The 300 plus solar ovens that you donated to our sister parish community in Jinotega, Nicaragua, are now on the container ship and should arrive next week. Parishioner Sue Kellett will go down there next week and should be able to meet them at port in Managua. A Peace Corps worker, Maureen, is in Jinotega and Sue has given her an oven to test out. Here is her email:

Well yesterday my host mother of sorts and I successfully cooked pollo tapado in the solar oven. I have chosen her to be one of the leaders, and she graciously accepted the role ... I think she will serve as a strong leader in the distribution and capacitation of the ovens. We have agreed to serve as hosts for the first capacitaion on the 17th of March, which on a side note will be a day of much activity, because they are going to celebrate their patron saint. .... Yesterday we cooked two pounds of pollo tapado in two pans, which made enough food for between six and eight people ... We did not get it in the oven until 10:30, and it was ready in three hours.

Other St Ed parishioners will arrive in Jinotega later in the month, and will also help with this project. It is wonderful to hear that the ovens are working so well with their initial use. This should be a wonderful blessing for the women in particular who have to gather the wood and who have to breathe in the smoke as they cook over wood fires.

Fr. Mike

MORE THAN CUCKOO CLOCKS AND CHEESE

I am 1/8th Swiss on my Dad‘s Mother‘s side. She was a Ruegg whose family was from St. Gallen. The Swiss intrigue me through their interesting history, feisty independence and nifty army knives. Because of the mix of Catholics and Protestants, there is an ecumenical awareness similar to our situation in the United States and in Minnesota. The Swiss Catholic Church has also been open to making sensible changes. Just this week the Swiss Church was in the news.

Like the situation elsewhere in the world, the Swiss church is having to cope with a shortage of priests and so is making greater use of the laity serving in pastoral ministry. Similar to our parish lay staff members, these assistants hold university degrees in theology. These men and women are now mandated to preach during Mass and baptize whenever a priest is not available. (Deacons are not common there.)

The Swiss bishops—following their return from their ad limina visit to Rome—announced that the Vatican backed these practices and also secured the necessary permission for the Protestant partner in a mixed marriage to receive the Eucharist in a Catholic Church. The General Secretary of the Swiss Bishops‘ Conference, Agnell Rickenmann, said that the two declarations were partly a response to the shortage of priests in Switzerland, but also reflected the Swiss Church‘s "independence". He said: "In Switzerland we have a 30-year tradition of theologically trained lay people active in the Church."

Here in the U.S. we also are blessed with similar lay people both as staff and as parishioners.

SOLAR OVENS TAKE CARIBBEAN CRUISE

Thanks to your generous efforts, over 300 solar ovens are on the way to our Sister Parish project in Jinotega, Nicaragua. A great crew of volunteers from St Ed’s made numerous trips to the Solar Oven Society headquarters to prepare the ovens for shipping. Parishioner Lynn Martinson who works with the C. H. Robinson International shipping company arranged for the container seen in the photo.

PRAYING FOR OUR STATE

St. Paul tells us to pray for those in government and I had a special opportunity to do so last Monday, Valentine‘s Day. Parishioner Dan Larson, who is also a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives, serving District 63B in Bloomington, graciously invited me to lead the opening prayer for the House that day.

While we do have an awareness of the separation of church and state, there is also much accommodation in our history of religious involvement for the good of our State. The members of our Legislature are very appreciative of the prayers that we have for them in their important work.

I was able to meet some other members from our area including Ann Lenczewski (whose parents, Tony and Pat) belong to our parish, and Neil Peterson. Dan also introduced me to several other members on a very bipartisan basis. It was quite an honor.

While there I took advantage of walking around our very historic Capital Building designed by Cass Gilbert. It opened 100 years ago. It is amazing to see how such an old building is so bustling with activity. I visited the Governor‘s office waiting room (which is open to the public) and which has some paintings of Minnesota soldiers involved in Civil War battles. One painting showing the Minnesota 5th Division at the Battle of Corinth has special meaning. In the midst of the terrible battle, the artist has painted very distinctly a young army chaplain, John Ireland, who went on to be our first Archbishop. A very powerful reminder of the contribution of religion to our society.

Fr. Mike

LENTEN LANDSCAPING

As we begin the annual season of Lent people are thinking of some of the disciplines of fasting and abstaining, in effect, doing some pruning and cultivating in the gardens of our souls. Pruning is not always fun but new life is the Promise. There is actually a verbal connection between Lent and landscaping. The word Lent is derived from the same old English word as the words "length" or "lengthen." The concept behind these words is the lengthening of daylight as Spring begins. This season was known as the "lengthening" and as it coincided with the 40 days before Easter, the name Lent evolved over time.

With the recent (if too brief) winter thaw perhaps people also began thinking about summer gardens, even picking up a seed catalog. At St Ed’s the Sara Guild has helped with landscaping projects around our parish grounds. It is not too early to begin the process of what to plan for this summer. We have the new lower level entrance to consider as well. If people have ideas and would like to participate in any way please call Lonne Burkhardt on our staff or the Sara Guild representatives, Joan Black or Jean Schmidt.