March 11 , 2005 - Issue #5
Local News | Opinion/Editorials | Letters to the Editor
Korean Catholics welcome new priest
Editor’s Note: The Korean Catholic Community recently welcomed two new Korean sisters in addition to their new pastor. The sisters’ story will appear in the March 25 issue.
A handmade pink welcome sign decorating the front doors of the Korean Center signifies a recent changing of the guard for Anchorage’s Korean Catholic Community.
The community, which shares St. Anthony Church with that parish, recently welcomed a new pastor from South Korea’s Cheongju Diocese, Father Min-Sung Peter Yu.
In a Feb. 20 ceremony, Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz installed the priest for service to the Korean Catholic Community.
As the community members welcomed Father Yu, they also said goodbye to Father In Yong Anselm Shin, also of the Cheongju Diocese, who served as their pastor for almost three years.
The departing priest assured Father Yu that his new parishioners are "really generous and doing well in their faith," Father Yu said, speaking through interpreter Hyosin Mary Wilson.
Between laughs, Father Yu, dressed in a long black cassock, used some of the English he learned in school, such as, "I like skiing — downhill," which he did recently on the slopes of Mount Alyeska at the invitation of some of his young new parishioners. Parish altar servers were his guides on the ski slopes in Korea, the 41-year-old priest added.
In the Cheongju Diocese, southeast of Seoul, priests can express a general preference for an overseas assignment and then are appointed to a region, according to Father Yu.
The diocese ministers to Korean-Americans in Alabama, California and Missouri and has been sending priests to Anchorage since 1997 at the request of Anchorage Archbishop Francis Hurley, who has since retired. For seven years before that, priests from Korea’s Taegu Diocese ministered to Anchorage’s Korean Catholics.
Father Yu is the seventh Korean priest to serve the community, according to Wilson, a longtime member of the Korean Catholic Community and 30-year Anchorage resident.
"It’s a gift that we have — the Korean priests," she said.
Hearing the Mass in her native language helps her connect better to the liturgy, she said.
"I am more touched by my own language," she said. "We can grow more in our language."
The majority of Anchorage’s Korean Catholic parishioners are first-generation immigrants who grew up praying and worshiping in their homeland, Wilson said.
It’s not by way of a vocations boom that Korean priests come to Anchorage but because of a mission to care for their Catholic people in the United States, Father Yu said.
"It’s a hardship for the Cheongju Diocese to send priests here," he said, but "it is very important … for Korean people to be looked after so they can grow in faith."
The diocese’s Web site shows that as of Dec. 31, 2003, there were 135 priests serving 130,422 Catholics there.
Father Yu has served in parish leadership roles since his ordination in 1992. For the last three years, he was pastor to the 2,000 families of Bong-Bang-do Catholic Church in Chung-ju, population 200,000. That’s about 60,000 residents shy of Anchorage’s population.
The Korean Catholic Community, now with 190 families, started with about ten families who gathered to pray in their own language in the early 1980s.
The community worships at St. Anthony but has long dreamed of having its own church, Wilson said. Members have raised money selling traditional Korean food over the years with that goal in mind.
Wilson said their own church would encourage greater involvement among inactive Korean Catholics.
Father Yu has quickly adopted the community’s dream.
"The needs of our Korean Catholic Community (include) being physically independent," he said.
Father Yu said he wants to "build a firm ground (that) our Korean Catholics can stand on where we can obtain our own spaces."
On a recent Saturday night, Father Yu and two Korean Sisters of St. Paul de Chartres, Sister Dothilia Moon and Sister Acella Lee, visited the home of Gabriel and Lithia Kim in east Anchorage. There they prayed with about 10 people from one of the Korean Catholic Community’s seven "small village groups" scattered around Anchorage.
Sitting on the floor at short tables, they shared a meal of tempura-fried vegetables, kim chee and "hae dup bop" — a mixed bowl of spicy noodles, cuttlefish, salmon, steak, rice and flying-fish roe. The village group meets monthly to pray the rosary, share Scripture and plan fund-raisers.
At each meeting, Wilson said, they pray for a church.
At the dinner table, Father Yu explained how his godmother’s prayers worked in his life. In 1965, his mother, nine months pregnant, bounced along an unpaved road in a bus for two hours to attend the installation of Father Peter Hwang Seong-min as bishop of the Taejon Diocese.
On the return trip, she gave birth to him in the bus with the help of a woman who became his godmother. The impromptu midwife named him after the new bishop, Peter, and prayed for him to become a priest, which he did 27 years later.
Moving to Anchorage, which Father Yu said his colleagues in Korea regard as "the wilds," happened after a "long, hard week of prayer," he said.
Father Yu’s Anchorage assignment is for two years with an option to extend after that.
Alaska’s Catholic Daughters split with Alaska Right to Life
Alaska’s Catholic Daughters of the Americas group announced Feb. 22 that it, too, is cutting ties with Alaska Right to Life.
The move by St. Pius X Court No. 1866, which covers the entire Anchorage Archdiocese and is the only Catholic Daughters court in the state, follows the lead of the Knights of Columbus, whose statewide deputy, Tom Malone, in January told councils in the Anchorage Archdiocese not to allow Alaska Right to Life to speak at Knight functions and not to make financial contributions to the anti-abortion group.
The Catholic Daughters court adopted Malone’s directive at a Feb. 9 meeting and informed the Anchor of the decision Feb. 22.
The parting of ways is the result of Alaska Right to Life’s actions before and during a memorial service for the unborn that Anchorage Knights of Columbus organized.
The Knights had invited Alaska Right to Life to participate in the Jan. 22 service, as they do every year. But the invitation to speak was withdrawn when the president of Alaska Right to Life, Ed Wassell, informed the Knights that his board planned to use the occasion to call on Archbishop Schwietz to halt a controversial pregnancy procedure at Providence Alaska Medical Center.
Alaska Right to Life considers the procedure, sometimes called "early induction of labor for fetuses with anomalies incompatible with life," to be abortion, according to Wassell. The group has publicly accused the Anchorage hospital of performing abortion, which is strictly forbidden in Catholic facilities, and regularly pickets the hospital. In letters and private meetings, Alaska Right to Life has repeatedly asked Archbishop Schwietz to put a stop to the procedure.
The archbishop and Providence leadership deny the allegations. The hospital has a team that includes neonatal specialists, an ethicist and a chaplain who go over each request for early induction to ensure that Catholic principles are upheld. The president of the authoritative National Catholic Bioethics Center of Boston told the Anchor last month that the hospital’s updated guidelines on early induction conform to Catholic moral teachings.
When the Knights of Columbus declined Alaska Right to Life’s plan to challenge the archbishop during the Jan. 22 memorial service, the organization distributed a statement at the event instead.
The flier, on Alaska Right to Life letterhead, refers to the "outrageous policy of Providence Hospital performing late-term abortion" and accuses Archbishop Schwietz of "tolerating" abortion. It calls the archbishop’s failure to halt the procedure a "grotesque inconsistency and blindness" and announces that Alaska Right to Life "cannot join in any ceremony that includes the archbishop or his diocesan representatives."
Seven of the 13 members of the Alaska Right to Life board are Catholic. Last month Wassell said the vote to speak out at the prayer service was unanimous, which the Anchor reported in its Feb. 11 issue. But Wassell corrected himself last week, saying that not all 13 members had voted on the resolution and that one member who was present when the vote was taken had abstained.
A week after the memorial service, Knights councils in the Anchorage Archdiocese received word from state deputy Malone that they are not to associate with or give money to Alaska Right to Life until further notice.
The Catholic Daughters court followed suit a short time later.
In response to an interview request, Wassell e-mailed the following statement to the Anchor: "Alaska Right to Life is saddened that the Knights of Columbus and Catholic Daughters, two fine pro-life organizations, will not join it in asking the archbishop to stop this horrific procedure at Providence."
The St. Pius X Court of Catholic Daughters has about 130 members. They donate about $3,600 per year to various charities, according to the group’s current leader, or regent, Marcy Adkins of Anchorage.
Adkins said Alaska Right to Life has been a regular recipient of the court’s charity, and she added that she hopes the disagreement is resolved amicably because the Daughters share so many "common goals" with the organization.
Malone, the top Knight in Alaska, echoed that sentiment.
"We certainly hope it’s not a permanent split," he said. "But unlike Alaska Right to Life, we are a Catholic organization. They certainly don’t have to follow the teachings of the Catholic Church, but we do, and we will."
There are 20 Knights of Columbus councils statewide, but the cessation of interaction with Alaska Right to Life affects only the 16 councils in the Anchorage Archdiocese. A little over 1,000 Knights live in the archdiocese, with another 600 spread between the Fairbanks and Juneau dioceses.
Statewide, the Knights of Columbus distributed $104,081 to charities last year, according to Malone. He did not know how much money Knights in the Anchorage Archdiocese had given to Alaska Right to Life.
Catholic Daughters of the Americas was founded in New York in 1903 by a group of Knights of Columbus as "a charitable, benevolent and patriotic sorority for Catholic women," according to its Web site.
Today the organization has nearly 95,000 members in 1,400 courts in the United States and abroad.
Renowned priest busy in Anchorage
His award-winning column is carried by more than 50 newspapers worldwide (including this one), and his retreats and widely read books bring inspiration and insight to countless Catholics.
So it was surprising to hear Oblate of Mary Immaculate Father Ron Rolheiser say: "I’ve never been a full-time writer and preacher. I’ve sort of done that in the cracks."
Obviously this is a busy man. With a doctorate from the University of Louvain, Belgium, and areas of specialization in systematic theology, philosophy, mysticism and spirituality, he has focused primarily on teaching theology and philosophy and serving in leadership positions in his order.
But thanks to the persistent invitation of his close friend and fellow Oblate Archbishop Roger Schwietz, Father Rolheiser took time for an early March visit to Anchorage, where he gave several talks and a weekend retreat.
The main theme of Father Rolheiser’s presentations was discipleship. In an interview with the Anchor, he said he sees three areas where the church, particularly in Western industrialized nations, can grow in discipleship.
"Polarization needs to be addressed," he said. "We’re highly polarized, not just in the ecclesial community, but in our political culture."
Within the Catholic community, Father Rolheiser said there’s too much labeling — "conservative Catholic," "liberal Catholic." The end results are a demonizing of others who don’t agree with you and a breakdown of community.
"We’ve got to throw away the labels," he said. "Jesus was a person of faith, not of labels."
Father Rolheiser also stressed the importance of missiology, or evangelization, which he described as the mission of the church.
"Today in our church we know what to do with people who come to church, but we don’t know how to bring people into the church," he said. "How do we take the church to those who are no longer practicing, or who have never practiced?"
Third, Father Rolheiser said he would like to see Catholics reawaken to their mystical tradition.
"As Catholics, we have wonderful riches in our sacramental tradition, and we’ve made progress reawakening the biblical tradition which Protestants have always done well."
But the mystical tradition, embodied in the writings of people such as St. John of the Cross and Julian of Norwich, and in the spiritual exercises of St. Ignatius Loyola, is largely "an untapped well," he said:
"And there is great wonder and depth inside that well."
Father Rolheiser sees the present church "in a state of massive diminishment" in the Western world.
Although one can find "pockets of vibrancy," statistically church attendance and vocations to the priesthood and consecrated life have fallen sharply.
"In terms of the culture as a whole, the church has been marginalized," he said.
Father Rolheiser said two cultural factors contribute to this marginalization in the West: increased secularity and excessive individuality.
These factors aren’t totally negative, he said.
"With secularity, you have freedom from religion, but you also have freedom for religion," Father Rolheiser said.
He compares the situation of the church in the West to "a desert experience," then adds: "And the desert is a good place to be."
So what’s the future for the church? That, he said, is sort of like looking at your adolescents and wondering how they’ll turn out.
But he believes the church has a wonderful future.
"Jesus comes out of every tomb he’s ever been crucified and put into," he said.
Father Rolheiser, a slightly built, soft-spoken man with a graying mustache, is a product of the plains of western Canada. He described his hometown as a "sheltering farming community in the middle of nowhere."
His German grandparents came from Russia during the great immigration influx of the early 20th century. Father Rolheiser attributes his strong spirituality to his parents and the Oblate priests who served his parish and inspired him in his vocation.
For nearly 28 years, Father Rolheiser taught at Newman Theological College in Edmonton, Alberta. He is an adjunct faculty member at Seattle University, and in August will become president of the Oblate School of Theology in San Antonio.
In the 1990s, he served as provincial of what was then the Saskatoon Province of the Oblates in Canada, and later served as part of the order’s general council in Rome.
With his heavy academic background, it may surprise people to pick up his popular books, which are written in simple and concise language.
"The Holy Longing," "Against an Infinite Horizon" and "The Shattered Lantern" are some of his best-selling titles, written for the everyday Catholic yearning to be a better disciple.
Despite a bout of the flu the week before coming to Anchorage, Father Rolheiser kept up a busy pace while in town. He spoke at Theology on Tap, made presentations to local priests and sisters, gave a public lecture at Holy Spirit Center, and presented a weekend retreat titled "The Holy Longing: The Search for a Generative Discipleship."
A powerful touch
Editor’s Note: Msgr. Richard Allen, a retired priest of the Diocese of Charlotte, N.C., has been serving as a supply priest in the Anchorage Archdiocese since 2000. While at home in the Carolinas for a visit recently, he was diagnosed with liver cancer and was told it was terminal. Friends encouraged him to stay there, where they could care for him. But Msgr. Allen wanted to return to Alaska to "live out what remained" of his life here, he told the Anchor recently. Back in Anchorage, the experience he and Father William Hanrahan write about below occurred. Then, Msgr. Allen went to see his Anchorage surgeon, Dr. Jim O’Malley, who flew into action in search of alternative treatments. Dr. O’Malley found a surgeon in New York who may be able to operate on Msgr. Allen. The priest left Anchorage on Feb. 26 for New York. Here are excerpts from the letter he sent the Anchor just before departing, and from Father Hanrahan’s letter, and from a related commentary.
I was recently diagnosed with liver cancer. The prognosis by many doctors was not hopeful for surviving.
Early in February, Archbishop Schwietz had called together the priests, deacons, sisters and lay pastoral administrators for a day of meetings and discussions concerning the pastoral needs of our far-flung archdiocese.
Having just returned from a visit to my home diocese in North Carolina, I wanted to share my cancer diagnosis with Archbishop Schwietz and let him know I would be taking leave of Alaska based on this diagnosis.
I was asked to wait a few minutes, and then was invited to come into the church of St. Nicholas of Myra, where the meeting was being held. They asked me to sit in the middle of the church within the circle of 30-35 priests. The deacons, sisters and lay administrators extended the circle. The priests administered the sacrament of the anointing of the sick and the others laid their hands on my head and prayed for me.
I recently received the following e-mail from one of the priests who was present at this occasion. Others have called and sent me notes.
I share this so that readers might get a look into the minds and hearts of the clergy that serve them. It was indeed a "miracle" in the making.
A few weeks after this occasion at St. Nicholas of Myra I am on my way to Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York. Through the generosity of some dedicated medical folks here in Anchorage, they have found a surgeon who specializes in the kind of operation that could help me. Thank you for your prayers for me, and all who suffer from cancer.
— Msgr. Richard Allen, Anchorage
Dick,
Have been thinking about you fairly regularly since the clergy meeting. I’m guessing you’ve had messages from some of the other priests about your farewell at the meeting and how much you touched them with your words and reflection on the priesthood and yours in particular.
Mostly what I wanted to tell you is how much the anointing meant to me and the humility with which you allowed yourself in your moment of vulnerability to be touched by not only the archbishop and brother priests, but also the others, deacons, sisters and lay leaders in our archdiocese, many of whom I’m sure were the recipients of your pastoral care rather than the other way around.
As I took my turn in the imposition of hands, it was a humbling experience to reflect on the power of the priesthood that was bigger than my own personal imperfections being not only passed on but welling up in me in spite of my imperfections and dare I say sinfulness.
I guess I would say that like the others, I found your words edifying but I want to particularly express my thanks to you for the gift of touch and the gentle humbleness your presence afforded us in that special hour.
As I say goodbye, I would like to share with you the words of a priest from my home archdiocese (Newark, NJ) written for our archdiocesan paper as his reflection on the Easter Gospel about the apostle, Thomas. He broke with the standard doubting Thomas pitch and offered an insight that I thought was so unique, I cut out his words from the paper (it was 1979) and saved them.
You gave them special meaning that day. Thank you.
— Father Bill Hanrahan, Seward
"The Living Word — The Gift of Touch"
Sunday’s Gospel, familiar to us all, gives us again an example that all of us might follow. We have Jesus, in resurrection as in life, reaching out and touching the fearful, the confused, the sick of heart, the lonely and the estranged.
He touches them as they are, but even more interestingly, his words to Thomas tell us that he is willing to be touched. He allows those people who are confused, lonely and even those lacking faith to touch him.
This aspect of allowing himself to be touched is important for all of us since so often we are involved in touching people’s lives, but not to the point where we allow them to touch our lives.
It is as if we believe that love could exist in a vacuum, as in days past when the institutional church wished to touch people without inviting a reciprocal touch. Today’s clergy, in fact, all the people of God, must invite the touch of those they seek to serve if they would truly serve.
— Father Gerard Graziano, writing in the Advocate newspaper, Newark, N.J., 1979
Russian Connection
Many Alaska Catholics feel drawn to cross the Bering Strait, and one man’s journey led to the priesthood
When the Iron Curtain crumbled and the once impenetrable Russian Far East opened to its Alaskan neighbors, a strange thing began to happen.
It was as if a spiritual pull of almost magnetic force drew Alaskan Catholics to Russia. Whether it was Archbishop Francis Hurley, who offered the first public Mass ever in Magadan, or Father Michael Shields, who has served in that city since 1994, many Alaskans have journeyed across the Bering Strait for what they describe as life-altering experiences.
Janez Sever is another chapter in this spiritual story.
Actually, now it’s Jesuit Father Janez Sever, but when his Alaskan story began he was a soldier at Fort Richardson in Anchorage. A 1987 graduate of West Point, the young man arrived in Anchorage in 1988 with every intention of being a career military man.
Today, Father Sever, a talented photographer who dreams of completing a book of photos of Russia’s Catholics, is preparing to begin serving in the Jesuit region of Russia, an area that includes all of the former Soviet Union except for the Balkan states.
What happened in the years between includes romance, an opening to a life of prayer and, of course, a journey to Russia.
Father Sever was born in 1965 to Slovenian immigrants in Cleveland. As a child, he spoke Slovenian at home, and when he was a teenager, the future priest accompanied his parents on a trip to their native land, a journey that made a deep impression on him.
"In a sense, I feel at home anywhere I go," Father Sever recently told the Anchor. "I seem to adapt. I realized that when I was in Slovenia. I thought, ‘I could stay here.’ "
After the family moved to Milwaukee, Father Sever attended a Jesuit high school there and then went on to West Point. He majored in Russian, partly out of "pragmatism," he said, because Slovenian, in which he was fluent, has the same roots as Russian.
After graduation, the Army sent Father Sever to Alaska. He dreamed of going into diplomatic work but spent a lot of time "walking and shooting," he said with a laugh.
Doubts about his career choice, and a long-distance relationship with a California woman, led him to make a retreat at Holy Spirit Center, the archdiocesan operation in Anchorage.
"My prayer life began again as a result of the retreat," Father Sever said, and "led me to continue daily prayer to see where the path would lead."
Meanwhile, the romantic relationship made him realize that his values and dreams didn’t fit in with an Army career.
"Combined with a new prayer life and based on love, I said no to the Army," Father Sever recalled. He got out of the service in 1992.
Eventually, the relationship with the woman ended, but morning prayer continued to "set straight my whole day," he said.
Father Sever’s enduring love of travel, knowledge of Russian and eastern European heritage drove him to one conclusion: "One way or the other, I’m going to Russia."
Business contacts didn’t work out, but Father Sever had read about Archbishop Hurley’s work in Russia and asked for a meeting.
The archbishop sent the young man to Magadan, where he did manual labor for Father Austin Mohrbacher, then the pastor of the fledgling Catholic parish there. Father Sever also helped with humanitarian aid sent from Alaska to Magadan and eventually traveled to other parishes in Russia.
Archbishop Hurley, who retired in 2001, said he could sense Father Sever was experiencing a call to priesthood. But it would take the young man more time to reach the same conclusion.
"It was in Novosibirsk that I realized I wanted to stay in Russia and I wanted to work for the church," Father Sever said. "I just didn’t know how."
Educated by the Jesuits in Milwaukee and influenced by Bishop Josef Werth, the Jesuit bishop in Novosibirsk, Father Sever felt drawn to the order.
One thing stood in the way: He’d become involved with another woman, a Russian. Torn between the possibility of marriage and the lure of the priesthood, Father Sever followed some advice to "just give the novitiate a chance."
As soon as he made the decision to enter the Jesuit novitiate, Father Sever said, he experienced great peace and didn’t look back.
He attended the novitiate in Slovenia and was ordained there in 2002 at Ljubljana, his father’s hometown, with his parents looking on. In between, he studied in Rome, took first vows in Padua, Italy, and spent a year working in Kyrgyzstan.
After ordination, Father Sever studied at the Weston Jesuit School of Theology in Cambridge, Mass., and in January he began more classes at Creighton University in Omaha, Neb.
At Creighton, Father Sever is studying spiritual direction and print and Web design, and spending time with well-known Jesuit photographer Father Don Doll, who first encouraged the young priest in his pursuit of photography.
"My desire is to do a book on Russian Catholics, who are we, where did we come from," Father Sever said.
Photography was the subject of his thesis at Weston, and he now views his art as a ministry.
"I would like to use photography in two ways," he said: "to help people imagine and see how God is in reality very much present in our world and our lives, and to communicate who we are to others, our witness and experience as Russian Catholics who have suffered and continue to struggle today."
In late summer, Father Sever will leave for Russia, where he will be the spiritual director for a pre-seminary in Novosibirsk, in central Russia. He will also serve as director of KANA Catholic TV studio, which began broadcasting last fall.
There are about 45 Jesuits based in Russia.
Father Sever recently launched a new Web site, www.seeandbelieve.org, to showcase his photography. It is still under development but some pictures have been posted.
News & Notes
Students are elementary school’s newspaper staff
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School in South Anchorage has launched a school newspaper, the SEAS Spirit. More than 30 students, ranging from kindergarten to sixth grade, have worked together and published three issues so far of the monthly publication. The Spirit features their school’s sports teams, campus events, opinion pieces, cartoons, movie reviews, photos and even paid advertisements. The press run is about 90 copies, which sell for 25 cents each.
Archbishop's Column
Balance daily doses of negativity with tidings of good news
Recently I received a letter from a friend who is presently serving in the military in Afghanistan.
This is a person I have known for many years — first as a high school student when I was a young assistant priest. Over the years we have kept in touch and I had the privilege of witnessing his marriage and watching his family grow.
I was deeply impressed by what he said in his letter. Though he finds himself in a difficult situation, he said it is a worthwhile service.
"The Afghans I’ve had the pleasure of meeting have all been gracious hosts and seemed eager to get their country on its feet," he said.
My friend talked about the process of preparing the people for a self-governance. It’s a slow process, he says, but something that he feels they truly want. We, as a nation, are fostering something of value to them.
The one thing he worried about, however, was the commitment of his fellow citizens back home. As to the task at hand, he says: "I’m confident that it can be done, but I think it’s going to be longer than the politicians would like. I would hate to feel like our time and effort was wasted for political expediency."
This person is a living example of the fact that American idealism and generosity are still alive. There is a problem, however, that that message does not often get communicated.
The gift of the freedom of the press that we enjoy as a nation is something to be treasured. It adds much to our public discourse and challenges our thinking.
There are times, however, when I feel it can do us a disservice. In those areas of the world where our fellow citizens are valiantly seeking to help the people confront and overcome a culture of violence and death, we often find the media covering not much more than the violence and death. It would lead us to believe that nothing good is happening.
Perhaps it is time for us to rise up as promoters of good news also. As believers and people who love our country, we recognize that there is much that is wrong but that there is good that is done also.
Perhaps some of us need to pledge ourselves to seek ways in which to be messengers of good news. It is important to admit to the negatives, but it is equally important to balance those with the positives so that a balanced picture may be seen.
Though we know that there have been men and women in the service who have not lived up to the high standards of conduct we expect, there are far many more who are generous and dedicated to the ideal of human freedom.
I am sure that you, like me, have met men and women in Alaska who serve at our military bases and are dedicated, principled and generous. They care about people and freedom, and desire to share with others the blessings we share.
Many of us have stories of our fellow citizens who have been generous and faithful in doing their part in bringing freedom to the oppressed. As believers in God’s redeeming work among us, we can recognize that grace is at work here.
I wonder whether our culture doesn’t need a cadre of people who are willing to share the good news of what our fellow citizens are doing. It might raise a sense of hope among us.
Whether in the military or the Peace Corps, the Jesuit Volunteer Corps or Catholic Relief Services, or the many other organizations that make possible the generous service of our fellow citizens to others around the world, countless examples of American self-sacrifice and generosity exist.
Perhaps more of us could dare to say that we are actually proud of these women and men who are putting their lives on the line for an ideal, the dignity of the human person and God-given freedom we hope to promote.
Editorials
No reason for delay on ethics reform
Alaska’s Republican leadership should be acting with more urgency to reform laws governing conflicts of interest.
Former attorney general Gregg Renkes owned more than $120,000 of stock in a company he was promoting. Alaska’s conflict of interest laws are so murky that Renkes’ holdings in KFx were ruled legally "insignificant."
Republicans, who hold the governor’s office and majorities in both houses of the Legislature, should be leading the charge to reform the ethics laws. But that isn’t happening.
Gov. Frank Murkowski said in January he would introduce a bill framed on the recommendations of former U.S. Attorney Robert Bundy, who investigated Renkes. But the governor has since changed his mind.
Sen. Ralph Seekins of Fairbanks, chair of the judiciary committee, said a month ago that he didn’t want to be rushed into applying a "Band-Aid" fix to the problem.
The reforms surely shouldn’t be rushed, but neither should they require more than three months to adopt, especially considering that legislators have Bundy’s report and recommendations at their disposal.
The Democrats, meanwhile, have proposed their own legislation, but there is no guarantee it will be scheduled for hearings. Their proposal sets a low threshold — $5,000 — for how much financial interest a state worker can have in a company before the worker’s official involvement with that company presents a conflict.If the Republicans don’t get something on the table soon, they should at least let the Democrats’ bills see the light of day. This is too important to delay.
Trapping around parks raises concern
A hunting guide recently killed the alpha female wolf from the famous Toklat pack that mainly resides within protected areas of Denali National Park. The animal was trapped a few hundred feet outside a no-trapping zone.
We understand that trapping and other forms of wolf control are tools biologists employ to keep ecosystems balanced and healthy. But trapping is an incredibly cruel practice, and setting traps a few yards from the safety of Alaska’s preeminent national park, where the animals don’t have the same fear of man displayed in unprotected areas, isn’t very sporting, to say the least.
Moreover, trapping as a means of controlling animal numbers is imprecise. Biologists say the loss of the breeding alpha female could break up the Toklat pack — which has been studied since the 1930s and is observed by thousands of tourists in the park every summer.
If wolves or other park animals must be eliminated in order to maintain ecosystem balance, biologists should use trapping only as a last resort.
We’re glad people are talking about the loss of the Toklat alpha female, and we hope the discussion results in more precise, less cruel methods of managing wildlife.
Editor's Note
An item in the Feb. 25 Community Calendar was rescheduled after the Anchor went to press. The March 1 Theology on Tap meeting was moved from the Snow Goose Restaurant to the Hilton Hotel due to Fur Rondy activities. We apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
Corrections
• Knights of Columbus State Deputy Tom Malone lives in Fairbanks, not Juneau, as we incorrectly reported Feb. 11.
• A Feb. 25 editorial contained an error. The National Catholic Bioethics Center of Boston completed its task of helping Providence Alaska Medical Center revise its guidelines on early induction in the summer of 2004, not 2003, as we asserted.
Letters to the Editor
Evolution is nearly complete
It seems to me that we have reached another sublime moment in our human history, for our evolution is nearly complete. Some of us now possess the ability to foretell another human’s duration and purpose in that history.
Homer
Providence saves lives daily
I am responding to the article about Alaska Right to Life and Providence Alaska Medical Center (News, Feb. 11). In November 1995, I was admitted to Providence for a high-risk pregnancy. The nurses and doctors did everything humanly possible to protect the life of my unborn child. In January 1996, the baby was taken by emergency C-section because of heart complications. My baby girl was born at 2.5 pounds and 13 inches long. Again the nurses and the neonatal unit did everything humanly possible to protect the life of my baby. However, she died during surgery, living only six hours. I remember clearly to this day the tears in those doctors’ eyes as they told me the worst fate a mother can bear. Providence hospital is truly saving babies every day. I will always be thankful for the love, care and compassion that I received at Providence.
Wasilla
Suicide is sin, not illness
I was perplexed by the archbishop’s definition of suicide as an "illness" (Archbishop’s Column, Feb. 11). How can suicide be anything but an act of the will? The church itself teaches that while man’s rationality in times of unendurable pain or depression is "diminished" it is not wholly incapacitated. To argue that suicide is an "illness" is to deny the nature of sin. It is completely against man’s nature to kill himself. Further, he sins against the virtue of hope. The euphemism "illness" is a dangerous and gently heretical misnomer for the sinful act of suicide. Beware of euphemisms that seek to obfuscate the seriousness of moral choices. God will ultimately judge man’s soul. Catholics must pray for those who kill themselves. Nevertheless, the objective truth is that in suicide man has despaired of his life and rejected the love of the Father. Tragic though it is, suicide is still a sin.
Anchorage
Glass, clay not fit for Blood
Blessed be Jesus’ most precious Blood. We can drink cheap, common wine from an expensive crystal glass. What we drink at Holy Communion is not wine! We partake of the most precious Blood of our divine Savior. The Blood He poured out to redeem us from our sins. How holy and sublime a mystery! Glass or clay has no place on the altar of God. In fact, they are materials that the Vatican has excluded from being used as sacred vessels, and they want anyone using them to stop. We are not only being disobedient when we use glass or clay, but it seems we are subverting the belief and reverence in the True Presence. Mother Teresa’s sisters crush and bury in the ground any glass or clay vessels that are donated to them. They understand. Let us stand obedient.
Anchorage
It’s time for Exxon to pay up
Please review www.tobermeyer.info by way of background. I was very heartened to read the January 2005 Extension Magazine about the 1989 Exxon-Valdez Oil Spill litigation, which gave a jury award to Alaskan fishermen of at least $5 billion in 1994. I am hoping that there is a nexus between Exxon "paying up" and fair Alaska law licensing. Exxon Mobil has a current market value of $383 billion and for more than a decade has been one of the most consistently profitable companies in the world. It cashed out $25.3 billion in profits in 2004. While holding back billions from Alaskan fishermen, Exxon owns 36.8 percent of Prudhoe Bay oil field, which gives the company profits of up to $3 billion yearly off Alaska while oil prices are high. I call upon Exxon to settle with Alaskan fishermen immediately what they were awarded 11 years ago by a jury.
Anchorage