St. Raphael and St. Rose

After a contentious U.S. presidential campaign that highlighted the nation’s deep political divisions, the Minnesota Catholic Conference is hoping that state Republicans and Democrats can rise above partisan differences to pass legislation consistent with the conference’s 2017 public policy priorities.

“One thing that’s going to be a challenge with this legislative session — which we also saw in 2016 — is the challenge of divided government,” said Jason Adkins, executive director of MCC, the church’s official public policy voice in the state.

Republicans, who control both the House and Senate, will need to work with Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton during this year’s session, which began Jan. 3 and ends in May. Among the challenges they face is what to do with a projected $1.4 billion state budget surplus.

“Not everyone is going to get what they want,” Adkins said in a Dec. 28 interview. “The question is: How willing are they to work together, and how willing are they to embrace compromise?”

One issue sure to get attention from lawmakers is health care reform, including what to do about the rising cost of premiums for Minnesotans who purchase health insurance on their own — particularly those who aren’t eligible for federal tax credits made available by the Affordable Care Act signed into law by President Barack Obama in 2010.

“As Gov. Dayton has said, the Affordable Care Act is no longer affordable for many people,” Adkins noted.

From MCC’s perspective, any federal reforms of the ACA or changes to the state insurance exchange should be based on three principles: 1) making certain that everyone in the state has access to basic health care that is indeed affordable; 2) ensuring that changes don’t impose immoral mandates similar to the ACA’s contraceptive mandate, which continues to face legal challenges; and 3) guaranteeing conscience protections for health care providers.

Additionally, MCC’s priorities for the 2017 session include several issues for which it has advocated during the last few years at the Legislature:

Expanding educational choice

MCC is encouraging legislators to add non-public school tuition as an eligible expense of the K-12 education tax credit, as well as create tax credits for individuals and businesses who donate to scholarship granting organizations, such as the Aim Higher Foundation in Minnetonka.

“Educational choice is a moral imperative, and it’s a civil rights imperative,” Adkins said. “There are too many kids in Minnesota of all races who are not getting access to a good education.”

Growing achievement gaps continue to be a problem, he said, and families — particularly those with limited financial resources — need to be empowered so they can select the best schools for their children, whether those schools are public or private.

Last year, the Legislature came close to passing a school choice–related tax credit measure. Thanks to ongoing outreach efforts as well as support across political party lines, Adkins believes such proposals are gaining momentum and have a good chance of being enacted into law this year.

“Gov. Dayton has been open to education tax credit proposals … and under the right circumstances [he has] indicated a willingness to not stand in the way of those,” Adkins said.

Opposing the legalization of physician-assisted suicide

A bill to legalize physician-assisted suicide received a committee hearing last March, but it was pulled from consideration following several hours of emotional testimony from both supporters and opponents of the measure.

With pro-life majorities now in control in both the House and Senate, the issue likely won’t advance this year. But physician-assisted suicide measures were recently approved in Colorado and Washington, D.C., and Minnesota is listed as a targeted state for legalization, highlighting the need for ongoing education about why such measures aren’t good public policy, Adkins said.

MCC is part of the Minnesota Alliance for Ethical Healthcare, a diverse coalition of 35 organizations that includes faith-based groups, disability advocates and health care providers. It promotes advocacy and education in favor of life-affirming options, such as improved palliative care.

“Oftentimes people say [physician-assisted suicide] is an important choice for some people to have, but by enacting this so-called choice, which is neither compassionate nor serves personal autonomy, what you are going to get is a policy that endangers vulnerable people and creates incentives that undermine quality care,” Adkins said. “It’s much cheaper to give someone a bottle of pills and send them home to die than it is to provide them authentic care.”

MCC hopes to update soon its end-of-life care resources, including the Minnesota Catholic Health Care Directive, which helps people state their wishes for end-of-life care in accordance with Catholic teaching.

Regulating commercial surrogacy

In December, after hearing months of testimony, a state legislative commission recommended strict limits on commercial surrogacy. MCC supported legislation in 2015 creating the 15-member bipartisan commission to take an in-depth look at the practice, in which a woman contracts to become pregnant and give birth to a child to be raised by someone else.

Among the commission’s recommendations were to adopt either a ban on commercial surrogacy or a cap on the compensation a surrogate mother could receive; allowing only U.S. citizens to participate in a Minnesota surrogacy contract; and allowing only single embryo transfers for surrogacy pregnancies, thus eliminating the possibility of aborting additional embryos, a process sometimes termed “selective reduction.” The commission’s recommendations also prohibit surrogacy contracts from having abortion clauses.

“We’re still digesting the commission’s recommendations and talking to legislators about what the legislative climate is like for a piece of [regulatory] legislation consistent with some or many of those proposals,” Adkins said.

“Certainly, raising awareness about the commercial surrogacy industry and its potential for creating a market in which Minnesota women would be available to people from all over the world to act as surrogates in exchange for compensation is something we’re deeply concerned about,” he added.

Increasing the Minnesota Family Investment Program’s cash grant

MCC continues to support an increase in the cash grant for the Minnesota Family Investment Program, which assists low-income families with children. The amount of the grant has not increased in 31 years.

“This is an issue that has started to generate a bipartisan consensus that something needs to be done — that families participating in the program shouldn’t have to use 1986 dollars to overcome poverty in 2017,” Adkins said. “The challenge is to make that a legislative spending priority for both parties. Right now it’s not.”

MCC wants to keep the issue in front of legislators. The Catholic Church has “a preferential option for the poor and vulnerable,” he said. “Our budgets and policies are judged by how well they serve those most in need. This needs to be a priority issue for legislators when they consider funding their Health and Human Services budget for 2017.”

MCC also is interested in working with its partners — including the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition — to reform some aspects of MFIP, such as removing barriers for people to marry. MFIP is based on household income, so if a person on the program marries, they may reach an income level for which they no longer qualify for the program but are still in need of assistance.

“Right now the way the program is structured, it disincentivizes people to marry,” Adkins said. “But we know marriage is important in terms of fostering child well-being, family stability and economic well-being.”

Other issues

MCC is also pursuing other initiatives in 2017, including raising greater awareness about pornography as a public health issue. The U.S. bishops issued a statement in 2015 on the topic titled “Create in Me a Clean Heart,” and MCC wants to advance the conversation on the issue, which is “not just a private matter, but one that has very public consequences and is harmful to the common good,” Adkins said.

MCC is supportive of potential bipartisan legislation that identifies pornography as a public health crisis and that looks at ways to evaluate pornography’s effects, particularly on minors, with an eye toward a broader initiative, such as a statewide public health campaign.

Adkins said MCC also will promote care for creation, hoping to build on “Laudato Si’,” Pope Francis’ encyclical on caring for the earth and its inhabitants. It is looking at proposals to incentivize beginning farmers and urban agriculture as well issues surrounding water quality and community infrastructure.

“Water is something we take deeply for granted, and we need to make sure we continue to provide safe drinking water for our communities,” he said. “Water stewardship is a big issue.”

For more information about MCC’s 2017 legislative priorities and to stay informed about important legislative activity as well as other activities related to the Church’s social ministry and policy advocacy, visit mncatholic.org and sign up for the Catholic Advocacy Network.

— By Joe Towalski / St. Cloud Visitor

Minnesota’s Catholics have a new opportunity to join their bishops and learn how to approach key policy areas through the lens of faith.

The Minnesota Catholic Conference is hosting the first Catholics at the Capitol event March 9 at the St. Paul RiverCentre and State Capitol Building in St. Paul. The event is intended to be more than an issue lobbying day, said Jason Adkins, MCC executive director. He hopes participants gain a deeper understanding of how Catholic teaching can shape their approach in the public square.

“What we need to do is inspire, engage and equip Catholics as Catholics to participate in the public policy process, and that’s what this day is meant to do,” Adkins said.

Scheduled from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., the day will include speakers Bishop James Conley of Lincoln, Nebraska, and Gloria Purvis Scott, a commentator for the Eternal Word Television Network and chairwoman for Black Catholics United for Christ.

The event will also include prayer, as well as issue and advocacy training on education, anti-poverty efforts and defense of life. All of the state’s active bishops plan to attend.

The initiative is the first of its kind for MCC, the public policy arm of the Catholic Church in Minnesota. The organization has long participated in advocacy days including the March for Life and the annual Joint Religious Legislative Coalition Day on the Hill, but never before has it brought together people solely because of their shared Catholic faith.

“A lot of our bread-and-butter issues were covered by other advocacy coalitions or advocacy partners that we could funnel Catholics into,” Adkins said. “What changed is that not only do we need a distinctly Catholic and faith voice at the Capitol, but we [also] need to equip Catholics to engage the political process.”

After the morning program at the RiverCentre, participants will go to the State Capitol to meet in groups with their legislators. Adkins hopes that encounter is the basis for ongoing relationships between the lawmakers and constituents.

“There are so many barriers to participation in the public policy process: ‘I don’t know what to say; I don’t know who to contact,’” Adkins said. “Most Catholics don’t know who their state legislators are, so what we’re really trying to do here is not just to go and tell legislators what the Church thinks about an issue, but really help Catholics — on whatever issue they’re concerned about — be better public servants and faithful citizens.”

Adkins expects participants to be well-received by their lawmakers.

“Legislators want to hear from their constituents, because they want to know what their constituents are thinking,” he said. “Sometimes issues are not on their radar, and their constituents bring those issues to their attention.

“This isn’t about pressuring legislators or imposing our will on them,” he added. “It’s actually a service to legislators … [to offer] our perspective as Catholics, as a member of a particular parish, of a particular community, about what serves the common good. And it’s definitely important for Catholics like anyone else in society to offer that perspective.”

Early bird registration is $20. Youth ages 22 and younger are free. Registration includes continental breakfast and a box lunch. Catholics interested in serving as district leaders are encouraged to contact the MCC. For more information, visit http://www.catholicsatthecapitol.org.

— Maria Wiering / The Catholic Spirit

At the beginning of the month of February, our diocese had the privilege of welcoming Bishop Gerard County from our sister diocese, the Diocese of Kingstown in St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Bishop County preached the mission appeal in Brainerd, Duluth and Nashwauk area parishes. He also participated in a celebratory Catholic schools week at St. Francis of the Lakes School in Brainerd and St. Joseph’s School in Grand Rapids. He loved our schools, and I think he actually liked the snow!

I ask your ongoing prayers for all of our Catholic schools and perhaps especially at this time the Duluth Area Catholic Schools. We have embraced a plan to unify our operations into a citywide school with multiple campuses in the city of Duluth. “Called To Be One,” the name of our planning team, went well beyond a plan for school configuration, engaging a new approach to forming our young people and families in the Catholic faith.

Bishop Paul Sirba Fiat Voluntas Tua

All of our Catholic schools are committed to providing high quality, financially stable Catholic school education and faith formation for all.

My gratitude to all of you for making Catholic education a possibility in our diocese. Along with our religious education programming, we hope to pass on the Catholic faith and practice to the next generation of believers in Jesus Christ. This is the work of the New Evangelization called for by Pope Francis.

Many of our priests will be making their annual retreat at King’s House in Buffalo the week of Feb. 12. Please ask God to bless all of our priests and make them shepherds after the Lord’s heart.

Remember the Sisters of St. Scholastica Monastery in a special way on Feb. 10, the feast day of St. Scholastica. The Sisters have dedicated their lives to the service of Jesus. We are grateful for their “yes” to the Lord and service throughout our diocese! Sts. Scholastica and Benedict, pray for us.

Don’t forget the first-ever “Catholics at the Capital,” sponsored by the Minnesota Catholic Conference in St. Paul on Thursday, March 9. You are encourage to join me, my brother bishops from Minnesota and more than 1,000 fellow Catholics as we work to protect life and dignity in Minnesota. Registration can be found on our diocesan website: www.dioceseduluth.org.

February ends with Mardi Gras. That means that the holy season of Lent is fast approaching!

Bishop Paul D. Sirba is the ninth bishop of Duluth.

Unifies Catholic schools, creates path for high school

Bishop Paul Sirba, at a press conference Jan. 20, announced that he had accepted a plan that will bring the city’s four Catholic schools into a single school with multiple campuses, also offering a path toward Catholic high school education in Duluth for the first time since the closing of Cathedral School decades ago.

That course of action was the consensus recommendation he had received from the Duluth Area Catholic Schools board the night before, after the board had considered the plan, the result of the Called To Be One planning process that had been going on for several months.

“I believe this is an exciting prospect for our schools and moves us towards the realization of a dream people have been sharing with me ever since I was named the bishop of Duluth — being able to offer a continuum of education pre-K through 12 for our families,” he said at the press conference.

The plan divides up classes among three of the four campuses currently used by Catholic schools in Duluth — at St. James, Holy Rosary and St. John. The campus at St. James will provide elementary and middle school grades for the western part of the city, the campus at Holy Rosary will provide elementary grades in the eastern part of the city, and the campus at St. John will offer middle school and ultimately high school classes. The campus at St. Michael’s Lakeside is not used in the plan.

Bishop Sirba said that the primary factor both in the decision not to use the St. Michael’s campus and to put middle school and high school grades at St. John was the state of the facilities themselves.

He acknowledged that while the plan is hopeful good news, it also brings “change and sacrifice,” as well as “pain and loss.” While all the campuses will be affected, St. Michael’s will feel it especially. “I hope and pray that we as a community of faith reach out to any who are feeling the loss and accompany them on this journey,” he said.

Bob Lisi, who with Hilaire Hauer led the planning team, said the process kicked off in February 2016 and involved hundreds of people. There were more than 600 responses to an initial survey conducted in the fall, and many also participated through planning retreats and focus groups through two draft proposals.

The planning committee had recommended implementing the plan by the beginning of the next school year in September, but after discussions with the board, Bishop Sirba took a more flexible, “as soon as possible” approach. He said the first steps — a search for a new president and governing board for the new school — would begin immediately, and “best case scenario” to have the rest of the plan in place by the fall.

The new school will get its new name in a process within the school community itself, officials said.

The plan to introduce high school classes is to introduce them as students are ready to move into them, beginning with the ninth grade, perhaps as early as this fall.

Bishop Sirba said he had been following the process closely and participating in some of its events himself, and he expressed his gratitude to all those who had participated in it.

“From the outset we have made every effort to make this process open, inclusive and transparent,” he said. “Hundreds of people from across the city have taken up that invitation. You have blessed us with your gifts and your love of Catholic education, and I ask you to now redouble your efforts to make this new endeavor the blessing to the community I know it can be.”

— By Kyle Eller / The Northern Cross

New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan said the Scripture passage he chose to read at the Jan. 20 inauguration of Donald J. Trump as president — Wisdom chapter 9 in which King Solomon prays for wisdom to lead Israel according to God’s will — was an easy one to make.

“I pray it all the time,” he told Catholic News Service and joked that “the Lord still hasn’t answered the prayer.”

New York Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan speaks during the 2016 fall general assembly of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Baltimore. Cardinal Dolan said the Scripture passage he chose to read at the Jan. 20 inauguration of Donald J. Trump as president, Wisdom chapter 9 in which King Solomon prays for wisdom to lead Israel according to God’s will, was an easy one to make. (CNS photo/Bob Roller)

Jokes aside, Cardinal Dolan said that Solomon’s prayer has been one offered to God for centuries.

In the prayer, Solomon acknowledges that God made humankind “to govern the world in holiness and righteousness and to render judgment in integrity of heart.” The king continues by asking God for wisdom, “the consort at your throne, and do not reject me from among your children.”

Solomon also pleads with God to send wisdom “that she may be with me and work with me, that I may know what is pleasing to you.” He asks that his “deeds will be acceptable and I will judge your people justly and be worthy of my father’s throne.”

As for his appearance on the podium at the start of the inaugural ceremony with three other faith leaders, Cardinal Dolan explained that he was “flattered” to be invited to participate by inauguration planners.

The cardinal has one minute to read the passage. “That’s more than enough,” he said. “I’ve timed it.”

He also was asked to send his selection to the Trump team. “I don’t know if that was for vetting purposes or not, which I think is appropriate to do so,” he told CNS.

And in these divisive times in the country, Cardinal Dolan acknowledged that he opened himself to critics by agreeing to be part of the ceremonies on the West Front of the U.S. Capitol.

“I know they are [there] because they’ve written to me,” he said. “And as I tell them, had Mrs. [Hillary] Clinton won and invited me, I would have been just as honored.

“We pastors and religious leaders are in the sacred enterprise of prayer. People ask us to pray with them and for them. That doesn’t mean we’re for them or against them,” he added.

“That’s our sacred responsibility.”

The cardinal noted that he had met Trump twice. The first time came Oct. 14 in the midst of the presidential campaign when Trump and his wife, Melania, made the six-block trip from Trump Tower to St. Patrick’s Cathedral. At the time, diocesan spokesman Joseph Zwilling said that Trump had requested the meeting weeks before it occurred.

The two met again at the 71st annual dinner of the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation six days later.

For the record, Cardinal Dolan met Clinton a few months earlier and also at the dinner, according to Zwilling.

The inauguration of a new president can be a time of hope and renewal for the country, Cardinal Dolan said.

“Many people may have reservations of the president-elect and I certainly do, as with any incoming president. But in the great American tradition, we look at the time of an incoming president as a time of hope ... a way to give a man a chance and try to fulfill some of the promises he made.”

Trump’s inauguration won’t be the first in which a Catholic cleric participated. History shows that Msgr. John Ryan, a pioneer of the church’s social justice advocacy who served a long term as director of the U.S. bishops’ social action department, offered a prayer at the President Franklin Roosevelt’s 1937 inauguration.

Prelates who prayed at inaugurations include Cardinal Richard J. Cushing of Boston at the inauguration of President John F. Kennedy in 1961; Cardinal Terrence J. Cooke of New York, at both of President Richard Nixon’s inaugurations in 1969 and 1973; and, most recently, Archbishop John R. Roach of St. Paul and Minneapolis, who was U.S. bishops’ conference president in 1977 when President Jimmy Carter took the oath of office.

Cardinal Dolan said he attended ceremonies as a private citizen for President Ronald Reagan in 1981 and President George H.W. Bush in 1989.

Editor’s Note: The full Bible passage of Wisdom chapter 9 can be found online at www.usccb.org/bible/wisdom/9:13.

— By Dennis Sadowski Catholic News Service

I did not want to write on this subject, but I feel compelled to do so. Sometimes God puts little messages in your life, over and over again, and at a certain point, you must try to do something.

My something is sharing my outrage with readers in hopes that we can move each other to face a horrible problem plaguing college-aged women.

Betsy Kneepkens Faith and Family

This past year, four mothers, independently, likely unknown to each other, shared similar, painful stories about incidents that had happened to their daughters attending college. I did not seek out this information, nor were the situations designed to draw attention to this subject. My priority was to be a listener, but when one mom after another approached me, I began to contemplate what to do with this knowledge. Prompted again by some recent newspaper articles on this subject, I said to myself, “God, I am listening, what should I do?”

I have heard enough, and so I begin by writing.

These mothers shared how their daughters were raped by fellow students on their respective college campuses this past year. Recent media articles have included staggering statistics of reported incidents of sexual assault at Minnesota colleges and universities, in addition to news covering college men who were sanctioned by their institutions for their involvement in sexual assault cases.

The daughters of the moms I talked to were raised in similar fashions. They come from faithful, Catholic homes. They are not shy about proclaiming their faith in Christ, and they all seem to strive to live in accord with Christ and his teachings. They are bright, driven and appear to appreciate the privilege of attending an institution of higher learning.

These women varied by college year, with the oldest being a senior. Two attended two different Catholic colleges, and the others were at secular institutions, one large and the other small. These ladies were blessed with parents who worked hard and made many sacrifices to form their daughters to prepare them for a life of holiness and goodness for the sake of others.

In two of the incidents, the perpetrators were athletes, and in the other two situations they were not. In all cases, the women knew the men who raped them, and the date rape drug of choice by each offender was alcohol. Consistent in each story was that the perpetrator coaxed the women into drinking an excessive amount of alcohol. They certainly did not intend to drink too much, and it appears they all respect marital union as a sacred gift for the benefit of marriage only.

Two of the women reported the incident to college administrators, and the other two did not. In no instance did the institution contact the parents; the mothers found out through other sources. In each case there is a mom with a son that raped another mom’s daughter. Two mothers are likely aware of this fact, and two are not.

Additional similarities were that these mothers entrusted their children to the environment of higher education expecting safety to be a priority. They assumed parents were a part of seeking their daughters’ best interests and welfare in the educational process. All willingly made the financial sacrifice while expecting their daughters to encounter challenges that would shape them positively, not scar them internally.

Colleges do spend time explaining to students the potential dangers of acquaintance rape; they have protocols to follow when a student, likely a female, reports a situation to school authorities, and they typically provide resources to deal with the trauma, including the option to contact local police regarding the crime. They will do an internal investigation if the student requests one and sanction the students according to school policy. These efforts are well-intended, and in most cases, a triage approach to dealing with the situation is what happens.

From my perspective, one key to the problem of rape on college campuses is that they have a culture that is sexually boundary-less. The colleges approach rape primarily in a reactive way instead of a proactive one and triage instead of preventing the crime from happening.

Another way of saying this is that colleges essentially start the house on fire knowing the family is inside and then do everything they can to go into the fire to save the burning victims. There is a systemic problem when there are nearly 300 reported rape cases a year on Minnesota campuses, a figure that is likely double or more when you include unreported cases, all while institutions are spending significant time, energy and finances on handling the consequences, after the fact, with negligible results.

The question I would like colleges to ask is: Are we at all culpable or an indirect accessory to the crime of rape by establishing a culture that has the tenets which beget the act of rape?

What I mean is, does allowing a culture mostly made up of 18- to 22-year-olds, which promotes consensual sex, the act of spousal union without the benefit of the covenantal bond, institutionalize a flawed use of the marital gift? If this is true, institutions set up young people to unknowingly or unintentionally misuse each other for personal pleasure, a college culture that no longer even sees the act of intercourse to be a spousal gift. When you start walking down this road it eventually opens itself to abuse.

For example, culture is telling college students that as long as they communicate with their partners and they both approve of this intimate act, this “union” is acceptable. Expecting 18-year-olds who likely know each other minimally to communicate rightly on this very personal matter defies logic. How can any educated person who has been the age of college students think this will widely happen when most married couples struggle with communication even after years of being together? Sexual miscommunication dramatically opens itself to rape.

Additionally, handing out condoms and contraception to keep women “safe” speaks directly to the how colleges may be accessories to misusing the marital gift. When one needs to worry about “safety,” one is in harm’s way. Colleges’ health services frequently advertise how condoms and contraception will protect a student. Protection is only needed by women when they have to prepare themselves against those who intend harm. No condom or contraception will protect women from the greatest wound of a non-spousal union, rape. Never have I seen a sign on a college campus that says, “Caution, condoms and contraception will not protect you from rape, abstinence is expected.”

Furthermore, colleges need to examine the impact of the extinction of single-sex residence halls, visitation hours, single-sex bathroom and residence facilities, and faculty or religious live-in prefects on the culture. Universities need to know if these decades-ago policy changes ended up supporting a culture of misguidance, lack of accountability and improper formation as it relates to students and virtues. Worse yet, could the lack of guidance move a person to an even darker place where they believe they have the right over another person’s body?

Perhaps the worst institutional policies are federal laws and university principles stating that a student becomes an adult once they arrive on a college campus. This notion of adulthood is treated as a rule even though students are largely dependent on parents financially. Additionally, we know from research that development, both cognitively and emotionally, varies widely from student to student. Researchers acknowledge that full brain development may not be complete until the age of 25. In other words, we treat college students by rule as adults, but science tells us otherwise.

We have a federal law commonly referred to as FERPA that prohibits parents’ involvement and knowledge in their child’s life at the college level. Who better to assist in the process of bringing an older adolescent to adulthood than parents who have unconditional love and desire to see their child succeed? This instrument, intended by God, is removed once a child steps on to a college campus.

In other words, those who have never met a student get to decide adulthood, no matter where the student may be intellectually or emotionally. We treat students’ maturity like an on and off switch, when in reality, raising a child is more like a dimmer that slowly turns on until it is fully bright. Are parents being forced to abandon their children when they might need us the most? In truth, we need our government and the academy to acknowledge this reality as well and make policies accordingly.

Rape is the most common devastating crime on college campuses. It is an atrocity that attempts to defile the heart of who we are as a person, our ability to love. An education is worth nothing if institutions do not see the value of holding up the most important human interaction, the spousal union, as a sacred gift.

Understanding the inclinations of young students and placing guidelines which hold up and lead a young person to virtue ought to be a foundational obligation of the academy. Anything less than this, I believe, eliminates the institution’s purpose for being. Universities must get this right, because the sin and crime of rape jeopardizes the community of learners and their understanding of love. It is now time for parents, colleges, and universities to ask, are we partly culpable and accessories to the act of rape? And if so, what must we do to get this right?

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

Christians are called to renew their faithfulness to God every day and not procrastinate when it comes to their own personal conversion, Pope Francis said.

A hardened heart that sets aside “receiving the love of God” for another day may find that it is too late to enjoy the heavenly reward awaiting those whose hearts are strong in the faith, the pope said Jan. 12 in his homily during Mass at the Domus Sanctae Marthae.

“I say this not to frighten you but simply to say that our life is a ‘today’ — today or never,” he said. “Tomorrow will be an eternal ‘tomorrow’ with no sunset, with the Lord forever if I am faithful to this ‘today.’ And the question that I ask you is what the Holy Spirit asks: ‘How do I live this ‘today’?” he said.

The pope centered his homily on the day’s reading from the Letter to the Hebrews in which the author urges the Christian community to “encourage yourselves daily while it is still ‘today,’ so that none of you may grow hardened by the deceit of sin.”

Hearts “are at risk” of losing this “today,” the opportunity of living life to its fullness and not ruined by sin, he said.

Recalling conversations with elderly people — particularly priests and nuns — the pope said he was always struck by their requests to pray for their final moments even if they led good lives in God’s service.

“‘But are you afraid?’” the pope said he would ask them. They would respond that they are not afraid of death but requested prayers that they would be able to live to the very end of their lives “with a heart strong in faith and not ruined by sin, by vices, by corruption.”

Christians, Pope Francis added, must reflect on the state of their own “today” and ask whether their hearts are “open to the Lord” or closed and seduced by sin like “the doctors of the law; all those people who persecuted [Jesus], who put him to the test to condemn him and in the end, were able to do it.”

Today may well be a person’s last, he told those at Mass. It is healthy to ask, “How is my ‘today’ in the presence of the Lord? And how is my heart? Is it open? Is it strong in faith? Is it led by the love of the Lord?”

— By Junno Arocho Esteves / Catholic News Service

I have mentioned before that I’m a big geek. For instance, I am likely the only Catholic newspaper editor in Christendom who, in 2016, does his writing and editing in Emacs, a computer program which I’m tempted to call the greatest software yet written.

Kyle Eller Mere Catholicism

That may sound grandiose, since Emacs is a text editor, one of the lowliest and most basic forms of software. But calling Emacs a text editor is roughly equivalent to describing an aircraft carrier the size and complexity of a small city as “a boat” — it’s true, as far as it goes, but it obscures a true sense of the size and scope of the thing.

Emacs is ancient in computer terms, dating back to the 1970s, when “mice” were just rodents, not computer accessories. Emacs is still designed to do just about anything you can imagine (and likely things you can’t) with text, with great efficiency, without your fingers leaving the keyboard. In the hands of a competent user, its speed and efficiency can look like magic.

But Emacs didn’t stop in the 1970s. For all these years it has been improved, expanded, extended and hacked on. It can manage your files, track your calendar, do spreadsheets and accounting, read the news, check your email, connect you to online chats, and much, much more. People are only slightly joking when they call it an operating system.

It’s not for everyone, and I won’t bore you with all the reasons it’s awesome, but for a certain kind of person it’s an incredible power tool.

One of the remarkable things about it, and the one I want to reflect on in light of our faith, is how all this is accomplished: Hundreds of skilled programmers over the years have volunteered to contribute to this program, which is given away for free, right down to the source code.

Actually, by my own choice, most of the software I use daily is done the same way. You very likely use some of it daily too, perhaps without knowing it. Much of the Internet is run on Linux, a free, open source operating system. Similar things could be said of many of our gadgets. The Internet itself is a product of a similar kind of openness, built around open protocols and file formats and languages that different kinds of computers and programs can freely use.

Of course anyone who has sung in a choir or participated in a serious volunteer project can easily grasp some of the beauty and joy of this, but it seems to run up against some currents of American culture that measure everything by transactions and the bottom line. People often seem to think nothing good can happen unless someone is hoping to make great heaping gobs of cash from it.

In fact, that isn’t true.

I think often of my first “real” job, where I began using professional graphic design tools, each costing nearly $1,000 per person, per version. Now anyone can obtain for free high quality programs that do the same kind of work, pop them on a flash drive and use them anywhere.

This ethos of cooperative, volunteer work, freely shared with the community, has put productive, creative tools within reach of many people who could never have afforded them 20 years ago, a great gift to the world.

This is not to knock making money. Far from it. In fact these tools help people make money, from individuals to large, highly profitable businesses. Android phones are built on Linux. The open Internet has created opportunities for businesses small and large. Even Microsoft, long an implacable foe of open software, now embraces it in ways that make sense for them.

But more to the point, there is a sense of this “logic of gift” in good business, in the Catholic social vision. Pope Benedict XVI wrote about this in his encyclical “Caritas in Veritate.” He said the times demand that, in addition to traditional principles like transparency and honesty, “in commercial relationships the principle of gratuitousness and the logic of gift as an expression of fraternity can and must find their place within normal economic activity.”

It took me a long time to understand what he meant, but someone finally explained it to me in a way I could grasp. Suppose someone opens a coffee shop down the street. Naturally and rightly she wants to make a profit, both to earn a dignified living and to build the business. But of course she wants something more than that. She wants to serve her neighbors, giving them delicious mochas and friendly smiles, a warm place to chat with a friend, a happy place to work.

A reductionist view that makes money the measure of everything might say she could make more with cheaper coffee beans and less cozy seating and by paying employees the least she could get away with. Restoring the “logic of the gift” gives other goods, other benefits, their proper place alongside the ones you can measure on a balance sheet. It restores a sense of businesses as integrated parts of their communities ordered to the common good.

Our “bottom line,” “what’s in it for me” mentality tends to seep unbidden into how we think in other spheres of life, too, and maybe as the new year begins, it’s worth a quick examination of conscience. The Catholic vision sees creation itself, human life, and especially grace and salvation as gratuitous gifts of God. It sees the highest vision of love as the gift of self, shown most fully in the sacrifice of Jesus on the cross.

If we’re still looking for New Year’s resolutions, finding places to give ourselves away just for the good of others should be on the list. Our parishes and communities are full of ministries and programs where we can do just that.

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

I think I have addressed the subject of purgatory over the years of writing this column a few different times, probably more than any other subject. There is a reason for this: Purgatory was the primary “lightening rod” that sparked the protestant Reformation.

Martin Luther was completely right when he criticized some leaders of the church for selling indulgences to get people out of purgatory. It was a terrible abuse by some Catholic leaders at the time. Luther, unfortunately, threw out the proverbial baby with the bathwater when he took the opportunity to totally dismiss the dogma of purgatory. Abuses, no matter what they are, are never a justifiable reason to abandon church teaching, especially if it is a dogma of the faith.

Father Richard Kunst Apologetics

Because of Luther’s response to the purgatory issue and because of the selling of indulgences, in some circles the mere mention of it can feel like saying a dirty word, and that is most unfortunate. Popular piety has not done itself any favors over the years either. There have been countless books written about the “horrors” of purgatory, and it is not uncommon to see scary portrayals of burning souls in purgatory on stained glass windows and old religious art. Dante’s “Divine Comedy” is not too helpful either, in its portrayal of this place of purification. All of this is unfortunate, because purgatory is a beautiful place, one that I earnestly hope to get to someday.

Here is a different explanation of purgatory that may help you look forward to the day you finally get there.

Catholics who do not go to confession and those who do not have it available will not understand this comparison, but I hope this will ring true for Northern Cross readers: When you go to confession, especially if you have a big sin or have not been to confession for a long time, how do you feel when you leave the confessional? Lighter, right? There is nothing quite like the feeling one gets right after confession. It is impossible to accurately describe, because it is both a tangible and a non-tangible feeling at the same time. It feels so good knowing that the weight of guilt and sin is now washed away, it is hard to leave the confessional without a smile.

Again, if you do not take advantage of this sacrament, you have no idea what I am talking about. Suffice it to say it is awesome in the truest sense of this overused word!

That is what purgatory is like! When we go to confession, our sins are forgiven; when we are in purgatory, the effects of those sins on our soul are washed away. That post-confessional feeling is a gift from God, and it gives us a faint reflection of how great purgatory is going to be. Think of purgatory like this and you will never be afraid to go there.

Another aspect of purgatory that is a mystery is the ability of those of us who are on earth to help those who are experiencing this purification. We profess as a truth that our prayers can help the souls in purgatory.

A good way to appreciate and understand this is by looking at the New Testament’s favorite image of the church. Several times in the scriptures, the church is referred to as the body of Christ, and it is said that we are all individual member of the one body. As individual members, we all play different roles with different functions, but we are all equally members.

When your foot itches, what happens? Your hand scratches it. One part of your body comes to the assistance of another body part to relieve the irritation. This is the role we play in our prayers for the souls in purgatory. Just as your hand is to your foot, so too are we as members of the body of Christ. God gives us the ability by our prayers to help the other members of the body who are in need of our prayers, whether they are still with us in this life or are in purgatory.

One of the more unfortunate aspects of modern Catholic spirituality is the abandoning of our commonly praying for the souls in purgatory. It is a rich part of our Catholic heritage and spirituality, and it is of great value. At Catholic funerals in the past, the holy cards that were distributed almost always had the prayer for the souls in purgatory. Nowadays it is more common to have a poem. We have lost something here; perhaps we can bring it back.

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

How much weight should I give to my past? I’ve been told that I need to forget the past and move forward, but it seems like there ought to be something more to it.

When it comes to the past, many of us are tempted to fall into one of two traps: Either we choose to ignore the past or we choose to live in the past. Yet both of these choices will prevent us from accomplishing one of the principle ends in life — becoming wise.

Father Michael Schmitz Ask Father Mike

The pursuit of wisdom is an essential part of being human. Or let me restate that more accurately: Becoming wise is one of the goals of a life well lived. More important than pleasure, more lasting than fitness, and more attainable than wealth, wisdom is enduring, available to all and proper to the human person.

Historically however, wisdom has been seen as far more than technical know-how. Wisdom has been seen as the result of acquiring two things: truth and experience.

We ignore the past when we don’t stop to evaluate and appreciate what we have experienced. When we fail to recognize the way our decisions have impacted our lives and the lives of those around us and when we fail to acknowledge the ways other people’s decisions have impacted our lives, we are short-circuiting one of the essential ingredients for becoming wise.

To ignore one’s past can be absolutely devastating to a good life. We can see this in our own experience, or in the experience of the people around us. We all know the person who consistently dates one jerk after another. Rather than learning from their past, this person not only continues to date jerks but the same kind of jerk! To these people I like to reference the quote: “Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes that reason is you are foolish and make bad decisions.” That might be harsh (although of course it is merely meant as a lighthearted way of pointing out our tendency to make unwise choices), but it is also often true of those who refuse to acknowledge the past.

If wisdom comes as a result of combining truth with experience, then in order to become wise, one must look at one’s past and assess it. This is one of the incredible benefits from the practice of regularly examining one’s conscience.

Even more than an “examination of conscience,” I would recommend something called a “consciousness examen.” That may sound like the same thing, but they are significantly different. With a consciousness examen, we will, at least once a day, stop and review our day. Beginning by asking the Holy Spirit for guidance, we go over our day looking for times God was present. Essentially, we are looking for the ways God had spoken to us through the day or blessed us during that day. After acknowledging God’s presence and action, we thank God. Then, we review our day again, being attentive to all of the times God was trying to speak to us or invite us to act, but we said no to God’s invitation. After looking at and assessing these times, we repent of them (we ask God to forgive us and resolve to turn to him more in the future).

This process, repeated on a regular basis, will help a person grow in wisdom. We avoid the first pitfall of tending to ignore the past by looking at the past, assessing the past, learning from the past and repenting where we need to repent. If we do this, we will certainly become wise. Rather than simply “going through the motions” and drifting through life, we will begin to move through life with intentionality and purpose. Our choices (both good and bad) will have the ability to become the necessary fuel for wisdom and will help us chart a course for the future.

We will avoid the incredibly silly trap of saying things like, “Don’t regret anything from your past. It has what made you into the person you are today.” That saying is absurd for a number of reasons. The first is that it assumes that you have learned from the bad and good choices and are actually a better person today! But all of us know that this is not necessarily the case. Often, our experiences can contribute to our becoming more evil and more foolish. It is only when we look at our past, assess our past, learn from our past and make corrections (aka repent) that we have the potential to become better and wiser.

The other trap many people fall into is to live in the past. I am not just talking about someone stuck in the “glory days” (although that is a real thing). I am also referencing those people who repeatedly beat themselves up over decisions long gone. There are those who, even after learning from the past and repenting where they needed to repent, choose to continue to define themselves by their failures (or by their successes). It is impossible to become wise when one chooses not to learn from the past and then leave it alone. This is because wisdom has to be practical. And practical wisdom is the ability to apply what one has learned to the current situation (the present) in order to move forward in the best way possible. This cannot happen if a person is stuck in the past.

Last thing. There are people who just can’t seem to break free from the past. I have one piece of advice for them: laugh. Laugh at yourself. So many of us are stuck in the past because we take ourselves so seriously. Because of this, every time we remember something bad we have done in the past, we are crippled by it. It is possible that the only cure for this person is laughter. I am not saying that they should laugh at the errors or sins. I am not saying that they should laugh at how another has hurt them. What I am encouraging is something more personal: laugh at yourself. Christians are the ones who do not need to take themselves so seriously. We take God seriously. We take good seriously. We take other people seriously. We need to take sin seriously. But we do not need to take our “drama” so seriously.

If you can take yourself less seriously, you will be free to learn from the past, but not live in the past.

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.