THE SPIRIT OF ST. EDWARD

On this feast day of St. Edward the Confessor, our Patron, I extend a special welcome to all. The year 2005 is being celebrated as the 1000th anniversary of King Edward‘s birth (see the Westminster Abbey website at www.westminster-abbey.org). One of the great stories associated with Edward is depicted in a 15th century painting where he is shown taking off his ring, the sign of his royal power, and giving it to a beggar (who happens to be an angelic messenger). He was not the greatest king of England but he was greatly loved because of his compassion and care for the poorest of his subjects.

That spirit of generosity continues here at St. Edwards. Just last month Bishop Callist from the Kabale Diocese in Uganda received a lovely welcome from the parish. He left with our prayers but also with almost $9,000 for the needs of the people in his Diocese.

And even in the joy of our feast day we have continued sadness and concern for the sufferings of those so terribly hurt by the hurricane. There are many good ways to help (but there are also sadly some scams). All the money that we collect will be sent immediately to the Catholic Charities offices located in the affected areas. They have social service programs already operating on the ground and are very efficient. Your generous contributions are very much appreciated.

Right now the need is for money (and prayers) but later we as a parish can be part of the effort to assist in the rebuilding. Our youth minister, Chad O‘Leary sent me the following message. It suggests some possible ways for us to be involved down the road.

There is a very good article about the 300 solar ovens that parishioners donated last Christmas to our friends in Jinotega, Nicaragua. You can find the link for the Solar Oven Society at: www.solarovens.org The story is on the right side of this page.

REST FROM THEIR LABORS

This weekend we celebrate labor day. Hopefully it is a well deserved day of rest. We salute all those who in a variety of ways contribute to our society and to our world through their labors. We also appreciate the Church‘s call for just treatment for those who labor and those who are seeking employment. This reflects the words of the Lord who said the laborer is worth his or her wage. We also give thanks to those who have retired from their labors. Two here at St. Eds have made such life changes.

DEACON WILL DORNFELD

Will has just retired from being an active deacon in the Archdiocese. He was ordained in 1992 and his ministry has been primarily as a hospital chaplain. He has served at the University of Minnesota Hospital and more recently at Fairview Southdale. However, since the Fairview Southdale Catholic chaplain, Father Jerry Fehn, is being mobilized as a National Guard chaplain for up to two years of service in Iraq, Will is very generously covering for him.

It has to be stated that Will‘s wife, Judy, has ministered along with Will especially here at St. Eds. They will continue to coordinate the mass at the Masonic Nursing Home and serve as a marriage sponsor couple. They have also done much with our RCIA program, FMF program for the homeless, and Loaves and Fishes. One other ministry that Will intends to continue is ordering our communion hosts. Thank you so much Will and Judy!

BILL KINKEL

Bill has been a part time maintenance person here at St Eds for over 12 years. He is usually here several weekdays and on Sundays. Bill has many fans here including myself. He has many interests including genealogy history and cross word puzzles to keep busy with. Thank you, Bill, and all the best!

Fr Mike

The June 20th issue of the Wall Street Journal had an article by Tara Parker-Pope titled, "The Secrets of Successful Aging, What Science Tells Us About Growing Older -- And Staying Healthy." Over the last 30 years a special study has been conducted on aging using groups of nuns and monks. (My 94 year old Benedictine uncle, Father Vincent has also been part of the study at St Johns Abbey.) Among the findings:

Personality traits such as optimism, adaptability and a willingness to try new things also seem to be linked to better aging. This became apparent in the Nun Study, which for three decades has collected data from the School Sisters of Notre Dame living in Mankato, Minn., as well as elsewhere in the Midwest, East and South.

The study is important because extensive family, medical and social history from the nuns is available. The goal of the Nun Study is to determine the causes and prevention of Alzheimer‘s disease and other brain diseases, as well as the mental and physical disability associated with old age.

Among many notable findings has been a study of handwritten autobiographies from 180 nuns, who wrote them, on average, at the age of 22. The writings were scored for emotional content and compared with survival rates from the age of 75 to 95. What researchers noticed is that the nuns who wrote with the most positive attitude at a very young age were 2½ times more likely to be alive in late life than the sisters who came across with a more negative point of view at a young age.

What‘s notable about the Nun Study is that so much in these women‘s lives is the same -- the food they eat, the quality of medical care they receive, the life they lead -- and that‘s why the differences are so striking. Consistently, the nuns who age well are those with distinct personality traits such as a sense of humor and adaptability. Many of these nuns still developed illnesses and health problems associated with aging -- but those who aged the most successfully were those who adapted to each new challenge, including illness or disability.

"Everyone experiences normal day-to-day stress, and we all have the same physiological response in terms of higher blood pressure and higher stress hormones," says David Snowdon, the University of Kentucky neurology professor who founded the Nun Study. "But because of their positive outlook, our suspicion is that [the sisters who have aged well] can come back down to their baseline level quicker. They didn‘t grind on their stress. They had their stress response, and they got over it."

SISTER ACT
The same Mankato Sisters of Notre Dame sponsor in the Twin Cities ministries that provide for the special needs of mothers, children and families such as the Theresa Living Center and the Caroline House in St. Paul. These are transition residences for mothers with young children or single women who have come upon hard times and need help with living skills, employment, housing, etc. until they can get on their feet alone. The sisters and volunteers staff these places. Some of the other outreach Cities efforts include tutoring (English language) and helping the Hmong in downtown high rises to become familiar with our culture and their functioning in it. At East Side Learning Center in St. Paul where many children are challenged with learning because of poverty, other ethnic languages, etc., they help them catch up in school. To fund these wonderful efforts the Sisters have an annual event called the SEED OF HOPE. We allow them to use our facilities. This year the date is Sunday afternoon, September 18, with a dinner, concert, and dessert buffet. Entire-event tickets are $85 and are available through Sr. Lynore at (507)389-4213. Walk-ins for just the musical concert by recording artist/songwriter, David Haas, plus dessert afterwards, are also available for $35 on that day. Feel free to call me or Pat Lieb for more information.

Fr Mike

WELCOME BISHOP CALLISTUS

This weekend we have a special mission appeal given by Bishop Callistus Rubaramira from the Kabale Diocese in Uganda. Kabale is one of 19 dioceses in Uganda and is situated in the extreme southwestern corner of the country. It is a rural area and is a very troubled area of central Africa bordering Rwanda on the southwest and the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the west. There is a population of over one million in the Diocese including 600,000 Catholics.

Bishop Callistus is seeking support for their rural development programs including community based health care and support for AIDS orphaned children. The Diocese is in the process of constructing and orphanage to provide shelter, care and schooling for children whose parents have died of AIDS as well as other orphaned and vulnerable children.

Please join me in welcoming Bishop Callistus.

PIZZA CATHOLICS?

Last Tuesday watching the CNN news program with Aaron Brown there was an interesting interview with Thomas Monahan, the founder of Dominos Pizza. He has been very critical of Catholic universities such as Notre Dame and so is putting over 200 million dollars of his wealth into building a new college and town in Florida named Ave Maria. In the course of the interview he criticized "mediocre" Catholics whom he identified as "cafeteria Catholics" who supposedly pick and choose what they practice. When asked to clarify who these might be he said that they are those Catholics who only go to mass on Christmas or "those who come to get ashes on Palm Sunday." Where was he on Ash Wednesday?

CATHOLIC AND AFRICAN-AMERICAN

In the current (August 22) issue of Newsweek magazine there is a special report on "America's Hottest Colleges." They list Xavier University of Louisiana in New Orleans as the "hottest" college for pre-meds. Xavier is the nation's only college that's both historically black and Roman Catholic. It's had an amazing impact on national medical care. Xavier "has produced a ton of doctors and pharmacists, and has great summer programs for high-school students, especially in sciences, math and computers," says Mary Ann Willis, the college counselor at Bayside Academy in Daphne, Alabama. According to a 2004 study, the college of 3,500 students has produced more undergraduate degrees in biology and life sciences for African-Americans than any other school. Xavier continually ranks first in placing black students in medical schools and has educated nearly 25 percent of the approximately 6,000 African-American pharmacists in the United States.

And they did it without pizza money.

Fr Mike

I was gone on vacation this past week so I include a recent column from the priest, sociologist, and writer, Andrew Greeley.

CHURCH NOT SPEAKING UP FOR WOMEN
June 24, 2005 Chicago Sun-Times - BY ANDREW GREELEY

Why are there no Catholic sermons, no pastoral letters, no statements from the national hierarchy, no papal encyclicals about the abuse of women? Judging from the almost universal silence of Catholic clergy and hierarchy, there must be no serious sins of abuse of women. The clergy and hierarchy denounce serious sins, right?

The basic premise must be that women are fundamentally equal to men, different perhaps in some ways, but equally human and equally endowed with all the same inalienable rights, as Mr. Jefferson said, with which men are endowed. "Neither Jew nor gentile, neither Greek nor Roman, neither male nor female, but all one in Christ Jesus," as St. Paul said.

Therefore women are not slaves of men, sexual playthings to be used and discarded, unpaid servants to do the work beneath a man‘s dignity, chattel with no rights who exist at the pleasure of men. Most women for most of human history have been doomed to this subhuman status. In most places in the world today they still are. Do clergy and hierarchy approve of this principled denial of human dignity? If they do not, why are they silent?

Rape is a grievous sin, even spousal rape, especially spousal rape. Date rape is a mortal sin. Physical abuse of a spouse is a grievous sin. So is habitual verbal abuse. Incestuous abuse of daughters, sisters and nieces is a mortal sin. Sexual harassment in the workplace or anywhere else is a mortal sin. Vile sexual "locker room" conversation that demeans women is a serious sin. Job discrimination against women is a grave sin. Contempt for women is a serious sin. Treatment of women like they are sex objects is a serious sin. Sexual exploitation of women is a mortal sin. So too is the practice of the rich and famous of replacing a loyal, faithful wife with a new "trophy wife."

Is there a priest anywhere in the world who would argue publicly that any of these behaviors is not a mortal sin? A bishop? A cardinal? A pope? Then why is there so much silence about them? Surely they are not so naive as to think that such sins are infrequent. Read the survey data, talk to cops, consult with counselors of battered women, if you have any doubts.

Those sins are legion in our civilized Western world. Clergy and hierarchy delight in sweeping denunciations of "sins of the flesh" and "sins against life." But one hears very little condemnation of sins against women‘s flesh, against the bearers of life, sins that are even in this country routine, commonplace, every-day. Why not, I wonder.

I will take the right-to-life people a lot more seriously when they also speak out on the full equality of women and the obligation of society and church to protect and defend their full range of human rights and to protect their full humanity from abuse.

Some men (even, sad to say, priests and bishops) think that they are not really men, unless they are the "boss," unless they have the right to be in control, to make decisions, to give orders that women, perhaps after some discussion, must obey. They apparently can‘t comprehend that unless a woman is an equal partner, she becomes a second-class human, someone on the slippery slope toward chattel slavery.

In other parts of the world the situation is much worse. A daughter is someone her father may dispose of as he sees fit. Young women are forced into marriages they do not want. Teenage children are sold into prostitution -- in some countries for the pleasure of Western "sexual tourists." Girls on the edge of puberty are given in marriage, only to have their bodies torn apart by pregnancies for which they are not yet ready physically. Fathers and brothers have every right to kill a woman who has somehow brought disgrace to their family.

The Catholic Church hardly approves of such behavior -- which ceased only recently in some deeply Catholic countries. But how can it remain silent as long as it happens anywhere in the world?

Humankind changes slowly. In the West we deny the right of a human person to own another human person, though John Paul II was the first pope to say that slavery is intrinsically evil. Will Benedict XVI be the first pope to say that the abuse of women is also intrinsically evil? I sure hope so.

Fr Mike