NEW CHAPEL STAINED GLASS WINDOW

The Karbo and Young families have donated a stained glass window for our chapel entrance in honor of their parents, long time parishioners Mike and Louise Karbo. For a Eucharistic chapel it has a fitting representation of the loaves of bread from the gospel story of the loaves and fishes. (Louise and Mike, both avid fisherpersons, could have supplied the fishes!) In addition there are images of the natural world of Northern Ontario and Minnesota that Mike and Louise so loved, the lakes, pine trees and granite. It was created by the Ter-Haar Stained Glass Studio in Cold Spring, Minnesota.

MISSION POSSIBLE

Our parish council has approved a new and more concise parish mission statement. It reads: "We are a welcoming Eucharistic Catholic Community called by God to live out the message of Christ in love and service to all."

NEED A LIFT

A parishioner facing some financial problems needs a car to get to work. If anyone has a car they could donate or sell at a reasonable price it would be most appreciated. Please contact me if you can help.

UPDATE ON INVESTIGATION OF WOMEN RELIGIOUS

Two weeks ago I mentioned the rather unusual Vatican investigation of women religious in the United States. Apparently responding to publicity, the head of the investigation, Cardinal Rode, has cut back on some of the questioning. In my article I stated that Archbishop Nienstedt contributed to the million dollar plus costs of the investigation. This was not the case and I am thankful that his office informed me that he is not supporting this investigation. 

THE CHURCH NEVER CHANGES

John Anthony Hepworth (born 1944) is an Australian Anglican bishop. He is currently the head bishop of the Traditional Anglican Communion, a group which claims to represent about 400,000 Anglicans. They broke away from the mainstream Anglican church (with about 80 million members) when the latter church began ordaining women as priests. Hepworth has an interesting life path. In 1968 he was ordained to the priesthood in the Roman Catholic Church in Australia. In 1976 he left the Catholic Church and  was received into the Anglican Church of Australia where he continued to serve as a priest. Since then he has married, divorced and remarried all the while remaining in ministry.

In 1992, since Hepworth disapproved when the mainstream Anglican church ordained women priests, he joined the Traditional Anglican Church in Australia. In 1996 he was consecrated as an assistant bishop and in 1998 he became the diocesan bishop. In 2002 he was elected primate or head of the Traditional Anglican Communion. Hepworth also has an interest in politics and is involved in a movement to change Australia into a constitutional monarchy. (Many traditionalists also favor a restoration of monarchy.)

On October 20th, the Vatican announced the creation of new ecclesiastical structures to absorb disaffected Anglicans wishing to become Catholics. Though the announcement did not single out any specific group of Anglicans, it responds to a request made two years ago by Hepworth's group.

The Vatican allows for these breakaway Anglicans to retain their distinctive worship and traditions under a special structure that amounts to a non-territorial diocese under the leadership of a former Anglican priest who would be designated as a bishop. This priest must be unmarried.

According to a Vatican statement, all former Anglican clergy who are married may continue to serve as priests and married seminarians can be ordained, but only priests who are celibates can serve as bishops. Apparently, Hepworth himself could therefore only serve as a priest (unless he divorced again!)

As the Vatican opens the door to married Anglican priests, calls for changing celibacy rules are rapidly expanding among mainstream Catholics, especially in the face of widespread parish closings. In Brazil and Austria, groups representing thousands of priests are lobbying for changes in celibacy rules. In May, the Jesuit magazine, "America," openly called for married priests. Even the former Archbishop of New York, Cardinal Egan has called for the consideration of married priests. Currently an estimated 40 canonical appeals from US parishioners are at the Congregation for the Clergy, the Vatican office that could begin a discussion of optional celibacy.

QUALITY OF LIFE?

The Vatican is conducting an investigation of orders of religious women in the United States. Representatives of the Vatican are visiting all such communities of women to investigate their "quality of life." This is a very expensive undertaking, costing over a million dollars. It is puzzling that the Vatican is conducting such an investigation. It goes way beyond anything they did in terms of the sexual abuse scandal primarily connected with priests and male religious. Thankfully some Bishops are standing up for their sisters.

Indeed, the California bishops voted last week to pass a statement of support on behalf of U.S. women religious who are facing this investigation. Word of the support came in a letter dated Nov. 2 written by Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony. In the letter addressed "Dear Sisters" the cardinal writes:

"We are all aware of the special anxieties which surround our women religious these days, and I am writing to offer you my prayers of gratitude and my support for all of your members. The bishops of California met last week and passed a statement of support for all of you, and I am pleased to send a copy of that statement to you." He goes on to state that "there would not exist our Catholic schools, hospitals, and social service outreach apostolates without you."

The visitation is being carried out by Cardinal Franc Rode, prefect of the Vatican's Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life and is expected to take up to three years to complete. I enclose a recent photo of the Cardinal. It is certainly the case that a picture is worth a thousand words.

FOR YOUR VIEWING PLEASURE

Parishioner Gina Szafraniec and a few other people are producing a program about Bloomington on Local Cable Channel 16. It is called "B30" and airs on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 9 p.m. The show can also be seen online on Facebook. Just subscribe to the "Engage Your City" channel on Youtube and
follow the blog.

Four times a month the show presents a three-minute Bloomington story about a church, business, non-profit, artist, government, or school. This is the only TV show covering such a variety of Bloomington stories. In addition to the Facebook page, Gina has the blog where she writes about what is going on locally and posts upcoming dates and events. If you would like to share with others such information please e-mail Gina at gina@livemore.org/

A story about St. Ed's partnership with Sagrado Corazon parish in South Minneapolis will air in November.

WE REMEMBER

Each year during the month of November we have special remembrance of parishioners and loved ones who have gone before us over the past year. We have the Christ candle lit during the masses with the Book of Life next to it where people can write in the names of those they would like to remember. In addition we have a lovely book, "We Remember," which has stories of our loved ones who have died. This is the eleventh time that I have written a short introduction for the annual, "We Remember," book. I always look forward to this beautiful publication. But this year it is a bit different experience for me as it includes the entry for my own father. Indeed, the first anniversary of his death is just a few days from when I am writing these words. I feel closer to all those who remember the death of a loved one.

This past year, on Christmas Eve, our Archdiocesan newspaper, "The Catholic Spirit," lost a much beloved member of its family when writer Emilie Lemmons died after a courageous 16-month battle with cancer.

Always the communicator, Emilie asked her husband to post a quote from Raymond Carver on her blog after she died. It reads:

"And did you get what you wanted from this life, even so?

I did.

And what did you want?

To call myself beloved, to feel myself beloved on the earth."

The "We Remember" book recounts many such beloved people. I want to note in particular Jim Keeler who for many years was its editor.

EVERYBODY COUNTS INCLUDING SNOWBIRDS

One of the overlooked but utterly essential parts of the Christmas story is the census of "the whole world" ordered by Caesar Augustus as recounted in the Gospel of Luke. This was the reason that Mary and Joseph returned to Bethlehem so that they would be counted. Well, with the new decade coming
our government is also conducting a census. Every household in the United States will be mailed a census form to be filled out. This will take place in March of 2010.

However, many Minnesotans of the tribe known as "the Snowbirds" will, like Mary and Joseph, be away from their usual place of residence. If you are so blessed to escape our Minnesota winter in March resist the urge to fill out the census form in your temporary place of abode. There is no legal problem to wait until you return to our beloved state of grace and then fill out the form here. The Post Office does not forward the census forms so one will be waiting for you at your residence.

You count. The value for each resident in terms of Federal funds returned to the state is over $14,000 per resident. (We Minnesotans still by a large margin pay out much more to the Federal government than what is returned back so no need for Catholic guilt to kick in.) And it is thought that a difference of only about 1,000 to 1,500 residents will determine if we lose one of our 8 congressional seats. Our country needs to hear the unique perspective emitting from Lake Wobegon.

By the way, there is a special blessing for Snowbirds who sign up for ACH where, without any fees, you can continue to automatically support our parish even as you avoid our weather.

All Military Veterans are invited to a Mass for Veterans - to remember, to thank, to bless and to honor those who have served and are serving our country. The Mass, celebrated by Bishop Lee Piche, will be on Saturday, November 7 at 10:00 am at the Basilica of Saint Mary.  Family and friends are most welcome.