June 2, 2006 - Issue #11
Local News | Opinion/Editorials | Letters to the Editor
Small parish celebrates long-sought addition
NINILCHIK — The small Catholic parish here has a place to socialize and learn in after the completion of an addition it has sought for a long time.
Archbishop Roger Schwietz dedicated the new construction in a ceremony at St. Peter the Apostle Church after Mass on May 21.
"They’ve been planning this and trying to do this for years," Mercy Sister Carol Ann Aldrich said of the 28 to 30 families that make up the parish. "It’s been a real success for them."
Sister Aldrich is parish director of St. Peter, a mission of St. John the Baptist Parish in Homer.
"We thank God for the love and support of the community," Archbishop Schwietz said during the Mass before the dedication ceremony. "This is a lasting tribute to the faith of this community."
The new space replaces a much smaller parish hall that had long outlived its use, according to project coordinator Ed Harper.
"It was typical Alaskan construction," Harper said of the previous hall. "It was condemned by the fire marshal years ago. It was literally tacked onto the church with a few nails."
Before construction could start last June, the previous structure had to be removed from the attractive brown church that sits just off the Sterling Highway in the heart of this Cook Inlet fishing community.
"It didn’t take long to tear the old building down — only about 30 minutes," Harper said.
The replacement features a more spacious parish hall with a handicap-accessible bathroom on the bottom floor and a classroom on the second floor. A new heating system will supply both the addition and the church.
"We just about tripled the size of the old building that was there," Harper said.
Betsy Vanek said she is particularly happy about how the addition will benefit her children, Thomas, 8, and John, 6.
"We’ll have plenty of space for classes and social activities for the kids," she said. "It’s nice to have a dedicated space for those things. We were kind of tucked away in corners here and there in the church, so it was kind of challenging at times."
Fran and Emil Bartolowits agreed. They remember St. Peter when the congregation worshiped in a legion hall.
"This will be the first time we’ve had a gathering place," Emil Bartolowits said. "We could never have wedding receptions. It’s the young people that will benefit from this more than us."
Harper said finding money for the project was difficult.
"We have very devout people that are here, but it’s a small parish," he said. "The cost of construction rose more every year than the parish could save."
Still, the congregation raised most of the project’s $210,000 budget.
Harper said additional pledges from parishioners, generous giving by summer visitors and a $42,000 loan from the archdiocese allowed work to begin.
Hickel Construction and Engineering of Anchorage was the general contractor for the project, which came in $36,000 under budget.
"They really watched out for us and saved us money everywhere they could," Harper said.
Money that was saved was used to add the heating system and restroom.
Harper also credited former parish director Annemiek Brunklaus for encouraging the parish to start saving for the work years ago.
Brunklaus was in attendance for the dedication.
"We really said we should do something because the building was falling apart," Brunklaus said. "But it was the building committee who really did this. I just did the pushing."
St. Peter the Apostle sits on land that was homesteaded by Viola Hansen’s grandmother. She and her husband, John, have seen a lot of construction during their 50 years of marriage. Four of their seven children had to be baptized in homes instead of a church proper.
"There was no church so it was always in somebody’s home, by word of mouth," Viola Hansen said of the pre-church days. "After 50 years of watching our church grow, it’s so good to see the fruits of our labors."
Modest beginning in the Last Frontier: Five women came to Alaska in 1956 as volunteer teachers. Fifty years later, their work here is seen as the beginning of an international Catholic service organization.
Marge Spils didn’t know she was making history when she headed north in 1956 to teach as a volunteer at Copper Valley School near Glennallen.
The young Massachusetts college graduate — then Marge Mannix — just believed that it was another adventure, and for a good cause.
She was joined by four other young women from Catholic colleges in Massachusetts, all of them persuaded by a warm-hearted Sister of St. Ann to come north to the missions.
For the first couple of months, the women had to cross a stream to use an outhouse, and they learned how to plaster walls and glaze windows before the classrooms were ready for them to start their work of teaching. A friendly lodge owner let them take a weekly shower.
Fifty years later, that small group of women is heralded as the beginning of what was to become the Jesuit Volunteer Corps, now a national and international organization celebrating its 50th year.
The funny thing, Jesuit Father Tom Gallagher told the Anchor last week, is that even though the corps bears the name "Jesuit" now, a St. Ann Sister really came up with the whole idea.
Sister George Edmond traveled to the East Coast to Catholic women’s schools who had lay apostolate programs, Father Gallagher explained. With slide shows and lectures, she recruited young women for Copper Valley, a boarding school serving mostly Native students that was operated jointly by the Jesuits and St. Ann Sisters.
The Jesuits, who brought young men from Jesuit universities to help out during the summers at the school, knew a good thing when they saw it, and by the 1960s, they too were inviting young college graduates to join the newly named "Jesuit Volunteer Corps."
Anniversaries are a good time to ask some questions.
Was the Jesuit Volunteer Corps really the model for President John F. Kennedy’s Peace Corps, as rumor has it?
And what exactly does it mean to be, as the corps’ informal motto promises, "ruined for life?"
Spils, now a member of Holy Family Cathedral in Anchorage, said President Kennedy definitely paid a visit to her alma mater, Regis College, and asked the sister who directed the lay apostolate program, " ‘If people will do this for the church, do you think they’d do it for the country?’ "
As for being "ruined for life," ask a former volunteer about it and they’ll probably smile and proceed to tell you how the corps changed everything.
Marti Pausback was part of Anchorage’s first Jesuit Volunteer Corps community in 1985. A Colorado State University graduate, Pausback grew up in Aspen — a place she describes, along with her parish, as "rich, happy and white."
The Jesuit Volunteer Corps showed her "things I wouldn’t have seen."
"It shaped how I feel about the church," Pausback said, giving her a "new image of the church which included social justice" as well as inclusiveness — "a join-us-at-the-table kind of thing."
Cathy Miller of Anchorage, a teacher, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parishioner and mother of five grown children, was a Jesuit Volunteer in St. Marys, Alaska, from 1971 to ’73.
"It set my life going in a new direction," said Miller, a native of San Francisco. "I thought it would be a good adventure, but I never thought I’d be so influenced to live a life of service."
Like many Jesuit volunteers, Miller found her life partner, Tom, in the corps.
The Millers emphasized social justice in their family, Cathy said; their daughter Colleen, 24, became a second-generation Jesuit Volunteer in Birmingham, Ala., last year. Another daughter served in the Peace Corps.
Jesuit Volunteers continue to serve in Alaska.
Heather Coulehan spent 1992-93 as a Jesuit Volunteer in Anchorage at Abused Women’s Aid in Crisis (AWAIC) and later spent two years, 2002 and 2003, teaching with Jesuit Volunteer International in South Africa.
She remembers longingly the liturgies in South Africa: Masses full of rhythm and movement. Even the gifts were "danced" to the altar, she said.
Retreats were also an important part of her corps life, she said. Volunteers are provided with three or four spiritual retreats during their volunteer year.
So what is this "ruined for life" business?
It’s a value thing, Cathy Miller said. Most former volunteers she knows are not wealthy — they don’t value "success" in the classic American way.
Coulehan agrees that the corps produces a counter-cultural effect in people, a way of looking at materialism, spirituality and the vulnerable that’s different from the norm.
"I think it’s all about connections," she said. "Connecting with people and your community on a different level. You see connections on a spiritual basis."
According to a recent survey conducted by Fairfield University, the corps is acknowledged by most volunteers to be a touchstone experience of their lives.
The survey of 5,000 former volunteers found that 98 percent feel that volunteer activity is important to citizenship, versus 74 percent of other Americans.
It also found that 96 percent to 98 percent of former Jesuit volunteers donate to charity, regardless of income, and donate 25 percent more money than the average American household.
The survey also found that of the four core values of the corps — spirituality, community, simple living and social justice — all remained important to the majority of respondents, with 86 percent saying social justice was important or very important in their current lives.
James Noonan, 24, is a Jesuit Volunteer this year at Covenant House in Anchorage. He graduated from a Jesuit school, Boston College, where he said he learned about "putting social justice talk into action" through a program called "Four Boston" — four hours of community service a week plus one hour of group reflection.
He joined the Jesuit Volunteer Corps hoping "to root myself" in the Ignatian concept of "contemplation in action," and he hopes to carry that value on to a career in medicine. (St. Ignatius of Loyola was the founder of the Jesuits.)
Pausback, who spent two years at McAuley Manor, a home for girls operated by Catholic Social Services, was a biology major in college. But she’s continued in the social service field — not unusual, according to the Fairfield University survey, which found 18 percent of former Jesuit volunteers work in the nonprofit sector, versus 7.4 percent of the general population.
According to Jeanne Haster, executive director of Jesuit Volunteer Corps: Northwest, about 350 Jesuit Volunteers serve nationally each year, with about 40 international placements.
More than 85 volunteers will serve in the Northwest region next year, a larger number than the previous year but considerably lower than earlier years.
The growing debt burden on college graduates is a factor, said Haster.
Also, she said, in a sense the corps has been a victim of its own success.
Volunteer organizations, both secular and religious, have mushroomed in the 50 years since five women made history at an isolated boarding school in Alaska.
Renowned scholars coming to discuss Bible
If the academic world of Scripture studies has superstars, Alaskans are fortunate to have some of those luminaries appear biennially at the Cardinal Newman Chair of Theology’s Midsummer’s Light Bible Institute.
This year’s institute, to be held June 27-30 at Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage, is no exception.
Two renowned experts in their fields, Sister Sandra Schneiders, a Servant of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, and Sister Barbara Green, a Dominican, will present the three-day conference on "Engaging Biblical Characters." Both have doctorate degrees and have written numerous books.
"This is a major effort to bring first-class biblical scholarship by Catholic scholars to Anchorage," said Regina Boisclair, Ph.D.,who has held the Newman Chair at Alaska Pacific University for eight years. "These are scholars that other scholars read."
Both of the featured presenters teach at major Catholic theological schools in the United States — Sister Schneiders at the Jesuit School of Theology in Berkeley and Sister Green at the Dominican School of Philosophy and Theology in Berkeley.
While their credentials may seem daunting to the average Catholic, Boisclair said the three-day conference, beginning with an open-to-the-public lecture by Sister Schneiders, will be geared toward the lay person desiring a greater understanding of Scripture.
Yet it’s also "designed so that priests, deacons and all the theological professionals in the area will gain insights from these women," she added.
Sister Schneiders will focus on the Gospel of St. John; Sister Green, on the characters surrounding King Saul.
This year’s institute is the third biennial event. At the first two in 2002 and 2004, Father Jerome Murphy O’Connor, Ph.D., a Dominican priest from the Ecole Biblique de Jerusalem, whom Boisclair classifies as an "international superstar," was a featured scholar.
Deacon Ted Greene of Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish in Anchorage attended the first two institutes.
"These are world-class people we just don’t get up here all the time," Deacon Greene said. "To have Jerome Murphy O’Connor, and then Sandra Schneiders right after him — when could we have these kinds of opportunities? This is an exciting program."
Boisclair said that bible institutes have been increasingly popular since the 1950s. And after Vatican Council II, there was an explosion of interest in the Bible among Catholics.
In attracting big names to Anchorage, she said, it has helped to be located in Alaska, a venue many are eager to visit even though the population is small.
The Midsummer’s Light Bible Institute usually attracts about 70 people, Boisclair said.
Sister Schneiders told the Anchor that her public lecture will focus on how Scripture, the word of God, is often misunderstood by some who feel Christians merely "respect" it and by others who "take it literally as if it were dictated by God."
"I want in the lecture to discuss the theology of ‘Scripture as word of God,’ asking what this expression does and does not mean."
The Cardinal Newman Chair of Catholic Theology, named for the famed 19th-century Anglican convert to Catholicism, John Henry Cardinal Newman, offers yearly classes in Scripture, theology and religion.
To make the Newman offerings more accessible, local Catholics may participate in many of the classes as "Newman observers" at a nominal fee for no credit.For information on the upcoming institute, visit www.alaskapacific.edu/newman, call 564-8274 or email ckbell@alaskapacific.edu.
Conference for Catholic teens is near
Good news for Catholic teens statewide: The sixth annual Alaska Catholic Youth Conference kicks off June 12 at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Anchorage.
St. Michael Parish administrator Matthew Beck, one of the conference coordinators, said he expects this year’s gathering to continue the tradition of enthusiasm Alaska’s youths have come to expect.
"It’s the most energetic youth gathering of the entire year," Beck said.
While Truth Pursuit and other archdiocesan youth events are fun, Beck said, they don’t compare to the "four full days of serving and praying and growing" that characterize the event widely known as "ACYC."
This year’s attendance is expected to top 200, with youths and chaperones traveling from as far away as Nome.
ACYC started in 2000, the brainchild of youth ministers who wanted to do something new for Alaska teenagers.
"We were looking for something that would help the young people experience and celebrate their faith," Bob McMorrow, youth director at St. Benedict Parish and another ACYC coordinator, wrote in an e-mail. "It worked. The conference keeps growing and it seems to have a lasting impact on our young church."
Each June since then, Catholic youths from around the state have congregated in Anchorage to attend educational sessions, socialize and worship in ways both familiar and new.
"They’re going to get a taste of the larger Catholic Church," Beck said. It’s an experience, he says, that otherwise would be available only to teens who are able to travel to World Youth Day or the National Catholic Youth Conference, which will be held in Atlanta next fall.
"Often it is hard for our youth to fly out to participate in the big conferences," McMorrow wrote. "Instead, we try to bring the big conference experience up here. They will get a chance to live in a Christian community for a few days and see what a life-changing experience it is when we make God the center of our lives."
According to Beck, ACYC is different from youth conferences in other states in that organizers work to secure a variety of guests rather than featuring just one keynote speaker.
"We’re bringing up (around) 15 speakers or musicians this year," Beck said. Highly anticipated guests include popular musician Sarah Hart, who will perform June 12 in a concert open to the public, and Mike Patin, a speaker who’s returning for his second ACYC. Perennial favorite Bob Bartlett is also returning.
"(ACYC) offers our young people the chance to be influenced by some of the best speakers and musicians in the country," McMorrow wrote. He added that teens enjoy hearing from the religious men and women who come to speak, such as Brother John Mary Ignatius of the Community of St. John and Father Alexander de la Taille.
"They are the opposite of what our culture says should be popular, yet they attract the youth," McMorrow said. "When the young people are around them they sense the joy and love one gets from giving your life to God."
It doesn’t hurt, he added, that both men are "just cool guys."
Of course, importing out-of-state visitors is costly, and while registration fees cover some of the expense of hosting the conference, ACYC is "heavily subsidized" by the archdiocese, Beck said.
While many participants will attend the full slate of events, ACYC is also designed to allow working teens and adults to participate as their schedules allow.
"There’s a lot of flexibility in the schedule," Beck said. "It’s for people to pick and choose what they’re going to enjoy the most."
If local youths and adults want to attend just the concert, just a session, even just the meals, he said, that’s OK.
Beck said he understands that some teenagers may be reluctant to fill up the early days of their summer vacation, but he urges parents to encourage their children to attend.
"Get (them) there and then they’ll enjoy it," Beck said. "It’ll be the best week of their summer, guaranteed."
ACYC begins June 12 and continues through June 15 at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church. Registration materials are available online at www.archdioceseofanchorage.org.
AFACT spotlights the problems faced by West Fairview children
Last month, nearly 200 people streamed into Central Lutheran Church to hear testimony before Mary Jane Michael, executive director of the Anchorage Municipality’s Office of Economic and Community Development. The topic: the need for affordable, accessible after-school activities for students in the West Fairview neighborhood.
The meeting was organized by Central Lutheran Community Organizing Ministry, a member of AFACT (Anchorage Faith and Action — Congregations Together).
AFACT is a union of 12 local faith congregations, four of which are Catholic.
Leading up to the May 17 meeting, AFACT members met one-to-one with parishioners and neighbors in an effort to address quality-of-life issues in their communities. The issue that surfaced repeatedly was the need for safe, low-cost after-school programs in the Fairview neighborhood west of Gambell and Ingra streets.
At the start of the meeting, Donovan Lieb, an eighth-grader at Central Middle School, stood at the front of the spacious church with four other boys. Wearing a hooded sweatshirt, with long bangs brushing his eyes, Lieb, 14, explained how a group of Central Lutheran youth took their pastor on a tour of their neighborhood.
"On 10th and Eagle, there were drugs. On 11th and Denali, there were drugs … On 15th and Fairbanks — prostitutes," Lieb said. "We can’t play here … ."
Behind him, a large-screen map of West Fairview pointed out places that youths equated with vandalism, arson, prostitution, rape, drugs and public inebriation.
Elizabeth Dick, a member of Central Lutheran, told the crowd that options for safe recreation in West Fairview exist at Denali Elementary, but the after-school programs there can cost $375 per month. To help fill the need, Central Lutheran church offers a free, volunteer-operated "drop-in" program that cares for about 30 students three days a week.
Dick said public resources seem to be well allocated across the Gambell-Ingra thoroughfare but are not accessible to children west of the busy streets who must travel through areas rife with drugs, alcohol and highway traffic to get to community centers.
East of Gambell and Ingra, after-school programs are offered at Fairview Elementary School, where there is no charge, and at the city’s Fairview Recreation Center, which owns a bus. Scholarships are offered for its summer programs. Similar options do not exist in West Fairview.
"Our children deserve better," Dick said after presenting the group’s research.
Single mom Julia Cress stepped up to the microphone to tell Michael about her struggle to care for her four children. Cress said that she works 40 hours per week and that one-third of her income is spent on childcare.
"I cannot possibly afford to enroll my children in after-school programs that they have at Denali, though they are incredibly wonderful," she said. "I absolutely love the school and I love my little house."
Denali Elementary teacher Marcus Wilson stood up to talk about the changes in the Fairview neighborhood he was born and raised in. As a child, he said, he felt safe exploring the neighborhood with his buddies in the "tight-knit community."
"I don’t think it was the city’s intention to forget about this part of Fairview," he said, "but this neighborhood just kind of found itself in a hole. … It really isn’t safe for our kids to walk around the neighborhood and have that access to Fairview rec center."
After 13 people gave testimony, it was Michael’s turn. Seated at a table at the front of the church, she explained that she’s working to help set the municipality’s goals for the next three years.
"I can assure you that childcare in this neighborhood will be one of the highest priorities," Michael, a mother of four, told the crowd.
"It’s opened my eyes. This is a unique island in our city. The boundaries do tend to isolate children and families. I’ve learned a lot and I appreciate it," she added.
Michael publicly agreed to work with the group to develop affordable, accessible recreation programs for West Fairview kids and to follow up with AFACT leaders within a month.
After the meeting, Michael called AFACT’s grassroots effort "awesome" and said she was impressed with the group’s research.
"They’ve done 50 percent of the work," Michael said. "They’re really making it a partnership."
News & Notes
Archbishop moving to new quarters
Archbishop Roger Schwietz will be moving to new quarters later this month and the archdiocese is selling his current residence, the archdiocese announced last week. The move will provide the archbishop with a quieter home, while the sale of his current residence will provide the archdiocese with a financial cushion for any unbudgeted expenses that might occur, according Sister Charlotte Davenport, archdiocesan chancellor.
The archdiocese has wanted to find a larger residence for the archbishop for several years, Sister Davenport said in a statement provided to the Anchor.
"The archbishop’s residence is often used for functions ranging from meetings to fundraising events to housing for visiting priests, so a larger place will provide the space for these activities," she said. "This seemed like an appropriate time to sell the current residence, since the housing market is so good."
The archbishop’s current residence, which has served in the past as a convent and the Jesuit Volunteer house, has been owned by the archdiocese since 1979. It is now listed through Penny Greene of ReMax Properties.
The archbishop is planning to move into a house the archdiocese will lease for 12 months while options for a permanent residence are considered. A Catholic parishioner owns the Hillside neighborhood house the archdiocese will lease.
Funds from the sale of the archbishop’s current residence will be held in reserve to help offset any financial demands that may occur as the result of abuse-related lawsuits that have been brought against the archdiocese, according to Sister Davenport.
As was published in its annual report (Catholic Anchor insert, April 7, 2006), the archdiocese is vigorously attempting to bring these claims to mediation, according to Sister Davenport’s statement. At the same time, the archdiocese is diligently pursuing insurance companies that underwrote coverage in the past to ensure they help cover whatever expenses may be involved in the final disposition of these claims, she said.
"We don’t know what the outcome of these cases will be, so it is prudent for the archdiocese to have a source of cash readily available in case we need it," Sister Davenport said. "We have also stated numerous times that no funds from the new annual appeal, One Bread, One Body, will be used to meet expenses resulting from abuse-related lawsuits.
"The archdiocese remains committed to seeking justice for those harmed by actions of the past while at the same time it seeks justice for those parishioners and donors today who so generously support the ministry of our local church."
The archdiocese’s annual fiscal report is posted at www.archdioceseofanchorage.org/stewardship/AA.html.
Active church couple marks 50-year marriage
A couple that has been involved in church ministry in Alaska almost as long as they have been married is celebrating 50 years of wedded bliss. Deacon Bill and Sharon Frost were married June 9, 1956, and two years later moved to Alaska, where they have served the church in a variety of capacities. They’ve sung in many parish choirs, served on parish councils and even led parishes as pastoral directors. The Frosts are marking their wedding anniversary with a special Mass on June 11 at Sacred Heart Parish in Wasilla. Archbishop Roger Schwietz will preside, and the Frosts invite "all who know them" to attend. Mass starts at 11:30 a.m. and is followed by a reception at the Wasilla Senior Center.
Woman religious, 95, who served Kodiak dies
A woman religious who was part of the first group of Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart to serve Kodiak Island died April 30, 2006, at the community’s motherhouse in Yardley, Pa. Sister Mary Ellen Greene (who went by the name Sister Mary Leo for many years) was 95 and in the 78th year of her religious life when she died. In 1944, Sister Greene and four other Grey Nuns came to Kodiak. She served for two years as lab technician and cook at Griffin Memorial Hospital, a public facility. She later served a five-year stint at the same hospital, beginning in 1967, as a nurse and administrator. Sister Greene was also a teacher, a ministry that included the elementary, secondary and college levels of education, her community reports. She combined teaching and health care as an instructor, faculty member and assistant dean hospitals in New York and Massachusetts. In 1988 Sister Greene came to work in the finance office at the motherhouse, a position she held until summer 2003. Memorial contributions may be made to the Grey Nuns of the Sacred Heart, 1750 Quarry Rd., Yardley, PA 19067-3998.
Parish raises $850 in Relay for Life
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Parish participated in Relay for Life, sponsored by the American Cancer Society, on May 19 and 20 at Wendler Middle School. Team members took turns walking or running laps for 24 hours. Angela Fleck, coordinator of Youth and College Ministry at the parish, reported that 28 parish families participated, raising a total of $850.
Father Michael Shields to appear on EWTN
Father Michael Shields of the Archdiocese of Anchorage’s mission in Magadan, Russia, will make an appearance on EWTN (Eternal Word Television Network) on June 4, at 3 p.m. Alaska time. Father Shields will be a guest on "Sunday Night Live," hosted by Father Benedict Groeschel. Contact local cable or satellite companies for channel information. After broadcast the show will be available for order from EWTN; call 1-800-854-6316.
Editorials
While coffers overflow, more kids at risk
Sustained high oil prices have created a huge budget surplus in Alaska — almost a billion and a half dollars of "extra" cash. But those with state appropriations responsibilities didn’t have the will to set aside an ounce for health care for children from low-income families.
This sad tale goes back to 2003, when Gov. Frank Murkowski and state Sens. Gary Wilken, Lyda Green and Fred Dyson pushed through legislation reducing the amount of income a family could have and still qualify for Denali KidCare, the state-federal health insurance program for poor children.
Before, families who made up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level qualified; the 2003 legislation reduced it to 175 percent and eliminated the inflation-proofing provision in the law. Only seven other states are below 200 percent.
And the results? There were 5,210 children insured by the program in Aug. 2003, according to the state Department of Health and Human Services. Today, there are 2,522, and the number shrinks more each year as rising inflation automatically disqualifies more kids.
With the 2003 legislation, the state estimated it would save about $7.1 million by 2009. That calculation doesn’t take into account the added costs associated with the uninsured — the long-term costs that an ounce of prevention could eliminate. But even if one accepts the state’s partial math, it is morally appalling that the punitive 2003 legislation — which was sold as a necessary cost-cutting measure — was not rescinded in a year that the state was handed a budget surplus of $1.4 billion.
Sen. Kim Elton of Juneau did sponsor legislation this year that would have restored Denali KidCare’s pre-2003 eligibility formula, but it never even got a hearing in Sen. Dyson’s Health, Education and Social Services Committee.
Once again, the majority of elected state leaders overlooked a deserving but mostly voiceless constituency.
Anchor staff thankful for the honors, the help
The Anchor staff entered some of our best work from 2005 in the annual Alaska Press Club and the Catholic Press Association journalism contests, and the results are in.
The Anchor received three awards from the state press club, and the U.S.-Canada Catholic association gave us five more.
The state club picked assistant editor Kelly DuFort for first place in the general news writing category for her coverage of the response to the Indian Ocean tsunami disaster, and for second place in profile writing for her piece on Maria Ida "Deng" Giguiento, the adventurous Filipina who works for the church in Southeast Asia conflict zones. Ms. DuFort took another first from the CPA in news writing for her series on Alaska Natives’ faith-based efforts to improve their experience in the Anchorage School District.
Three top writing awards — not bad for someone whose first love is taking pictures.
The third award from the state club was a first place given to Anchor editor John Roscoe for editorial writing.
From the Catholic Press Association, freelance reporter extraordinaire Effie Caldarola won second for her personality profile on Father LeRoy Clementich — the well-known priest-pilot who also writes a Scripture column for us that was, for the fourth year in a row, noted for excellence. Father Clementich took second place this year. (Ms. Caldarola also won first place for her Catholic News Service column in the "Family Life" category.)
And in second place in the Family Life category was our own Jeannie Bench, the thoughtful mother, wife, artist and parish minister from the west side of Anchorage.
Finally, the Catholic Press Association awarded the Anchor’s editorial page second place. The readers take part in this honor because the page includes your many thoughtful opinions, observations and reflections in the form of letters and guest columns.
There are more than three dozen small newspapers in Alaska, and about 160 members of the Catholic Press Association. To be counted among the best in a few areas is welcome news indeed.
We here are grateful to have a publisher (Archbishop Schwietz) who supports the Anchor’s mission to inform our readers about the realities of life in the Catholic Church and the modern world. We believe the Catholic community is stronger when it is well informed.
And we are most fortunate to have the support of subscribers who not only read the paper but engage in it. Those who help our small staff tell the stories of the local church — by taking pictures at church events, alerting us to news and sharing your views — make the newspaper more effective, interesting and useful.
Thank you.
Modern Morals
"The Da Vinci Code," now playing in Southcentral Alaska, has been the most talked-about movie in Catholic circles in many years, up there with 2004’s "The Passion of the Christ." The new movie is a drama in which intrepid sleuths unravel the biggest secret in Christianity — that Christ fathered children with Mary Magdalene and their descendants survive today. The movie has been presented as fiction, but it made some Catholic leaders nervous because it refers to many historical realities, most notably, the artwork of Leonardo Da Vinci and the real-life Catholic organization, Opus Dei. The concern is that viewers may not keep up as the storyline wanders between facts and fantasy — certainly a potential problem in a movie that portrays church authorities as self-interested zealots determined to suppress the truth about Christ. Some church leaders have encouraged a boycott of the movie. Others have been more casual, trying to make sure people know the film is a fictional drama but not advising against seeing it. What do you think? Have you seen "The Da Vinci Code," or will you? Why or why not? Do you think the film is dangerous? Harmless? Something in between?
Send responses to catholicanchor@gci.net; or fax (907) 279-3885; or mail to "Modern Morals," Catholic Anchor, 225 Cordova St., Anchorage, AK 99501
Letters to the Editor
U.S., church obligations differ
One must agree with Geoff Kennedy (Readers Respond, May 19) that the people of the Catholic Church must accept all who come as they would Christ, but as Mother Teresa said, "One at a time." Even the church can be overwhelmed by more than she can handle. The United States of America is not under that obligation. We now have more than 10 percent of the population of Mexico in our borders. Our systems are becoming overloaded by the deluge. We have no control as to what caliber of persons are entering, be they thugs or saints. It is incumbent on our government to protect us during this time of grave peril from terrorists. Idealism must be tempered with common sense.
Anchorage
Post-WWII plan just, charitable
Columnist Antoinette Bosco says that our popes for a century have echoed Jesus’ message of compassion, mercy, forgiveness and overcoming hate with love, and that we should be listening (Opinion, May 5). Pope Benedict XV (a pope who, according to my research, was so ineffective he was excluded from peace talks), "argued," according to Ms. Bosco, "against the awful World War I, saying that if a peace settlement was not built on principles of justice and above all charity, latent hostilities between peoples would rise so that there could be no real reconciliation and therefore no lasting peace. He was unjustifiably ignored by the heads of the fighting countries." The U.S. Marshall Plan following World War II was probably the most just and charitable peace plan ever practiced. Do the Japanese and Germans hope to exact revenge against us? Not to my knowledge.
Kasilof