February 20, 2009 - Issue #4
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Local News
Windows to the Eternal
Icons gain greater presence in Catholic Alaska
Wide-eyed figures, often viewed as “windows to the eternal,” have long peered from rustic churches and chapels scattered across Alaska.
For more than 200 years, these silent images of Jesus, Mary and the saints have filled the inside of Alaska’s Russian Orthodox churches. More recently, however, a growing number appear in local Catholic parishes as well.
These haloed, somber looking forms are sacred icons, believed to be capable of reflecting the holiness of heaven into the earth.
The traditional materials for icon paintings are egg tempura paint and gold leaf, applied to prepared wood panels. Other forms of iconography employ watercolor and oil on canvas.
Dating back to the first centuries of Christianity, icons gained increased prominence in Alaska after Russian Orthodox missionaries landed on Kodiak Island in 1794. The images spread to churches and missions across the state and then on into the Western United States.
While long familiar to Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic traditions of the East, the increased presence of icons within Western Christianity, both Roman Catholic and Protestant, is part of what Deacon Charles Rohrbacher sees as a renewed interest in sacred art.
An internationally respected Catholic iconographer who now lives in the Diocese of Juneau, Deacon Rohrbacher has observed a growing fascination with icons in Western Christianity over the past quarter century.
“I often ask theologians and church leaders why there has been a resurgence in icons,” he said in a telephone interview with the Anchor. “They most commonly tell me that it is due to a deep hunger for transcendence.”
It is a hunger that Deacon Rohrbacher has seen cut across denominational lines as modern Christians seek deeper spiritual realities in an increasingly secular world.
“The icon is a healing image,” he said. “So many modern images we see do not heal — they wound us. They are of terror and abuse. In the icon, Christ, Mary and the saints look on us in love and invite us to contemplation.”
In Alaska, Deacon Rohrbacher’s icons hang from Catholic parishes in the Anchorage and Juneau dioceses, as well as in several Orthodox churches farther north.
One of his most prominent works, completed in 2003, is an icon screen, which includes 38 interlocking images that span the entire width of the sanctuary at St. Nicholas Byzantine Catholic Church in Anchorage. In traditional form, the screen depicts the salvation story through icon imagery.
Two of the largest Roman Catholic parishes in the Anchorage Archdiocese also have made recent moves to expand the place of icons within their communities. Most notably, a large four-by-six-foot icon of the Holy Family is under construction for prominent display in the sanctuary at Holy Family Cathedral in Anchorage.
Dominican Father Francis Hung Le, pastor of the cathedral, said he hopes the icon will bridge the wide cultural and linguistic diversity within the church and point the faithful to the transcendent truth reflected in the sacred image.
“We have so many languages at the cathedral but icons can speak a universal language,” he told the Anchor.
Anchorage artist Burke Mees is working on the new icon, his second for the cathedral in the past two years.
St. Andrew Church in Eagle River is another large Roman Catholic parish that contains a new icon by Mees — a depiction of St. Francis of Assisi surrounded by Alaskan animals. The parish also houses an icon of the Holy Trinity, which they received from the Orthodox Diocese of Alaska upon the dedication of the new church building in 2006.
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Icons in the home Editor’s note: The Anchor asked Father Mike Shields about what role icons might play in shaping private homes. Father Shields is a priest for the Archdiocese of Anchorage but serves as pastor of the Church of the Nativity in Magadan Russia, where the use of icons is prevalent among Catholic and Orthodox Christians. The following response was emailed to the Anchor and edited for length and clarity.
Father Shields: Recovering the tradition of sacred art in the home helps form the domestic church. A Catholic home can be marked by beautiful art and places where the family prays before images of Jesus, Mary, the Holy Family, saints or the crucifix. Often a wall or cupboard can be set aside for icons, where people can light candles, place them before an icon and pray. Setting aside sacred space in the home provides a focus and witnesses to our faith, both for those who visit as well as for family members. As always, the purpose of the icon is to call us to pray, not just to look at the image, but to bow down before the Lord in worship, praise, adoration and thanksgiving. The icon can be a window to the Lord, where we look through and recognize that the Lord is present to us. |
Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz sees the turn to icons as a positive development and one which might reconnect Catholics to part of their tradition which is often overlooked in the Western church.
“Icons are not new to us as Catholics,” he told the Anchor. “Icons were part of our church history in the first thousand years of Christianity before the split between Orthodox and Catholics.”
Several icons hang in Archbishop Schwietz’s private residence and prayer chapel in Anchorage. They are images which he said can “feed the spiritual life of prayer.”
“You don’t just look at icons, you pray with them, and we need to relearn that as Roman Catholics,” he said. “People find that sitting with an icon can help them focus and help them set aside the noise of this world.”
The Christian belief that heavenly realities can be experienced through physical forms and images dates back to the first centuries of the church. Theologically, icons are rooted in the understanding that God took on physical form through the incarnation of Christ. And while icons are not considered holy in their own right, they are believed to be sacred because of the spiritual realities which they reflect.
The icon is also linked closely to traditional Christian beliefs about the sacramental nature of the world, a world where bread and wine become the Body and Blood of Christ and where water becomes holy and spiritually transformative through baptism.
Outside Catholic and Orthodox circles, icons are rarely seen in Christian churches. More commonly, though, they are found in private devotional practices.
Orthodox priest Father Mikel Bock sees this in his work as manager of the Russian Orthodox Museum in downtown Anchorage. There, he sells icons to Christians from various church backgrounds.
“It’s a combination,” he told the Anchor. “It is probably mostly Orthodox and Catholic, but an icon will sometimes strike someone and they will buy it because it affects them — it touches their heart.”
For those unfamiliar with icons, they serve as conversation starters, Father Bock added.
“People want to know the significance of them, who they are, what they mean,” he said.
In the years following the Second Vatican Council, Deacon Rohrbacher saw a number of Catholic parishes remove sacred art and statues from their sanctuaries in the 1970s and 80s.
“There was a tendency toward a kind of bare, stripped down minimalist church environment,” he said. “Many statues and pictures were shown the door but with nothing really to replace them.”
Deacon Rohrbacher remembers a moment in the 1970s, which inspired him to learn iconography. Walking into the new cathedral in San Francisco he was taken aback.
“It was very stark, very white and very, very bare,” he recalled. “Instinctively, it seemed that a Catholic Church without images of Christ and Mary and the saints was not fully proclaiming the Gospel,” he said. “It was a disincarnate environment.”
In more recent years, however, Deacon Rohrbacher thinks Vatican II has contributed to the reemergence of icons in some Catholic circles.
“Part of Vatican II was a return to original sources,” he explained. “That has been a part of the rediscovery of the role of the icon in the life of the church.”
Teen abortion rates increase for Alaska
Abortions in Alaska increased in 2008 – including among teens and girls under 15 years of age, according to the Alaska Bureau of Vital Statistics. The statistics are based on reports from Alaska’s abortion practitioners.
In 2008, there were 1,759 abortions reported in Alaska — 58 more than in 2007.
Of 2008’s total, 13 abortions were performed on girls younger than 15 – five more than in 2007.
Among teen girls between ages of 15 and 19, there were 340 abortions in 2008 — up from 316 in 2007. Teen abortions accounted for nearly 20 percent of all abortions in Alaska in 2008.
According to the report, 1,736 abortions took place from the first week through the fourth month of pregnancy. The remaining 23 abortions were performed at a point “not stated” by the abortion practitioners.
In Alaska, as across the country, abortion is legal through all nine months of pregnancy.
The bureau noted that 36 percent of abortions in Alaska were paid by Medicaid in 2008.
Also, the report explained that 55.3 percent of women received a copy of the information contained in the “informed consent” Web site which state law requires the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services to maintain. That is up from the 25 percent of women who reportedly received the information a year ago. The Web site — which contains information on fetal development, abortion, pregnancy and childbirth — is located at hss.state.ak.us/dph/wcfh/informedconsent/default.htm.
State law requires those who perform abortions or a member of their staff to provide a copy of the Web site information if a person requests a written copy or provide information about the nature and risks of undergoing or not undergoing the proposed procedure that “a reasonable patient would consider material to making a voluntary and informed decision of whether to undergo the procedure.”
Alaska’s complete abortion statistics are available online at hss.state.ak.us/dph/bvs/data.
The disappeared ones
Families grieve children lost in miscarriage
Some people live and die without ever being seen or touched. Some have no names and no graves.
While many in society speak and act as if these persons never existed, families of the babies lost in miscarriage still mourn.
“Miscarriage is such a part of life, but it’s so secret and hidden,” said Mary Ruebelmann-Benavides, a parishioner of Holy Family Cathedral in Anchorage and mother of two miscarried babies.
Given the silence, discomfort and even nonchalance that many express when it comes to miscarriage, Mary believes “we don’t quite know how we feel about the unborn child.”
“The baby isn’t viewed as a person to many,” added Diana Farthing of St. Andrew Church in Eagle River and mother of four miscarried babies.
Nevertheless, with each miscarriage, “it’s a very real death,” said Father Thomas Brundage, the Anchorage Archdiocese’s judicial vicar and moderator of the curia.
According to the National Institutes of Health, miscarriage is “the loss of pregnancy from natural causes before the 20th week of pregnancy.”
Another term used by the medical profession for miscarriage is “spontaneous abortion.” By contrast, in an “induced” abortion, an unborn child is purposely destroyed.
Most miscarriages occur due to genetic difficulties in the unborn child.
The Mayo Clinic estimates that up to 20 percent of all known pregnancies end in miscarriage. However, the clinic admits the number is probably “much higher” because many women miscarry so early in pregnancy that they are not yet aware they are pregnant.
In a miscarriage, a mother delivers what are considered the “products of conception” — including the tiny developing baby (at five weeks gestation, an unborn child is as big as a raisin). At that age, it is commonly not possible with the unaided eye to ascertain the tiny body.
Still, without a discernible body, parents mourn — often while those around them, including health care providers, dismiss the reason for the grief.
Mary and her husband Jesse lost two unborn babies — Grace and Toby — to miscarriage in June and August of 2007.
After many years of pro-life work, Mary had a good understanding of fetal development, but still she was surprised by her grief — and disturbed by others’ responses.
With Toby at nine weeks, Mary had to check into a hospital emergency room in Anchorage, where she said the attending physician went from calling Toby “a baby” to “the pregnancy” once it was evident that she was miscarrying.
Later, when a well-intended friend told Mary it was good that her miscarriage happened early in the pregnancy, “it was horrible,” she recalled.
“I’m trying to defend my right to grieve,” she said.
Even the common practice of referring to a miscarried baby as “miscarriage” is problematic, said Mary’s husband Jesse. That “watered-down” term fails to acknowledge the depth of feeling and grief parents experience when their child dies, he added.
Celina and Jason Tillero, parishioners of St. Patrick Church in Anchorage, have lost nine babies to miscarriage. Most of them miscarried four or five days after an early, positive pregnancy test. Two babies died after the first three months of pregnancy.
When Celina checked into a military hospital about to lose the first of the older babies, she and her husband experienced the brunt of others’ dismissiveness.
“From beginning to end, it was horribly dealt with,” Celina began. In one moment, the ultrasound technician said, “Here’s his hand.” A few minutes later, when it was determined Celina’s baby was miscarrying, medical staff suggested, “it’s not really a baby,” she said.
Additional Resources • Elizabeth Ministry: elizabethministry.com • Church of the Holy Innocents Shrine of the Unborn: www.innocents.com/shrine.asp |
Then after a procedure was performed to remove Celina’s dead baby from her womb, she said she and her husband “had to fight” with hospital staff for weeks before the baby’s remains were released to a funeral home.
The most recent miscarriage happened in April 2006, when Jason was serving in Iraq. But Jason could not return home to grieve with his family, Celina said, because it was considered “miscarriage, not the loss of a child.”
In March 2008, Karima Turner, sergeant and journalist in the Alaska Army National Guard, and her husband Tim lost baby Michael Aiden between 8 ½ and 9 weeks gestation.
She, too, found the terminology employed at the hospital out of place for the loss of a human life.
“Some of the doctors called the baby a ‘fetus’ or ‘embryo,’” Karima recalled. And some referred to the miscarriage as a “spontaneous abortion,” a term she said carries horrific connotations.
When she asked health care workers who were “so clinical,” to call the baby a ‘baby,’ she said, “they usually just looked at me and went on.”
By her third miscarriage, Jo Martin, parishioner of St. Andrew Church in Eagle River, mostly stayed silent because “I didn’t want to hear the well-intended but often hurtful remarks that people make” — such as, “‘it was for the best’” and “‘you can still have other children.’”
As to why so many minimize the loss of a miscarried baby, these parents could only guess. Some believe people have grown too accustomed to the commonplace event of miscarriage. One thinks ignorance plays a role. According to others, it is evidence of a general discomfort with death.
Jo Martin helps coordinates an Eagle River chapter of Elizabeth Ministry, an international support group for parents who have lost babies to miscarriage or other traumatic events early on. Martin believes, in part, that many — even the well-intended — have been “somewhat desensitized” by what she calls the “culture of death,” a term first employed by Pope John Paul II to describe modern society’s view of human life.
That “post-Roe v. Wade” society, Martin explained, has increasingly tolerated abortion, euthanasia and the “general discarding” of the elderly.
“If one grows up hearing that abortion is okay,” she asked, “how can one find the non-violent death of an unborn child through miscarriage to be all that important, serious or even a cause for grief?”
Still, there are some sectors of society – particularly the Catholic Church – that are working to help the world better understand and commemorate the small human lives lost in miscarriage.
See part II of “The disappeared ones” in the next edition of the Anchor.
Early 20th century communion chalice lands in local music store
How did “The Horn Doctor,” a nearly 100-year-old sacred chalice, and a Catholic priest born in Ireland from a family of five ordained sons all come together in Anchorage, Alaska?
It’s a tale filled with local Catholic color.
While long-time Anchorage residents have passed “The Horn Doctor” sign at 10th and Ingra many times, but you might not know that it’s a music store, specializing in selling and cleaning all kinds of musical instruments, mainly wind and brass.
Barbara Kagerer, a parishioner at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in South Anchorage, owns and operates the little shop with her husband John. She said they get all kinds of inquiries from auto repair to taxidermy.
Faithful customers, however, know The Horn Doctor is where to go when “my kid dropped his trombone off the top bleacher,” or an adjustment needs to be made to a key that doesn’t fit properly or is “gunked up,” said Kagerer.
“Brass gets gunky,” she added.
This is where the Irish priest comes in. Father James Bluett serves Fort Richardson and Wainwright Army Bases as a military chaplain.
He is one of five sons in his County Limerick family to enter the priesthood.
“The sixth son is the farmer in Ireland,” he said, with the barest hint of an Irish lilt. Two of his priest-brothers still live in Ireland as well, but he and another brother ended up ministering in Florida.
It’s traditional for the parents of a new priest to present their son with a chalice.
“My family were not poor, but they couldn’t afford five nice chalices, so they gave me something else,” said Father Bluett.
Arriving in 1967 as a new priest at Florida’s Cathedral of St. Augustine, the young man was taken to a walk-in vault and told to choose a chalice he would like to use while serving there.
“I took a fancy to this particular chalice and used it for three years,” he said.
The cup was ornate with inlay, engravings of wheat sheaves and saints around the base. On the bottom of the cup were some names, and the date “1914.”
When Father Bluett left to serve in Pensacola, Msgr. John Burns, pastor of the cathedral, told him he could keep the decorative chalice. It has been close by ever since.
Next, enter Emily Weaver, oboe player in the Fort Richardson choir for many years, and also a music minister at St. Patrick Church in Anchorage.
Emily works at The Horn Doctor and told Father Bluett it was just the place to get his old but beautiful chalice looking like new again.
The Horn Doctor uses a 90-gallon ultrasound machine, similar to the much-smaller one a jewelry store uses to clean jewelry. The vibrations from the machine break down calcium and other mineral deposits.
“Our ultrasound is big enough to put an entire tuba in,” said Kagerer.
In addition to the dirt and grime of nearly a century of Masses, Kagerer said polish on the chalice had become embedded in the engraving.
While The Horn Doctor isn’t looking to corner the market on shining up liturgical items, they have worked on a few other sacred items such as chalices for St. Benedict Church, including a cup which had fallen off its stem. That said, the Kagerers do not do major repairs to liturgical vessels, although they can take out a dent and do some minor soldering.
“It’s like opening a piece of history when someone brings you an old instrument,” said Barbara. “You imagine the places it’s been.”
It was especially thought provoking to work with the old chalice from Florida, which has held the Blood of Christ innumerable times, she added.
John Kagerer, who met his wife when a friendly matchmaker encouraged her to take her flute to The Horn Doctor for repair, said although the chalice is very special, “we try to do the highest quality work on everything people bring us.”
St. Francis of Assisi awards show love, humility, service are possible
At the seventh annual St. Francis of Assisi awards banquet on Feb. 12, the Archdiocese of Anchorage again recognized a group of area religious, lay and youth who serve as role-models of “love, humility and dedicated service.”
The St. Francis of Assisi awards were instituted by Archbishop Roger Schwietz in 2001, on the occasion of the retirement of his predecessor, Archbishop Francis Hurley. The awards honor the virtues exemplified by Archbishop Hurley’s patron saint, St. Francis of Assisi.
According to the archdiocesan Office of Stewardship and Development, award recipients must have served in their parish or the diocese at large and “compassionately, generously and consistently given of their time, talents and treasures for the good of all God’s children.”
Nominations for the awards are accepted throughout the year. Before the February awards banquet, a selection committee reviews and selects the recipients.
This year, there were 12 nominees in the category of religious (priest, deacon, religious sister or brother), 24 in the category of lay person and three in youth. In total, nine persons or groups received awards at the banquet, held this year at the Sheraton Anchorage Hotel. A crowd of 249 people attended.
In addition to delivering the St. Francis of Assisi awards, Archbishop Schwietz announced a new award to be given “from time to time” to an individual in the archdiocese who has “clearly embraced the values of selfless service and devotion to the Gospel message of Jesus to ‘love your neighbor as yourself.’”
The first Archbishop’s Faithful Stewardship Award was presented to Meg Zerbinos of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Soldotna.
Thinking of others first, themselves last
Two religious sisters together received a St. Francis of Assisi award for their service and leadership in area parishes.
Sister of Mercy Joyce Ross has long served as catechist and adult religious education instructor on the Kenai Peninsula. And since 1988, she has served as pastoral administrator of Our Lady of the Angels Church.
“Sister Joyce is “not afraid to get her hands dirty,” wrote one parishioner in a nomination form for the annual awards. “There is no job that is too small or big for her.”
Sister Ross mentors troubled teens at a local high school, and she initiated the parish’s mission to help orphans and widows in Africa. In addition, each year she accompanies parish teens on their religious mission to villages in Bush Alaska.
Sister Joan Barina, of the Medical Mission Sisters of Philadelphia, has for years, likewise, served the parishes and missions of the Kenai Peninsula.
Previously, she traveled to India to help train Mother Teresa and the Missionaries of Charity in nursing procedures. Now she spends most of her time in charities closer to home.
According to Sister Ross, her coworker and friend Sister Barina listens, advises, consoles and “walks with those in need to help restore hope when things seem hopeless.” Sister Barina helped found the Clothes Quarters thrift shop and outreach to the area’s poor and a knitting group that provides prayer shawls to the sick and those who have suffered the loss of a baby.
However, the sisters are known mostly for their work together. They visit the homebound and those in prison, nursing homes and the hospital. They deliver holiday food baskets to needy families. They prepare food and clean the church kitchen for parish events, and they serve breakfast for the local Alternative School.
“They think of others first and themselves last,” wrote Pako Whannell, who has known the sisters since 1984.
Creative duo sew totes, seeds of love
St. Elizabeth Ann Seton School sixth-grade students Callie Orizotti and Tyanna Baker of Anchorage received St. Francis of Assisi awards, in part, for wisely using their creative talents for the good of others.
Having honed sewing skills at school, Callie and Tyanna formed “T & C Totes and Carry-Alls” to produce handbags for display and sale at the annual school charity fund-raiser.
The bags were a hit and orders were taken for delivery throughout the year, according to Callie’s grandparents John and Nancy Burke.
The young entrepreneurs donated nearly a quarter of the gross revenues to help sick children at St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital. Over the last two years, the two have continued crafting totes to raise funds for the school and the hospital. In addition, the girls have helped furnish quilts to the Brother Francis Shelter.
At school, Tyanna serves as cantor and lector at Mass and as a reading “buddy” to the first grade students.
In nominating Tyanna for the award, her private piano instructor, Joy Blumell, noted Tyanna’s service at home, remarking, “it is always so indicative of true kindness when one can be kind to one’s own family.”
Tyanna also is quick to help her music teacher who has some “mobility issues.” Blumell explained, “her helpfulness to me is so natural and easy for her (at least she makes it seem easy).”
Sixth-grade teacher Madelain Westermann described Callie as a “compassionate and caring” individual who stays after school to help teachers and staff.
Callie also serves as a reading “buddy” to the first graders and as cantor for school Masses. She helped initiate the school’s “Christ-like Kid” program, whereby students’ acts of Christ-like love are noted and encouraged.
Teen sets example of care, Christian faith
Showing that charity begins at home, 15-year-old Cierra Alyse Houchins, parishioner at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Anchorage, has earned a St. Francis of Assisi youth award.
In the “adolescent world of ‘me,’ Cierra is just the opposite,” according to her parents James and Shaharriet Houchins — who along with others — nominated the teen for the youth award.
When money is tight for the family of 11, Cierra offers her earnings from babysitting jobs, and she cheerfully helps her infirm grandmother.
When her younger brother, Landon, was diagnosed with a form of Autism, Cierra — then in the first grade — befriended a classmate with a similar issue and volunteered to accompany him to the school nurse everyday for his medications, Cierra’s parents said.
According to Ali Ann Marrs, Cierra’s teacher at Holy Rosary Academy, Cierra is “a committed Catholic” who is “devoted to setting a Christian example to all whom she comes in contact with” at school and beyond. For example, Cierra weekly sorts food at Beans Café or babysits for families at church-related functions, like funerals.
Also, through Holy Rosary Academy’s community service outreach, Cierra visits the elderly confined at local nursing homes. She especially brightens the day for the ladies when she paints their fingernails.
Cierra also helped found groups for the children of parents involved in Marriage Encounter, and she is a member of the St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Respect Life Committee.
Monastery nuns pray for the world
Like the namesake of the St. Francis of Assisi awards, the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration at the Monastery of the Blessed Sacrament in Anchorage are devoted to Our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament.
Continuously, for the last 23 years, the handful of cloistered sisters in Anchorage have worshiped him and asked his mercy for all in need.
Over the past quarter century, Alaskans have asked the sisters to pray for countless ill or deceased family members, happy marriages and for children’s good health.
According to Rita Droege of Holy Cross Church, no one is refused help “by their prayers.”
In her nomination form, Droege — who has been acquainted with the congregation for the last two decades — wrote that the sisters are “always willing to listen to people’s requests — with pleasant voices, smiles and hand-clasps.”
She added that often, the sisters offer special prayer intentions at Mass and relay the requests to their motherhouse in Mexico so that their faraway sisters will pray, too.
They ask nothing in return except for others to join them in their devotion to the Eucharist. For mirroring St. Francis of Assisi’s compassion, commitment, generosity and selflessness, the Sisters of Perpetual Adoration received the Anchorage Archdiocese’s award and gratitude Feb. 12.
Following Jesus on every front
Unassuming former teacher and principal John Fleming teaches by his deeds at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Anchorage. Fleming generously offers his “time, talents (which are numerous) and treasure” to the church, explained Father Vince Blanco when he nominated his parishioner for the St. Francis of Assisi award. Father Blanco added that, Fleming “never looks for praise or acknowledgment, only for the opportunity to give loving service.” Father Blanco attributes Fleming’s selfless work to a “deep and sincere dedication to Our Lord, Our Lady and to the Catholic Church.”
Across the years — and without accepting any monetary compensation — Fleming has served as director of religious education, pastoral team coordinator (during the construction of a new church building) and chairman of the church’s fund-raising auction and dinner committee — by which he was instrumental in raising funds for the new church.
Currently, Fleming is the church’s facilities manager. The staff of Our Lady of Guadalupe explained in their nomination form that Fleming works “more than a full-time week” scheduling the use of facilities like the parish center. The job also involves a great deal of manual labor, setting-up and cleaning the three church buildings.
Still, Fleming is gracious to all, the staff observed.
In addition, Fleming assists in faith formation for those interested in the Catholic Church and children preparing for the sacraments. Often, Fleming leads the rosary before daily Mass and alternates with another to open the church and prepare for weekly adoration of the Blessed Sacrament.
Fleming is a former Grand Knight of the Knights of Columbus, of which he is an active member still. He assists parishioners who need help at home or a ride to church. As well, Fleming works at One More Time, the parish thrift shop.
Father Blanco observed, Fleming never says, “No!,” adding that he desires “to follow the teachings of Jesus to the best of his own ability.”
Chaplain is faithful steward
On Feb. 12, Archbishop Roger Schwietz awarded the first ever Archbishop’s Faithful Stewarship award to Meg Zerbinos, parishioner of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Soldotna.
A chaplain at Central Peninsula Hospital, Zerbinos was recognized for her help in consoling the communities of Soldotna and Kenai after a former employee entered the hospital in late November 2008 and shot to death a co-worker and seriously injured others before taking his own life. At the hospital, Zerbinos coordinated with local volunteer chaplains to begin the recovery and healing process for staff, patients and community members who were traumatized by the violence.
In December, Zerbinos planned and conducted a rededication and blessing of the hospital spaces where the shootings occurred.
In that same week, came the anniversary of the deaths of three co-workers and a patient who perished when a Central Emergency Lifeguard helicopter crashed in the Prince William Sound on a mission from Cordova to Anchorage. Zerbinos helped organize an ecumenical memorial service on the hospital’s helipad to commemorate those lives, as well.
For the parish of Our Lady of Perpetual Help and other local residents, Zerbinos organized a “labyrinth walk” and helped them develop a Centering Prayer practice, explained Father Sensenig.
He called her work “heroic actions of love and healing.”
Sister devoted to Catholic education
For her continuing efforts to bring Christ to the world – especially through Catholic schools, Dominican Sister Ann Fallon received a St. Francis of Assisi award Feb. 12.
Those who nominated Sister Fallon for the award included area parents, teachers and principals of local Catholic schools. They especially highlighted her work to open a long-hoped-for Catholic school in the Mat-Su Valley.
Having vast experience in teaching and school administration in the Midwest, Sister Fallon came to Anchorage in 2006. Thanks in part to her work, a 20-year-old dream became a reality in just 15 months when Our Lady of the Valley opened its doors August 2007.
Sister Fallon helped locate a building for the school and strategized with parents, contractors and electricians. She assembled resources to outfit the school; namely, money, books, furniture, paintings, icons, statues and an altar — for which she made altar cloths by hand.
Before the first day of school, Sister Fallon carried boxes, cleaned windows and scrubbed bathroom floors.
As superintendent of the Anchorage Archdiocese Catholic School System, Sister Ann provides guidance to the three other schools in the archdiocesan system.
According to Our Lady of the Valley school principal Suzanne Cyr, Sister Ann does so much because she “believes our world is a better place when children are taught the values” of the faith.
Kodiak woman has passion for God and his church
“I love my church, Father,” Jennie Sanders once told her pastor Father Ron Licayan. “This is my home.”
Sanders is a St. Francis of Assisi award winner and a parishioner at St. Mary Church in Kodiak, where her love for the church pours out in myriad ways.
Since her retirement from the local school system, Sanders volunteered to tend the church building.
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Parish profile series
Editor’s note: This is part of a series on parishes and missions in the Anchorage Archdiocese.
2,830 parishioners and 1,038 families. Father Steven C. Moore has served St. Benedict as resident pastor since January 2007. St. Benedict is home to a wide population of Catholics of Samoan and Filipino descent. Also, St. Benedict hosts many parish social clubs, for example, a weekly play group for preschool-aged children, a weekly bowling league, a monthly pinochle group and a monthly “family night.” And the parish is blessed with two deacons who serve the church. St. Benedict parish was established in 1966 by Archbishop Joseph Ryan. First, a rectory was built on the parish property. Then St. Juliana Chapel — an old, wood military building used as a Catholic church on Spenard Road — was moved to the site. As the parish grew, it was renamed St. Benedict in honor of a visiting Benedictine priest. A new church was constructed and then dedicated in 1979. The parish built a school building in 1999, to which a gym was added in 2004. The old St. Juliana Chapel remains, now housing Archangel Attic, a resale store whose proceeds support the school operation. According to Marcy Adkins, St. Benedict’s pastoral assistant, the parish’s greatest secret is Lumen Christi Jr./Sr. High School which is located on the church grounds. Also, St. Benedict has large and active chapters of the Knights of Columbus and the Catholic Daughters of the Americas. St. Benedict Church is the center for an interdenominational food pantry that serves the hungry throughout the year. In addition, a parish group supplies meals to Clare House. Once a month, the Knights of Columbus host a blood drive at the parish. Annually, the parish provides Thanksgiving baskets to those in need, and it organizes a glove and sock drive for the poor served by Catholic Social Services. Throughout the year and in devotion to the Blessed Virgin, St. Benedict families take turns welcoming into their homes a traveling statue of the Madonna. Each day during the statue’s stay, the family prays the rosary – a practice especially supported by an active Legion of Mary group. At the parish, there is a monthly devotion to the Divine Mercy – as well as numerous seasonal celebrations to help mark feast days and solemnities. There is a May crowning to honor the Blessed Mother, a Corpus Christi procession, a Filipino Pabasa on Palm Sunday, a parish picnic on the feast of St. Benedict and a children’s play at Christmastime. In addition, at Thanksgiving, the parish participates in an interdenominational prayer service. On Mother’s Day and Father’s Day, parents receive flowers or holy cards. According to Adkins, St. Benedict’s youth group is an especially successful part of parish life. They meet once a week “to learn and have fun” as well as participate in numerous charitable projects and retreats throughout the year. Of special note is the annual Truth Pursuit competition which began at St. Benedict. In addition, the parish hosts a vacation Bible school each summer, and there is “always” a large number of parish youth who attend World Youth Days. Adkins added that the youth sponsor “wonderful” Italian dinners as fund-raisers. The younger children take part in activities through the Little Flowers/Blue Knights group. For adults, the parish hosts Scripture and Confirmation preparation classes. For more information about St. Benedict Church, call 243-2195 or visit stbenedictsak.com. |
In nominating Sanders, parish director and administrator Sister Barbara Harrington wrote that the “faithful custodian” never missed an opportunity to maintain the church in “tip-top shape.” She added that Sanders finally accepted a small stipend for the dedicated and superlative work, after the church insisted.
Since then, Sanders has served as the church’s sacristan, preparing for Mass, training altar servers and grooming sacristan helpers to ensure the work continues. Also, for Mass, she schedules lectors, greeters and lay ministers of Holy Communion.
And according to Sister Harrington, Sanders regularly transports the elderly or handicapped to church.
During the weekdays, Sanders is cashier in the parish thrift shop. Sister Harrington said that twice a week, “she is there before the shop opens until after it closes.” In addition, she is a “faithful soup-maker” for the local Brother Francis Shelter.
And Sanders – once a refugee from Vietnam – welcomes into her home and prepares meals for parish visitors, including visiting priests, sisters and parishioners’ relatives.
According to 45-year parishioner Judy Fulp, Sanders’ “year-in-year-out” service for the church is worthy of emulation.
News & Notes
Support offered to widowed on Feb. 21
On Feb. 21, the Cyrene Group, which offers support for widowed persons, will meet for a St. Valentine’s day of prayer, led by Jesuit Father Vincent Beuzer. The event runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and takes place at Holy Spirit Center. For more information and to register, contact Joan at 333-7826 or Holy Spirit Center at 345-2343.
Evolution & Christian philosophy
Theology and Brew, Mat-Su will feature a presentation on the interplay between the Theory of Evolution and Christian philosophy when Dr. Stan Grove addresses the group Feb. 24. Dr. Grove holds a Master of Arts and doctorate in philosophy from the Catholic University of America. His main research interests are natural philosophy, metaphysics and philosophical theology. Grove is assistant principal at Holy Rosary Academy in Anchorage. The talk – which is free and open to the public – takes place at Hacienda Mexican Restaurant in Wasilla. Doors open at 7 p.m.
Young adult Mass seeks volunteers
Once a month, beginning Feb. 28 at 5:30 p.m., Our Lady of Guadalupe Church will host a special young adult contemporary Mass. Musicians and singers are encouraged to contact Will Triplett through email at willtriplett@acsalaska.net. Those interested in helping with the liturgy should contact Sister Lorraine at 248-2000 x205.
Talk to address true conversion
Theology & Brew-Anchorage presents a Feb. 25 discussion on how God works in the depths of the human heart and soul to purify and transform.
Fr. Bernie Owens, SJ will share how God is actively working in the life of believers as they move beyond the more obvious conversion of behaviors to a more radical conversion of the hearts. The talk will take place at the Holy Family Cathedral Education Center and alcohol will not be served — doors open at 7 p.m. and the presentation starts at 7:30 pm.
Ecumenical Lenten service set
The dramatic poem “Daybreak” that tells the Passion narrative in modern speech will be the meditation at an ecumenical Lenten service at St. John United Methodist Church on March 1, at 7 p.m. The event is organized by clergy and laity of Amazing Grace Lutheran Church, St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church, St. Mary’s Episcopal Church and St. John United Methodist. For more information, call St. John Church at 344-3025.
Theology courses offered at APU
The Cardinal Newman Chair of Catholic Theology is offering courses this winter at Alaska Pacific University in Anchorage.
Archbishop’s Calendar Feb. 20, 6 p.m., Lumen Christi Jr./Sr. High School Gala, Egan Center Feb. 21, 5:30 p.m., Native Mass, St. Anthony Church Feb. 22, 6 p.m., Archdiocesan youth Mass and hunger “banquet,” St. Anthony Church Feb. 25, 12 p.m., UAA/APU student Mass, The Den, Student Union Bldg., UAA Mar. 1, 3 p.m., Rite of Election ceremony, Our Lady of Guadalupe Church Mar. 1-4, Ordination of Bishop-elect Edward Burns, Pittsburgh
Note: Events are in Anchorage unless noted.
Community Calendar Feb. 21, 5:30 p.m., Native Mass and potluck, St. Anthony Church Feb. 22, 6 p.m., Youth Mass and “hunger banquet,” St. Anthony Church Feb. 24, 7 p.m., Theology and Brew talk on evolution and Christian philosophy, Hacienda Restaurant, Wasilla Feb. 25, 7 p.m., Theology and Brew talk on conversion of the heart, Holy Family Cathedral Education Center Feb. 28, 10 a.m., Seattle University briefing on M.A. degree program in Pastoral Arts, St. John United Methodist Church Feb. 28, 5:30 p.m., Young adult contemporary Mass, Our Lady of Guadalupe Mar. 7, 12 – 3 p.m., CSS Quilt, Fiber & Wearable Arts auction, ConocoPhillips Atrium
Note: Events are in Anchorage unless noted. |
From February through April, “Catholic Theology II” takes place on Wednesdays, 10-11:50 a.m. or 7-9 p.m. The class will explore fundamental Catholic understandings of the church, ecumenism, Mary, the saints, liturgy and the sacraments. Adults may take the course as “Newman Observers” for a $100 fee. It is also possible to earn two professional development credits for an additional $95 charge.
Another course, “Paul’s Life and Letters,” occurs Thursdays, from 7-9:20 p.m. This course compares and contrasts Luke’s portrait of Paul with what can be learned about Paul from his letters. For more information, call 564-8274.
Moral theologian to talk in Anchorage
Next month, Holy Spirit Center hosts talks by Sulpician Father Richard Gula, professor of moral theology at the Franciscan School of Theology at Berkeley, Ca.
On Mar. 20, he will present his view on “To Treat or Not to Treat: Caring for the Dying.” On Mar. 21, the topics are “Just Ministry: When Ministers Turn Pro: Spirituality for Professional Ministry” and “Who do You Say that I am? Virtue Matters: Living Morally from Day to Day.” For more information call 346-2343.
Youth Mass and ‘Hunger Banquet’
On Feb. 22, at 6 p.m., St. Anthony Church will host a youth Mass and “Hunger Banquet” open to all youth in the Anchorage Archdiocese. Youth are invited to serve as lectors, extraordinary ministers of Holy Communion, altar servers, musicians, singers, ushers, gift bearers and in other areas. The Hunger Banquet will follow the youth Mass and take place in the parish hall.
Email bonniecler@peaceaction.org or call 333-5287 to find out more or learn how to volunteer for a ministry. St. Anthony Church is located at 825 S. Klevin Street in Anchorage.
Columns
Access to faith-based education is the right of all children
I have been reading a book by Jesuit priest Gerard G. Steckler on the life and ministry of Charles John Seghers (1839-1886), a priest-missionary and eventual bishop of the Diocese of Vancouver Island (which then included the territory of Alaska).
Bishop Seghers was also, for a time, archbishop of the Metropolitan-See of Oregon City. Unstoppable in his zeal to establish the church in the great Northwest, Seghers had a vision that a local church was at the service of the entire human person. He thus established not only missions and churches, but also hospitals and schools.
As Father Steckler reports in his book, already as a missionary priest Seghers argued that “a school which provided a merely secular education and ‘from which God is banished,’ could hardly provide the education children needed.”
Bishop Seghers’ vision of well over a century ago is still valid. A local church — a diocese — is not just a conglomeration of parishes. It is a living organism of faith in which God is worshiped, the faith is handed down and all, especially the poor and vulnerable, are cared for.
Catholic Schools are not peripheral but integral to the life of the diocese.
Our contemporary situation, however, brings special challenges to this vision of church and its Catholic schools. Our recent celebration of Catholic Schools Week reminded us of this challenge.
In a recent article in U.S. Catholic (November 2008) Carol Schuck Scheiber wrote an article challenging all Catholics in this country to take ownership of Catholic high schools (the same can be said of elementary schools) as part of their faith commitment. The purpose: to make Catholic education available to every segment of Catholic society — lower, middle and upper income. Scheiber quoted Pope Benedict XVI in an address he gave during his U.S. visit last April: “…Indeed, everything possible must be done in cooperation with the wider community to ensure that Catholic schools are accessible to people of all social and economic strata. No child should be denied his or her right to an education in faith, which in turn nurtures the soul of a nation.”
The challenges in our archdiocese to make this vision a reality is daunting. Our mindset must include Catholic schools, along with worship, evangelization, vocations and social issues as a concern for every Catholic. With this kind of support, we can assure that Catholic schooling is an option for families of every economic level.
With our school doors open to all, our children can be educated in the context of a faith-filled community that mirrors the rich cultural and ethnic diversity of our Catholic community.
The writer is the Archbishop of Anchorage.
We’re never ready for it — Lent, that is
We all knew it was coming — at least we Catholics did. It’s just that we weren’t ready for it, not yet.
Actually, I suppose we’re never ready for it … Ash Wednesday and Lent, that is.
For that reason many of us often dread the forthcoming 40 days, partly because, from the viewpoint of success, many of our “Lents” have not been very successful.
“Success,” of course, is not a good guideline because most Catholics are idealists at heart. Can we ever really succeed at being “Catholic-perfect?”
Nonetheless, Ash Wednesday is the day sin goes to church and Lent is the time Catholics go to church more often than any other time of the year. Not a bad idea, of course, if done for the right motive.
Our Lenten dilemma, of course, is that we are convinced that we need to do something, something different in order to make this season a time of fulfillment for us. So, Mass and communion are ordinarily the most convenient and satisfying.
The problem, however, faces us in the form of a question: If these Lenten practices are so important, what happens throughout the rest of the year?
The hitch in all this, I think, is that this is the wrong question. The question is not what am I going to do to be a better Christian? The better questions are: “Who am I anyway?” “What am I doing here?” “Where am I going?” Does all this make any difference in the end?”
Hard questions indeed and they must be asked when one decides to organize a schedule of “doing things for Lent.” The question is this, have I discovered something about myself during these forty days that I did not care to search for previously?
The Scriptures: 1 Peter 3:18-22 Mark 1:12-15 |
From my own point of view, for whatever it’s worth, Lent is all about interiorization, about getting a good look at our interior life, about knowing ourselves better and more truthfully.
So, where do I get this idea? Well, right from the Gospel of Lent’s first Sunday, actually. All three Gospels (Matthew, Mark and Luke) on the First Sunday of Lent tell the story of Jesus going out into a deserted area where he gave serious thought to his future, his work as redeemer and preacher of God’s kingdom.
There he is faced with temptations or perhaps simply struggles of conscience to determine for himself whether the world or the Spirit should be his goal? We all know the outcome, of course, but we might never have known the outcome had Jesus not made that encounter with silence in the desert.
Perhaps what is out there before us in these waning days of February, as Lent looms, is the question: What does it really mean to be a Christian, not simply during Lent but throughout our life, and how can I find out?
Some French Dominicans once asked Albert Camus, the well-known philosopher and novelist, that question. “What is the task of the Christian in the world today? Here was his answer: “What we need are Christians who are unafraid to confront the blood-stained face our world has taken on today. In short, what the world expects of Christians is simply that they be Christian.”
Perhaps that would not be such a bad quote to hang on our bathroom mirror, at least for forty days … maybe longer. Indeed it might help us avoid that great temptation to get a lot of things done in Lent and then feeling proud about it at Easter. Happy Lent, my friends!
The writer formerly served the Anchorage Archdiocese as director of pastoral education. He now lives and writes in Notre Dame, IN.
Ecumenical theology degree for Alaskans
Next December — if, to use Lady Bird Johnson’s phrase, “the good Lord’s willing and the creeks don’t rise” — fourteen Alaskans will complete three-and a-half years of study and earn a Master’s degree in Pastoral Ministry (MAPS) from Seattle University.
Since I am one of those fortunate fourteen, I’d like to witness a bit to the program for those who don’t know anything about it, or for those who might be thinking about joining. There’s a new group planned for this spring.
In the summer of 2006, Jesuit-run Seattle University, with the consent and encouragement of Archbishop Roger Schwietz, allowed its School of Theology and Ministry (STM) to launch its first Alaskan “cohort.” Other than a foray into nearby Tacoma, the School of Theology and Ministry hadn’t tried this kind of “take the campus to you” education before.
The Theology and Ministry folks were wonderful about making their presence known to us, from sending people up to explain the program to sending others up to interview each applicant.
I remember sitting with sweaty palms outside a conference room at the Pastoral Center waiting for my turn to be interviewed. I wasn’t fearful that I’d be rejected — but still, I felt a great deal more like a suburban soccer mom than a graduate theologian.
But indeed I discovered I didn’t have to pretend to be anything I wasn’t. In fact, knowing just who I am is an integral part of what I’m learning.
The most remarkable instructors — several priests, nuns, ministers, laypeople, all PhDs — ventured up to Anchorage to share their knowledge with us.
We launched ourselves into “Christian Anthropology,” wading our way sentence by sentence through Paul Tillich and Karl Rahner, and “Pastoral Care Skills,” where we were videotaped as we role-played receiving and providing pastoral ministry. And those were just the first two of the 18 courses we’d dive into.
We slowly began to understand what Seattle meant about “shaping leaders and transforming lives.”
We were encouraged to be listeners and thinkers and questioners, to understand our spirituality “as the way we walked with Mystery.”
The program as conceived is ecumenical. In Seattle, 50 percent of students are of other Christian traditions. In the beginning, Anchorage had two non-Catholic participants, but they did not remain with the program for its entirety.
This had drawbacks, as we were intending to engage in healthy dialogue with other faith traditions and, despite the fact that we took “Theology in an Ecumenical Context,” we missed the other Christian voices.
We gained a new respect for the church’s history, the way it has struggled with the ethical and moral issues of its day through documents and synods. And of course, we’ve probed and examined the marvelous documents of Vatican Council II and studied the way theologians still debate and critique their meaning and movement.
Throughout, we’ve gained not just intellectual knowledge, but through classes like “Contemporary Christian Spirituality and Prayer,” we endeavored to deepen our faith and prayer life.
And we’ve bonded with each other as one does with others who have gone through, simultaneously, a deep spiritual experience and the last-minute, late-night struggle with footnotes and bibliographies.
When I was trying to decide whether to begin this program, I had the usual doubts — about money, my age, my abilities, my stress level.
My cousin who had earned the same degree in Seattle gave me sound advice.
“If the Lord leads you to it, the Lord will lead you through it,” she said.
I warmly pass on that advice to anyone considering the next Alaska MAPS program.
The writer is a stewardship and hospitality coordinator at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church in Anchorage
Marriage prep 101: start with a solid foundation
I’m thinking of proposing to my love on St. Valentine’s Day. A few weeks ago you wrote a column about what it takes to apply to become a priest in the Archdiocese. What about marriage? What are the requirements for preparation for marriage?
Great question. As the saying goes, “The wedding is a day, the marriage is a lifetime.”
A good marriage is like building a good house. It has to have a solid foundation if it is going to stand the test of time. Marriage preparation is the process by which the church seeks to help couples build that foundation. The Anchorage Archdiocesan Sacramental Guidelines lay out several basic requirements. Parishes also have particular requirements.
The first step is the initial interview. It is important that a couple who is wishing to get married contact the parish at least six months before the desired date of the ceremony for an initial interview. This interview is a time to get to know the one who will be guiding you through the process, to learn more about the process and to determine your freedom to marry. Sometimes you can reserve the church at this time, but ask your parish for details.
A second part of the process is that a couple participates in a pre-marital inventory. The inventory provides a snapshot of your relationship and brings to light the practical and spiritual strengths and challenges that are present. Many parishes use a mentor couple to administer the inventory and guide you through the follow-up sessions.
Often couples become very close to their mentor couple and look to them for guidance long after the wedding ceremony.
Next, if possible, a couple should plan on attending an Engaged Encounter retreat This is a weekend retreat for engaged couples to strengthen communication and deepen their relationship in a relaxed, but deliberate manner.
The retreat is led by a senior couple (married at least 20 years) and a junior couple (married about 5-10 years), as well a member of the clergy. In a series of talks, the leaders guide the couples through the practical and spiritual aspects of Christian marriage. There is plenty of time for one on one communication. It’s a great weekend. If a couple cannot attend an Engaged Encounter, then the parish leadership often has an alternative program, such as a home video retreat.
I also highly encourage couples to attend Natural Family Planning classes at Providence Hospital. Invariably, everyone who comes back from these sessions says the same thing: “It is not what I expected,” and “You know, this really makes sense!”
The person preparing you will also guide you through collecting the necessary paperwork, which includes your baptismal certificates, affidavits of freedom to marry, any necessary dispensations and getting the state marriage license. Once that is all done, then preparation for the ceremony begins.
Choosing the readings and the music, picking the ministers and particular symbols is exciting stuff and it’s nice to have the other preparation completed to give it a proper context.
Done well, marriage preparation lays a strong foundation for a strong and lasting marriage that gives powerful witness to the Gospel lived out in everyday life.
The writer is pastor at St. Andrew Church in Eagle River and a lifelong Alaskan. To send Father Leo Walsh a question, e-mail him at lwalsh@caa-ak.org
Editorial
Stripping faith-based initiatives
Should religious organizations that receive federal aid to fund programs, which benefit society, be forced to hire employees regardless of their religious views?
This issue caused a stir after President Barack Obama unveiled his faith-based initiative Feb. 5.
The new program, White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, is basically an extension of the faith-based partnership started by former President George Bush, in which social service programs run by religious and charitable groups obtain federal dollars to fund some of their social outreach activities.
Religious groups have long provided education, shelter, medical care and countless other services for society’s weakest and most vulnerable members. The idea behind a federal faith-based partnership is to support these groups that have extensive experience in tackling some of the country’s toughest social ills.
Some groups, however, hold that any time federal money is involved, religious beliefs must be checked at the door – don’t mention religion, don’t talk about it with others, don’t use it for the basis of hiring your co-laborers.
The American Civil Liberties Union, for example, has charged Obama’s “troubling” initiative with blurring the line between church and state because it does not explicitly reverse Bush-era rules that allowed religious organizations to use religious belief as a criteria in hiring employees.
Similarly, a Feb. 15 New York Times editorial stated, “(Obama) also pledged that unlike Mr. Bush, he would provide meaningful safeguards to avoid the blurring of church-state boundaries, including a firm rule barring discrimination on the basis of religion. The rule is notably missing from his new decree.”
In the view of these and other critics, religion must be a non-factor when religious groups hire staff for their programs.
The consequence of this line of thinking is clear: Social outreach by churches would increasingly come to be staffed by people who may or may not share their faith. This would force religious groups to downplay the very faith that brought about the desire to provide social services in the first place.
Enemies of religion would likely welcome watered down church outreaches, which no longer share the Gospel or hire employees motivated by the desire to incarnate God’s love to those they serve.
Extreme secularists would be all too happy to see religion fade into the background and thereby turn church outreach into mere secular welfare projects.
While the president’s program doesn’t explicitly go that far, it might have a similar effect because it does provide a process for case-by-case review to decide if funding to faith-based organizations violates the separation of church and state.
This has caused some alarm in faith-based circles, especially in light of Obama’s statement last July in Ohio, in which he said, “First, if you get a federal grant, you can’t use the grant money to proselytize to the people you help and you can’t discriminate against them – or against the people you hire on the basis of religion.”
Catholic League president Bill Donohue and his organization keep a close eye on questions of religious liberty. He issued a statement Feb. 5, in response to Obama’s plan to deal with religious discrimination on a case-by-case basis.
“The 1964 Civil Rights Act, in Section 702 (a), specifically allows an exemption for religious organizations in hiring,” Donohue stated on the Catholic League Web site. “The legislators who passed this historic act knew that for the government to deny religious organizations that receive public monies the right to determine who should service its constituents would effectively neuter them.”
If the feds want to encourage more social outreach from America’s religious communities, they would do well to keep from stripping the spiritual heart and soul out of the very groups they aim to harness.
— Joel Davidson, editor
Letter to the Editor
Judicial Council director responds to claims about judge selection, retention
In the Jan. 23 issue of the Catholic Anchor, your lead article (“For 40 years abortion has marked Alaska”) considered issues surrounding the abortion question in Alaska.
I would like to respond briefly to statements in the article and quotes by Jim Minnery about the Alaska Judicial Council’s work under the article’s sub-heading, “Facing the judges.”
The article states, “Minnery believes the judges who ‘undermine the will of the people’ need to be replaced … When voters are asked to retain a judge, often they have little information to cast an informed vote.”
In 1975, Alaska’s legislature passed statutes requiring the Alaska Judicial Council to evaluate the performance of all judges and justices standing for retention election, and mandated that the council’s evaluations be made public in several forums. The council evaluates judges standing for retention by surveying thousands of citizens – police, jurors, court employees, social workers and attorneys – about their actual experience with the judges.
The council also holds public hearings and invites public comment from around the state. Every aspect of the judge’s work, from appellate reversals to conflicts of interest, to workloads, is investigated. The information gathered in this evaluation is available on the council’s Web site at www.ajc.state.ak.us.
Summaries of the council’s evaluations are included in the election pamphlet distributed to every Alaskan household. Many other states use the council’s evaluations as models.
Minnery says that voters lack a “guide to how judges have ruled in various cases.”
The council tracks the rate at which trial court judges are affirmed on appeal to analyze judges’ ability to accurately interpret and follow the law. The council posts a descriptive summary of its analysis on its Web site.
The article continues with a description of the merits of the selection process, which was established in Alaska’s constitution at statehood. Again, a detailed discussion of every step in that process is available on the council’s Web site.
The council investigates applicants’ qualifications extensively, along with providing opportunities for other attorneys to share information about their experience with each applicant. The names of applicants are publicized so that citizens can comment, and a public hearing is held in conjunction with each vacancy.
The article says, “(T)he Judicial Council then chooses a smaller list of applicants to interview and a few of these names are forwarded to the governor from which she must pick a judge.”
The council interviews every applicant for every judicial position. It does not choose a “smaller list.” The constitution requires that the council nominate two or more applicants for each vacancy.
Minutes from the state’s Constitutional Convention demonstrate the framers’ intent to have the council nominate the “best available timber” or the most qualified applicants. Council members nominate the most qualified applicants based on consideration of their professional competence, judgment, temperament, impartiality, integrity, and similar criteria.
The council’s procedures preclude it from engaging in any form of discrimination and prohibit it from considering an applicant’s political or religious beliefs.
We appreciate your readers’ interest in the judicial selection and retention process in Alaska.
Executive Director of the Alaska Judicial Council.
Updated policy on Letters to the Editor
The Catholic Anchor welcomes letters to the editor. Letters should be limited to 300 words and include the writer’s full name and city of residence. For verification purposes only, we also need contact information for each letter writer, which will not be published. Letters should not disparage the character of any individual but rather stick to the issues at hand and refer to articles, letters and opinion pieces that have been published in the Catholic Anchor. Letters may not endorse a specific political candidate or political party. Letters may be edited for length, taste and clarity. The Anchor does not publish letters that directly challenge clear and established church teaching.