In the spirit

The generous gift of time

theology 101

How are we to make sense of God’s justice in

the Old Testament?

spiritual fitness

Let the Holy Spirit radically change your life

Enhancing the worship environment

UPDATE

FAITH Grand Rapids / May 2012 / www.dioceseofgrandrapids.org

saint of the month Making prayer the priority St. Philip Neri May 26

Hagan de la oración una prioridad San Felipe de Neri 26 de mayo

La oración es el enfoque del cuerpo, mente y espíritu de Dios en una manera íntima. Es un acto de comunicación con Dios que más comúnmente toma la forma de adoración, contrición, acción de gracias y súplica (o petición). También es un proceso de orientarnos hacia Dios de una manera que hace reverencia al poder y bondad de Dios, pero que también nos habitúa a buscar a Dios para todo. La verdadera oración es un encuentro entre nuestros corazones y Dios de una manera de comunión íntima que trasciende nuestros esfuerzos de describir y hablar.

San Felipe de Neri (1515-1595), conocido con el apodo de Apóstol de Roma, fue reconocido por su sentido del humor, el trabajo de sus misiones en el hogar y el fundar una sociedad de sacerdotes seculares llamada la Congregación de la Oratoria. No obstante, aun más significativo, sus testigos en vida de la importancia de hacer de la oración una prioridad en nuestras vidas. Su vida de oración nunca pasó a un segundo lugar pues fue la fuente misma desde la cual todo surgió.

Por ejemplo, fue la oración lo que le llevó a dejar el empleo que tenía con su primo, que tenía éxito financiero, para dedicar su vida a Dios. Su vida de oración lo llevó al estudio de la filosofía y la teología en Roma hasta que estos mismos estudios comenzaron a interferir con su vida de oración. Por

consiguiente, él dejó al lado sus libros para retirarse a un estilo de vida de ermitaño.

Él pasó sus noches en oración, muchas veces en las catacumbas de Roma. Durante una de esas noches de oración, él de repente se sintió en la necesidad de servirle a Dios trabajando en un hospital de personas incurables y de hablarles a las personas de todo tipo y clase social sobre Dios, y eso es exactamente lo que hizo.

Después de ser ordenado como sacerdote, él le atribuye su vida de oración a su eficiencia como confesor y director espiritual. Estaba disponible a toda hora y tenía un don para discernir lo que cada persona necesitaba para poder acercarlos más a Dios. Una de esas historias fue sobre un hombre condenado y preocupado que se rehusaba a arrepentirse. En lugar de convencer al hombre, San Felipe lo agarró por el cuello y lo lanzó al suelo. Perplejo, el hombre se arrepintió e hizo una confesión completa.

Para San Felipe la humildad era la virtud clave de una vida de santidad y oración. Él nunca se cansó de enseñarles a otros su virtud de profundizar más en su propia humildad. Hay muchas historias de él caminando en ropas graciosas o llevando sólo la mitad de la barba. Aparentemente, sus travesuras graciosas sólo aumentaron a medida que creció su reputación de santidad.

Aun así, él siempre mantuvo su seriedad para la oración. Nuevamente, nada era más importante en su vida que la oración. Aun el gran valor que le dio a la humildad se puede ver en su relación con la oración según lo evidencia su respuesta a esta pregunta de cómo rezar, «Sean humildes y obedientes y el Espíritu Santo les enseñará».

Prayer is the turning of the body, mind, and spirit to God in an intimate way. It is an act of communing with God, which most commonly takes the form of adoration, contrition, thanksgiv-ing, and supplication (or petition). It is also a process of orient-ing ourselves toward God in a way that both reverences God’s power and goodness, but also habituates us to look to God for everything. True prayer, then, is an encounter between our hearts and God in an intimate communion that transcends our efforts to describe and articulate.

St. Philip Neri (1515-1595), known by the moniker Apostle of Rome, was noted for his sense of humor, his home mission work, and his founding of a society of secular priests called the Congregation of the Oratory. However, more significantly, his life witnesses to the importance of making prayer the priority of our life. His prayer life was never relegated to second place as it was the very fountain from which everything he did sprang forth.

For example, it was prayer that led him to leave the employ of his financially successful cousin in order to dedicate his life to God. His prayer life led him to the study of philosophy and theol-ogy in Rome until these same studies began to interfere with his prayer life. Consequently, he threw his books away to retreat to a hermit-like lifestyle.

He spent his nights in prayer, often in the catacombs of Rome. During one such night of prayer, he suddenly felt compelled to serve God by working at a hospital of incurables and by speaking

to people from all walks of life and social standing about God – which is exactly what he then did.

After his ordination to the priest-hood, he credits his prayer life for his effectiveness as a confessor and spiritual director. Making him-self available at all hours, he had a great gift for discerning what a person needed in order to draw them closer to God. One such story concerned a condemned man who refused to repent. Instead of gently coaxing the man, St. Philip grabbed him by the collar and threw him to the ground. Shocked, the man repented and made a full confession.

For St. Philip, humility was the key virtue for a life of holiness and prayer. He never tired of teaching others this virtue or of deepening his own humility. There are accounts of him walking around in silly clothes or with only half a beard. Apparently, his antics only increased as his reputation for holiness increased.

That said, he always maintained his seriousness about prayer. Again, nothing took precedent over his prayer life. Even the great value he placed on humility can be seen in its relationship to prayer as evidenced by his response to the question of how to pray, “Be humble and obedient and the Holy Spirit will teach you.”

2

U P D A T E

16

6 ourlife 4 from the bishop 6 parenting journey

I am a widower – How do I tell my children I am in a new relationship?

6 conflict resolution Why should I have to take care of our aging parents?

7 marriage matters She says: “I don’t want to call my mother-in-law ‘Mom.’” He says: “My mom loves her – what’s the problem?” What do they do?

8 culture Growing in faith.

10 ourfaith10 in the know with Father Joe

What do you have to do to be excommunicated?

11 In the spirit The generous gift of time.

12 theology 101 How are we to make sense of God’s justice in the Old Testament?

14 spiritual fitness Let the Holy Spirit radically change your life.

15 Catholic practices Life in the Spirit.

16 ourstories16 cover story

For 38 years Marcia Carbines has enhanced prayer through environment.

22 profile Connie Bernal experiences a peace that surpasses all understanding after the death of her son Eric Zappata.

23 reflection Mary: A life of unity with the Lord.

The Magazine of the Catholic Diocese of Grand Rapids

May 2012Volume 6: Issue 4

Bishop Walter A. Hurley

PUBLISHER

Ed CareyIntERIm EdItoR-In-CHIEf

Cami BeecroftmAnAGInG EdItoR

Msgr. Gaspar F. Ancona | Maureen Burns JoAnn Fox | Father Ron Hutchinson

Molly KlimasContRIBUtInG WRItERS

Jonathan TramontanaContRIBUtInG PHotoGRAPHER

F A I T H C a t h o l i c

Rev. Dwight EzopCHAIRmAn

Patrick M. O’BrienPRESIdEnt/CHIEf EXECUtIVE offICER

Elizabeth Martin SolsburgdIRECtoR of CUStom PUBLISHInG/

EdItoRIAL dIRECtoR

Cynthia VandecarmARkEtInG mAnAGER

Patrick DallyARt dIRECtoR

Michelle HildebrandtGRAPHIC dESIGnER/WEB mAStER

Frank Iacovella | Lynne Hsu Janna Stellwag | Abby Wieber

GRAPHIC dESIGnERS

Jillane JobEdItoRIAL ASSIStAnt

Doug Culp | Michelle Sessions DiFrancoDeacon Tom Fogle and JoAnne Fogle

Father Joseph Krupp Dr. Gelasia Marquez | Dr. Cathleen McGrealElizabeth Nagel, S.S.D. | Sister Ann Shields

Father Robert Schoenstene, S.S.L., ContRIBUtInG WRItERS

Philip ShippertContRIBUtInG PHotoGRAPHERS

Derek MelotPRoofREAdInG

InnerWorkingsPRInt mAnAGEmEnt

fAItHcatholic.com

FAITHTM Grand Rapids (USPS 023-851), the Magazine for the Catholic Diocese of Grand Rapids, is a publication of the Catholic Diocese of Grand Rapids, 360 Division Avenue S., Grand Rapids, MI 49503-4501. Published monthly except for February and August. For ad-dress and subscription changes, please contact subscriptions@faithgrandrapids.org. Periodicals postage paid at Grand Rapids, MI and additional offices. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to FAITHTM Grand Rapids, 360 Division Avenue S., Grand Rapids, MI 49503-4501. ©FAITH Publishing Service and Catholic Diocese of Grand Rapids.

table of contents

20

contents

Liturgical calendar: St. Joseph the Worker May 1 | St. Athanasius, bishop and doctor of the Church May 2 | Feast of Ss. Philip and James, apostles May 3

25

33

FAITH Grand Rapids / May 2012 / www.dioceseofgrandrapids.org

On June 2, 2012, I will ordain three deacons whom I expect to ordain priests next year. In fall of 2012, we will ordain two deacons as priests.

This year at Easter time, nearly 500 adults were received into the Church in parishes throughout the diocese through the Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. Welcome to the new members of our Church. At the beginning of Lent, I had the opportunity to greet each of them individually at the Rite of Election at the Cathedral of Saint Andrew. It was a great privilege for me to greet and welcome each of them as they prepared for baptism or reception into full communion of the Church.

More than 2,000 young people received the sacrament of confirmation at ceremonies at the Cathedral this past year.

On a personal noteOn May 30, I will celebrate my 75th birthday. At that time, in

accord with Canon 401.1 of the Code of Canon Law, I will present a letter of resignation from the bishop’s office to the Holy Father, who “will make provisions after he has examined all the circumstances.” Until further notice, I will continue to serve, make decisions and carry out responsibilities that I have been charged to undertake as the Bishop of the Diocese of Grand Rapids. Sometime after the letter is presented, in all likelihood, a year or more later, a successor will be appointed. In the future, I will outline the process that is followed for appointing a successor. For now, I just wanted you to know that I will be 75 and will present a letter of resignation from the bishop’s office that will be effective when a successor is appointed.

On Aug. 4, it will be seven years since I moved to Grand Rapids. I consider these years to be a blessing and a special grace for which I am very grateful. After I retire (or become bishop emeritus, the official title), I will remain in Grand Rapids assisting in parishes and in other ways as I am asked and am able.

Commencement and graduation

May and early June are a time of commencement and graduation ceremonies in high schools and colleges. These ceremonies mark the completion of a stage in life and the beginning of a new road to follow. Congratulations and best wishes to all our graduates and to all who made their graduations possible: parents, grandparents, benefactors, relatives and friends.

from the bishop

ith the approval and publication of the Our Faith, Our Future pastoral plan,

we continue the journey that began some years ago. We are faced with the challenges of providing pastoral care to 178,000 Catholics in the 11 counties of the diocese. As a result of the economy in recent years, there have been significant shifts in population. In some of our smaller communities, industry that once supported the many families has closed or moved, presenting challenges for families seeking employment. In our larger communities, there has been some movement to the surrounding areas.

WLooking to the past and the future

In 1980, there were 176 priests serving the Diocese of Grand Rapids. There were 144 diocesan priests and 32 religious. Today, there are 120 priests serving the 11-county area. There are 96 diocesan priests, of which 60 are active, 34 senior “retired” priests, and two who are on medical leave. There are 19 priests from religious communities, with six senior priests, and five active priests from other dioceses (India and Africa). In 1980, a large number of our parishes would have two priests assigned. Today, we have a much different situation.

While these factors are part of the reality, they were not the most significant reason for adopting our pastoral plan. The plan is, essentially, a broadly based effort to shore up the structures of the Church to better enable us to carry out the mission of the Church in strong and vital parishes, as defined in the Vision and Criteria for Vital Parishes stated in the pastoral plan.

No plan is perfect, but this plan represents the best efforts of many people from our parishes and deaneries who helped develop the plan. It is a worthy effort. I am personally grateful to the priests and lay people from our parishes who worked on this plan and who kept their parishes informed. I am also appreciative of the understanding that a plan needed to be undertaken and a vision articulated.

The challenge of implementing the plan is under way; many of our parishes have made significant progress in the implementation. The full plan, along with the criteria for vital parishes, is available on our diocesan website, www.dioceseofgrandrapids.org. I ask you for your prayers that God will bless this important venture, and that we grow in holiness and grace through his presence in our lives.

One very encouraging sign in the diocese is the increased number of seminarians studying for the priesthood. We have 16 students in the seminary and are anticipating a significant increase in September. I ask for your prayers for a continued increase in vocations and prayers for those whose studies are already under way.

St. Damien Joseph de Veuster of Moloka’i, priest May 10 | Ss. Nereus and Achilleus, martyrs; St. Pancras, martyr May 12

most Reverand Walter A. Hurley, Bishop of the Diocese of Grand Rapids Michigan.

4

En 1980 hubo un total de 176 sacerdotes al servicio de la Diócesis de Grand Rapids. Hubo 144 sacerdotes diocesanos y 32 religiosos. Hoy hay un total de 120 sacerdotes sirviendo el área de 11 condados. Hay 96 sacerdotes diocesanos, de los cuales 60 están activos, 34 sacerdotes senior o “retirados” y 2 que tienen licencia médica. Hay 19 sacerdotes de comunidades religiosas, con 6 sacerdotes senior y 5 sacerdotes activos de otras diócesis (India y África). En 1980, un gran número de nuestras parroquias tenía dos sacerdotes asignados. Hoy tenemos una situación muy diferente.

Aunque estos factores son parte de la realidad, ellos no fueron la razón principal para la adopción de nuestro plan pastoral. El plan es esencialmente un amplio esfuerzo para apoyar las estructuras de la iglesia que nos permitan llevar a cabo la misión de la iglesia en parroquias fuertes y vitales como las define Visión y Criterios para Parroquias Vitales declarados en el plan pastoral.

Ningún plan es perfecto, pero este plan representa los esfuerzos de muchas personas de nuestras parroquias y decanatos que ayudaron a desarrollar el plan. Es un esfuerzo valioso. Personalmente estoy muy agradecido con los sacerdotes y laicos de nuestras parroquias que trabajaron en este plan y que mantuvieron sus parroquias informadas. También aprecio la comprensión de que un plan debía llevarse a cabo y una visión debía ser articulada.

El reto de implementar el plan ya está en marcha y muchas parroquias han hecho importantes progresos en la aplicación. El plan completo, junto con los criterios de parroquias vitales, está disponible en nuestro sitio Web diocesano www.dioceseofgrandrapids.org. Les pido oraciones para que Dios bendiga esta importante empresa y que crezcamos en santidad y gracia a través de su presencia en nuestras vidas.

Un signo muy alentador en la diócesis es el aumento del número de seminaristas que se preparan para el sacerdocio. Actualmente tenemos 16 jóvenes en el seminario y se prevé un aumento significativo en septiembre. Pido sus oraciones para que sigan aumentando las vocaciones y oraciones por quienes ya se encuentran en formación.

El 2 de junio de 2012, voy a ordenar a tres diáconos a quienes espero ordenar como sacerdotes el próximo año. En el otoño de 2012 dos diáconos van a ser ordenados sacerdotes.

Este año durante la Semana de Pascua casi 500 adultos fueron recibidos en la Iglesia Católica en las parroquias de la diócesis mediante el rito de iniciación cristiana para adultos. Sean

bienvenidos los nuevos miembros de nuestra Iglesia. Al comienzo de la Cuaresma, tuve la oportunidad de saludar a cada uno de ellos individualmente durante el Rito de Elección en la Catedral de San Andrés. Fue un gran privilegio para mí poder saludar y dar la bienvenida a cada uno de ellos mientras se preparaban para el bautismo o entrada a la plena comunión de la Iglesia.

Más de 2.000 jóvenes recibieron el Sacramento de la confirmación durante las ceremonias en la Catedral el año pasado.

Nota PersonalEl 30 de mayo de este año, celebraré mi 75º cumpleaños. En

ese momento, de acuerdo con el Canon 401.1 del Código de Derecho Canónico, voy a presentarle al Santo Padre una carta de renuncia al cargo de Obispo, él “tomará medidas después de haber examinado todas las circunstancias.” Hasta nuevo aviso, yo seguiré sirviendo, tomando decisiones y asumiendo responsabilidades que se me han encomendado como Obispo de la Diócesis de Grand Rapids. Algunas veces, después de que la carta es presentada, muy probablemente pasa un año o más antes de que el sucesor sea nombrado. En el futuro, expondré el proceso que se sigue para nombrar a un sucesor. Por ahora, sólo quería que supieran que voy a cumplir 75 años de edad y que presentaré una carta de renuncia a la oficina del obispado, la cual será efectiva cuando sea nombrado un sucesor.

El 4 de agosto de 2012 se cumplirán siete años de mi traslado a Grand Rapids. Considero que estos años han sido una bendición y una gracia especial por la cual estoy muy agradecido. Después de retirarme (o convertirme en obispo emérito, el título oficial), permaneceré en Grand Rapids ayudando en las parroquias y en lo que se me solicite y esté a mi alcance.

Ceremonia de GraduaciónEl mes de mayo y principios de junio son un temporada

de ceremonias de graduación en las escuelas secundarias y universidades. Estas ceremonias marcan la culminación de una etapa en la vida y el comienzo de un nuevo camino a seguir. Mis felicitaciones y mejores deseos a todos los egresados y a cuantos hicieron posible su graduación: padres, abuelos, benefactores, parientes y amigos.

Muy Reverendo Walter A. HurleyObispo de Grand Rapids

on la aprobación y publicación del plan pastoral de Nuestra Fe, Nuestro Futuro, seguimos la jornada que comenzó hace algunos años. Nos enfrentamos con el reto de ofrecer atención pastoral a los 178.000 católicos de los 11 condados de la diócesis. Como resultado de la economía, en los últimos años ha habido importantes cambios en la población. En algunas

de nuestras pequeñas comunidades, la industria que apoyaba a muchas familias ha cerrado o se ha mudado presentando desafíos para las familias que buscan empleo. En nuestras comunidades más grandes, ha habido algún movimiento hacia los alrededores de las grandes ciudades y municipios.

Cnotas del obispo

May 12 | Feast of St. Matthias, apostle May 14 | St. Isidore May 15 | Ascension of the Lord May 17 | St. John I, pope and martyr May 18 | St. Christopher Magallanes, priest and his companions, martyrs, May 21

Mirando al pasado y al futuro

5

FAITH Grand Rapids / May 2012 / www.dioceseofgrandrapids.org

I am a widower How do I tell my children I am in a new relationship?

I am a widower with two young children. I met some-one I want to marry, and we’ve been quietly dating for about a year. When and how do I tell the kids? Will they be OK with a new mother?

dealing with change. Your children have experienced a loss that they will be process-ing throughout life. They may be concerned about losing you, as well, to this new relation-ship – or even to death. Keep this in mind and try to establish a daily schedule that is predictable. Regular family dinners, bedtime rituals and other opportunities for interaction will help them feel secure. Incorporate your

fiancée into the family activities. Keep in mind that adjustment takes time and patience: “There-

fore, as God’s chosen people, holy and dearly loved, clothe yourselves with compassion, kind-ness, humility, gentleness and patience.” (Colossians

3:12)

telling the kids. Set aside a block of time when you will be free of distractions. Emotional news doesn’t

mix well with hunger or sleepiness, so consider those factors when choos-ing a time. A comfortable spot in your home, perhaps where you read stories, is a better location than a public set-ting. Be matter-of-fact and explain that you are going to get married – don’t make it sound negotiable based on their reactions. They may respond that they want Mommy back; acknowledge their feelings. Explain that you will make sure they remember their mom. Let them know that all questions are OK to ask. This isn’t a one-time discussion, be-cause they will continue to sort out their thoughts. Be ready to explain again, and listen carefully.

parenting journey

not a new mother. Clarify that your new wife is not a replacement for their mom. Rather than a new mother, they have a new family member who cares for them. Allow time for them to adjust to the relationship. They may, in time, feel com-fortable acknowledging the relationship by adopting a term associated with moth-erhood. Start out slowly and let them use her first name, if that seems most comfortable. Emphasize that their maternal grandparents and other relatives always will be a part of their lives; your new wife’s family means more people to care about them, not people that you want them to love instead of others.

dr. Cathleen mcGreal is a psychology professor and certified spiritual director.

Y O U R L I F E

dr. Gelasia marquez is a psychologist and family counselor.

Why should I have to take care of our aging parents?

my sister has freeloaded off my parents for years. now they need some financial help and care-taking, and everybody expects me to do it! What do I do?

In 1 Timothy 5:8, we are reminded to “provide for relatives and especially fam-ily members.” Not to do so “denies the faith.” The duty towards our parents and elders is a priority. Communication is critical. I suggest a family meeting. If el-

derly parents are capable, they should be involved in an open discussion of issues directly related to their futures. Be sure to involve all siblings in the discussion, even the “long-distance” ones. If they can’t be there, use Skype. They need to be kept well-informed.

The goal of the meeting will be to prepare a list of your par-ents’ needs. Each sibling should acknowledge his or her own limitations – financial, physical and emotional. Siblings can then divide up the responsibili-ties and either perform them themselves or pay someone to perform them. By rationing and monetizing their responsibilities, it becomes clear to everyone that elder care is a job that belongs to all children.

T. Gennara

S. K

endrick

conflict resolution

Qa

St. Rita of Cascia, religious May 22 | St. Mary Magdalen de’Pazzi, virgin May 25 | St. Philip Neri, priest May 26 | Pentecost

6

What do they do?

T

She SayS: he SayS:

deacon tom fogle and JoAnne fogle help prepare couples for marriage.

consequences for all members of the families. Without doubt, we all desire to have a good relationship with our immediate family and our in-laws and our extended families. However, the most important relationship is between Josh and Michelle. How does this issue affect their relationship? Josh’s desire to “just go along with it to make Mother happy” runs counter to his first allegiance, his primary concern, which is to his wife, Michelle. It is apparent that Josh and Michelle need to have a few more conversations focused on this topic. Start with exploring the

feelings both have concerning this subject. Then, Josh needs to introduce the matter to his mother; it is not Michelle’s

responsibility. We would like to

add that parents also have a responsibility to make adjustments. Sometimes it takes the newly married couple to remind them of that fact.

your marriage matters

“ I don’t want to call my mother-in-law ‘Mom.’”

michelle says: My mother-in-law insists that I call her “Mom.” I am very close to my mother, and feel uncomfortable using that name for anyone else. Josh wants me to just give in to make his mother happy.

“My mom loves her – what’s the

problem?”Josh says: What’s the big deal? My mom always wanted a daughter and I think Michelle should be grateful Mom is so fond of her. Can’t she do this small thing to avoid hurting my

mother’s feelings?

his situation makes me smile as it brings back memories of when Tom and I were newly married. I remember this same feeling of not wanting to call his mother “Mom.” It made me uncomfortable and it seemed to me, at the time, to be disrespectful to my

own mother. Tom thought it perfectly fine and normal to use that endearing term and did not understand my hesitation. After a few visits at his parents, I talked with his mother about my feelings of addressing her as “Mom.” She gave me a hug of assurance and told me to do what was comfortable for me. For some mysterious reason, from that time on, it seemed like the right thing to do.

Tom, on the other hand, did not feel uncomfortable calling my mother “Mom” from the very beginning. Unlike with Michelle, neither of our mothers “insisted” on us calling them by a particular title or name. There are several family dynamics at play in this situation and most are below the radar to Josh and Michelle. For example, when a parent “insists” on their children (and their spouses) acting or behaving in a particular manner, it most often is a result of their own past experience and what they were asked to do. In this case, most likely, Josh’s mother was asked by her mother-in-law to call her “Mom” and, even though she most likely felt uncomfortable about it, she complied to keep peace in the family.

Instead of doing what she felt right, Josh’s mother simply succumbed to her mother-in-law’s wishes. Michelle would be doing herself and her mother-in-law a great service in the long run by not complying with her mother-in-law’s wishes until she feels comfortable – if ever. An important dynamic here is the process of how Josh and Michelle should approach the subject with Josh’s mother. It would be a mistake for Michelle to just give in to make Josh’s mother happy; that is a short-term fix that could have long-term

T. Gennara

7 Pentecost May 27 | Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary May 31

FAITH Grand Rapids / May 2012 / www.dioceseofgrandrapids.org

culture

Y O U R L I F E

Growing in

faith

8

michelle difranco is a designer and the busy mom of two children.

T. G

enna

ra

Photography by Philip Shippert

I’ll never forget the day when, newly married, I walked into my kitchen and found several bunches of uprooted weeds on my granite countertops. I was horrified and found myself wondering about the man to whom I had just said, “I do.” Upon entering the kitchen, my hus-band saw the look on my face and explained that those “weeds” were the remaining herbs from the garden he was preparing to winterize and that “we” had to do something with them

quickly before they went bad. Oh great. So in addition to cleaning up the bug-infested vegetation in my newly renovated home, I had to rethink my meal plan for the week.

Over time, I have come to love my hus-band’s garden, in all its seasons. Late May, in particular, is a time that brings a tinge of excitement for what lies ahead. The tender new plants grace the dark soil and foretell the bounty that is to come from the earth. But along with the edible come also the fragrant and the beautiful. The herbs and flowers that we place around our garden each year assure that all of our senses are filled with the majesty and miracle of life that during the winter seems so complete-ly lost and gone. Often, I am reminded of the symbol-ism and meaning that plants and gardens play in Scripture and in our faith. The

Garden of Eden was God’s earthly para-dise. The inexplicable scent of roses has been perceived by saints and by those who have received miraculous visions of our Blessed Mother. Jesus went into the Garden of Gethsemane when he needed most to find peace and feel close to his Father. All of these things seem to suggest that the beauty of the earth’s produce is as important and special to our Lord as it is to us. To work with the earth and plants can be a way of cultivat-ing and participating in the beauty of our Lord’s creation. As my father-in-law says every year as he puts his vegetable garden in behind his garage, “A garden is like a prayer.”

Religiously referenced pots

When potting herbs and flowers, I have enhanced the otherwise mundane terra cotta pot with a religious quote that relates to the plant. Follow these simple direc-tions. If you need a few ideas for some fragrant, colorful or delicious plants to enjoy year-round, I supply a few

suggestions along with a quote.

• Medium or large terra cotta pot(s)

• Flowerpot liner(s) or slightly smaller plastic pot(s) to fit inside

• Acrylic craft paint • 1” or larger paintbrush• Water based

polyurethane spray• 8.5” x 11” patterned paper

• Printer • Scissors • Glue stick

Begin by sealing the in-side of the pot with two coats of water-based polyurethane and let dry completely. Decide on a paint style and apply two coats of acrylic paint to the outside of the pot. Type and print out the quote (and name of plant, if

you wish). Trim and adhere to the front of the painted pot. Cut out a paper frame and apply it over the printed piece. Apply two to three coats of polyurethane on the outside to protect and seal your decorated pot and allow to dry completely. Plant desired herbs or flowers in plastic liner or pot and place inside the decorated pot.

• Roses: “God intervenes to allow the smell of perfume whenever he wants.” – Saint Pio of Pietrelcina

• Mustard: “What is the kingdom of God like? What shall I compare it with? It is like a mustard seed which a man took and threw into his garden: it grew and became a tree, and the birds of the air sheltered in its branches.” – Luke 13:18-19

• Lavender: “Mary brought in a pound of very costly ointment, pure nard, and with it anointed the feet of Jesus, wiping them with her hair; the house was filled with the scent of the ointment.” – John 12:3

• Lemon Grass: “As for man, his days are as grass: as a flower of the field, so he flour-isheth.” – Psalms 103:15

• Lily: “Think how the lilies grow; they never have to spin or weave; yet, I assure you, not even Solomon in all his royal robes was clothed like one of them.” – Luke 12:27

• Tomato: “Plant gardens, and eat the fruit of them.” – Jeremiah 29:5

“A tree is known by its fruit; a man by his deeds.” – St. Basil

• Aloe: “I have perfumed my bed with myrrh, aloes and cinnamon.” – Proverbs 7:17

9

FAITH Grand Rapids / May 2012 / www.dioceseofgrandrapids.org

Qa

Dear Fr. Joe: What do you have to do to be excommunicated?

I’ve read news reports about bishops saying that certain people were automatically excommunicated. What do you have to do to be excommunicated?

or fear of force• People mentally unable to

think things through first• A person who reasonably

believed they fit one or more of the exceptions I just listed

So, why does the Church do this? Why would she automatically excommunicate someone? Well, it’s not so much that the Church says “No communion for you!” as much as we, by our words or actions say “I have left communion.” There are times when, out of faithfulness to his conscience and his duties as bishop, we may hear an explicit comment from the bishop that a person or persons are excommunicated, but, make no mistake, often what the bishop is proclaiming is not a declaration but a revelation: He’s not doing something as much as naming what someone did to themselves. What are the consequences of being automatically excommunicated? Well, the person is still considered Catholic and still has all the duties of that relationship, including going to Mass and the like. These persons are, however, to refrain from receiving Communion. Why, you may ask, do we say the person is still Catholic and should go to Mass if

Church. The effects of these sins are so profound it takes a deliberate act on God’s part to heal the wounds and restore the unity we’ve lost – we’ll get to that in a minute. So, what are these acts? I’ve listed them below in the briefest way I can:

offenses that merit automatic excommunication: • Apostasy (the total repudiation

of the Christian faith)• Heresy (the obstinate denial

or doubt, after baptism, of a truth which must be believed by divine and Catholic faith.)

• Schism (the withdrawal of submission to the Supreme Pontiff or from communion with the members of the Church subject to him.)

• Profaning the Eucharist• Physically attacking the pope• A priest absolving his partner

in a sin against the 6th Commandment

• Bishops who consecrate new bishops without the pope’s directive

• A priest who reveals or acts on what he hears in confession

• A person procuring a completed abortion (in the Diocese of Lansing and in some other dioceses, the bishop has given his priests the faculties to remit the penalty of excommunication in the sacrament of reconciliation.)

It’s possible that the following people may not be punished for the offenses:

• People who aren’t yet 16• People who didn’t know and

had no opportunity to know that their action was wrong

• People who acted out of force

Well, I’m hoping you are asking this because you want to

know – and not as some sort of goal. But all kidding aside, this is coming up more and more, isn’t it? So, let’s get right to it. First of all, the word “excommunication” literally means “out of communion.” With that in mind, we have to look at the idea of communion: What does it mean? Father John Hardon’s Modern Catholic Dictionary has a really fantastic definition of communion:

In Christian parlance the most sacred expression for any one of different forms of togetherness. As communion between God and the human soul in the divine indwelling; between Christ and the recipient of the Eucharist in holy Communion; among all who belong to the Mystical Body in heaven, purgatory, and on earth in the Communion of Saints; and among those who belong to the Catholic Church as a communion

of the faithful. (Etym. Latin communio, sharing unity, association; participation.)

In other words, to be in communion means to be together; the deeper the communion we have with God and the Church, the better the communion. As with any relationship, we understand there are certain things that can really damage the relationship/connection. Now, when we look at the Blessed Sacrament, we are looking at what, among other things, the Church calls the “sign and source of” that communion – got it? So, when we receive the Eucharist, we do so as a sign of our unity with the Church, which is only possible because of the Eucharist we are receiving! This is one of the many reasons that we call the Eucharist or Communion the blessed Sacrament. Now we are finally to your question! In automatic excommunications, we, as a Church, recognize there are some things we do that are so damaging to our souls they sever our unity with the

in the know with Father Joe

T. Gennara

Send your questions to: “In the Know

with Fr. Joe” FAITH Maga-zine, 360 Division Avenue S., Grand Rapids, MI 49503 Or: JoeInBlack@priest.com

ourfaith10

Rather than asking myself how I am generous to others, I thought of how others have been generous to me. Immediately, these two instances came to mind.

It was nearly 25 years ago. I was in Louisville, Ky., with my husband and his board. They were there for a convention and I was there to tag along and relax. The first night, I received a phone call telling me my younger brother had committed suicide. This was devastating and shocking. I doubt anyone is ever prepared for calls like this.

The next morning, when our group heard the news, one lady said she was not going to attend the meetings, but would instead spend the day with me. When I think of generosity, this act is the first thing that comes to my mind – and what a strong comforting memory it is.

We spent the day walking and talking. Mostly she listened. Sometimes we cried. Her generosity was the compassionate giving of her time.

Before this, I would have considered her a friend. After this, we had a much deeper bond. Time is an invaluable gift. It is priceless. I have never forgotten her gift and what it meant to me then – and still means to me now.

Fast forward to the present. My second thought of generosity to me is also about the giving of time. After years of emotional struggle with a parent, I needed to go talk with them. One of my daughters took off work and

went with me for a four day trip to do this. We spent the four days doing what needed to be done. It was, for me, a very painful time.

What my daughter gave to me in a most loving way was her compassionate ear. She listened. She encouraged. She helped me think straight. She loved. She gave me more than that, though. She gave me four entire days and nights. She gave me her very precious time. This is truly generosity in action.

Most of us have some sort of cable television these days. We turn on the TV and can watch hundreds of things. Sometimes, however, a storm will knock out the cable. Sometimes there is technical trouble and our cable doesn’t work. I am sure if we didn’t pay our bill (which, I might add, costs way too much) that our cable would be shut off. If our TV set breaks down, we lose our access. If our power goes out, we lose our access. So, although all of this is available to us 24/7, there are times when our access is shut off and we can’t get anything but silence and a blank screen.

As I think of generosity and the gifts of time that have been so lovingly given to me, I think of God and his generous gift of time.

Since I was little, I have prayed to God. I am sure you are the same way. Never, not even once, has God shut off my access or power to reach him. I pray and he listens. I ask and he listens. I beg and he listens. I rant and

in the spirit

G

maureen Burns is an international professional speaker and author of five books. You may contact her at maureenburns@maureenburns.com or on her website, www.maureenburns.com

enerosity, What does it mean to you? What does it mean to me? We often relate it to money, but when I asked

myself what it meant to me, I got a different kind of answer. An answer that surprised me.

The generous gift of timethey are to refrain from receiving Communion? The answer ties into the “why” of the excommunication itself: Excommunication is a “medicinal” act. Its purpose is to bring about healing and conversion, not to inflict pain. Catholics who are excommunicated – except those guilty of apostasy, heresy and schism – are still in full communion with the Church and still members of the Catholic family. It’s like the loving parent who deprives us of some of the benefits of the family to help us see how valuable we are to the family, and the family to us. This is not the same as someone who is not in full communion with the Church, but has not been excommunicated – such as non-Catholic Christians of good faith. Let’s say it works. Let’s say one of our Catholic brothers or sisters experiences this and wants to rejoin the family. What can they do? Generally, it depends on the sin that brought them there. Sometimes, a declaration of repentance to the proper person/persons or a reading of the Creed will do it; other times, it requires a private meeting with a bishop or a priest, if the bishop approves. In some situations, it is necessary that the person needs to work with the Holy See. Persons who are excommunicated are, to my knowledge, always given exactly what needs to happen in order for them to come back to The Table. As a side note, it used to be an automatic excommunication for anyone who physically assaulted a priest, but that was removed – don’t get any ideas!

Enjoy another day in God’s presence!

he listens. I cry and he listens. No storm affects this open communication. Never does he put up a barrier of technical difficulties. He never makes me pay a bill for the privilege. His power never shuts down, even if I do. There has never been a time when he is not available to me. I am never left with blankness.

God always has time for me 24/7, day after day, month after month, year after year. From the get-go, he generously and constantly offers me his gift of time and compassion.

Everyone you talk to these days is busy, busy, busy. People are all rushing. To give someone time is harder than ever. It seems to be so hard to come by. Our time is truly one of our most generous gifts.I am so grateful to God for always being generous to me with his time and always giving me access to his power and love. I am also grateful to the people who have so generously given me their precious gifts of compassionate time. I need to be sure I follow their examples and generously give my time when I see it is needed. As Mother Teresa reminds us, “If we worry too much about ourselves, we won’t have time for others.”

11

FAITH Grand Rapids / May 2012 / www.dioceseofgrandrapids.org

In the Old Testament, the people seem to experience God’s justice more so than God’s mercy. For example, God destroys all of the Egyptians and yet mercifully spares Abraham’s son, Isaac, but not Jephthah’s daughter. How accurate is this view of God and how are we to make sense of it?

First, it is important to note that we are dealing with narrative literature. This means that the texts are telling a story based on histori-cal events, but with a

theological purpose. With this in mind, we also have to un-

derstand more about the Hebrew view of humanity when considering such con-cepts as the application of justice. For the Hebrews, identity originated and resided in the group. Identity was communal in

father Robert Schoenstene, S.S.L., is an assistant professor, Department of Biblical Exegesis and Proclamation, University of Saint Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary.

Elizabeth nagel, S.S.d., is a professor in the Department of Biblical Exegesis and Proclamation, University of Saint Mary of the Lake/Mundelein Seminary.

theology 101

nature. As such, what is good affects the whole group, just as what is bad affects the whole group. From this, we get the Old Testament saying, “The sins of the father are visited upon the children.” (Exodus 20:5) Consequently, one can begin to see why God’s justice seems to be applied in a blan-ket fashion.

In contrast, today we think in more individualistic terms. We see punishment as something merited by the individual and limited to the individual. This is a relatively new view of humanity, histori-cally speaking, and contributes to the harshness we sometimes attribute to God in the Old Testament.

Interestingly, in the New Testament, the Church is dealt with as a community and not as individual Christians and/or disciples. Further, in Catholic thought, we speak of a treasury of the merits of the saints that we benefit from here and now. In other words, the Hebrew under-standing of what is good is good for all and that sin affects all is continued into Christianity, although it is often muted in Catholicism in the United States today. For example, the celebration of the Mass and the reception of holy Communion is not simply an act of individuals encoun-tering Christ, but the encounter of a communion of individuals, the Church, with the Lord. One other noteworthy consideration is the Hebrew understanding of justice. In the Old Testament, justice refers to “right-relationship,” whereas in English, and even in Latin, justice has a more legal connotation. To the Hebrews, the world was created in this “just” state. When things went wrong (here sin is understood as a disordering of the universe), there were consequences to the “right-relation-ship” being disrupted. We see this with Adam and Eve. With the disorder of sin entering the world, everything is “thrown off” and we lose ourselves in the process. Then we come to the cross of Christ that sets things right again, or re-establishes justice, and delivers God’s judgment on humanity, i.e. mercy and forgiveness. So, in reality, there is no distinction between God’s justice and God’s mercy. Justice, or the right-

SEmInaRY pROFESSORS TaLk ScRIpTURE

Abraham Sacrificing Isaac

How are we to make sense of God’s justicein the Old Testament?

12

Interview and sidebars by Doug Culp

Catechism quiz

Q: Prayer in the Church is a living tradition that includes words, melodies, ges-tures, and iconography that reflect historic, social and cultural contexts. Prayers

can be communal or personal prayer, vocal or interior, yet all forms share in the one way of Christian prayer. What is this one way?

A: Jesus Christ. “There is no other way of Christian prayer than Christ … it has access to the Father only if we pray ‘in the name’ of Jesus. The sacred

humanity of Jesus is therefore the way by which the Holy Spirit teaches us to pray to God our Father.” – CCC 2664

Vatican II

Q: Did Vatican II represent a change in the Church’s

understanding of Mary?

A: The Second Vatican Council devoted a full chapter in its

Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium) to Mary. From the beginning, the council’s intention was never to offer a complete doctrine of Mary, rather, it wanted to reaffirm the Church’s special love for Mary and her connection to Christ’s work. In particular, the “change” the council sought was to unite the two very different understandings of Mary’s relation-ship with Christ to her relationship with the Church. In going about this, the council asserted that Mary is rightly “acknowledged and honored as being truly the mother of God and of the redeemer.” At the same time, she is also “united to all those who are to be saved” by virtue of her humanity. Con-sequently, “she is clearly the mother of the members of Christ ... since she has by her charity joined in bringing about the birth of believers in the Church, who are members of its head.” In this way, the council basically

identified Mary as both the mother of God and the mother of the Church. Pope Paul VI would formally confer the title on Mary as mother of the Church during the closing of the council.

Q: What about calling for the establishment of

a cult of Mary? Wasn’t this a change?

A: It is true that the council ex-pressed its approval of, and

encouragement for, rightly honoring Mary “by a special cult in the Church.”

However, this did not represent a change. A cult of Mary always has existed in the Church, although it is different from “the cult of adoration, which is offered equally to the Incarnate Word and to the Father and the Holy Spirit.” The council again em-phasized that Church-approved

forms of piety toward the Mother of God do not take away or add anything to the centrality and uniqueness of Jesus Christ. Instead they both honor Mary and ensure that the Son of God is “rightly known, loved and glorified.” For this reason, the council encour-aged “all the sons [and daughters] of the Church” to generously foster the Church-recommended practices and exercises of devotion toward Mary.

relationship between God and humanity, which is the necessary condition for life, is one with mercy, or the proper spirit and use of power, which is that we may have life and have it more fully. – Father Sheoenstene

The notion that the

God of the Old Testa-ment is a stern God, objectively meting out justice to people as their actions deserve is incor-rect and is sustainable

only when individual verses or texts are interpreted out of context. In some way, the Bible traces the slow path of human understanding towards true knowledge of God, knowledge that was finally revealed clearly in the incarnation of God’s Son. Along the early stages of this path, we find people acting on incomplete views of who God is and what God asks. An exam-ple of this would be texts in which God is perceived to command Israel to kill other peoples when, in fact, at the time, such killing is the only type of justice that people could imagine. It took more than 1,000 years of reflection on what God was teaching them through their experiences for people to see that, in the divine view, no killing of another human is acceptable. This long trail finally brought them to the point where they could at least intellectu-ally understand Jesus’ teaching to “love your enemies; do good to those who hate you.” (Luke 6:27)

When the so-called “sacrifice of Isaac” is read in its context, we see that the author is not writing about God’s mercy to Isaac, but rather about the faith of Abraham. Genesis 22:1 states plainly that “God tested Abraham.” The horror of the command reveals what having faith in God entails. The context of the story of Jephthah’s daughter is the Book of Judges, a book written down 600 years after the events it describes and whose purpose is to trace the downward spiral of the divine-human relationship that resulted from God’s people doing “whatever was right in their own eyes.” (Judges 21:25) The story of Jephthah occurs along the downward spiral. In this context, we see that God did not ask for a sacrifice from Jephthah. This was Jephthah’s bright idea. The story shows how wrong we can be when we forget about God and follow merely hu-man traditions. – Professor Nagel

13

FAITH Grand Rapids / May 2012 / www.dioceseofgrandrapids.org

Sister Ann Shields is a renowned author and a member of the Servants of God’s Love. Questions can be addressed to Sister Ann Shields, Renewal Ministries, 230 Collingwood, Suite 240, Ann Arbor, MI 48103

T. Gennara

Let the Holy Spirit radically change your life

n the last Sunday of this month, May 27, we celebrate the great feast of Pentecost, known as the birthday of the Church. This is

the day on which the disciples received the gift promised by Jesus Christ: that when he had risen from the dead, he would send his Spirit to all who believed in him.

We are given the gift of the Spirit in baptism, and that gift is confirmed in us in the sac-rament of confirmation. The gift of the Spirit is given so that we will be equipped to go out with the Gospel message, just as the first disciples did,

and that our testimony will be accompanied by the power of the Holy Spirit in the manner Christ intended. Jesus, the only beloved son of the Father, became flesh to make a way for us to return to God after the sin

O

Read Acts chapters 1-4. Reflect on the effects and the fruits of the coming of the Holy Spirit on those first apostles and disciples.

Read John 3:16. Reflect on whether you believe this for yourself; that God loved you so much that he would send his only Son to die for you.

Read titus 3:3-8. Read them again and again until the truth sinks in – you are a son/daugh-ter of God. You have infinite dignity and the Holy Spirit who dwells in you through baptism and confirmation seeks to unite you with the Father and the Son, to share life with you

Spiritual exercises for the month of may

spiritual fitness

rows, from England, wrote this about faith: “Faith is not a thing of the mind, it is not an intellectual certainty or a felt conviction of the heart. It is a sustained decision to take God with utter seriousness as the God of my life. It is to live out each hour in a practical, concrete affirmation that God is Father and he is “in heaven.” It is a decision to shift the center of our lives from ourselves to him, to forego self- interest and make his interests, his will, our sole concern …” (Magnificat,

February 2012, p. 389)

May this Pentecost be a day for receiving greater faith, which the Holy Spirit always desires to give to us. Praying this way over a period of time radically changed my life. May you experience the same grace to really know the Father you truly have in heaven; to embrace the Son as your savior and redeemer, to become more and more the temple of the Holy Spirit that God created you to be. Happy season of preparation and Happy Pentecost.

of our first parents, to restore to us our infinite dignity as sons and daughters of the Father. We must believe that God was willing to die for us, to ransom us by his death, from eternal death; that he loved us so much that he would die for us, even while we were mired in sin and paying no attention to this heroic act on our behalf. We must have faith that the mercy of God is so infinite that, no matter what sins we have committed, he will forgive us and restore our baptismal dignity to us. “We ourselves were once fool-ish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by men and hating one another, but when the good-ness and loving kindness of God our savior appeared, he saved us, not because of deeds done by us in righteousness, but in virtue of his own mercy, by the washing and regeneration and renewal in the Holy Spirit which he poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our savior so that we might be justified by his grace and become heirs in hope of eternal life.” (Titus 3:3-8) This saying is sure. This is the living word of God. These words, coming from the Holy Spirit, have power to change our life. I pray that this Pentecost may not just be an acknowledge-ment of an act of God centuries ago, but that, as you pray to receive greater faith, you may come to know, love and serve him even more faithfully. An author, Sister Ruth Bur-

14

Life in the SpiritConfirmation

Confirmation, together with Baptism and Eucharist, form the Sacraments of Initiation that are all intimately connected. In the Sacrament of Confirmation, the baptized person is “sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit” and is strengthened for service to the Body of Christ.

The prophets of the Old Testament foretold that God’s Spirit would rest upon the Messiah to sustain his mission. Their prophecy was fulfilled when Jesus the Messiah was conceived by the Spirit and born of the Virgin Mary. The Holy Spirit descended on Jesus on the occasion of his baptism by John.

Jesus’ entire mission occurred in communion with the Spirit. Before he died, Jesus promised that the Spirit would be given to the Apostles and to the entire Church. After his death, he was raised by the Father in the power of the Spirit.

Those who believed in the Apostles’ preaching were baptized and received the Holy Spirit through the laying on of hands. The Apostles baptized believers in water and the Spirit. Then they imparted the special gift of the Spirit through the laying on of hands. “’The imposition of hands is rightly recognized by the Catholic tradition as the origin of the sacrament of Confirmation, which in a certain way perpetuates the grace of Pentecost in the Church’”

(CCC, no. 1288, citing Pope Paul VI, Divinae Consortium Naturae, no. 659).

By the second century, Confirmation was also conferred by anointing with holy oil, which came to be called sacred Chrism. “This anointing highlights the name ‘Christian,’ which means ‘anointed’ and derives from that of Christ himself whom God ‘anointed with the Holy Spirit’”

(CCC, no. 1289, citing Acts 10:38).

Gifts of the Holy Spirit The gifts of the Holy Spirit are permanent dispositions

which make us docile in following divine inspirations. They are seven: Wisdom, Understanding, Counsel, Fortitude, Knowledge, Piety, and Fear of the Lord.

With these the Holy Spirit “endows” Christians, in other words, he grants them particular powers that go beyond their natural aptitudes and gives them the opportunity to become God’s special instruments in this world. (CCC nos. 1830-1831, 1845)

The Fruits of the Holy Spirit The fruits of the Holy Spirit are perfections formed in us

as the first fruits of eternal glory. The tradition of the Church lists twelve of them: Charity, Joy, Peace, Patience, Kindness, Goodness, Generosity, Gentleness, Faithfulness, Modesty, Self-Control and Chastity. In the fruits of the Holy Spirit the world can see what becomes of people who let themselves be adopted, led and completely formed by God. (CCC, no. 1832)

Catholic practices

Excerpts from the Compendium of the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the YOUCAT and USSCB.org

15

FAITH Grand Rapids / May 2012 / www.dioceseofgrandrapids.org By JoAnn Fox | Photography by Jonathan Tramontana

Enhancing the worship environment

16

F rom the feel of the wood of the pew beneath your hand to the significant colors and symbols of a priest’s vestments that flow with his movement about the sanctuary, Catholic liturgy is a feast for the senses – something Marcia Carbines is uniquely aware of. Marcia, 64, a parishioner of the Cathedral of Saint Andrew,

has been enhancing art and environment on a volunteer basis in churches in the diocese for 34 years – and at the cathedral for the last five.

“You have to appeal to the senses,” says Marcia, “because that’s the medium that we, as human beings, have to touch our God and to better sense his life in us.”

Just as other elements of our Church celebrations, for example the music, inform us about what will occur within a particular liturgy, environment – the cloth upon the altar, the candles, the plants and flowers or these items’ missing presence – define the space within and around the church as holy, inform us of which liturgical season we’re in and help enhance our worship. Nowhere in the Church year is this more poignantly reflected than in the liturgies of Holy Week and Easter, during which we move from the somber, emptiness of Good Friday to the glorious resurrection of Christ on Easter when the church environment is transformed into an explosion of color and light.

As we sit in the Catholic Information Center, looking out at Saint Mary’s Health Care, Marcia recalls happily her mother Betty Behm’s work as vice president of Saint Mary’s Hospital in charge of nursing service and as a teacher at Mercy Central School of Nursing.

“Mom and Dad were the first to raise their hands on many adventures, whether it was helping to build Blessed Sacrament Church, or setting up the Mercy Central bazaar in the old Catholic Central gym on this very property,” said Marcia.

To write that Marcia leads a full life is a bit of an understatement. She worked for 21 years at Amway Corporation’s world headquarters in Ada. When her position was eliminated in 2011, she opted for early retirement. Marcia is divorced, with two married, adult children and four grandchildren. Her professional relationships, as well as her work in the Church, have opened doors to a small business in events planning. She serves on the diocesan Church Art & Architecture Commission. One of her younger brothers, Freddy, was born with Down Syndrome. Marcia promised her mom she would take care of her brother when her parents were no longer able. When her mom and dad, Charles, passed away, 13 and 15 years ago respectively, Freddy came to live with Marcia.

“He’s pretty independent,” she said, “and an absolute delight to

have with me every day. As a matter of fact, he’s the person who says, ‘Did you have a good day?’ and he waits for the answer.”

Intertwined with all these aspects of her life are many hours spent inside and outside the cathedral where Marcia is preparing the environment for worship.

Marcia’s friends and family have learned that if she’s not at home, and she’s not answering her cell phone, she will likely be found at the cathedral. Marcia works with whatever and whomever God puts in front of her, so when these loved ones seek her out, they come knowing they will probably be put to work.

“Over 34 years of being in this business, you gather up those resources that you know you can depend on to deliver every single time,” said Marcia.

The rhythm of the Catholic liturgical seasons, as well as special liturgies, such as chrism Mass or ordination, scheduled throughout the year at the cathedral dictate the pace for Marcia. “During ordinary time, when not much is going on, I’m through church maybe two or three times a week just to make sure things are in order,” she said. If there’s something special going on, like the White Mass or Red Mass, then, of course, there’s extra attention.”

Holy Week and Easter this year involved a 60-

hour week, including several hours at home ironing 187 yards of butter satin. Marcia leaves no detail to chance and does whatever is needed to make the environment complete, whether it’s climbing a ladder 30 feet in the air to drape satin from the cathedral’s pillars or using a leaf blower to clear the piazza of debris. Her consideration of the worship space extends from the parking lot right through the entire church. She believes the church should be a refuge from the rest of the world; a place of peace and tranquility.

“I often think of church as being a great escape and a well-appointed church is a place of contentment, a place of relaxation,” said Marcia. “People move at a slower pace. You can see a beautiful plant, hear beautiful music. It sets the tone for the way people act there.”

It has to be the Holy Spirit at work,” she said, “because I didn’t

give me these gifts. They were gifts given to me and you discover those gifts as you’re called to use them if you’re listening for the call.”

17

FAITH Grand Rapids / May 2012 / www.dioceseofgrandrapids.org

cover story

(Left) Marcia with her brother Freddy at his high school graduation class of 1989. (Right) Marcia’s parents Betty and Charles Behm.

Marcia also understands that the clergy need and appreciate something to feed their spirits and she always insures that the back of the cathedral receives a share of her attention.

“I always make sure the back of the church is decorated because the celebrant needs something to feed him,” said Marcia.

Marcia strives for perfection in everything she does, but she’s able to laugh about the fact that things don’t always happen the way she’s planned. Like the time one of the cathedral’s Christmas tree tops broke off and she had to climb up and do triage with a splint and wires. “Nobody knows but me,” she said, “but that just drives me nuts.”

Marcia began in art and environment at St. Thomas the Apostle Parish in 1978. At that time, she was married, her son Jeffrey was an infant and her daughter Elise was a toddler. “Father James Cusack was the new pastor there,” said Marcia, “and Father and I hit it off right away.” Father Cusack asked Marcia to do the environment for Christmas and in the New Year enlisted her assistance with the church renovation, during which Marcia faced one of her first major environment challenges.

“The church was fairly finished, but something happened and it wasn’t going to be carpeted for Easter,” said Marcia. Father called with the bad news and asked what could be done to fix up the situation. With Easter just a week away, they decided to paint the plywood floors. “And we did,” said Marcia. “I got some guys from the neighborhood

and we painted every inch of plywood in that place green and the environment looked beautiful on it,” she said. “Father Cusack really gave me a shot in the arm and supplied a lot of praise and encouragement and a budget.”

Even without a budget, though, a parish has options for creating an appropriate environment, says Marcia, who’s willing to share what she’s learned over the years with anyone who asks her to.

“I’ve walked into many churches in the Diocese of

Grand Rapids and elsewhere

who have asked for help, but [have said] ‘we can’t afford to

pay you and we don’t have

any money to do

what you’re going to tell us to do.’” “Even if they can’t afford one living plant,

one extraordinary vestment, that’s OK,” says Marcia. “What they can afford to do is to have the cleanest, most well-ordered environment that anybody could create.”

Marcia encourages those involved in creating environment to add permanent items to their inventory each season, or as often as is affordable, and to use them over and over, a practice she’s instituted at the cathedral. “Typically, every season I make one permanent investment that I keep in my library of environment materials,” said Marcia, “whether it’s fabric, a new candle holder or a new book.”

Marcia views her work in environment as a form of prayer, the raising of one’s heart and mind toward God. “It’s just like the choir in any church; that’s their form of prayer,” she said. “When we’re born, we all have these toolboxes and we all have certain tools in them. I don’t have that music tool in mine.” What she does have is a toolbox full

18

of the just the right stuff to bring a worship space to life through environment.

For Marcia, a successful environment comes through attention to detail, balance, innovative thinking, a can-do attitude and the stamina to pull it all off – qualities her parents modeled for and nurtured in her.

Marcia grew up on the northeast side of Grand Rapids, where she attended Blessed Sacrament Catholic School. She was the second of four children, with brothers on either side of her – one older and two younger. From an early age, her parents instilled in her a sense of independence and competency.

“My mother was a great planner,” said Marcia recalling Friday evening dinner gatherings her parents would organize for their circle of friends. “The i’s were dotted and the t’s were crossed and everything was done with extreme taste. I think that’s where I got all of this.”

Her mother began to enlist her daughter’s assistance with preparation when Marcia

was around 11. After school on a Friday, Marcia would walk the three blocks home and open her mother’s table-setting chart. Reminiscent of the methodical way the priest prepares the altar at Mass, Marcia would set a formal dinner table for 10, linens and all-folding napkins, placing the silver, the dinner plates, the water and wine glasses just so. Then she’d walk to the local florist, pick up the flowers her mom had ordered and return home to set them out.

“She trusted me to do it,” said Marcia. “I was little in the scheme of things. Very capable, but I never would have known unless she gave me the responsibility.”

Marcia takes a similar approach with her brother, Freddy. She supports Freddy’s independence and because of this, she decided to leave the parish at St. Thomas about 10 years ago and eventually settled in at the Catholic Information Center in its former location on Ionia. Freddy maintained parish membership at St. Thomas the Apostle. Marcia and her brother

live about a half a block from St. Thomas Church. “Freddy’s there,” she said, “and that’s the one thing he can do all by himself. He can walk to church. He can walk home. He’s Freddy Behm; not Marcia’s brother. He’s an usher there. That’s his space now.”

After joining the faith community at the Catholic Information Center, she was asked to do the environment. When the Catholic Information Center joined with the Cathedral Parish in 2007, she made a one-year commitment to doing environment there, preparing the church for parish and diocesan liturgies. As the one-year mark approached, associate pastor Father Tom Tavella, CSP, who had come to rely on her skill and experience, encouraged her to stay, said Marcia.

In a way, things have come full circle for Marcia, who first did environment in the cathedral in 1989 for Bishop Robert Rose’s installation. Father Tom Simons, whose responsibilities at the time included directing the diocesan Office for Worship, asked her to do the environment, but before committing, she wanted to examine the inside of the church more closely. She walked the church, sat in the pews and poked around every corner she could get into. She went back to Father Simons, and surprised him by turning down his request. When he asked why, she was honest in her reply that she’d found parts of the Church to be in need of a thorough cleaning and several small repairs, issues that were in want of attention before a good environment could be provided. Father Simons asked her to make a list of the needed improvements and “they did all of those things and I ended up with the project,” said Marcia. (Since that time, the Cathedral of Saint Andrew has undergone a beautiful restoration.)

Marcia’s mom and dad and all of her friends came to help with the preparations. Bishop Rose’s sister had been a classmate of her mom’s and so it was of particular importance to Marcia that the job be done right. “Bishop was pleased,” she recalled.

As she’s always done, Marcia relies on God to get her through each time. And somehow, she says, everything always gets done.

“It has to be the Holy Spirit at work,” she said, “because I didn’t give me these gifts. They were gifts given to me and you discover those gifts as you’re called to use them if you’re listening for the call.”

19

FAITH Grand Rapids / May 2012 / www.dioceseofgrandrapids.org

profile

By Molly Klimas | Photography by Jonathan Tramontana

The gift of

Connie Zapata Bernal’s storylife-everlasting:

20

Connie Zapata Bernal received a wake-up call, literally you might say, one year ago when two officers from the Kalamazoo Public Safety Department showed up at her Saranac home. “We’re here from Internal Affairs about Eric,” one of the officers said. “Eric? What’d he do?” Connie asked.

Her 35-year-old son, Eric Zapata, a Kalamazoo police officer and firefighter/EMT nicknamed “EZ” by coworkers, had a fun-loving, prankster reputation in his department. Still, it was weird that two officers would knock on her door before the sun was up.

In the haze of sleep, Connie hadn’t begun to infer what their visit was about. “May we come in? We need to talk with you,” the female officer said to Connie and her husband Epifanio, Eric’s stepfather.

Inside, they sat down at the kitchen table – the same table where, 10 years before, Eric had told his mother that he wanted to be a police officer. Connie had reacted then with frustration and worry. After a long conversation with her son, she gave her worry over to God: “I can’t live my life worrying about you,” Connie told Eric, “so, if this is what you want to do, I give you to God. Let him guide you.”

The officer took a deep breath, looked at Connie and Epifanio, and said, “There’s been an incident. Eric has been shot. He didn’t make it. He died.” “God came for his son,” Connie murmured. She got up from the table and left the room for 15 minutes. When she came back, she said, “OK, here is what we need to do.” As a lifelong Catholic, she drew upon her faith for strength and peace.

Connie attributes the composure and control she exhibited in the ensuing hours, days, weeks and months to her Catholic faith. “It’s acceptance,” she says. “I know in my heart that Eric is with

God. I know this because of my faith; I know that God has a plan for him.”

Her faith, she says, always has been strong and when tested, becomes stronger. She references Job, the figure in the Old Testament who experiences extreme hardship, but chooses not to blame God. “God knows what he has planned for all of us,” Connie says, “and we must be accepting.”

After Eric’s death, Connie could feel her son’s presence, especially at church, during Mass.

She would talk with her pastor, Father Victor Kynam. “He knew that I had peace. I told him I knew that God did not take Eric; rather, evil did, and God came and gave him peace. God said, ‘Let the dead bury the dead. Follow me.’ In following God, I have peace.”

Connie’s favorite Bible passage in the weeks and months following Eric’s death was Psalm 23. So often when she would open the Bible, the book would open right to that verse.

She also turned even more to prayer, especially prayers to Mary, our Blessed Mother, who lost her own son, our Lord, to death on a cross.

In a recent dream, Connie says she saw Eric jump over the fence to save his fellow officer. “I saw Eric go down, heard him say, ‘I am hit.’ And then, in the dream, I saw him praying and talking to God, and I knew he was in his hands.”

Even though Connie reacted remarkably well for someone faced with incredible tragedy, she still sought counseling and grief support. When a public safety officer dies in the line of duty, family members and coworkers are automatically offered support services.

One support service that Connie participated in was through MI-C.O.P.S. – Michigan Concerns of Police Survivors

– a chapter of the nationwide Concerns of Police Survivors. The charitable organization’s purpose is to provide support to surviving law enforcement families and coworkers in rebuilding their lives after the traumatic and life-changing experience of losing an officer in the line of duty.

Connie attended a MI-C.O.P.S. retreat last fall, held in Little Rock, Ark. “When I first got there, I wanted to turn around and go home,” Connie said. She felt like she didn’t fit in with the others. “I thought they would think I was being insensitive about my son’s death because I didn’t grieve like they were grieving.” Finally, she got up the nerve to say how she really felt: “I told everyone that as sad as I was about losing Eric, I also wanted to go to the highest mountain and tell them how joyful and peaceful I felt that I knew Eric is with God because my faith tells me so.” At first, there was silence. Emboldened, Connie said this to the group: “I look at Eric’s death like two seeds that could have been planted that night: a bad seed, which would have sowed hate and anger; and a good seed, which brings love and understanding. I choose to feed the good seed and watch it grow.” The stunned survivors clapped for Connie. It opened a floodgate of emotion and, for some, began a process of healing.

our life is going along. The highs, the lows, the day-to-day mundane. The joys, the woes, the milestones that make memories. And then you get

a knock on your door at 4:30 on an April morning. Life as you know it? “It’s like someone takes a shovel and turns your whole world upside down.”

Y21

FAITH Grand Rapids / May 2012 / www.dioceseofgrandrapids.org

Back home, Connie found a confidant in Marsha Stadel, who leads grief support groups at Connie’s parish, St. Edward’s in Lake Odessa. “In the faith-based setting, we’re not afraid to talk about the Lord and ask for his help,” Marsha said. “We can turn to God, talk to God. We can pray together.

“We talk about much more than the ‘scientific why’ of why things happen,” Connie says. “We learn how to [reconcile] what happened through our Catholic faith, by reading the Bible and in talking with each other.” Connie credits the group with helping her to publicly share her faith story. “They’ve been so supportive,” she says. She also credits the group with helping her to find the words to comfort her family members over the loss of their father, brother, uncle. “I tell my family to ‘feed the good seed, keep all the good on earth going. Do this in the name of Jesus and forgive those who trespass against us.’” She pauses and then says, “I don’t want people to think that I’m hardened because I can’t cry over Eric’s death. Yes, I had those 15 minutes right after I found out, and I’ve had my moments over the past few months, but I am also filled with such peace and joy. He died during Holy Week. His spirit lives on.”

Some of the ways that St. Edward’s Catholic Grief Support helps the

grieving:

We learn together, through sharing experiences and emotions, that we must move from a place in which our loved one was present to one in which we relate to him or her in a spiritual way.

We discuss the meaning of the Apostles’ Creed: “I believe in the communion of saints” we talk about what “communion” means, and who the saints are; “the forgiveness of sins” how this gives us faith and hope for eternal life, “the resurrection of the dead” exploring what this means and our faith, hope and belief that we will rise at the time of the last judgment; and “life everlasting” which supports and strengthens our belief by being in the Creed, which we as Catholics profess.

We pray, which helps us to see that while there is change, there is no end. Prayer strengthens our relationship with God. It helps us to place our emotions into the context of faith, hope and love. Through prayer we see our lives in terms of eternity … life is a journey toward the kingdom of God, and we become aware that our life has changed. Praying/reading the Psalms can be especially helpful; the psalmist cries out to God, expressing sorrow, turns with trust to God and asks him for help.

We read Scripture: St. Paul says, “We would have you be clear about those who sleep in death, brothers; otherwise you might yield to grief, like those who have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, then through Jesus God will also bring with him those who have fallen asleep in death.” (1Th 4:13-14)

We discuss our Blessed Mother, and how we can strengthen our relationship with her and gain strength from her -- how she can be a role model for us.

We say the rosary, especially the Sorrowful Mysteries. The Stations of the Cross are a powerful way to relate to Mary’s grief and the whole mystery of our faith.

We explore the Eucharist, which binds us with the Church on earth and the Church triumphant in eternity. We talk about how when we receive the Eucharist, we can think about the fact that Jesus is both with us right now and simultaneously with our loved ones in eternity. This is a deeply intense awareness and helps us to feel closer to our loved ones who have passed on.

Finally, we explore and realize the need to be present to each other through our grief journey.

– Marsha Stadel

profile

22

to serve the Lord, rather than simply be a passive observer or even victim of the events of her life.

During this month of May, we honor her once again-and we do so in a world that very much needs strong models to support our challenge to the world in which we live. How often have we found ourselves well down the road of faint-heartedness as it has wheedled itself into our thoughts, words and actions? More and more, our world would like us to be passive observers lacking the strength to confront, and therefore change, the direction it is traveling. The movers and shakers today are no different from those so long ago in wanting us all to go along in order to get along.

We honor Mary with so many different titles because we see in her the strength to bring to all sorts of life’s experiences a power and a perspective that raise us up and give us confidence to meet each day with an intentional attitude that makes us a gift to the world in which we live – just as she was in the world 2,000 years ago.

reflection

W

a life of unity with the Lord

e have just completed our Lenten and Easter celebrations and have heard once again Jesus

asserting himself before Pilate and the Sanhedrin. So often we look upon these scenes of Mary and Jesus

as scenes of passive acceptance of all that came their way. As we read the Scripture more carefully, we begin to appreciate that the reality is just the opposite. As a matter of fact Jesus says, according to John’s Gospel account, “The Father loves me for this that I lay down my life to take it up again. No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.” (John 10:18)

Rev. msgr. Stasker is the rector of the Basilica of St. Adalbert and pastor of St. James Parish in Grand Rapids, Michigan. He also serves as the pastor of Grand Rapids Catholic Secondary Schools.

Behold, I am the handmaid of the Lord. May it be done to me according to your word.” (Luke1:38)

Mary

Mary’s response to the angel’s announcement seems more a yes to the challenge, the opportunity, than it does a statement of passive acceptance. These examples from Mary and Jesus give us a different perspective on the apparent arbitrariness of daily life. Yes, we can develop an attitude of victimhood as we face the challenges of our lives and, as a result, we become truly the victims we style ourselves to be. With that attitude, we lose the opportunity to make those challenges a source of strength and accomplishment. And, as victims, we become no longer the gift we are called to be for others, nor the full human beings God calls us to be.

The interior life of Mary is a life of union with the Lord God and openness to what the Lord asks of her. Her yes flows from that relationship, strengthens that relationship and has made her a model for picking up God’s call and finding our true selves in saying yes, whatever it may be.

Mary is truly a model for us because

in her interior life of unity with the Lord God she found the strength to cope with the unknown and the hostile and the wonderment of coming to know what God was asking of her. She took hold of those challenges and opportunities that would have made someone with less interior strength not only hesitate, but try to escape. The Gospel writers seem to hold her up as a hero to be imitated in our discipleship of Jesus Christ.

Ernest Gordon, in his short memoir and reflection about being a prisoner of war in World War II, To End All Wars, speaks of the difficulty of believing in Jesus Christ. He writes, as a meditation, “Jesus asked us to believe in him. But it was much easier for us to believe in a president, a dictator, a scientist, scholar, news commentator, cinema actor or football player .... It is hard to be a disciple, Lord.” Mary has from the very beginning in the Church’s history become a revered woman of strength and faith. She is seen as a woman who did take advantage of the opportunities

23

FAITH Grand Rapids / May 2012 / www.dioceseofgrandrapids.org

Pastoral appointments Bishop Walter A. Hurley announces the following:

Rev. Richard J. Host, formerly pastor of St Mary Parish, Grand Rapids, was granted senior priest status effective March 30, 2012.

Rev. Paul A. Milanowski, pastor of St. Stephen Parish, East Grand Rapids, is granted senior priest status effective July 1, 2012.

Rev. William F. Zink, pastor of St. Mary Parish, Marne, is granted senior priest status effective June 30, 2012.

Rev. David C. Gross, associate pastor of St. Mary and St. Paul Campus Parish, Big Rapids, is appointed pastor of St. Mary Parish, Marne and St. Michael Parish, Coopersville effective June 30, 2012.

Rev. Victor Kynam, pastor of St. Edward Parish, Lake Odessa and St, Anthony Parish, Saranac, is appointed pastor of Our Lady La Vang Vietnamese Parish effective May 30, 2012.

In addition to these new appointments Rev David C. Gross and Rev. Victor Kynam will continue graduate studies in canon law during the summer program at Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C.

360 division Ave. S. | Grand Rapids, mI 49503 To register, call 616.459.7267 or email us at register@catholicinformationcenter.orgthings to do

Catholic Information Center feminine Images of God Presented by Sister diane Zerfas, o.P. Tuesdays, May 15 & 22, 7:00 p.m. - 8:45 p.m.

$5.00 donation per session requested.

Course descriptions and additional details can be found at www.catholicinformationcenter.org or facebook Catholic Information Center - Grand Rapids, MI

local news

Scan tag below each photo to find out what ordination to the transitional diaconate means to these seminarians. Get the free mobile app for your phone at www.scanlife.com.

Diaconate ordination Bishop Walter A. Hurley will ordain three men to the transitional diaconate this

year. Mr. Scott T. Nolan, Mr. Charles J. Schwartz and Mr. James R. VanderLaan will be ordained during a celebration of the Eucharist with the rite of ordination to the diaconate at 10:00 a.m. Saturday, on June 2, at the Cathedral of Saint Andrew. The public is invited to attend. Please keep these men in your prayers.

Mr. Scott T. Nolan, 25, is the son of Holly and Robert Nolan of Muskegon. He has three brothers, Sean (Kendall), Daniel (Ashley and daughter Amelia) and Brian (Tiffany) Nolan. His home parish is Prince of Peace North Muskegon. Mr. Nolan is a May 2009 graduate of the University of St. Thomas and St. John Vianney Seminary with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and Catholic studies. In 2011, he completed an internship at Holy Name of Jesus Parish under the mentorship of Father Stephen Dudek. Mr. Nolan will enter his final year of seminary at University of St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein Seminary in Ill., and will receive his master’s of divinity degree in May 2013

Mr. Charles J. Schwartz, 30 is the son of Felipa and Michael Schwartz of Grand Rapids. He has five siblings, Rose, Cecelia, Angelica, Jeffrey and Rita. His home parish is Shrine of St. Francis Xavier and Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish Grand Rapids. Mr. Schwartz is a 2009 graduate of the University of St. Thomas and St. John Vainney Seminary with a bachelor’s degree in Philosophy and Catholic studies. In 2011, he completed an internship at St. Michael Parish, Muskegon and Sacred Heart Parish, Muskegon Heights under the mentorship of Father Tom Brown. Mr. Schwatz will enter his final year of seminary at

St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein, Ill., in the fall of 2012 and will receive his master’s of divinity degree in May 2013.

Mr. James R. VanderLaan, 28, is the son of Patricia and Stephen VanderLaan of Grand Rapids. He has two siblings, Sarah and Joshua VanderLaan. His home parish is Shrine of St. Francis Xavier and Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish Grand Rapids. Mr. VanderLaan is a 2007 graduate of Grand Valley State University with a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and Spanish. In 2011, he completed an internship at St. Francis de Sales Parish, Holland under the mentorship of Father Charlie Brown. Mr. VanderLaan will enter his final year of seminary at St. Mary of the Lake, Mundelein, Ill., in the fall of 2012 and will receive his master’s of divinity degree in May 2013.

Elder Law Solutions: What families can do to protect themselves Thursday, May 17, 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m. Presented by Elder Law attorney Brian J. Plachta

24

n July 2009, Bishop Hurley announced the beginning of a planning process entitled Our Faith, Our Future: A Plan for the Diocese of Grand Rapids which

has been completed and formally approved by Bishop Hurley. The impetus for this pastoral initiative was to look to the future of the Church in the diocese by building upon the strengths of the parishes and addressing fundamental issues that would have a long-term impact on their vitality. The completion of Our Faith, Our Future: A Plan for the Diocese of Grand Rapids could not have been accomplished without the dedication and commitment to the Church and our future by so many people. Hundreds of people from parishes throughout the diocese committed thousands of hours to this venture.

Bishop Hurley emphasized in 2009 that we were “not entering the Our Faith, Our Future planning process with any predisposed plan, rather, together as the whole Church, to create a new energy and vision that will enable us to look to the future with hope and confidence with a collective commitment to build a more vibrant Church.”

Meitler Consultants, Inc., from Milwaukee, was contracted to provide oversight and guidance during the planning process. The overall process involved several rounds of multiple regional consultations with pastors, principals and parish leaders. A component of the process included gathering input from the broader parish communities via a questionnaire, which the committees made available to their respective parishes.

To begin the process, Meitler representatives held listening sessions and collected data from each parish and school in the diocese. These site visits offered pastors, principals and lay leaders the opportunity to share their experiences and vision for their respective communities.

Following the listening sessions, each region formed a coordinating committee to participate in several regional meetings. The committee was comprised of pastors and priests, Catholic school principals, key parish staff and parish lay leaders. These meetings were held primarily in the evenings to accommodate participants who often came directly from work.

I had the privilege to facilitate small group discussions at many regional meetings. This provided me with an intimate and valuable

Our Faith Our Future

Our Faith, Our Future: A plan for the Diocese of Grand Rapids

I insight to the deep fervor parishioners demonstrated for their faith, their local community and the broader Church. The first task for the members of each regional committee was to identify collectively what constitutes a vital parish. The suggestions were then compiled into a single document, which, by the end of the diocesan-wide planning process, contained the wisdom garnered from groups representing all areas of the diocese.

Committee members were from different parishes and often were being introduced for the first time. It was refreshing to witness how quickly they engaged in dialogue about their hopes and concerns for the Church. They spoke candidly about their fears relating to change and how it could impact their local parish community. Interestingly, some also shared how past parochialism initially had impeded current and successful collaboration between parishes. They spoke of how reconciliation of past differences has enabled them to move forward in more collaborative ways. While present collaborative efforts between parishes have not been given a moniker per se, such collaboration is a critical component when explaining “cluster” parishes.

Copyright © and (P) 1988–2006 Microsoft Corporation and/or its suppliers. All rights reserved. http://www.microsoft.com/mappoint/Portions © 1990–2005 InstallShield Software Corporation. All rights reserved. Certain mapping and direction data © 2005 NAVTEQ. All rights reserved. The Data for areas of Canada includesinformation taken with permission from Canadian authorities, including: © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, © Queen's Printer for Ontario. NAVTEQ and NAVTEQ ON BOARD are trademarks of NAVTEQ. © 2005 Tele Atlas North America, Inc. All rights reserved. Tele Atlas and Tele Atlas North America are trademarks of Tele Atlas, Inc.

Northwest Lakeshore Deanery

0 mi 5 10 15 20

UPDATE25

FAITH Grand Rapids / May 2012 / www.dioceseofgrandrapids.org

Copyright © and (P) 1988–2006 Microsoft Corporation and/or its suppliers. All rights reserved. http://www.microsoft.com/mappoint/Portions © 1990–2005 InstallShield Software Corporation. All rights reserved. Certain mapping and direction data © 2005 NAVTEQ. All rights reserved. The Data for areas of Canada includesinformation taken with permission from Canadian authorities, including: © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, © Queen's Printer for Ontario. NAVTEQ and NAVTEQ ON BOARD are trademarks of NAVTEQ. © 2005 Tele Atlas North America, Inc. All rights reserved. Tele Atlas and Tele Atlas North America are trademarks of Tele Atlas, Inc.

Big Rapids Deanery

0 mi 5 10 15 20 25Copyright © and (P) 1988–2006 Microsoft Corporation and/or its suppliers. All rights reserved. http://www.microsoft.com/mappoint/Portions © 1990–2005 InstallShield Software Corporation. All rights reserved. Certain mapping and direction data © 2005 NAVTEQ. All rights reserved. The Data for areas of Canada includesinformation taken with permission from Canadian authorities, including: © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, © Queen's Printer for Ontario. NAVTEQ and NAVTEQ ON BOARD are trademarks of NAVTEQ. © 2005 Tele Atlas North America, Inc. All rights reserved. Tele Atlas and Tele Atlas North America are trademarks of Tele Atlas, Inc.

Grand Rapids-East Deanery

0 mi 2 4 6 8

Copyright © and (P) 1988–2006 Microsoft Corporation and/or its suppliers. All rights reserved. http://www.microsoft.com/mappoint/Portions © 1990–2005 InstallShield Software Corporation. All rights reserved. Certain mapping and direction data © 2005 NAVTEQ. All rights reserved. The Data for areas of Canada includesinformation taken with permission from Canadian authorities, including: © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, © Queen's Printer for Ontario. NAVTEQ and NAVTEQ ON BOARD are trademarks of NAVTEQ. © 2005 Tele Atlas North America, Inc. All rights reserved. Tele Atlas and Tele Atlas North America are trademarks of Tele Atlas, Inc.

Grand Rapids-South Deanery

0 mi 2 4 6Copyright © and (P) 1988–2006 Microsoft Corporation and/or its suppliers. All rights reserved. http://www.microsoft.com/mappoint/Portions © 1990–2005 InstallShield Software Corporation. All rights reserved. Certain mapping and direction data © 2005 NAVTEQ. All rights reserved. The Data for areas of Canada includesinformation taken with permission from Canadian authorities, including: © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, © Queen's Printer for Ontario. NAVTEQ and NAVTEQ ON BOARD are trademarks of NAVTEQ. © 2005 Tele Atlas North America, Inc. All rights reserved. Tele Atlas and Tele Atlas North America are trademarks of Tele Atlas, Inc.

Grand Rapids-West Deanery

0 mi 1 2 3 4 5

Our Faith Our Future

26

The issues before the committees were formidable; the dedicated volunteers addressed them with a critical eye toward the future, wisdom and commitment. They discussed:

• the findings from the site listening sessions and data analysis,

• pastoral demands in light of fewer priests,

• availability of the sacraments,

• common challenges facing the parishes in their area,

• aging facilities and the costs of repair and maintenance,

• demographic trends in the parish and community,

• future oriented pastoral models to address pastoral needs,

• vocations needed to be supported in the home and the parish

• pastoral priorities and the characteristics of vibrant parishes,

• a vision for the parishes and region for the next 5-10 years.

At the conclusion of the regional planning sessions, following much review and refinement, a plan was submitted to the diocese for review by the Presbyteral Council. Once the council approved the plan, it was forwarded to Bishop Hurley for his review and subsequent approval. After three years of meetings, a comprehensive diocesan plan has been created and approved, incorporating the plans for all the regions in the diocese. It is a living document, with implementation timelines based on situations occurring in a given area at a given time.

It was profoundly moving, energizing and humbling to be part of Our Faith, Our Future – a process which allowed people to speak openly, vision, disagree and ultimately, arrive at a plan that presents a shared vision for the Church. The experience clearly illustrated that, like our ancestors, we are on a journey together, members of a pilgrim Church, commissioned to carry out the work of the Lord in his Church – for today and tomorrow.

How do parishes collaborate? Parishes collaborate by working together on common ministries, programs and projects or

the sharing of staff. The parishes in collaboration usually enter into some type of agreement that describes the shared activity and how each parish will share any costs or staff time.

Because parishes share the same mission of Christ, they are urged to consider collaborating with nearby parishes whenever possible.

Parishes also may be advised or agree to develop a more substantial collaboration. Pastors and staffs, parish councils or parish council officers and trustees of these parishes have regular meetings three or four times each year and develop a plan to share ministries, programs and resources.

What is a parish cluster? A parish cluster is two or more parishes designated by the bishop to share a pastor, while

remaining separate entities. The parishes in a cluster will plan to share staff, programs and ministries, as well as faun a regional or cluster pastoral council. Each parish must retain a separate finance council, but these groups may meet and plan together.

What happens when parishes merge? When parishes merge, there is one pastor, one staff, one parish pastoral council and one

finance council. The parish could maintain one or multiple church sites. The assets and liabilities become the responsibility of the new parish entity and savings and endowments for specific purposes can be restricted. The new parish community may or may not take on a new name, but the name of an individual church, once it has been dedicated, cannot be changed.

What is the difference between a parish and a church? Parish refers to the people within the Church – the worshipping community comprised

of those who seek to be followers of Christ and share the mission of the Catholic Church; whereas, the church is the physical structure that houses the people and where the rites, sacraments, liturgies and many ministries involving the parish occur.

What is a mission parish? Mission parishes are like satellites of a parish. The pastor of the main parish serves as

the pastor of the mission parish, as well. Services such as religious education, marriage preparation, etc. are often provided through the main parish only.

What is a chapel (oratory)? Chapels (oratories) can have various connotations in the Church. For the purpose of this

plan, a chapel (oratory) is a place of worship under the care of a parish reserved for specific uses, but not necessarily weekly Mass. Who is a pastor?

A pastor is a priest responsible for the pastoral care of a parish community entrusted to him by appointment of the diocesan bishop, under whom he exercises his duties by collaborating with his parishioners and ministers. Besides fulfilling their sacramental and catechetical ministries, pastors are responsible for finances, building maintenance, parish programs and coordinating the entire parish mission, fostering lay ministries in particular. (Encyclopedia of Catholicism)

What if a parish is closed? Closing a parish is a canonical declaration by the bishop of Grand Rapids in consultation

with the Presbyteral Council that a parish ceases to exist. When a parish is closed, the remaining parish boundaries are redefined and Catholics are invited to join a parish within the newly defined parish boundaries.

Our Faith, Our Future Questions and answers

27

FAITH Grand Rapids / May 2012 / www.dioceseofgrandrapids.org

Copyright © and (P) 1988–2006 Microsoft Corporation and/or its suppliers. All rights reserved. http://www.microsoft.com/mappoint/Portions © 1990–2005 InstallShield Software Corporation. All rights reserved. Certain mapping and direction data © 2005 NAVTEQ. All rights reserved. The Data for areas of Canada includesinformation taken with permission from Canadian authorities, including: © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, © Queen's Printer for Ontario. NAVTEQ and NAVTEQ ON BOARD are trademarks of NAVTEQ. © 2005 Tele Atlas North America, Inc. All rights reserved. Tele Atlas and Tele Atlas North America are trademarks of Tele Atlas, Inc.

Ionia Deanery

0 mi 5 10 15Copyright © and (P) 1988–2006 Microsoft Corporation and/or its suppliers. All rights reserved. http://www.microsoft.com/mappoint/Portions © 1990–2005 InstallShield Software Corporation. All rights reserved. Certain mapping and direction data © 2005 NAVTEQ. All rights reserved. The Data for areas of Canada includesinformation taken with permission from Canadian authorities, including: © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, © Queen's Printer for Ontario. NAVTEQ and NAVTEQ ON BOARD are trademarks of NAVTEQ. © 2005 Tele Atlas North America, Inc. All rights reserved. Tele Atlas and Tele Atlas North America are trademarks of Tele Atlas, Inc.

Muskegon Deanery

0 mi 1 2 3 4 5

Copyright © and (P) 1988–2006 Microsoft Corporation and/or its suppliers. All rights reserved. http://www.microsoft.com/mappoint/Portions © 1990–2005 InstallShield Software Corporation. All rights reserved. Certain mapping and direction data © 2005 NAVTEQ. All rights reserved. The Data for areas of Canada includesinformation taken with permission from Canadian authorities, including: © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, © Queen's Printer for Ontario. NAVTEQ and NAVTEQ ON BOARD are trademarks of NAVTEQ. © 2005 Tele Atlas North America, Inc. All rights reserved. Tele Atlas and Tele Atlas North America are trademarks of Tele Atlas, Inc.

Grand Haven Deanery

0 mi 5 10 15Copyright © and (P) 1988–2006 Microsoft Corporation and/or its suppliers. All rights reserved. http://www.microsoft.com/mappoint/Portions © 1990–2005 InstallShield Software Corporation. All rights reserved. Certain mapping and direction data © 2005 NAVTEQ. All rights reserved. The Data for areas of Canada includesinformation taken with permission from Canadian authorities, including: © Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, © Queen's Printer for Ontario. NAVTEQ and NAVTEQ ON BOARD are trademarks of NAVTEQ. © 2005 Tele Atlas North America, Inc. All rights reserved. Tele Atlas and Tele Atlas North America are trademarks of Tele Atlas, Inc.

Grand Rapids-North Deanery

0 mi 2 4 6 8 10 12

Our Faith Our Future

28

Vision and criteria for vital parishes The document Vision and Criteria for Vital Parishes, which was developed with input from all the deaneries of the Diocese of Grand Rapids, has been finalized. The criteria represent the wisdom of all the parishes in the diocese in regard to what pastoral activity should be present in a vital parish. Parish leadership teams also have made recommendations as to how individual parishes can use the document to renew and revitalize their faith communities. A vital parish should have the resources neces-sary to achieve the vision, either as a single entity or in collaboration with other parishes. This means new structures may be needed where parish vital-ity is not possible under the current organization, or it may call forth new leadership models. The principles in the vision should be adapted to each local situation and provide criteria from which local parishes will develop their own plans. These elements are necessary for the building of parish communities that are faithful to the Gospel of Jesus Christ, vibrant in worship and united in purpose. In being true to the Word of God and consistent with the teachings of the Church, the fol-lowing elements are necessary and desired.

Worship and the sacraments Evangelization Leadership and mission Pastoral care Faith formation and Catholic education Parish commmunity Serving others Stewardship

Summary of Priest Personnel (July 1, 2012)

Total priests serving in the Diocese of Grand Rapids – 120

Diocesan priests – 96

Active diocesan priests – 60

Senior (retired) diocesan priests – 34

Diocesan priests on medical leave – 2

Religious priests serving in the Diocese of Grand Rapids – 19

Paulist Fathers (2 retired) – 7

Redemptorist Fathers (3 retired) – 6

Pallottine Fathers (India) – 3

Dominican Fathers (1 retired) – 1

Vincentian Fathers – 2

Active priests from other dioceses – 5

Summary of highlights

Merge/maintain church

St. James with the Basilica of St. Adalbert – 2012

St. Mary and St. Paul Campus, Big Rapids – 2012

St. Ann, Baldwin and St. Ignatius, Luther – 2011

SS Peter and Paul, GR with the Basilica of St. Adalbert – when pastor retires/moves

St. Mary, GR with the Basilica of St. Adalbert – when the Basilica pastor retires/moves

St. Mary, Miriam with St. Joseph, Belding – 2012

St. Mary of the Woods, Lakewood Club with Prince of Peace, North Muskegon

Sacred Heart, Evart and St. Agnes, Marion with St. Philip Neri, Reed City

Christ the King, Howard City with St. Francis de Sales, Lakeview

St. Margaret Mary Alacoque, Edmore with St. Bernadette of Lourdes, Stanton – 2012

St. Jerome, Scottville with St. Mary, Custer – 2012

Merge/close church

St. Stanislaus, Ludington with St. Simon, Ludington – 2011

Sacred Heart, Victory with St. Simon, Ludington – 2011

St. Dominic, Wyoming with St. John Vianney, Wyoming – when pastor retires

Our Lady of Sorrows with the Cathedral of Saint Andrew or the Shrine of St. Francis Xavier/Our Lady of Guadalupe – when pastor retires

Our Lady of Guadalupe Mission, Grant with St. Bartholomew, Newaygo – 2011

Change of status

Santa Clara Mission, Coral, merged with Mary Queen of Apostles, Sand Lake and becomes a seasonal chapel (oratory)

St. Margaret of Scotland, Harvard, attached to Mary Queen of Apostles, Sand Lake and the site is moved to Cedar Springs

St. Michael, Muskegon, clustered with St. Francis de Sales (Norton Shores)

St. Anne Mission, Paris, a chapel (oratory) of St. Philip Neri, Reed City

St. Vincent, Pentwater, a summer seasonal chapel (oratory) of St. Joseph, Weare

St. John the Baptist, Claybanks as a seasonal chapel (oratory) of St. James, Montague

Clustered

St. Edward, Lake Odessa with SS Peter and Paul, Ionia

St. Anthony, Saranac with St. Mary, Lowell – 2012

Our Lady of Grace with St. Mary of the Immaculate Conception/St. Jean Baptiste, Muskegon

Sacred Heart, Muskegon Heights with St. Thomas the Apostle, Muskegon Township

St. Mary, Marne with St. Michael, Coopersville – 2012

St. Catherine, Ravenna; St. Francis Xavier, Conklin; St. Joseph, Wright – 2011

St. James, Montague with Our Lady of the Assumption, Rothbury

St. Joseph, White Cloud with St. Bartholomew, Newaygo

29

FAITH Grand Rapids / May 2012 / www.dioceseofgrandrapids.org

Father Ron Hutchinson is director of priestly vocations for the Catholic Diocese of Grand Rapids. Contact Father Hutchinson at rhutchinson@dioceseofgrandrapids.org.

vocationsopen to God’s call

This can, at times, be a daunting task – especially given the weakness associated with the human condition. Although, by the laying on of hands and anointing with sacred chrism, I have received the grace of the sacrament of ordination, it by no means made me a perfect human being. My faults and failings are all too often apparent and can get in the way of Christ being seen in my actions. This is the same human condition to which all Christians can fall prey at times. However, in the depth of my heart, I know that God called me to serve his Church as a priest and that God knows my human flaws and forgives my failures, but has called me in spite of them. Too often, men discerning the priesthood will express that they are not worthy to serve the Church as a priest. How true. None of us are. However, it is God who makes us worthy. By his grace, we were formed in the womb. By his grace, we are called to serve him and his Church. By his grace, we are made worthy. Not by any work of our own are we worthy, but only by God’s grace can we be made worthy. After hearing the complete lectionary

cycle many times over in my 17years of priesthood, I have come to a greater appreciation of God’s grace at work in the lives of those he calls to serve his people. Whether it is Noah, or Moses, or Jonah, or John the Baptist, all the great figures of biblical history were asked to serve God not because they were without flaws. No, they were called because God saw the potential they possessed. Potential that, with his grace, could show God and his plan to others. It was God’s grace, combined with Noah’s potential, that enabled Noah to ignore the taunting of his neighbors and continue to trust in God’s word to him as he built the ark and waited for the flood. It was God’s grace, combined with John the Baptists’ potential, that enabled John to endure prison and martyrdom at the hands of Herod. It is God’s grace, combined with my potential, that enables me to stand before the people of God each weekend and bring God’s word to life for our time. It is God’s grace, combined with my potential, that enables me to speak a word of comfort to the sick and dying

when I can’t imagine what to say as we come together in the midst of their pain and suffering. It is God’s grace, combined with my potential, that enables me to put aside my plans and needs in order to go on a hospital call or go to anoint someone sick or dying. Does God’s grace always overcome my flawed nature? I readily admit it doesn’t sometimes because I don’t cooperate with it. Like all people I sin. I say no to God’s plan. I am not proud of these moments, but they are a reality for which I seek God’s forgiveness. If I were a robot that could be programmed, maybe I wouldn’t fail God and God’s people. But I am not a machine. I am a human being, who, like many great figures in biblical history, relies heavily on God’s mercy in order to do the work that God has called me to do. I do my best, imperfect as that best may be sometimes, with the help of God!

e wish to see Jesus.” (John 12:21) This request addressed to the apostle Philip by some

Greeks who had made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem for the Passover echoes spiritually

in our ears, too. Like those pilgrims of 2,000 years ago, the men and women of our own day, often perhaps unconsciously, ask believers not only to “speak” of Christ, but in a certain sense to “show” him to them. “And is it not the Church’s task to reflect the light of Christ in every historical period, to make his face shine also before the generations of the new millennium?” These words by the late Pope John Paul II were addressed to pilgrims during the Jubilee Year in 2000. They point out so clearly that the work of the entire Church, but especially the ordained, is to not only to share what they know of Christ verbally, but in action as well.

‘‘WShow us Jesus

30

Shortly before Jesus was arrested, a remarkable banquet was given in his honor, in the course of which Mary, the sister of Lazarus and Martha, poured out an extremely expensive perfume over his head. Some of his disciples who witnessed what was happening (especially the betrayer, Judas) criticized it as an astonishingly wasteful extravagance. Undeterred, Jesus predicted that wherever in the whole world the good news about him would be told, Mary’s gesture would forever linger as a fragrant and honored memory.

Jesus came rightly by his great admiration for the generosity of others, in as much as a grandness of spirit was in his own family tradition. His earthly father was known to bend his own wishes to whatever God wished for him to do, especially where the care and protection of his family was concerned. His mother gave voice to God’s call to her with one of the greatest prayers rendered in the pages of the Bible, the Magnificat, in which she sings of how the lavish mercies of God have embraced the little and lowly ones of this world, not least of all, herself. With this prayer, she placed her whole destiny at the service of God.

It was in this totally giving spirit that Jesus gave himself to the service of others. He not only amply provided food for the hungry who would follow him, even up the slopes of a mountain, but he bequeathed to all of us the eucharistic banquet as a new covenant with him and a pledge of everlasting glory. He extended reconciliation to one and all, so that human beings could become family to one another, as well as family with God. Jesus remains forever a fragrant anointing for a wounded humanity, an anointing that perfumes the entire household of faith.

uring the course of Jesus’ ministry, he often showed his admiration for people’s generosity. Once, while teaching in the temple

area, he pointed out to his disciples the utter self-giving of the poor widow who was offering her whole livelihood to God in the two small coins she placed in the treasury. At another time, he told a story about an outsider, a Samaritan, responding to someone in need with true neighborly love and care.

D

msgr. Gaspar f. Ancona is a senior priest of the Catholic Diocese of Grand Rapids.

last wordThe fragrance of spring

Veritas # 28 Young Adult Retreat Weekend

To register, contact the director – Brianne Weber – at brianne872006@yahoo.com or 989.640.4486. Location: SS. Peter and Paul Church in Grand Rapids. Visit the Veritas Grand Rapids Facebook page for additional details and information

Men’s Spirituality Breakfast

This monthly series offers men an opportunity to gather together for a hot breakfast, presentation and conversation about a variety of spiritual topics as they relate specifically to men. The time frame is 7:00 a.m. - 8:00 a.m. for breakfast and the program; 8:00 a.m. – 8:30 a.m. with continued discussion for those who are able to stay. Cost: $35 for the series of four below, or $10 for individual sessions.

May 23 - A Pathway to Fathering with Al Heystek, MA, LPC, MDiv

June 27 - Discerning Life’s Choices with Father Joachim Lally, C.S.P.

July 25 - Living Faith in the Marketplace with Mayor George Heartwell

Aug. 22 - Breaking the Man Code with Brian Plachta, spiritual director

Corpus Christi Procession

St. Mary, Spring Lake and St Patrick Catholic Community, Grand Haven

Procession will begin at 2:30 p.m. at St. Mary, Spring Lake. The procession will include 2.5 mile walk and will close with Benedication and a light reception at St Patrick Catholic Community, Grand Haven. Bus service will be available for those who tire along the route or are unable to walk in the procession.

save the date

May18-20

May23

June10

Dave Taylor

On April 15, 2012 Bishop Walter A. Hurley celebrated Mass at the Cathedral of Saint Andrew with the Knights and Ladies of Peter Claver during their Northern District Conference held in Grand Rapids.

On April 15, 2012 Bishop Walter A. Hurley celebrated Mass at the Cathedral of Saint Andrew with the Knights and Ladies of Peter Claver during their Northern District Conference held in Grand Rapids.

31

p l e a s e r e c y c l e

360 Division Avenue S. Grand Rapids, MI 49503-4539 www.dioceseofgrandrapids.orgwww.fAItHgrandrapids.org

online:

“God has called me into a land where so much good can be accomplished….”Father Freder ic Baraga, descr ib ing h is f i rs t t r ip to the Grand River | June, 1833

Prayer for Our Faith, Our Future

God of all ages,by the grace of your Spirit,we have accomplished much goodin this land of forests, lakes and farms, quiet towns and changing cities.Expand our hearts and minds,that we may eagerly accept the challenge of the Gospel in our time,and anticipate with wisdom and couragethe future of your church in the Diocese of Grand Rapids.We make this prayer through our Lord Jesus Christ,your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,one God forever and ever. Amen.

Prayer for Our Faith, Our Future

God of all ages,by the grace of your Spirit,we have accomplished much goodin this land of forests, lakes and farms, quiet towns and changing cities.Expand our hearts and minds,that we may eagerly accept the challenge of the Gospel in our time,and anticipate with wisdom and couragethe future of your church in the Diocese of Grand Rapids.We make this prayer through our Lord Jesus Christ,your Son, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,one God forever and ever. Amen.