the newspaper of the
Italian bishops’ conference.
The panel declared Jan. 8 that
the archbishop had been killed
“in hatred for the faith,” Avvenire reported Jan. 9.
The decision is a key step
in the archbishop’s cause, following an extended debate over
whether he was killed for political reasons or for his faith.
The next step in the process
lies with the cardinals and bishops who sit on the Congregation
for Saints’ Causes, who will vote
on whether to advise the pope to
issue a decree of beatification. A
miracle is not needed for beatification of a martyr.
Archbishop Romero, an outspoken advocate for the poor,
was shot and killed March 24,
1980, as he celebrated Mass in a
hospital in San Salvador during
his country’s civil war. His sainthood cause was opened at the
Vatican in 1993.
Pope Benedict XVI told reporters in 2007 that the archbishop was “certainly a great witness
of the faith” who “merits beatification, I do not doubt.” But he
said some groups had complicated the sainthood cause by trying
to co-opt the archbishop as a political figure.
In March 2013, Pope Francis
reportedly told El Salvador’s ambassador to the Holy See: “I hope
that under this pontificate we can
beatify (Archbishop Romero).”
Pope Francis told reporters
in August 2014 that “For me,
Romero is a man of God.”
“But the process must go
ahead, and God must give his
sign. If he wants to do so, he
will,” Pope Francis said.
During his general audience
Jan. 7, Pope Francis quoted
words that Archbishop Romero
A panel of theologians advising the Vatican's Congregation
for Saints’ Causes voted unanimously Jan. 8 to recognize the
late Salvadoran archbishop as a
martyr, according to the newspaper of the Italian bishops'
conference. (CNS file photo)
had spoken at the funeral Mass
of a priest assassinated by Salvadoran death squads: “We must
all be willing to die for our faith
even if the Lord does not grant us
this honor.”
Page 23
Living truth
(Continued from page 17)
fully celebrated less than a month ago through song, decoration
and prayer must be more than seasonal glitter. Its lasting echo
has to be a reality of grace that touches and transforms our lives.
It cannot be a feast that we celebrate year after year, packing
away its decorations only to go about our lives as if its central
message made not the slightest difference in the way we live in
relation with others in our community. Christmas is an integral
part of the proclamation of the Gospel. It calls us year after year
to make personal decisions about our daily, ordinary way of
living. It clearly raises the question about the kind of community which claims our allegiance, a community, we hope, which
lives the truth.
(Father Savelesky is the elected administrator of the
Spokane Diocese, and pastor of the parishes in St. John
and Rosalia.)
Levantando el ritmo
(Continuará de página 19)
Walla Walla, de Metaline Falls a Othello, la Eucaristía nos sigue uniendo y nuestra fe profesada sigue impulsándonos en la misión.
Tengamos todo esto en cuenta durante las próximas semanas,
cuando los pastores de nuestras parroquias y los buzones de los hogares Católicos anuncien una de las formas más importantes en que
mantenemos la misión de la Iglesia en el Este de Washington. Sí,
pronto comenzaremos la Colecta Anual Católica del 2015 (ACA).
Esta colecta es donde las necesidades de la misión (incluyendo la
administración) y la dedicación de los Católicos se unen. Es donde
damos testimonio de nuestra mutua responsabilidad por nuestra fe
Católica. Este año, más que en años pasados, tenemos la oportunidad de no sólo contribuir con dinero al ACA 2015, sino que también
podemos contribuir el regalo de nosotros mismos. Cuando llegue el
nuevo obispo, él estará orgulloso de encontrar que estamos comprometidos con nuestra fe e incluso dispuestos a sacrificarnos por ella.
Que Dios los bendiga en su bondad y generosidad este Nuevo
Año 2015!
(El Padre Savelesky es el administrador electo de la Diócesis
Católica de Spokane.)
Obituaries
Joan Norinne Mary (Browne) Malone
Joan Malone, wife of Deacon Dick Malone of Spokane,
died in the arms of her loving family on Dec. 13.
The vigil was held Dec. 19 at
St. Mary Parish, Spokane Valley.
The funeral Mass was celebrated
there the next morning.
Joan was born on Feb. 23,
1929 in Seattle to Byron E. (Jack)
and Elinor (McIntyre) Browne.
She attended Garfield High School
and the University of Washington,
where she belonged to the Gamma
Phi Beta Sorority.
She married Richard F. Malone
on May 27, 1950. They lived in Seattle and Pomeroy, Wash.,
before settling in Spokane in 1969.
She will be remembered by her large family and many
friends for her quick wit and warm and generous heart. She
lived her life to the fullest, always active in her children’s lives,
whether it be Cub Scouts, St. Patrick’s Day celebrations, or
neighborhood Easter celebrations in Pomeroy. She honored her
Irish heritage and love of all things Irish when she opened The
Little Irish Shop In An Out Of The Way Place in the Spokane
Valley, where visitors could always find good, lively conversation and laughter, while Irish music played in the background.
Joan loved the theater and spent many years as an actor,
director, and prop master in Spokane’s theater community.
She was preceded in death by two children, Mary Aletha
and Joseph Corey. She is survived by her husband, Deacon
Dick Malone; eight children: Mike (Debbie), Dan (Retta), Laura, Kevin (Christine), Colin (Teri), Sean (Alicia), Brynne, and
Eric (Julie); 22 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.
January 15, 2015
THE
Page 24
REMEMBER FAITHFUL
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loved ones.
Holy Cross Cemetery
& Funeral Center FD683
7200 N. Wall Street
Spokane, WA 99208
Phone: (509) 467-5496
Announcing
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of Remembrance
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burden and securing today’s favorable
prices. They will thoughtfully assist you
in planning in advance so that your
wishes are met.
Call (509) 467-5496 or visit us
online at www.cfcsSpokane.org
Saturday, March 7, 2015 at 9:00am
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7200 N. Wall Street
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