Bishop Williams’ ordination, war in Ukraine, Roe v. Wade overturned and an Archdiocesan Synod Assembly mark an eventful year.
ORDINATION OF A BISHOP
Bishop-elect Joseph Williams was ordained Jan. 25 for the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis, where he was born, raised and served as a pastor. Despite wind chills below zero, the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul was filled with family, friends and the faithful of the archdiocese. With a ministry that has included serving predominantly Latino communities, Bishop Williams’ ordination included a procession with Latina women and girls carrying flowers and wearing Latin American cultural dress, as well as Knights of Columbus and other ministries. At the close of Mass, Bishop Williams said he was hoping for what Archbishop Bernard Hebda talked about in his homily — the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. “All of us have one mission: to go out and proclaim the good news,” Bishop Williams said. “What is the good news? It’s Jesus Christ.”
INVASION OF UKRAINE
Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered Russian forces into separatist regions of eastern Ukraine in late February, beginning a war that continues as Russia hints at nuclear weapons even as its forces are pushed to the farther corners of Ukraine. Bombing of critical infrastructure throughout Ukraine threatens a cold and dangerous winter that could bring a new wave of emigrants. Praying, raising money to assist and helping in other ways they can, many parishioners of St. Constantine Ukrainian Catholic Church in Minneapolis and elsewhere around the archdiocese worry about loved ones who remain in Ukraine. St. Constantine held a rally and prayer service Feb. 24. Twin Cities church leaders, including Archbishop Bernard Hebda, St. Constantine pastor Father Ivan Shkumbatyuk, Maronite Chorbishop Sharbel Maroun, pastor of St. Maron in Minneapolis, and the Rev. Patricia Lull, bishop of the St. Paul Area Synod of the Evangelical Lutheran Church, held a March 6 ecumenical prayer service for peace at the Basilica of St. Mary in Minneapolis.
ROE OVERTURNED
A draft of a U.S. Supreme Court decision leaked and published in Politico May 2 indicated the court was poised to overturn Roe v. Wade, the 1973 decision that legalized abortion across the country. In a 5-4 decision June 24, the high court did just that, overturning its nearly 50-year-old decision by finding in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization that a right to abortion is not found in the U.S. Constitution. Praise and protests followed, with many in the pro-life movement acknowledging the long-sought victory while vowing to continue to fight for life as the issue returns to federal and state lawmakers. Minnesota is among states where abortion remains legal.
INDIAN BOARDING SCHOOL LEGACY
Archbishop Bernard Hebda acknowledged with sadness and an apology on behalf of the Church the results of a May 11 federal report that found for 150 years, hundreds of government-supported boarding schools — some run by the Catholic Church, including in Minnesota — sought to forcefully assimilate Native American and Indigenous children into white society. The U.S. Department of the Interior identified 408 schools in 37 states or U.S. territories that tens of thousands of children were forced to attend from 1819 to 1969. At least 53 marked or unmarked burial sites were associated with the schools, and about 19 of the schools accounted for more than 500 child deaths, the report said. The Indian boarding school era largely coincided with the forced removal of many tribes from ancestral lands. Pope Francis met in April with Indigenous leaders from Canada to discuss their own experience of boarding schools, and the pope traveled to Canada July 24-29 to make an in-person apology for Indigenous residential schools in that country, many run by Catholic religious orders and entities.
ARCHDIOCESAN SYNOD ASSEMBLY
More than 500 laity, clergy and religious from across the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis gathered in St. Paul June 3-5 to pray, discuss and vote on 40 propositions for moving the archdiocese in the direction of 1) Forming parishes at the service of evangelization, 2) Forming missionary disciples who know Jesus’ love and respond to his call and 3) Forming youth and young adults in and for a Church that is always young. Archbishop Bernard Hebda announced the three focus areas after discerning the Holy Spirit’s movement during three years of information gathering across the archdiocese, as well as small group discussions in parishes and sharing Church teaching on challenging topics. Results of the voting, viewed through the lens of prayer, discussion and discernment by the archbishop, were to help him write a pastoral letter for release in November that would chart a course for the next three to five years in the archdiocese.
CONSUMER ALERT FOR PREGNANCY CENTERS
Twin Cities pro-life leaders decried an Aug. 23 consumer alert issued by Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison criticizing the state’s crisis pregnancy centers, with one calling it “horribly disingenuous and harmful.” The alert stated that “many so-called Crisis Pregnancy Centers (CPCs) may pose as reproductive healthcare clinics despite not providing comprehensive reproductive healthcare to consumers,” and that some don’t provide any health care services at all. Jason Adkins, executive director and general counsel for the Minnesota Catholic Conference, said the impact of Ellison’s statement was to besmirch the good work of pregnancy resource centers and put people on notice he has a target on their back. Many PRCs don’t have, nor do they claim to have, medical staff, Adkins said, instead focusing on a nonjudgmental environment and connecting women with housing, clothing and other support.
UNITY HIGH SCHOOL
A three-year process culminated Sept. 5 as Unity High School in Burnsville was officially recognized as a Catholic school, becoming Unity Catholic High School and joining 15 other Catholic high schools in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. Founded in 2018 by Tom Bengston, who helped launch Chesterton Academy in 2008, and former Minnesota Viking Matt Birk, it was organized around four pillars: academics, virtue, leadership and service. The curriculum relates academics to life experiences and needs, including weekly “real world Wednesdays” with hands-on cooking, car maintenance, managing personal budgets and other tasks. The goal is forming graduates in Catholic theology, spirituality and virtue while preparing them to pursue any number of options such as higher education, the military, or immediately entering the workforce.
MARY JO COPELAND
A woman dubbed “Minnesota’s Mother Teresa,” Mary Jo Copeland turned 80 Oct. 23, grappling with the constraints of an aging body but undeterred, pouring even more time and prayer into her ministry. A graduate of the Academy of Holy Angels in Richfield, Copeland is founder and director of Sharing and Caring Hands, a large facility near Target Field in Minneapolis that provides food and clothing to 300 to 500 poor and marginalized people daily. Next door, she operates Mary’s Place, transitional apartments for 600 people. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic some shelters closed, but Sharing and Caring Hands remained open, serving triple the crowd. “She is not of this world,” says longtime volunteer Maureen McNeary, a member of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton in Hastings. “She’s taught me so many great lessons in surrendering and trusting God.”
CATHOLIC SCHOOL ENROLLMENT GROWS
For a third straight year, Catholic school enrollment grew in the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis. More than 31,000 students were in Catholic preschool through 12th grade in the archdiocese this school year, a nearly 9 percent increase from 28,618 students in 2019-2020, Catholic school officials announced in November. Jason Slattery, the archdiocese’s director of Catholic Education, said the response of Catholic schools to the COVID-19 pandemic, with assistance to students and families through faith and practical measures for safety, demonstrated the relevance, vitality and essential nature of Catholic education. School officials around the archdiocese said enrollment grew in part through successfully overcoming the idea that Catholic education is inaccessible, and by making sound decisions with resources and marketing, and families sharing the good news of Catholic schools.
FRANCISCAN BROTHERS OF PEACE CELEBRATE 40 YEARS
The first religious group of men founded and organized in the archdiocese as a Catholic entity celebrated 40 years of ministry in 2022. The Franciscan Brothers of Peace have defended the right to life, served the poor and vulnerable by operating an AIDS ministry and a weekly food shelf in St. Paul, while serving the Karen community in St. Paul and providing housing for victims of torture from other countries.
ARCHBISHOP HEBDA RELEASES PASTORAL LETTER
Archbishop Bernard Hebda released his post-synodal pastoral letter Nov. 19-20, as the Church celebrated the feast of Christ the King. Titled “You Will Be My Witnesses: Gathered and Sent from the Upper Room,” the nearly 60-page letter grew out of a three-year Archdiocesan Synod effort and serves as a springboard for evangelization and renewal in the local Church. In the letter, Archbishop Hebda invites all the faithful in prayer to visit the Upper Room — and then go forth together as witnesses to Christ, with the faith, courage and humility of the Apostles. Through forming parish Synod Evangelization Teams and other means, pastors and the faithful are encouraged to gather in small groups that might help serve families, reach out to the poor and marginalized, serve as a vehicle for teaching about the beauty, form and meaning of the Mass, and evangelizing friends and neighbors. After forming small groups in the first year of implementation (July 2023-June 2024), special attention will be given to the meaning of the Mass, particularly the real presence of Jesus in the Eucharist, and enhancing liturgies. A primary goal of the third year will be forming and inspiring parents to be the first teachers of their children in ways of the faith.
