St. Raphael and St. Rose

Racial disparities continue to persist in American life. As a response, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops recently instituted a new initiative to fight racism in all its forms.

Though racism — irrational animus toward others based on their skin color, ethnicity, or race — is a sin within the human heart and cannot be fully eradicated by public policy, we can work in the public arena to mitigate its effects.

Jason Adkins Faith in the Public Arena

Combating racial disparities will require overcoming policies championed by both the political right and left that entrench established ideological and economic power structures. In other words, it requires the wisdom of Catholic social teaching.

Racism is about exclusion

The effects of racism can be measured many ways, but one way to look at them is the degree to which African Americans and other persons of color are excluded from social, economic, and political participation in American life.

The possibility of participation in the economy, in cultural life, and in politics, is, according to the Church’s social doctrine, a necessary condition for human flourishing. As the Catechism of the Catholic Church states, “The equality of men rests essentially on their dignity as persons and the rights that flow from it: Every form of social or cultural discrimination in fundamental personal rights on the grounds of sex, race, color, social conditions, language, or religion must be curbed and eradicated as incompatible with God’s design” (1959).

Laws remain on the books that, while not necessarily discriminatory on their face, disproportionately affect persons of color.

Fostering racial justice

The policies that exacerbate racial disparities and deny social participation today are found primarily, though not exclusively, in three areas: education, criminal justice, and the family.

For example, too many children of color are trapped in underperforming schools and, as a result, there is a significant achievement gap between white students and students of color, particularly African-American and Latino students.

As education is the great ladder of opportunity, denying children the right to a good education puts a significant barrier in their path to social, cultural, political, and economic participation.

Kids need a lifeline, and giving families greater choice in education is a top civil rights imperative.

Similarly, kids trapped in failing schools and who lack hope often turn to a life of crime, which is known today as the school-to-prison pipeline. And because of overly punitive sentencing policies that helped politicians win elections, we imprisoned many nonviolent people unnecessarily, particularly African-American men, when what they really needed was treatment, counseling, or a job.

Putting more people in prison will certainly limit crime in the short term, but not without other long-term costs.

Fortunately, public officials on both sides of the aisle now recognize these costs, and Minnesota has led the way in criminal justice reform during the past few years, enacting policies such as “ban the box” and drug sentencing reform.

But more can be done, such as reconsidering the length of probation sentences imposed on offenders who have shown good character, as well as identifying ways to eliminate the collateral consequences of a conviction that impede access to education, employment, and housing.

Imprisoning large numbers of African-American men during their prime education and earning years has severely harmed their long-term economic prospects, as well as their ability to marry and form families. Many of these men are considered unmarriageable and, as a result, 70 percent of African-American children are born out of wedlock to women who are often not even partnered, let alone married.

A major difference in the percentage of white and black children born to married parents (64 to 30) is perhaps the most significant cause of racial disparities, and one that creates a cycle of poverty and exclusion that leads back to the education-to-prison pipeline.

According to the Institute for Family Studies, “Black children in the United States enjoy less family stability than white children, experiencing close to twice as many family transitions — union dissolutions and partnership formations — as white children. Family instability is associated with a host of negative outcomes ranging from asthma to obesity, and from teen pregnancy to substance abuse. It is also negatively linked with fundamental predictors of success in adult life like educational attainment. For these reasons, black children’s family instability is an important part of the U.S. stratification story.”

Similarly, welfare reform was meant to encourage marriage and foster family stability, but is often structured in ways that either do not encourage marriage, or even discourage it. That needs to change.

The data is in: Family structure matters to child well-being, and kids need both their mother and father to play an active role in their life.

To be sure, combating racial disparities is a complex and challenging problem. Other issues, such as discrimination in employment and housing, and the creation of barriers to economic mobility by the monopolistic behavior of businesses and industries, also play a role.

But to decrease the reality of an economy of exclusion and foster greater social participation by minorities and persons of color, education, criminal justice, and marriage are important places to start.

Jason Adkins is executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference.

“Deaths of despair.”

That’s the jarring term being used to describe a spike in deaths from opioid addiction, as well as from drug and alcohol addictions more generally and from suicide. This spike is showing up in Minnesota and elsewhere around the country.

Kyle Eller Mere Catholicism

According to a recent article in MinnPost, there were five times as many deaths in Minnesota from drug overdose in 2016 as there were in 2000. Track deaths by suicide and alcohol and the graph line also rises over the same time period, although less dramatically.

Researchers are still debating what’s driving all of this, but many sensibly connect it with things like declining economic opportunity, the breakdown of the family, social isolation, and a general sense of having nothing to live for, no hope for the future.

Despair.

I would add to the list of indicators. If we are speaking of deaths of despair, I think the conversation ought to include school shootings and other mass killings, abortions, and the push for assisted suicide and euthanasia. In addition to deaths, might despair and a sense of meaninglessness also have something to do with our education woes, obesity, our cratering birth rates and marriage rates, our widespread anxiety and stress? I think so.

And then there’s declining church attendance and religious adherence. I suspect that, too, is related. But as cause, effect, or both?

Making such connections is not a new idea. As I was thinking about these signs of despair, I thought of the late novelist Kurt Vonnegut, who years ago, in his typical dark humor, used to characterize his habit of chain-smoking Pall Malls as a classier, slow-motion form of suicide.

When you think about it, it’s odd that we should be awash in despair. If we believe the world’s narrative, why should we be?

Isn’t the stock market soaring? Isn’t the economy always recovering and everything always getting better and better, according to whoever is in office?

Hasn’t our technology advanced beyond the wildest dreams of our ancestors, putting instant communication around the globe, vast swaths of the world’s knowledge, worldwide news from every point of view, our address books and appointments, and an endless array of videos, music, games, and books, right in our pockets a couple of taps away?

And what about freedom? Primary obstacles to progress, we have been told, have been things like the Catholic view of human sexuality and marriage — archaic, medieval holdovers from the wrong side of history, we’re told. Over the past several years, haven’t these views been almost completely vanquished in the courts, in the media, in corporations, at the polling place, in public opinion?

Pornography is ubiquitous, there are infinite genders to choose from, family may be defined any way one pleases, and sexual license is limited only by consent. Any reservation about this situation is considered bigotry. Has any society ever come closer than ours has to realizing Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy’s infamous modern creed: “At the heart of liberty is the right to define one’s own concept of existence, of meaning, of the universe, and of the mystery of human life ...”?

Yet despair is growing, not receding. With vast information at our fingertips, we are less informed, less educated. With instant communication we are more lonely, more isolated. Told we can define the meaning of our lives absolutely any way we want, many instead find no meaning at all.

The world has no adequate answer for why this is so. Given the possibility that technology, affluence, pleasure, and a radical freedom from any constraints, even those of human nature itself, do not bring happiness, what’s left for the world to say?

For us, our important duty is finding ways to help people who are, as St. Paul put it to the Ephesians, “without hope and without God in the world.”

Pope Benedict XVI says of this passage that Paul “knew they had had gods, he knew they had had a religion, but their gods had proved questionable, and no hope emerged from their contradictory myths. Notwithstanding their gods, they were ‘without God’ and consequently found themselves in a dark world, facing a dark future. … ‘How quickly we fall back from nothing to nothing’: so says an epitaph of that period.”

Sound familiar?

Pope Francis urges us to go to the margins, to refuse to be conscripted into a throwaway culture where people we consider inconvenient or burdensome are cast off. “Deaths of despair” point us in the direction of one of those margins, to the neighborhoods of some of those thrown away.

What we have to offer them is hope and meaning, because while we cannot offer them wealth, limitless pleasure and license, or worldly popularity, if we have the courage, we can bring them to God.

And God alone suffices.

Kyle Eller is editor of The Northern Cross. Reach him at keller@dioceseduluth.org.

“Then every scribe who has been instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like the head of a household who brings from his store room both the new and the old” (Matthew 13:52). Recently, the “store room” of the Diocese has been producing new and old blessings in abundance.

The Sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery celebrated 125 years since the foundation of their Monastery. As you might imagine, the Sisters celebrated with great jubilation! A Mass of Thanksgiving was offered at Our Lady Queen of Peace Chapel. Friends, family, and honored guests were treated to a lovely reception, heavy hors d’oeuvres (actually an abundance of delicious food throughout the Monastery), an open house, guided tours, and story-telling by the sisters. It was a day of thanksgiving.

Bishop Paul Sirba Fiat Voluntas Tua

I expressed gratitude, on behalf of the Diocese, for the countless prayers and good works of the sisters over the years. May God bless you, Sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery, with great hope for your future!

Built Upon a Rock Fest was a new experience for us from the store room. God showered His blessings upon an evening of family fun, making new friends, enjoying the beauty of creation, Eucharistic Adoration, Confession, and of course the gift of music! The organizers, Marie Mullin, David Walsh, Ben Foster, and Kevin Pilon, brought together the Aly Aleigha Band and The Thirsting for the first Catholic rock fest in Duluth. If the enthusiasm of the crowd is any indication of success, then we are on to a new opportunity for faith, fellowship, and rocking music in our Diocese.

A group of dedicated adorers cleaned and renovated the Holy Innocents adoration chapel at St. Mary Star of the Sea in Duluth. Please make a visit. Sign up for an hour of adoration.

I am excited about an upcoming opportunity for adults in our Diocese to grow in their faith. Using the “Symbolon” program, along with local facilitators, persons throughout our Diocese will have the opportunity to learn, grow, and pray with one another. As Catholic adults, we must never stop growing in relationship with our Lord, and this is a great way to foster that growth. I encourage all adults, and especially those responsible for teaching the faith, to make use of this opportunity.

Sessions begin in November and will be held in five location throughout the Diocese. Check out “Adult Faith Formation” on our diocesan website or call the Pastoral Center for more information, (218) 724-9111.

October is Respect Life Month. Take a few moments to reflect on how we can become better witnesses to life from conception to natural death. The Women’s Care Center is hosting its annual fundraiser Oct. 17. 40 Days for Life continues, in Duluth, with prayers to end abortion. And the Catholic Advocacy Network through the Minnesota Catholic Conference is looking for new advocates to join the network. Please check it out at www.mncatholic.org.

On Oct. 13th, Fatima devotions will highlight the 100th anniversary of the apparitions and round out the celebrations for the year. Please check with parishes in your area for opportunities to celebrate the anniversary. Our Diocesan Assembly on Oct. 14th will feature Joe Miller from the Magis Center. Our annual White Mass for health care professionals will be Sunday, Oct. 15. Our Annual Wedding Anniversary Mass and luncheon is at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Rosary on Oct. 22. All are welcome to attend these events, both new and old.

We give thanks to God for Blessed Stanley Rother, who was beatified on Sept. 23. He is the newest Blessed in the United States and the first native born martyr. Blessed Stanley Rother, pray for us!

Bishop Paul Sirba is the ninth bishop of Duluth.

“I like the idea of having a child of a canonized saint here, and having people have as close as they can to a tangible experience of a saint,” said Father Richard Kunst.

His parish, St. John in Duluth, will be offering just that Oct. 30, when it hosts Dr. Gianna Emanuela Molla, the daughter of St. Gianna Molla, a patron saint of the pro-life movement.

The saint, canonized on May 16, 2004, by Pope St. John Paul II, was herself a pediatrician. While she was pregnant with her fourth child in 1961 — the young Gianna — she discovered she had a life-threatening tumor.

Among the options her doctors gave her were abortion, which would not have been morally licit, and hysterectomy, which would have been licit but would also have led to the death of the child. Instead, she insisted on a course of care that would put saving the life of her child as the priority.

Despite efforts to save both mother and child, the saint died a week after her daughter was born. She was 39 years old.

“She’s the patron saint of unborn children and the pro-life movement,” Father Kunst said, as well as the inspiration for parents who have given the name to their own children.

Father Kunst said the daughter the saint died saving, herself a physician as well, has become a spokesperson for her mother’s mission. For instance, she was present at the World Meeting of Families in Philadelphia in 2015, with Pope Francis in attendance.

She will also be appearing in the Twin Cities in October, which the Catholic Church in the United States observes as Respect Life Month.

Yet Father Kunst said getting Dr. Molla lined up to come to Duluth was difficult despite the fact that she is coming to Minnesota already.

In fact, at one point, she told Father Kunst it would be “absolutely impossible.” But the next day she wrote again to say she could come for a talk in the parish.

“I’m very excited about it, obviously,” he said.

There is a private fundraising dinner the day before, but the main public event is Oct. 30, with Mass at 6:30 p.m. followed by Dr. Molla’s talk.

This, too, will have a fundraising component. Dr. Molla is raising funds to restore the family home and “make it into a shrine,” Father Kunst said.

“She travels all over the place to share her mom’s story and the vision of what she would like to do in regard to her mother’s ministry in the pro-life movement,” he said.

So he will be asking for a generous freewill donation. But the event is free and is a unique opportunity to meet one of the few people in the world who is a living child of a canonized saint.

“St. Gianna Molla died to save this woman’s life,” he added. “… She’s an integral part of the whole story of St. Gianna Molla.”

He said there are no tickets, it’s just first-come, first-served. There will be closed-circuit TV in the parish’s basement in case there is overflow from the church, which itself can seat quite a few people.

“All they have to do is bring their willingness to support the mission of St. Gianna Molla and the pro-life movement,” he said.

— Kyle Eller / The Northern Cross

Our schools should be places where children are trained to pursue the true, the good, and the beautiful — or, at the very least, equipped to honestly and rationally engage with objective reality. A school should be a place of education, not ideological instruction.

But a “transgender toolkit,” approved on July 24 by the state’s School Safety Technical Assistance Council (SSTAC), is a clear instance of that vital mission being flipped on its head. The recommendations of the toolkit, advertised as a means of combating bullying, instead distort reality and impede real education.

Jason Adkins Faith in the Public Arena

The falsehoods of gender ideology — essentially, the view that gender is unrelated to biological sex and can be chosen at will — are not fit to be disseminated anywhere, least of all in our schools. The council’s decision to distribute this toolkit to public schools throughout Minnesota reveals that state bureaucrats are more concerned about colonizing students’ minds than forming them to seek the truth.

Ideological colonization

Throughout his pontificate, Pope Francis has drawn attention to what he calls “ideological colonization,” or the imposition of secular values on religious societies through threats or incentives.

We typically think of ideological colonization in places like Africa, where Western nations and NGOs attempt to impose contraception and abortion on countries in exchange for development dollars. But Pope Francis has also linked it to gender ideology being taught in the classroom.

The pope told the Polish bishops in 2016 that gender theory is the “exact opposite of God’s creation,” and that this “sin against God the Creator” is an example of “ideological colonization” funded by powerful institutions.

“Today, children are taught this at school: that everyone can choose their own sex. And why do they teach this? Because the books come from those people and institutions who give money,” the pontiff said, calling the situation “terrible.”

The transgender toolkit is a clear instance of ideological colonization in our own backyard. Through the threat of lawsuits against schools, well-funded activists work to enact anti-bullying measures that are instead vehicles for making disordered views of the human person and human sexuality normative in the broader culture, all the while punishing those who dissent.

Denying reality

We all agree that public schools should be places that are welcoming to all students, regardless of personal challenges that they bring to the classroom. Persons struggling with gender dysphoria or who identify as transgender should be treated with compassion and sensitivity, and reasonably accommodated.

These steps should be taken to create an environment where students can participate in the pursuit of truth, unhindered by things that might hold them back, such as bullying or fear and anxiety. But the advance of gender ideology in the mask of anti-bullying programs undermines the heart of the educational enterprise by injecting a false vision of reality into the language and culture of schools. It requires students and faculty to speak and accept actions in contrast to plainly observable fact, namely, that boys are boys and not girls (or some other thing), and vice versa. As First Things editor R.R. Reno notes, gender ideology forces students to accommodate themselves to lies knowing that truthful words will be punished.

Gender ideology has no credible scientific basis. It requires people to perpetrate falsehoods and is a clear example of the triumph of the subjective will taking precedence over objective reality; it has no place in a setting serious about intellectual inquiry.

Our response

When we see gender theory imposed by public officials, or perpetrated in schools, we have the responsibility to respond, proposing instead the reality of our created nature and the beauty of sexual difference — man and woman, made for each other and made for life.

If the Church is to be a field hospital, as Pope Francis calls us to be, prospective patients need to know that things like gender theory that are peddled by the culture as elixirs of happiness are really poison, and that there is a place that offers healing and hope.

In addition, we must continue to assert that the facts of objective reality and the task of pursuing the truth of things should guide our public discourse and our education system. Otherwise, our discourse becomes mere sophistry and our public policies become tools of oppression and exploitation by those in power.

Jason Adkins is executive director of the Minnesota Catholic Conference.

Every August I look forward to the same bus ride: I get to chaperone middle schoolers from the east side of our diocese to Camp Survive.

I see this as a privilege, and I am left wondering why others are not vying for this job. Few situations place you in the midst of adolescents at a time when they are most real. For many, this week is the first time away. For others, they go without knowing anyone else. And still others think they have everything all figured out. The one-and-a-half hour bus trip is an annual education in the lives of young people, and I love every second of it.

Betsy Kneekpens Faith and Family

A little background on Camp Survive. This week-long church camp is held in McGregor each year. The effort is organized by our Department of Youth Ministry and is probably the most sought-after activity the Diocese of Duluth offers. The 205 open spots fill up in ten days without any formal advertising.

Also, the camp staffing is by trained high school camp returners who serve as junior counselors or prayer team participants. Youth ministers, as well as several priests and seminarians, are responsible for the senior leadership. Whether it is campers, junior counselors, or prayer team members, there are always considerably more young people interested in being part of this particular event than space will allow.

For the past several years I have been the “go to camp” bus chaperone. I greet the campers and families, collect permission slips, and make sure everyone is accounted for. I watch the gentle goodbye hugs and words of affection from the parents as the kids enter the bus. I observe more children being nervous than excited. We begin the bus ride with a prayer, and the parents wave as we leave the parking lots.

Most of the middle schoolers are quiet, anxious, and difficult to engage in conversation. Several of the more reserved students select the first few seats so they can sit alone. I do my best to engage these kids, asking questions about their parish and if they have any experience with this camp before. The students that sit in the front of the bus are typically first-time camp-goers.

I know what fun lies ahead of them at camp because all six of my children have had at least one Camp Survive experience. More importantly, I know what sort of transformations occur at camp, and I can hardly wait for that same thing to happen to these middle schoolers who are so apprehensive as travel the highway to McGregor.

This year my experience was significantly different. Instead of being the “go to” bus supervisor, I was the “go home” chaperone. This new role positioned me perfectly to see the amazing work of the Holy Spirit. The bus arrived on time to pick up the campers, but the entire camp looked like a ghost town. I made my way to the lodge’s large conference room. Once inside, I came upon 300-plus young people finishing Mass.

As the priests were processing, the youths were bursting with praise and worship, making it obvious no one had any intention of leaving anytime soon. The song ended, but the campers did not. These young people continued to sing praise from the tops of the lungs, all the while signing the song and moving to the beat. The best way to describe this is these kids had joy in their hearts, and that happiness was rooted in the Holy Spirit. It was the most glorious sight.

Right before the (much delayed) departure, I witnessed endless hugs, high fives, and “let’s keep in touch” comments by campers from other parts of the diocese who were not taking the bus home. As the driver managed to navigate the large vehicle around the tall pine trees to the main highway, no one needed me to help start a conversation. They talked about their small groups and how cool their leader was, they exchanged adoration and Mass time experiences, they laughed about the jokes they played on each other and how their first impressions of some people were all wrong. They talked about coming back next year, some as campers and some as leaders. It was obvious to me that if these young people did not have an affection for the church before camp, they certainly do know.

These campers were stinky, and they just glowed with the love of the Lord. They were fed at camp, but with a lot more than s’mores. They tasted the beauty and richness of our church. Camp Survive sets that bar high, opening up these children to all that is good and true about our Catholic faith. Any parent that greeted their child after camp can sense the change in their kid. They are bubbling with excitement and are confident about the faith their parents are handing down to them. They are open to more and will take more if given to them.

This is not the first time these sorts of life-changing experiences have happened at Camp Survive, it is just the first time I observed this in the multitudes leaving camp. My children have always returned with a transformational experience. I have tried to take this opportunity to elevate the experience they had into the faith life of our family. I think it would be prudent for our larger faith family to get a better understanding of what happens at Camp Survive so we can continue to feed these kids at this level.

It is beyond words to explain the connection these young people made with Christ, but it is obvious they are have the capacity to go deeper. What should our parishes look like so that this transformation continues to happen? What adjustment must be made so that this energy and truth can be the foundation of every parish?

The future of our parishes is already here, and they are preparing themselves. When we continue to embrace these young people, they will be part of the catalyst which will continue to evolve our parish communities. I am convinced these youth are an important part of the Holy Spirit’s work, which is intended to further enrich and renew the splendor of our church.

Next August, it will be the first time I will not have one of my children on the bus to Camp Survive. Sadly, they have outgrown the camper age. I am hopeful they will be selected to be a prayer team member or a junior counselor, but that leaves them off the bus.

I feel strongly that I should not have to retire from my bus chaperone duties simply because my children have grown up. The education and joy I receive from this experience brings me so much hope for our church, but it also helps keep part of my aging heart young. Next August, I would put my money on being on that Camp Survive Bus.

Betsy Kneepkens is director of the Office of Marriage and Family Life for the Diocese of Duluth and a mother of six.

The energy was palpable. The welcome was hearty and sincere. The enthusiasm was contagious. Where else can you experience the fruits of the Holy Spirit in a forum with hundreds of young people, junior counselors, a prayer team, and some extraordinarily dedicated chaperones in a beautiful setting? Camp Survive is the place.

The Diocese of Duluth, under the leadership of Father Mike Schmitz and Heather Serena and their collaborators, have been hosting Camp Survive at Big Sandy Camp and Retreat Center for years. This work of the Lord continues to bear great fruit.

Bishop Paul Sirba Fiat Voluntas Tua

I had the opportunity to go to camp this year with an added mission. In response to the invitation of Pope Francis and in preparation for the upcoming Synod of Bishops on Young People and discernment, I thought I would bring the questions posed in the synodal document and ask our young people, youth ministers, and local youth experts to see what they would say. What a wonderful opportunity for consultation!

How would you respond to questions like: How can we help the young people hear and respond to the call to become disciples of Christ in this world? Or: We can often underestimate the potential of youth — how do we change our mindset? What are the ways in which we can engage them and help them offer their gifts to building of the Kingdom and making the world a better place? What are the roadblocks? How can we as a Church walk with them? Listen to their voice? In John’s Gospel, when Jesus was asked by his disciples where he was staying, he replied, “Come and see.” That has not changed — Jesus still invites — he looks at you and invites you to go with Him. Pope Francis asks you — “Dear young people, have you noticed this look toward you? Have you heard this voice? Have you felt this urge to undertake this journey?” What is it you most need today from your Church? At a parish, diocesan, and universal level?

The responses to the questions will help me frame a response to be prepared for the Synod and our Holy Father. The Diocese of Duluth and our young people will make a difference in the discussion the universal Church will be having with Pope Francis in 2018. The gift of Camp Survive will continue to help our young people grow in their personal relationship with Jesus Christ and form the intentional disciples of the future. Or rather, form the intentional disciples of the present!

One of the many great takeaways for me was the power of Eucharistic Adoration. It was the most frequently mentioned response to the question: What did you most like about camp? Another very important lesson for me was the importance of the good example and witness of each successive generation on the one before. I mean, the sixth, seventh, and eighth graders greatly valued the example of the junior counselors, who esteemed the witness of college students, who learned from slightly older adults on up.

We have a trajectory which supports the faith of others and makes it credible. It also needs to be formed at an ever earlier age. Some young people are making decisions about whether to remain in the faith by the time they are entering junior high. Twelve-yearolds are asking why they didn’t hear about something when they were six. Also, few if any read newspapers.

The seeds of faith are being nurtured and sustained by Camp Survive, TOBIT, confirmation retreats and youth programs, religious education programs, and schools, but we must respond to the promptings of the Holy Spirit and the ever-changing needs of our young people. I do believe we are on the front end of the New Evangelization in the Diocese of Duluth.

Our words of wisdom to the Synod will help us and the universal Church fan into flame faith in Jesus Christ, who is the same, yesterday, today, and forever.

Bishop Paul Sirba is the ninth bishop of Duluth.

Question: I’m not sure what to do. I’ve been praying and I’ve been to confession (repeatedly), but I seem to commit the same sins. Even worse, I know that Jesus promised that we would receive a closeness to God when we call out for him, but I haven’t experienced that.

Answer: Thank you so much for writing. I think that your experience sounds a lot like most people in the church. Now, when I say that, I don’t mean “most people who don’t care about getting close to the Lord” in the church. What you described is what most people who are showing up and who long to be closely connected with God are experiencing every day. We want God so desperately, but we don’t seem to be able to experience his presence and his power. So what do we do?

Father Michael Schmitz Ask Father Mike

Well, it sounds like you already know what to do: prayer and the Sacrament of Confession. But it might be possible that you could enter into the Sacrament of Confession in a way that will be much more profitable for you. (Actually, I know that you could, but I thought that I would say it in a more “Minnesota Nice” way.) And it is going to involve approaching your sins and the Sacrament of Confession in a different way.

That being said, am I implying that you aren’t genuine in the confessions you are making now? Not at all. I have no idea what level of genuineness you are at. And God is so good that he can even take some pretty lame and half-hearted confessions of sin and do miracles with them. Very few of us are truly sorry for our sins because of our purified and perfect love for God. Many times, we approach confession because we know it is something we need to do or because we fear the reality of hell. If either of those are your primary reasons for going to confession, please keep going! God is so good that he will take even the minimal amount of contrition and respond with his mercy. Do not avoid confession simply because you aren’t perfect. (That would be a little ironic, wouldn’t it?)

But we can definitely grow in our approach. The first area is our awareness of sin and how it relates to the Sacrament of Confession.

Consider the words you use when you go to confession. Along those lines, what do you call the sacrament? Many of us call it the Sacrament of Reconciliation. This is a good thing, because it is the end result: We are reconciled to God and to his church. I often refer to confession as “reconciliation.” But remember: That is the result. Forgiveness and reconciliation are words that describe what God does. But what is our part in it? What do we do? We confess. And what do we confess? We confess our sins.

It might sound strange that I am belaboring this point. But I have found that many people come to the Sacrament of Confession to tell a story rather than confess their sins to almighty God. We will say things like, “Bless me, Father …. I’m really working on my temper lately and being short with my kids.” Or people will say things equally ineffective like, “I am struggling with selfishness (or anger or lust or pride, etc.).” I say that this is “ineffective” because I am not confessing my sins, I am merely “sharing” what I am “working on” or “wrestling with.”

Are these sins being forgiven, even if we haven’t “worded it right”? Absolutely. But you will not see a change as a result. Why not? Because a person who confesses in that way is often not interested in a change. They merely want to be forgiven. I’ve been there. Maybe we all have. Many of us have shown up to the Sacrament of Reconciliation because we knew that we needed forgiveness or because we knew that we needed absolution before we could receive Holy Communion. That is a good thing! But that is not a life-changing thing. We confessed and received forgiveness, but we did not change. Why?

Because we did not renounce the root of the sin.

See, every turning to God requires us to turn away from something that is not of God. I know that I have gone to confession many times, honestly turning to God, but without intentionally and firmly turning away from my sin and my attraction to sin. I have gone to confession because I wanted mercy, but not because I wanted a real and lasting change.

This is where renouncing our sins comes into effect. Rather than saying, “I’m working on anger,” it makes a real difference when we say, “I am guilty of acting out in anger” or “I am guilty of the sin of anger in the following ways ….” It goes even deeper to say, at the end of the confession of this sin, “In Jesus’ Name, I renounce the sin of anger.” One could also say, “In the Name of Jesus, I renounce the root of the spirit of anger in my past/in my heart/etc.”

Believe me, this could make all the difference in the world in your life with Christ. You have been showing up and praying and asking for mercy. You have received it. (Again: God is so good that he does not hold back what we ask for!) But you may have not renounced the lies that you’ve become comfortable with. You may not have renounced the attraction or dependence you have towards the sins you commit. You may not have named and renounced (in Jesus’ Name) the sins you have asked him to forgive. Once you get into the practice of renouncing these lies, wounds, and sins (even outside the Sacrament of Reconciliation), you will experience an awakening in your spiritual life that you may have never known before.

Father Michael Schmitz is director of youth and young adult ministry for the Diocese of Duluth and chaplain of the Newman Center at the University of Minnesota Duluth.

The Sacrament of Confirmation can be a very challenging and very rewarding sacrament. In my experience as a pastor, the most rewarding aspect of the sacrament comes through the RCIA process (Rites of Christian Initiation for Adults).

There can be any number of different scenarios as to why someone is getting confirmed through RCIA, but pretty much every time it is just a great event. Those who go through this process have usually done it with much discernment, prayer, and commitment, and I love walking through this life-changing event with the people who are called to it.

Father Richard Kunst Apologetics

And then there is the challenging form of confirmation which reminds me of an old joke. A rabbi told a priest friend about all the bats they were getting in the synagogue. At a loss as to how to get rid of them, the priest said, “When we have bat problems in the church I simply confirm them, and I never see them again.”

Over my years of being a pastor, I have witnessed the strong faith of many young adults as they have approached their confirmation. At times it has been inspiring. Sadly, though, that is the exception. Unfortunately, the majority of kids (though far from all) look at their confirmation either with a lukewarm faith or with a practically non-existent faith. And yes, all too often, once they have been confirmed I rarely see many of them again.

What makes this particularly sad is that it flies in the face of why we confirm in the first place. There is an objective grace that comes from any sacrament, so even if the young person could not care less, there is still a value to their being confirmed. But as St. Augustine once said, “The God who created us without our cooperation does not intend to save us without our cooperation.” And although there is an objective grace, there is also a responsibility.

When we get confirmed, we are “confirming” the faith and promises our parents made on our behalf at our baptism. When we got baptized, most of us were too young to speak on our own behalf, so our parents and godparents did it for us. Two times in the context of the baptism ritual parents promise to raise their children in the practice of the faith. Sometimes, unfortunately, people put themselves under a false oath with this, because some promise to bring their children up in the practice of the faith with no intention of doing so. This hurts the children in an immeasurable way.

When young adults get confirmed, they are confirming that responsibility for themselves. What their parents promised on their behalf, they are now saying they will do, which is why the vanishing act of newly confirmed Catholic kids is tragic.

For faithful Catholic parents, the faith life of their growing children is very important, but sometimes their desires are misplaced. It is not uncommon for me to speak with confirmation students who tell me they are doing this because their parents tell them they have to.

That is wrong. Parents should never, ever force their children to be confirmed. Confirmation students need to decide for themselves if they want to get confirmed or not. They are taking on the responsibility their parents had at their baptism. They should not be forced to do that.

Canon law addresses this very matter in Canon 889: “Apart from the danger of death, to receive confirmation lawfully a person who has the use of reason must be suitably instructed, properly disposed, and able to renew the baptismal promises.” If a child is unwilling to receive confirmation they are certainly not properly disposed and should not be confirmed.

The hope is that parents, pastors, and religious educators help children understand the importance of their faith so that they continue to practice it after they have been confirmed. This can be done in any number of ways. And we have hope and confidence that the graces received through the sacrament will bear much fruit.

But it should never be forced, nor can it be.

Father Richard Kunst is pastor of St. John the Evangelist in Duluth and St. Joseph in Gnesen. Reach him at rbkunst@gmail.com.

The Society of St. Vincent de Paul builds in a certain flexibility for local conferences, and the group at the neighboring parishes in Crosby and Ironton have found an important niche: helping children who may go hungry in the summer months, when they do not have access to free or reduced- cost school lunches.

Mary Becker, president of the Western Duluth Diocese District Council of the society, said there are a few conferences in the area, following the parish clusters, all of which started four to five years ago. In addition to Crosby-Deerwood, there are conferences in Walker-Hackensack and Nisswa-Pequot Lakes-Pine River.

“Every conference can decide what their specialty is or what their community needs,” she said, “and they set it up according to what they discover through time, what their community needs.”

She said this is something that is continually being discerned. One of the conferences focuses on home visits to help with whatever people need, such as gas, rent, or electricity bills. Another does home visits with a particular attention to the Native American population, with a majority of visits taking place on the reservation.

For the conference in Crosby and Deerwood, it was the local school district that made the need known to two members of St. Vincent de Paul four years ago. This drew immediate attention and a contact to school officials. Within weeks, the conference began preparing nutritious bag lunches to distribute to local children two days a week, at first in fairly minimal sessions.

But the school social worker notified families who had used the school lunch program of the new opportunity, and within a few weeks, other church groups and a local hospital and clinic had contacted them to join in serving the kids.

Now, four years in, the program is serving 75 to 100 children a day. Joining the St. Vincent de Paul Society are Salem Lutheran of Deerwood, Immanuel Lutheran of Crosby, Cascade Methodist of Deerwood, and Cuyuna Regional Medical Center, known collectively as the “Lunch Bunch.” Each group handles its own preparations, costs, and volunteers.

Becker said the stories are sometimes moving.

“One little boy came in and said, ‘Do you have some for my brother?’” she said. Then he mentioned that his mom and dad probably needed lunch too.

“Those requests are made. So it’s a need that’s being filled.”

Becker said the ecumenical aspect of the Lunch Bunch is typical of the work of the St. Vincent de Paul Society and something they hope to do more. “It’s something that national is encouraging us to do,” she said.

In fact, the last four people who joined are Lutheran.

Becker says that for the Vincentians, it’s not only about helping the poor materially, it’s a spiritual mission.

“Our No. 1 goal for St. Vincent de Paul is the spirituality of the Vincentians,” she said. “Because if we’re not growing spiritually, this will not work.”

To that end, not only does every conference have a spiritual advisor and include prayer and Scripture in every meeting, they also pray with those whose homes they visit when possible.

The Vincentians also strive to be a resource to other assistance agencies and are working to provide mentoring to help people out of poverty.

Those who would like to assist the Lunch Bunch can send contributions to the St. Catherine LaBoure Conference, SVdP of Crosby, Deerwood, MN, at PO Box 451, Deerwood, MN 56444.

— Kyle Eller / The Northern Cross