Sister Mary Natalia Barela, OSB

Special to The Catholic Key

CLYDE — Benedictine Sister of Perpetual Adoration Mary Natalia Barela, 105, passed away on the early hours of Christmas at Our Lady of Rickenbach in Clyde. The date was also her name day, which seemed fitting to her family and monastic community. Sister Natalia, who holds the record for longevity in the congregation at 105 years, was in her 82nd year of monastic profession.

Sofia Elizabeth Barela was born on July 8, 1908, to Eugene and Soledad (Gonzales) Barela in Rancho de Albuquerque, New Mexico Territory. New Mexico was admitted into the Union in 1912. She was the third of five children.

Her father died in an accident on the ranch in 1911. The family was very poor, and her mother moved them off the ranch into town to be near their grandmother and to get an education. Her mother prepared Sofia for their First Communion.

“I was 6 years old and actually did not understand what it was all about,” Sister Natalia recalled. “For me it was just something that I had to have because my sister had it.”

She started school before she knew a word of English. She went to public school from first through ninth grades then finished her last three years at St. Vincent Academy, where she graduated in 1926. She stayed at home, but her heart was already in the convent.

“I don’t remember where I heard about Clyde,” she said. “The very name, ‘Benedictine Convent of Perpetual Adoration’ thrilled me. I just knew that is where I belonged.”

Her sister offered to pay for Sofia to go to business college, so she decided she would take a course, get a job, save her money and go to the convent.

Her first job was at a furniture store that went out of business. Then she worked for the Albuquerque branch offices of Missouri State Life Insurance and Kansas City Life Insurance.

She left for Clyde in September 1929. She’d had good spiritual directors (all Jesuits) since high school and felt she had learned a lot from them about the spiritual life. She felt right at home when she entered as a postulant on Sept. 25, 1929.

“I enjoyed being a postulant; I wasn’t surprised at anything,” she said. “I did not know Latin, and the Divine Office was in Latin. I also didn’t know German, and many of the community prayers were in German, but this did not bother me. I was in love with God, and this is where he wanted me to be.”

Sofia entered the novitiate on Aug. 3, 1930, and made First Profession on Aug. 22, 1931, receiving the name Sister Mary Natalia. She made Final Profession on Aug. 29, 1936.

In May 1937 she transferred to the Tucson, Ariz., convent, hoping the fresh air and sunshine would benefit her somewhat frail health. There were 16 sisters there at that time, and she was the youngest in perpetual vows. This was still a pioneer stage for the Tucson sisters as they had just arrived there two years earlier. They occupied the Steinfeld mansion and were able to move to the newly constructed permanent monastery by December 1940. She was in Tucson for 21 years and then went to Clyde and Kansas City, Mo. She also lived in San Diego for a time.

In 1974 she was one of the group of five sisters who attempted to establish a small experimental community geared to a simpler form of monastic living in Payson, Ariz.

Upon returning to Tucson, Sister Natalia became involved with a deeper experience of contemplative prayer. She joined the contemplative prayer group at the Tucson monastery and also attended meditation sessions with some inter-religious groups in the city. She became an avid reader of St. Teresa of Avila and impishly said, “Spanish mystics have to stick together.”

During her final years in Tucson, she said, “I no longer have a set time for personal prayer. God is always with me, and I just enjoy his presence all the time.”

She celebrated her Golden Jubilee in 1981 and her Diamond Jubilee in 1991. A wake was Dec. 27, with a funeral Mass on Dec. 28, in the Adoration Chapel at Clyde. Burial was in Mt. Calvary Cemetery, Clyde. Memorials can be sent in care of the Benedictine Sisters of Perpetual Adoration, 31970 State Highway P, Clyde, MO 64432-8100 or online at www.BenedictineSisters.org. o

LeBlond’s girls softball team wins Class II state championship title. (Photo/courtesy Kerry Shepherd, Bishop LeBlond High School)

ST. JOSEPH — The Lady Golden Eagles, the 2013 Bishop LeBlond girls softball team, rode a 22-game winning streak to the Class II state championship in Springfield, Mo., this past October. The Lady Eagles, with a 26-3 record, became the first St. Joseph team to win a softball state title. LeBlond beat South Callaway High School’s team 8-6 in the state championship game a day after beating Marionville High School’s girls softball team in the semifinals.

This was LeBlond’s second time in the state championship game. In the 2004 title game, the Lady Eagles fell 1-0 to Kelly High School (Benton). For LeBlond Coach Wayne Miller and the four senior players (Mackie Browning, Dayle Dickens, Sophie Gentry and Lauren Lewis) it was an amazing season.

Miller, also the Physical Education teacher at St. Francis Xavier School, is in his 13th season leading the LeBlond softball team. He has coached the Lady Eagles since the program’s inception in 2001. Miller said the girls’ refusal to quit and their ability to remain focused on team goals throughout the season had impressed him. “They are very resilient. They faced a lot of adversity and rebounded all year long, and I didn’t expect anything less,” he told the St. Joseph News-Press. “It’s been T-E-A-M for us all year. It’s not me, me, me. It is us, us, us. It is a dream come true. I never thought I would ever get back here. This group proved me wrong.”

Junior Kennadi Barron pitched both games in Springfield. LeBlond advanced to the championship game after a dominant semifinal victory 9-1 over Marionville; a 14-4 quarterfinal victory over New Bloomfield and a 3-1 sectional victory over Brookfield. In district play the Lady Golden Eagles never surrendered more than one run in a game with a 2-1 win over North Platte in the district championship game; a 5-1 win over West Platte; and a 15-0 win over Mid-Buchanan to begin district play.

The seniors who finished their high school careers as state champions include: infielder Mackie Browning, pitcher/outfielder Dayle Dickens, four-year catcher Sophie Gentry and outfielder Lauren Lewis. Others on the LeBlond roster include Assistant Coach Lindee Corkins, PE teacher at St. Joseph’s Cathedral School; Juniors: Kennadi Barron (pitcher/infielder), Audrey Glenski (outfielder), Lexi Kobett (infielder), Emily Nellestein (infielder/pitcher), Brenna Knapp (infielder); Sophomore: Claire Doolan (pitcher/infielder) and Freshmen: Samantha Fuson (outfielder/pitcher) and Olivia Pollard (utility).

Irma and some of her children stand in front of their new home in the impoverished village of Chiltiupan, El Salvador. The home was the gift of priests of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph and the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas in recognition of the love shown to them by Bob Miller, who died four years ago, and his family who continue their tradition of service to the poor.
(Photo courtesy of Sean Miller)

By Kevin Kelly
Catholic Key Associate Editor

KANSAS CITY — “Miracle” might be one way to explain it. That’s the fall-back word when something wonderful happens that defies human explanation.

Irma wouldn’t argue. A month ago, she and her eight children were living in a shack, pieced together from scraps of tin, wood and whatever else they could find.

Four days before Christmas, she and her family moved into a new concrete block home in the village of Chlitiupan, El Salvador — hardly a mansion by U.S. standards, but three times larger than the shack.

And how? That story involves the priests of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph and the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, a Kansas City man who died four years ago, the Ursuline Sisters of Cleveland, Ohio, who would not budge in their own service to the poor despite the murder of one of their own, and a team of students from the University of California-Los Angeles.

Perhaps the story begins in December 1980. Ursuline Sister Dorothy Kazel was one of four Catholic missionaries, along with Maryknoll Sisters Ita Ford and Maura Clark and laywoman Jean Donovan, who were kidnapped and executed by a unit of the El Salvador National Guard as they returned from the San Salvador airport.

Those murders once again shocked a world some eight months after a death squad murdered San Salvador Archbishop Oscar Romero as he celebrated Mass.

The Ursuline sisters of Cleveland could have left that nation as it plunged into a decade of civil war. Instead, they decided that they could not leave the people.

Ursuline Sister Rose Elizabeth Terrell, Sister Rosita to the people she serves, is the living legacy and commitment of the Cleveland Ursulines to El Salvador.

For more than a decade, she has worked in and around the village of Chiltiupan, an area that is poor even by the standards of El Salvador, with an average annual family income of $600.

In Chiltiupan, Sister Rosita found Irma and her children, and the conditions in which they lived.

She contacted “Homes from the Heart.”

Bob Miller was a Kansas City insurance executive, and a member of St. Thomas More Parish.

In 1997, Miller was told that cancer would quickly take his life. Then he was told of his own “miracle.” His cancer had suddenly and unexpectedly gone into remission.

It was a new lease on life, and one that Miller wasn’t going to waste a second of. He told his sons, Sean and Matt, “I’m studying for my final exams, and insurance isn’t on it,” selling them the insurance business, The Miller Group, and devoting whatever time he had left to serving others.

One of the first ideas he had was a way to show priests and seminarians how much they were loved, and raise money for Conception Seminary College.

Thus was born the annual Priests and Seminarians Appreciation Day for priests and future priests on both sides of the Missouri-Kansas border.

He gathered an army of his fellow members of the Serra Club to sponsor a mid-September day of golf, poker and barbecue, first in his own back yard. He organized sponsorships, and even handed out gifts including new top-of-the-line suits from Peter’s Clothiers.

And he didn’t stop there.

In 2001, an earthquake measured at 7.7 magnitude struck El Salvador, devastating the people.

Miller established “Homes from the Heart” to replace lost homes with sturdy, concrete block houses.

And he didn’t stop there. In 2010, not long before the cancer that had been in remission would take Miller’s life, Haiti was struck by a horrific earthquake. “Homes for the Heart” quickly began work there. It has since expanded to Nicaragua and Guatemala, building homes for more than 400 families.

Meanwhile, Priests and Seminarians Appreciation Day kept growing. Last fall, nearly 500 people, including nearly 200 priests and seminarians, attended the catered Jack’s Stack barbecue dinner inside the huge hall at St. Michael’s Parish in Overland Park.

Last September, the priests decided to turn the tables on the Miller family.

Seminary classmates Father Thomas Tank worked the Kansas side, and Father Jerry Waris worked the Missouri side. Together, and with little prodding, they gathered some $3,500 in donations from priests for Homes from the Heart and presented it to Sean and Matt Miller.

The Miller sons knew what to do next.

Through the umbrella Fuller Center for Housing’s Global Builders program, a team of UCLA students eager to work in service to the poor discovered and contacted Homes from the Heart.

Giving up part of their Christmas break from Dec. 14-21, six UCLA students spent a week in the mountainous terrain surrounding Chiltiupan, lugging not only concrete blocks by hand, but wheelbarrows full of mortar, sand and gravel — nearly 10 tons of it — from the nearest road uphill to the site of Irma’s new home.

“In just a week,” Sean Miller wrote to the priests who made the miracle possible, “the site went from an empty piece of ground to a sturdy, concrete house with four walls already finished. In the weeks after, local labor was hired to complete the roof, floor and porch.”

One might think that the blessings were Irma’s, and hers alone. Sean Miller’s father taught him differently.

“We got to meet Irma’s wonderful children,” he wrote to the priests.

“Two in particular quickly befriended us, and we were taken by their vibrant, joyful personalities. Jesus and Roxana became our guides, introducing us to the people and wild landscape of the mountains,” he wrote.

“Through them, we were blessed to view their world through young, hopeful eyes, and even more blessed to be a part of giving them a safer, brighter future by building a home.”

Information for this story was provided by Sean Miller and by Meghan Sullivan, executive assistant for Homes from the Heart. More information about Homes from the Heart can be found online at homesfromtheheart.org.

Scott Wasserman, who took the reins of Unbound, formerly Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, just a few weeks ago, stands in front of a map showing the many developing countries around the world. Living in those countries are the more than 300,000 children, elderly and families supported by sponsors through the organization. Photos of some of the sponsored frame the map. (Marty Denzer/Key photo)

By Marty Denzer
Catholic Key Reporter

KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Shortly before his unexpected death in October 2013, Bob Hentzen, co-founder, president and CEO of Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, released a video announcing a name change for the largest non-profit organization in Kansas. The new name, Unbound, became official Jan. 1.

Founded as C.F.C.A. by Hentzen, his brother and sister and a friend in 1981, Unbound now supports more than 300,000 people — children, the elderly and their families — in developing countries around the world, with direct aid. That aid comes from nearly 270,000 sponsors, predominately in the United States. The average sponsor contributes $30 monthly (or about $1 a day) and in turn has the opportunity to get to know their sponsored child or elderly person and develop a personal relationship with them. The organization, whose revenue in 2013 was more than $110 million, also funds scholarships, disaster assistance, micro-financing, small business loans and water and sanitation projects in their sponsored communities. More than 93 percent of the monies it spends go to program support.

At the same time C.F.C.A. became Unbound, Scott Wasserman was named the new president and CEO, his duties to begin immediately. Interim CEO Paco Wertin continues his work with Unbound, but in another capacity.

Scott’s name wasn’t drawn out of a hat. The child advocate lawyer served 15 years on C.F.C.A.’s governing board, the last 13 years as chief governing officer. He serves as vice chair of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops National Review Board, which works collaboratively to prevent sexual abuse of minors in this country by persons serving the church, and chairs an independent review board for Archbishop Joseph Naumann of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas.

Scott grew up on the Kansas side and graduated from Shawnee Mission South High School. Raised in the Judaic tradition, he was devout and dedicated to his faith. Out of curiosity, however, in high school Scott read the New Testament, particularly the gospels. “Most of my friends went to CCD classes because they had to; they were Catholics attending a public high school and the classes were their religious education. I went to CCD classes with them because I was drawn to the gospels.”

Following his graduation from the University of Kansas, he was accepted into Harvard University’s Law School, earning his law degree in 1985. An internship in corporate finance on Wall Street convinced Scott that he didn’t want to live in New York, so when he was offered a position with a San Francisco law firm, he headed west.

While he was settling into his new job and new city, Anabella Gonzales arrived in San Francisco. The Guatemalan native had come on a student visa to study graphic design.

To make a long story short, Scott and Anabella met through a mutual friend, and became friends, then fell in love. It wasn’t a story book match. Scott was a devout Jew and Anabella a devout Catholic.

Both sets of parents approved and, because Anabella would be leaving her family to live permanently in the U.S., the couple decided to get married in Guatemala. The downside to that was Anabella could not return to San Francisco on her student visa. Applying for a permanent residency permit took several months, but finally she was able to return to this country. The couple had discussed moving to Kansas to be closer to Scott’s family; now they finally could.

They rented an apartment while Anabella hunted for a house in a parish she felt welcomed in. She found it in Holy Trinity Parish in Lenexa.

In the beginning, Scott and Anabella continued in their separate faiths, but as time passed, found common ground in the blending of the two traditions. Their three daughters were raised in that blended faith.

Scott’s teenaged curiosity and interest in Christianity sparked again and, although he had no intention of becoming Catholic, he admired a lot about it.

His first experiences attending Mass with Anabella amazed him. “I still remember my first impression,” he said. “First, here were people who were not descendants of Abraham worshipping the God of Abraham. The other thing was the sacrifice in the Temple. I had always thought the Temple had been destroyed in 70 A.D., but then I saw that the Temple sacrifice was still happening, in a transformed way.”

He went through the RCIA program at Holy Trinity Parish, and was eventually baptized in the same church in Guatemala City where his wife and daughters were baptized.

Scott’s family’s acceptance of Anabella had been without reservation. But when he embraced Catholicism, their reaction was bittersweet.

“They accepted it with some sadness,” he said, “but they accepted it. Anabella and I have maintained connections with the Jewish tradition because we believe in its value to us and to our daughters.”

In 1988, the Wassermans heard about C.F.C.A. and sponsored their first child. The phone rang one day; Bob Hentzen was on the line, Scott recalled. “Bob’s wife Christina is Guatemalan, and we got to know them and to know C.F.C.A.”

In 1994, Scott began to specialize in child advocacy law, especially serving neglected children and children with special needs.

In 1999, he began serving on C.F.C.A.’s governing board, and was elected chief governing officer two years later.

Bob Hentzen had begun talking about changing the name of the organization some time ago, Scott said. “You know, we walk side-by-side with people who dream of freeing themselves from poverty, as they strive to achieve self-sufficiency and build strong communities. Our new name sums up our work.”

Scott said he fully supported Bob Hentzen’s decision. “A bunch of initials doesn’t convey anything,” he said. “What Bob wanted was a single word capturing the essence of Catholic social teaching and empowering the poor. One word closely related to Catholic theological values, compelling and emotional: something people can ‘sign on to.’”

Scott said he wanted to reassure sponsors and others interested in learning more about Unbound. “We lost Bob just a few months ago. But we remain true to our charism of working through sponsors to help free children, families and the elderly from the binds of poverty. In a way, Unbound can be defined as freeing captives. That applies in a meaningful way to children, the elderly and their families in the developing world. Sponsors can also free themselves and live their baptismal call more fully. Jesus said, ‘The truth will set you free.’ When sponsors see the true gifts and talents of the poor, they will be set free — unbound.”

He added, “I want Unbound to be true to that charism, the charism of our founders, even as we improve and innovate our methods, as Bob would have if he was still with us. Unbound shares the same Christian values and our core, the relationship between the sponsors and the sponsored. That relationship is financial, of course, but even more, it’s personal. Kind of like marriage; the relationship doesn’t work so well if it’s only financial. We look to keep improving those personal relationships.”

Scott said he is forming some ideas for the future of the organization. “I want to move forward, while being true to our past. C.F.C.A. is our foundation. Our future is Unbound.”

Dr. Judith Wylie is flanked by Louise Landry with baby Ruby and Sister in Jesus the Lord Faustina Marie Goedkin as they show off their Montessori Teacher Training certificates. The Jan. 4 celebration honored them and wished Sister Faustina Marie ‘Bon Voyage.’ She was to take her skills to Vladivostok, Russia, to work with orphans.
(Photo courtesy of Dr. Judith Wylie)

By Dr. Judith Wylie
Director, The Children’s Place at Christ the King

KANSAS CITY — Louise Landry and Sister in Jesus the Lord Faustina Marie Goedken, the first graduates of the Catholic Montessori Teacher Training Course under the auspices of the Montessori Society of Christ the King were honored  Jan. 4.

Landry and Sister Faustina Marie were interns together in the model classroom at Christ the King parish, and received their teaching certificates in the presence of the Sisters in Jesus the Lord and friends.

The occasion was more than acknowledging certifications.  It was a surprise “Going Away” party for Sister Faustina, who left Jan. 8 for Vladivostok, Russia, to join her Congregation’s apostolate that is already active there in the rekindling of the Faith in that country. Sister Faustina Marie will use her training to set up Montessori schools for the orphans with whom the Sisters work in Vladivostok and other Russian locations.

The Very Rev. Myron Effing, C.J.D., V.F. Dean and Diocesan Consultor in the Diocese of St. Joseph in Irkutsk, Russia, visited the Montessori program at Christ the King several months ago. After seeing for himself the Montessori approach to teaching and its effects, he endorsed the Sisters’ opinion that Montessori education is the most promising avenue to bring up the young children of the new generation in the ways of Jesus Christ. He added his own hopes that Catholic Montessori Teacher Training continues to be available, to “grow” the effort.

Father Effing has already designated particular Russian locations as being most ready for this pre-school effort to be introduced. Vocations to the priesthood and religious life are paramount in stabilizing the rebuilding of the Faith in that far-flung country. Along with the Sisters, Father Effing sees the introductions to the Faith that will take place in Catholic Montessori environments as foundations for vocations: when a child who has had this foundation hears Our Lord’s call in adulthood, he/she will recognize it and can answer with generosity.

Meanwhile, here in the United States, Mrs. Landry plans to use her training to teach in a Catholic Montessori school when the time is right. She currently is using her knowledge at home with her own children, welcoming her third child, Ruby, born shortly after completion of the course to join siblings Gus and Zelda.

Our Lady promised at Fatima that if sufficient prayers and sacrifices were offered in reparation for offenses to her Immaculate Heart, and if the Holy Father consecrated Russia to her Immaculate Heart, Russia would be converted. Now, we see that the Iron Curtain is torn down. Russia is opening more and more to the rest of the world. And the intrepid Sisters and Canons of the Congregation of Jesus the Lord are wending their way through the red tape to bring knowledge and love of Our Lord to Russians who have lived for a century under a strong influence of atheism and scorn for the Gospel.

The Sisters and lay volunteers who assist them in “shifts” of several months at a time have been working in orphanages and with elderly poor and have been rebuilding a church. The church is now open and welcoming worshippers who come from miles away to again experience the Mass and the sacraments – as well as those newly brought to the Faith.

Another member of the Sisters in Jesus the Lord is interning in the Catholic Montessori school at Christ the King this year and a third sister hopes to do the same next year.

For information on the Russian apostolate of the Sisters in Jesus the Lord (residing at Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Raytown) contact Mother Julia Kubista (816) 353-2177.

For information about the Catholic Montessori Teacher Training Course, contact Dr. Judith Wylie (816) 984-8372 or email jmwylie@gmail.com. 

Superintendent Dr. Dan Peters offers a congratulatory word to the winning team of (from left) Zoe Butler, Maureen Egan, Anna Campbell and Tone’nae Bradley-Toomer at a pep rally for Brain Sports on Dec. 19. (Joe Cory/Key photo)

By Joe Cory
Catholic Key Reporter

KANSAS CITY — A lot of firsts were celebrated at a Pep Rally at St. Peter School on Dec. 19.

Eighth graders, Tone’Nae Bradley-Toomer, Zoe Butler, Anna Campbell, and Maureen Egan first found out that their microgravity experiment will be sent into space later this Spring.

They are representing the Kansas City collaboration of four charter schools and one Catholic school, which is the first charter school/parochial school collaboration of this kind in Kansas City. They are also the first students in the state of Missouri to be part of the commercial space program, Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) Mission 5.

According to it’s website- http://ssep.ncesse.org – SSEP is about immersing and engaging students and their teachers in every facet of real science—on the high frontier—so that students are given the chance to be scientists—and experience science firsthand.

A total of 6,750 student researchers across 15 communities were formally engaged in microgravity experiment design. A total of 1,344 flight experiment proposals were received from student research teams. From the Kansas City community, a total of 680 students comprised 115 teams.

The St. Peter’s 7th and 8th grade science teacher, Bob Jacobsen, volunteered to work with 16 8th grade students who opted to participate in the SSEP. They were: Team Swaggernauts: Joe Hathaway, Patrick Hayes, Ryan Holmquist and Dante Javaheri. Team Super Nova: Lia Biritz, Katherine Cory, Gavin Miller and Faith Palausky. Team Gravity Warriors: Henry Buren, Helayna James, Oliver Oxler and Ruby Rios. Team Defying Micro Gravity: Tone’nae Bradley-Toomer, Zoe Butler, Anna Campbell and Maureen Egan.

The students were asked to come up with an experimental design and proposal which could be conducted in a test tube mini-lab that was provided by the SSEP Program. The experiment will be conducted by astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS), and the mini-labs are scheduled to return to Earth six weeks after the launch this Spring.

“I’m really proud of the students, not just here at St. Peter’s,” he said, “but all of the students in the various schools that chose to take on this challenge.”

“It was just a wonderful experience,” said Jacobsen.” A lot of hard work, but I think the rewards are well worth it.”

Team Defying Microgravity’s experiment on oxidation consisted of a test tube with a small nail and water separated by a clamp. “The astronauts in space will remove the clip separating them so that the water will mix with the nail so the nail can rust. We want to know if it will rust faster or slower or not at all in space, than it would on earth,” said Zoe Butler.

The St. Peter’s experiment will join 14 other communities across the country whose experiments are set to launch as part of Payload Charlie Brown on May 1, 2014. An Antares rocket will take the Orb-2 Cygnus ferrying vehicle into space, launching from the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island, VA.  Cygnus is expected to reach the ISS within 3 days, and the payload will be returned to Earth in approximately 6 weeks from launch.

As part of the experiment, the students from the Kansas City schools will each be doing a ground truth experiment, so the results from the experiment in space (microgravity) can then be compared with the control experiments on Earth (gravity).

Another aspect of SSEP Mission 5 is a Patch Design contest. The winning patch will be sent to the ISS along with the microgravity experiment. The winner of the Kansas City Patch Design competition was My Ly from Della Lamb.

“I think it’s special since we are not only the first school in Kansas City, but the first school in Missouri to send something into space,” said Zoe Butler.

“I think it is fun being involved with other charter schools in the KC area, schools that we are not usually involved with. It brings us together as a community” said Anna Campbell.

Maureen Egan agreed. “I think it’s pretty cool that we get to be involved with the schools that are around us, because we’ve never been able to do that before. I really thank them for the opportunity.”

“I think it breaks the wall a little, said Tone’nae Bradley Toomer.” It’s not just Catholic schools competing against Catholic schools and public schools competing against public schools. It mixes it up.”

Benjamin Banneker Charter Academy of Technology instigated the collaboration and participation in this program, inviting St. Peter’s School, Academie Lafayette, Della Lamb Elementary and Hogan Preparatory Academy Middle School to join them. “We are so thankful for their leadership and commitment to truly making this a community collaboration, said Paula Holmquist of St. Peter’s Parish.

This is just one initiative of several that has resulted in a growing collaboration of schools and organizations, called aSTEAM Village. If you’d like to volunteer to help St. Peter’s support programs like this, e-mail Paula Holmquist at pholmquist@stpeterskc.org. They are looking for volunteers to help guide and sustain participation in programs like SSEP, FIRST Lego League, and other after-school and summer “brain sports” programs.

The Student Spaceflight Experiments Program (SSEP) is a program of the National Center for Earth and Space Science Education (NCESSE) in the U.S., and the Arthur C. Clarke Institute for Space Education internationally. It is enabled through a strategic partnership with NanoRacks LLC, working with NASA under a Space Act Agreement as part of the utilization of the International Space Station as a National Laboratory. SSEP is the first pre-college STEM education program that is both a U.S. national initiative and implemented as an on-orbit commercial space venture. To learn more, visit http://ssep.ncesse.org.

Jackie Loya-Torres of the Women’s Foundation of Greater Kansas City, presents a check for $25,000 to Jarrod Sanderson, Catholic Charities Director of Family Supportive Services Jan. 14 while Nicole McCrory, Services of Pregnant Women, looks on. The funds will be used for the Women’s Economic Empowerment Program, including class materials, employment assistance and things like child care, bus passes or wardrobe assistance to help women find a job.
(Marty Denzer/Key photo)

By Marty Denzer
Catholic Key Reporter

KANSAS CITY — Money is at the heart of many of the problems and the successes that women often have. Recent studies have shown that, even now, women on average earn about $11,500 (about .77 on the dollar) less annually than men in comparable positions; they save less and spend fewer years in the workforce than men.

Catholic Charities of Kansas City-St. Joseph initiated the Women’s Economic Empowerment Program two years ago, to address the disparities, promote financial education, self-sufficiency and economic mobility for women age 16 and older. On Jan. 14, The Women’s Foundation of Greater Kansas City presented Catholic Charities with a $25,000 grant to fund the program.

Jackie Loya-Torres, Director of Grants for the Women’s Foundation, said investing in women in Kansas City is a worthy investment; helping women learn to make good financial, employment and education decisions so that their children will also learn to make good decisions as they grow up.

Through classes focusing on money management, credit building, financial goal setting, finding and keeping employment, the Women’s Economic Empowerment Program, created by women for women, helps women move from crisis to financial confidence and competence.

Becky Gripp, Catholic Charities Economic Security Coordinator, who developed and spearheads the program, described a fictitious client, Cassie, who represents any or all of the agency’s real-life women clients. “Cassie is our model client. She has multiple barriers to moving out of poverty into the mainstream. She is homeless, meaning she has no place of her own. She may be 16 or 28 or 50,” she said, “most likely single, with 2 or 3 children. She may or may not have a high school education. More than likely she has legal issues — traffic tickets, an ex-husband, children in foster care that she wants back, the IRS. She probably has no transportation, and she very likely has an addiction issue, whether its alcohol, drugs, prescription meds. She’s probably unemployed, and in a crisis situation financially. There are so many Cassies. But they are survivors.”

Some statistics about women and finances:

• Seventy-five percent of all poor Americans over age 65 are women.

• Women are more likely to live in poverty than are adult men.

• Although more adult women live in married-couple families than in any other living arrangement, an ever-growing number of women are raising children without a spouse.

• A college-educated woman earns an annual median income of $51,000 compared to $61,000 for a college-educated man.

• A girl who doesn’t graduate from high school has a 90 percent chance of being poor and of passing the “legacy” of poverty to her children.

Gripp said women use and handle finances differently from men. “Our relationship with money is different,” she said. “The Women’s Economic Empowerment program enables women to share information and learn from each other. That’s another difference between men and women. Men tend to be territorial about their problems and about what they are learning. Women tend to share. Sometimes women are paralyzed by earlier bad decisions and afraid to try again. We rely on best practices to help them move forward.”

Nicole McCrory, who oversees Catholic Charities programs for pregnant women, wrote the grant with Jarrod Sanderson, Director of Family Supportive Services. She said, “A lot of women who come to us are survivors. We want to give them the tools to empower them and help them go further. The grant money will be spent on classes, workbooks, employment services and things like bus passes to help women get to the classes or employment opportunities. Bus passes are like gold to many of our clients! We want to cater to their individual needs.”

The classes cover women and money and intergenerational empowerment. Gripp said the grant money will also enable her to provide lunch or a light dinner for the classes, which will help the women learn.

Gripp said the average age of widowhood is 55. “So 9 out of 10 women will be making major financial decisions on their own at a fairly young age. We work with them to set micro goals — get up in the morning, get dressed, make three phone calls before noon, that sort of thing — that they can build on. Accomplishing doable goals can help lead a woman out of crisis and into control then confidence then competency.”

Gripp added that when a woman shows up in her class, it is her “responsibility to hear the woman’s needs and where she’s coming from and to act on what else she might need. It’s a holistic approach.”

The Women’s Foundation was founded in 1991 to promote the long-term stability of agencies serving women and girls in the Kansas City community; to fund innovative programs that address key issues facing women and girls; to think strategically with other community leaders about the importance of women’s issues, and to increase support from other funders for those issues and encourage women to recognize “the power of their purses,” to put their dollars where their values are. Today The Women’s Foundation of Greater Kansas City is the only local organization that works to improve and enhance economic self-sufficiency relating to financial literacy, employment and support for working women. In the past 20 years, The Women’s Foundation has awarded more than $2.5 million to organizations like Catholic Charities to help improve the lives of Kansas City’s women and girls.

Gripp said right now, she has anywhere from 8 to 25 students in her classes, ranging in age from 16 to 80. “If I can help transform a life or many lives, it’s a wonderful feeling,” she said. “That’s my goal, transforming lives for the better.”

To learn more about Catholic Charities Women’s Economic Empowerment Program or any of their other services and programs, contact the Caritas Center (816) 221-4377 or visit www.catholiccharities-kcsj.org.

Bishop Robert W. Finn speaks with St. Pius X High School seniors Emma Haas, Nina Salazar and Olivia Jackson Jan. 20 before he offered his prayers and blessings to the 200 people who boarded four buses for the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C. (Kevin Kelly/Key photo)

By Kevin Kelly
Catholic Key Associate Editor

BLUE SPRINGS — Spiritual courage and spiritual weapons are needed in a spiritual war, Father Joseph Totton, pastor of St. Charles Borromeo Parish, told some 200 pilgrims boarding buses with him at St. John LaLande Parish for the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C.

“Our battle is not against the people who advocate for abortion. They are misguided souls,” said Father Totton in his homily at the pre-dawn Mass.

“All of us as Catholics are instead called to witness for the sanctity of life,” he said. “We do this by the way we live our lives.”

When the sacrifice of travelling half-way across the nation, sleeping on hard floors, and publicly standing up for life in the January cold is united with the sacrifice of Christ on the cross, the forces of sin and death stand no chance, Father Totton said.

“Any sacrifice we make, we must unite with the sacrifice of Christ,” he said. “When it is united with the passion of Jesus Christ, and when it is offered as a sacrifice, it helps us take on heavenly powers, spiritual powers” against sin and death.

“He is victorious over the power of sin and death,” Father Totton said. “This particular battle that we fight will ultimately gain for you the victory, just as he gained it for us on the cross.”

The diocesan force heading to the nation’s capital was organized and assembled by the diocesan Respect Life Office and director Bill Francis.

They will be among thousands who will gather on the Mall, surrounded by national monuments and landmarks, on the 41st anniversary of the twin U.S. Supreme Court decisions, Roe v. Wade and Doe v. Bolton, that legalized abortion across the country.

Dylan McNair, 17, was among the teens and young adults that swelled the numbers, and he said he was going for what on the surface sounded like a very teen-aged reason.

“It’s going to be a fun trip,” he said.

But McNair quickly added that it won’t be a vacation or a trip to Disneyland.

“It will be fun because I’m going with friends, and we’re standing up for life together,” he said. “You’ve got to do God’s work. That’s the most important thing.”

McNair’s fellow young parishioners from St. Andrew Parish in Gladstone backed him up.

“It’s a good cause,” said Pius Nsoh-Awasom, 18. “Abortion is something society now takes for granted. We need to create the awareness of the sanctity of life.”

“I am going to stand up for innocent babies who can’t stand up for themselves,” said Charles Mwaura, 16. “It’s my duty as a Catholic.”

All the pilgrims may have been spry as they prepared, physically and spiritually, for a long ride on a bus.

But not all of them were of “spring chicken” vintage.

Once again, the pilgrims were joined by Msg. Ralph Kaiser, a veteran of 60 years as a priest and many a bus ride to the March for Life, who also concelebrated the pre-dawn Mass with Father Adam Johnson, Father Ben Kneib, and Father Totton.

Raring to go? “You bet,” he said.

“I just got back Tuesday from a tour of the Holy Land, and I am over the jet lag from that,” he said

Msgr. Kaiser said he draws encouragement from the young around him.

“It’s wonderful to see them,” he said. “The sacrifices they make, sleeping on marble floors. It’s just wonderful.”

Charlie Lynn of St. Thomas More Parish was also a pilgrim well beyond his teen years.

He echoed Father Totton’s homily, and said that if people truly proclaimed the sanctity of life, abortion would not be an issue.

“Our enemies are not the ‘pro-choice’ people,” Lynn said. “I think of (the comic strip) Pogo — ‘We have met the enemy and he is us.’ It is a matter of convincing ourselves of the sanctity of life.”

Offering a blessing and a prayer before they departed, Bishop Robert W. Finn told the pilgrims that there is no doubt that life is valued, and that spirit will one day win.

He recalled a recent visit to a hospital to tend to the sick.

“The hospital was crowded. The parking lot was full. But everyone was there because they cared about people,” he said.

“Some were being born. Some were in the process of dying. Others were in a valiant fight to cure their ailments,” Bishop Finn said.

But all of them were attended by doctors, nurses, and loved ones.

“That is why we are here today. Life is important,” the bishop said. “We do this to say to people around us, ‘Life is important and life deserves a chance.’”

Bishop Finn also told the pilgrims that they will be committing acts of faith, hope and love, all at the same time.

“How can we live out our Catholic calling any better than that?” he said.

Father Peter Marsalek receives a blessing from SOLT Founder, Fr James Flanagan, shortly after being elected General Priest Servant. (Photo courtesy of SOLT)

By John Heuertz
Special to the Catholic Key

What is Holy Scripture’s practical answer to the question, how are we to live? Its answer is that we are to live like Jesus and Mary.

Fr. Peter Marsalek is a Canadian Texas transplant, a published academic authority on stormwater, a former tennis pro, and the new General Priest Servant of SOLT, the Society of Our Lady of the Trinity – a Catholic religious body once headquartered in our diocese for 20 years.

On January 15 at the Catholic Center, Fr. Marsalek gave a talk entitled “A Scriptural View: Living As A Child Of God” that outlined Holy Scripture’s remarkable consistency concerning how all humans should live.

Citing the New Testament and St. Thomas Aquinas, he began by saying that Catholics who wish to evangelize should begin with the central truths of the Faith. One central truth is that each of us is made an adopted child of God by Baptism.

“Nothing comes close to the root of our dignity like the fact that we are God’s adopted children,” Fr. Marsalek said.

And if we are His children then we are also His heirs – heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, St. Paul wrote in Romans 8.

We first learn about our heavenly Father by experiencing our earthly fathers. Other influences include Revelation, Holy Scripture, friends, society and especially free will.

But there is only one input into who Jesus is, and that is His heavenly Father. “If you know Me, then you will also know My Father” (Jn.14:7).

With characteristic precision and insight, St. Thomas outlined four ways we can know God as Father in this world and the next.

“But with adoption comes responsibility,” Fr. Marsalek said. “Do my actions reveal that I am a child of God? Have I absorbed the values of my Father?”

We show by our actions that we are adopted sons of God by being like Jesus. “So be imitators of God, as His beloved children,” St. Paul wrote to the Christians at Ephesus.

And not only God. “Mary is the perfect adopted child of God. May we imitate her perfectly,” Fr. Marsalek said.

Perhaps passion for imitating the Mother of God indicates that Mary, the perfect adopted child of God, inspired a visionary young college student to found SOLT.

Before he graduated from Boston College in the 1950s, Jim Flanagan had the idea that priests, nuns, sisters and laity could form pastoral teams to do the work of the Lord in the world together. After long prayer and discernment, he presented this idea to his archbishop, Richard Cardinal Cushing.

The Cardinal may have sensed how radically Flanagan’s vision departed from the Church’s traditional, hierarchical understanding of itself in the world – while at the same time giving rich new expression to the Church’s traditional understanding that it should live in the world like Jesus and Mary did.

To encourage both prudence and fortitude, he gave Flanagan the wise counsel to let this vision develop for five years.

Five years later, Fr. James Flanagan got the Cardinal’s blessing to pursue his vision, and the Cardinal’s permission to move to the Archdiocese of Santa Fe with a handful of companions at the invitation of Santa Fe Archbishop Edwin Byrne.

SOLT was first established in 1958 in the Immaculate Heart of Mary parish in Holman, New Mexico – an economically disadvantaged area high in the Sangre de Cristo mountains that needed help with its church and school.

Volunteers began to arrive and stay. Some came from Boston College at the urging of Fr. Joseph Flanagan SJ, the other Fr. Flanagan’s brother and the Chairman of BC’s Philosophy Department for many years.

Marian bishops have always been crucial to the SOLT story. Being very Marian, Bishop Charles Helmsing invited Fr. Flanagan and his companions to Kansas City in 1964. Fr. Flanagan became the pastor of St. Francis Seraph parish in the East Bottoms, and SOLT’s next 20 years in Kansas City were most productive.

SOLT members organized spiritual and corporal works of mercy here with the team approach that is gaining SOLT increased renown inside and outside the Church.

The group started the suicide hotline called Human Rescue, and started a transition house for the recently incarcerated called Dismas House.

It helped integrate a transitional neighborhood in the marketplace way, and helped Vietnamese refugees find work and housing.

Its nurses helped the sick at Truman Medical Center, and its teachers ran grammar schools and helped teach special needs children.

SOLT’s interest in migrants was perhaps the most important apostolate to SOLT’s long-term development. Many came into the USA through places that are part of the Diocese of Corpus Christi. Because of this interest, the bishop invited SOLT to base its administration there, where it is still located.

SOLT began its first mission in Mexico in 1965 and in the Philippines in 1975. In 1998 SOLT began forming seminarians at the Angelicum, the Dominican Pontifical University in Rome, and started pastoral work in Rome in 2000.

Today the Society of Our Lady of the Trinity is active in 12 countries on five continents. The Society says that the gift that our Heavenly Father gives in Jesus to the Church today through The Society of Our Lady of the Most Holy Trinity is the Trinitarian Life of Jesus.

Fr. Marsalek was elected SOLT’s fourth General Priest Servant last July and visited Kansas City last week as part of visiting SOLT teams everywhere. Contact Dr. Jim Doughterty at drjimdougherty@gmail.com for more information about SOLT.

Alumni and students of Our Lady of Guadalupe School representing families who started attending the school as early as the 1920s, and continue to this day. From left, Irene Fiero Munoz, Margie Arroyo Rodriguez, Genny Paredes Montes and Monica Bustamante Arroyo. Loretta Robles Fiero stands among family members, including granddaughter Gianni May (Pre-K) with photo of her great- grandmother. Far right is Maria Sanchez-Chastain, Our Lady of Guadalupe School secretary and Virginia Robles Ramirez. (Marty Denzer/Key photo)

By Marty Denzer
Catholic Key Reporter

KANSAS CITY – Although many parish elementary schools have, over the years, been forced to close for one reason or another, there are several that have educated children for a century or more, and plan to continue for many more years.

Our Lady of Guadalupe School, founded in 1915, is proud that there are families whose grandparents attended the school and succeeding generations that have followed suit.

Genevieve (Genny) Paredes Montes, Loretta Robles Fiero, Irene Fiero Munoz, Monica Bustamante Arroyo and Margaretta (Margie) Arroyo Rodriguez, along with some of their children and grandchildren, got together Jan. 14 to remember their childhoods, the school and parish and a few lessons of life.

Around 1900, the call for laborers to help build the railroads around Kansas City had attracted Mexican nationals to the area. Many of the men had been working on the Santa Fe railroads near El Paso, Texas, so it was a natural move for them. Others, lured by the meat packing houses, found their way to Kansas City, and by 1910, La Colonia had begun to form around 23rd Street (now Avenida Cesar Chavez) and Madison Avenue on the West side.

As more and more families arrived, they displaced the Irish families living along the river bluffs. The Irish moved south towards the city’s outskirts. The Mexican Revolution of 1910 caused many people to flee their homeland for the U.S., and Kansas City. A third wave of Mexican families arrived between 1910 and 1914, hoping to find work on the construction gangs building the new Union Station. Then with the outbreak of World War I, war-related jobs brought more families to the city.

By 1914, the Hispanic population on the Westside was large enough to warrant the establishment of a Catholic parish for them. Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish was established in 1914, and drew Spanish-speaking folks from all over Kansas City. Mass in its first years was celebrated at Sacred Heart Church, founded nearby in 1887 to serve the Irish families who had moved to the city.

Our Lady of Guadalupe School was founded the following year in two leased storerooms at 21st Street and Belleview. Two Sisters of St. Joseph of Carondelet, Sister Rose and Sister Cyril had charge of about 110 students.

The year 1919 was a banner year for the parish. The parish was able to purchase the former Swedish Evangelical Lutheran Emmanuel church on the corner of 23rd and Madison. Parishioners quickly transformed it into a Catholic church, and moved the school into the lower level.

“My father was born in 1919,” Loretta Robles Fiero said. “All of his brothers and sisters went to Our Lady of Guadalupe School.” The school’s records date to 1919, so there’s a possibility her father also attended the school. Her mother, Mary Hernandez Robles, attended Our Lady of Guadalupe School.

In 1925 property was purchased on Madison from the Mary Troost estate with the intention of building a school. The first Fiesta was held in 1926 as a fund raiser for the school. In 1927, a city-wide campaign was begun to raise more funds to build the school. The new Our Lady of Guadalupe School was dedicated in Aug. that year.

“My mother, Mary Bernal Paredes, was born in 1923,” said Genny Paredes Montes. “She was the oldest of 10, and my grandparents sent all 10 children to Our Lady of Guadalupe. Mom would have started school about 1928, in the new school building. She would have graduated about 1935, since there was no 8th grade back then.” Mary sent her six children to the school.

“My grandparents moved here, to this neighborhood, in the 20s,” recalled Monica Bustamante Arroyo, “because of the railroad. They sent their daughter, my mom, Mary Lopez Bustamante, her sister Paula and their brother to Our Lady of Guadalupe School. There were 13 of us Bustamante kids, and 11 of us graduated from the school. Let’s see, Alex, Alexis, Debbie, me, Michael, Julius and Judy, Francis, Maria, Peter and Dez. I don’t know why Mom named him Dismas; everybody called him Dez.”

John Munoz is a second generation Our Lady of Guadalupe alumnus. His wife, Irene, did not attend the school, but since her marriage, has embraced both parish and school wholeheartedly. She spoke for John as he had to work, telling how his parents, Ramon and Tillie Madrigal Munoz, and all their brothers and sisters graduated from the school. His parents in turn enrolled all 10 of their children in the school.

“Our Lady of Guadalupe is our neighborhood school,” Irene said.

Margie Arroyo Rodriguez graduated from the school, as did her brothers and sisters. Her brother Arthur married Monica Bustamante. The children and grandchildren all graduated from the school.

So many memories. “We used to have daily Mass,” Genny said. “Now the children go to Mass every Friday. It’s still an all school Mass. We’d all go to confession on Friday afternoons.”

Monica added, “Remember how we had to fast before Mass, before communion? We couldn’t eat breakfast and we’d be starving. The Sisters would open the parish hall beneath the church after Mass and feed us. I remember confession on Fridays. Mom would send us on Saturdays too. And when we were kids, we couldn’t eat meat on Fridays, all year long, not just during Lent like it is now.”

Genny grimaced. “Oh, fried fish …”

“Back then,” Margie said, “the back doors to the school were unlocked during the day. We would open them and run home for lunch. We lived behind the school on the next street.”

Genny remembered, “A lot of us lived near the school. When our grandmothers moved here, they found homes in the neighborhood, near the church. Now kids come here from many other parts of the city. Living so close to church gave us no excuses for missing Mass on Sundays. If we were too sick or something to attend Mass, we were too sick or something to do anything else!”

The Sisters of St. Joseph taught at Our Lady of Guadalupe from 1915 to 1980. In 1966, Cathedral, Sacred Heart and Our Lady of Guadalupe schools were consolidated under the name Our Lady of the Americas. Students were divided between two campuses: grades 1-4 were at Sacred Heart, taught by the Sisters of Loretto (who resigned from the Westside parish in 1981); grades 5-8 were at Our Lady of Guadalupe, taught by the Sisters of St. Joseph. It was rather like having an upper and a lower school.

“Remember when the 7th grade boys basketball team won the City Championship? It was in the 1980s.” Monica asked. “There were only 4 or 5 boys on the team, but they won!”

Our Lady of Guadalupe dropped grades 7 and 8 in 1992. Today students attend the school through 6th grade, then go to Our Lady of Angels for seventh and eighth.

“The Sisters really taught us,” Loretta said. “The nuns and priests were strict, but they wanted us to succeed. They didn’t let us give up. There was no laziness. We were accountable inside and outside the school.”

Almost in unison, the women asked each other, “Remember the priest handing out report cards?”

Genny nodded. “He’d call your name and you’d have to walk up to the teacher’s desk. He’d open your report card and look at each mark without saying anything, then hand it to you. You’d want to sink into the floor sometimes!”

There were rewards along with the strictness.

Monica: “Sister got a hold of a big cardboard box and cut out a TV set on one side. We used to sit inside the box and read to our classmates through the pretend TV!”

Genny: “Sister let me ring the big hand bell after morning prayers to send everybody back to class. I had wanted to do that for so long. I still remember ringing that bell.”

Irene: “John always says that it was a big privilege to become an altar boy. He could hardly wait until he was old enough to become one.”

The students tried to be good, because John said, discipline could be embarrassing.

Rulers and yardsticks were sometimes used to rap fingers, or the backs of legs. “That would never be allowed today,” Genny said. “But we survived.”

Accountability, discipline, consistency, all tempered by love.

“You know,” Margie said, “nobody bullied anybody. If you didn’t understand something, other kids would step up to help.”

Some teachers went the extra mile to instill a love of learning in their students.

John Munoz credits Franciscan Brother Michael Sobel for preparing him and his classmates to take the admittance/placement test at Rockhurst High School, Irene said. “The boys in John’s class were ready for the tests, and were admitted to Rockhurst without having to go to summer school first. And you know, all the boys in his class from Our Lady of Guadalupe went to college and now have successful careers.”

Monica credited her son’s second grade teacher, a Miss Foley, for instilling in him a love of reading. “Evenings and weekends, we’d all lay on the bed reading. But he was always reading, long after he was supposed to be asleep! Now he’s in college, and still reading!”

Monica also recalled how good the school kitchen always smelled. “We weren’t allowed in there, but you could smell the cooking all through the school. It made us all hungry.”

Our Lady of Guadalupe School became one school again in the late 1990s, with Pre-kindergarten through sixth grade being taught at the school. Kirra Mansell, Genny’s granddaughter, is in Kindergarten; Gianni May, Loretta’s granddaughter, in is Pre-kindergarten; Joaquin (grade 5) Josh (grade 4), Olivia, (grade 3) and Paulie Munoz (kindergarten), grandchildren of Loretta Fiero and John and Irene Munoz; Santiago, (Xavier), Monica’s grandson, is in first grade, and John Paul Julian Rodriguez, Margie’s grandson, is in second grade.

“Our grandparents and parents sacrificed a lot to send us to Catholic school,” Loretta said, as the others nodded. “We were advanced in our learning and in respect for our elders, our responsibilities and dreams. The nuns gave us tools to succeed in life.”

Our Lady of Guadalupe Parish and School have survived consolidation, closure of the church and its interim status as an oratory. Today Sacred Heart-Guadalupe is one parish with two locations, Sacred Heart Church, 2601 Madison Ave., and the Shrine of Our Lady of Guadalupe, next door to Our Lady of Guadalupe School.

“This is a community, a close-knit family,” Irene said.

Monica added, “It’s a commitment, a commitment to education, to faith. We have to set priorities. But the return is priceless. It’s true; you get out of it what you put into it.”

Virginia Robles Ramirez, a relative of Loretta’s, said, “Our Lady of Guadalupe School taught me that our faith instilled a foundation in us. Daily Mass, getting involved in both the parish and the school has given us a cornerstone we build on in our lives.”

Loretta agreed. “We also learned that hard work and an attitude of give and take, shows how much we care. Our children watch us and learn; it becomes second nature.”

Irene said, “The neighborhood school and church gives us stability.”

Virginia nodded. “It’s an anchor.”

Loretta added, “When you come here, you feel like you’ve come home.”

Virginia said the school’s alumni are “a dedicated group. We want to leave a 21st century legacy to those who come after us. We have been fortunate, have been blessed to continue, and if we don’t continue the parish and the school, who will?”

Maria Sanchez-Chastain, school secretary, said one part of the legacy was to begin Jan.21. In conjunction with Donnelly College in Kansas City, Kan., Our Lady of Guadalupe School will offer English as a Second Language classes to school parents who speak little or no English. Along with the ESL classes, GED exam preparation will also be offered. Two of the volunteer instructors are Irene Munoz and Virginia Ramirez.

Maria said, “This is a family, it’s stability, continuity, involvement and hard work. “

There is a lot of continuity in the neighborhood, among the alumni of Our Lady of Guadalupe. Irene said she and John live in the house he grew up in. And Monica’s mother still has the same telephone number she had in the 1930s.

This is Our Lady of Guadalupe School, past, present and looking ahead to the future.

Benedictine Father Benedict Neenan of Conception Seminary College welcomes those attending the 21st annual Support Our Semianarians Banquet at the Muehlebach Hotel Jan. 31. Behind him are seminarians of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph and the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, who attend seminaries across the country and Conception Seminary College in Conception, Mo. (Marty Denzer/Key photo)

By Marty Denzer
Catholic Key Reporter

KANSAS CITY — The cold, drippy clouds foretold winter weather moving in the evening of Jan. 31. The forecast was for a mix of freezing rain, sleet and snow. But despite the weather, about 600 people arrived at the Muehlebach Hotel downtown to celebrate, help financially, and prayerfully support the seminarians from the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, and Conception Seminary College at the 21st annual Support Our Seminarians Banquet. Parents, siblings, hosts of seminarians from other nations, priests, sisters and friends — they came from near and far — Kansas City, St. Joseph, Conception and surrounding towns and from Kansas City, Kan., and other cities bordering Missouri and beyond.

Many seminarians in the classes of 2014 through 2022 were in attendance, young men fresh out of high school in their first year of seminary college, men looking forward to springtime ordinations to the priesthood and all the classes in between.

As people arrived, they circled the Marketplace, browsing the displays of merchandise for sale — rosaries, books, statues and framed art, vases, china and crystal pieces. There was also a silent auction. Proceeds from the Market place and the auction would benefit Conception Seminary College and seminarians from both dioceses attending Conception Seminary College, and other seminary colleges and seminaries both in the U.S., and in Rome. Since 1999, the net proceeds have been equally divided between the two dioceses and Conception Seminary College. Altogether, from the first SOS Banquet in 1994 through 2013, the event had raised $3,080,214.

Following a welcome by Benedictine Father Benedict Neenan of Conception Abbey, the event chairs, David and Kathie Hazuka, greeted those present and reminded them that the purpose of the evening was to support seminarians and Conception Seminary College. Kathie Hazuka then suggested, “Think of all the good times, the baptisms, first communions and weddings, as well as the hard times, sickness, deaths and funerals. We couldn’t do it without priests. Please support our seminarians — our future priests — who will be there for our children and grandchildren, in good times and in hard.”

Bishop Robert W. Finn of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph was pleased to announce that nine young men would be ordained this coming spring: “Four new priests will be ordained in May, and five new transitional deacons will be ordained a few weeks later. Your encouragement and support helps seminarians realize that this is a gracious vocation.” Just then the microphone stopped working. Laughter and joking comments from Bishop Finn and Archbishop Joseph Naumann of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kan., flew around for a moment, before Archbishop Naumann began speaking loudly.

“A hallmark of our community is the love and support of our seminarians. One of the most important things I do is ordain priests. They impact tens of thousands of people. Bishop Finn and I could use 10 more priests here (in this region) tomorrow.

“Your presence here tonight means a lot to your bishop, to me, to your Abbot (Gregory Polan), your priests and your seminarians.”

Abbot Gregory Polan of Conception Abbey, spoke of the “hope-filled days we have experienced with the pastoral leadership of Pope Francis.” The pope, elected last March, has “taken center stage as a spiritual leader.

“At Conception,” Abbot Polan continued, “we work to instill those values we see so evident in Pope Francis and we saw in Pope Benedict XVI and in Blessed Pope John Paul II, in our students.”

As dinner was being served around the ballroom, a video of seminarians at Conception, Josephinum, St. Gregory the Great, Mundelein and St. Meinrad seminaries was played. The seminarians reflected on their vocations, their first days in the seminaries, the brotherhood and fraternity, resources and books available, the order and scheduling — and above all, the treasure of having time to pray and study.

Msgr. Charles McGlinn, pastor of Cure of Ars Parish in Leawood, Kan., was ordained in 1967, “two tumultuous years after the close of Vatican II.” He has been pastor at Cure for 21 years.

He spoke of being a priest, “being with people at critical times and at ordinary times in their lives. But there have been lots of funny moments, really funny moments.”

He recalled, for example, a wedding where a tiny flower girl was “scared to death” and refused to follow the bridesmaids. Her father finally picked her up, slung her over his shoulder and carrying her, he strewed flowers in the aisle. “The whole church roared with laughter,” Msgr. McGlinn recalled.

“There are a thousand stories, funny, serious, happy and sad. The priesthood is such an awesome job. But, my favorite thing of all is to celebrate the Eucharist!”

Ordained in 1993, Father Gregory Haskamp, pastor of St. Elizabeth Parish in Kansas City, said that while watching the seminarians talk in the video, “I saw and heard myself” and recalled his days as a seminarian and a newly ordained priest.

He was constantly busy doing this and working on that, and said he lost sight of what had called him to the priesthood in the first place. Then he attended a retreat, during which the facilitator asked the retreatants, “Remember when God first called you? That word? That event? That flash of inspiration when you first felt that God was speaking to you?”

Father Haskamp said, “I knew immediately the moment for me. I was in seventh grade at St. Matthew the Apostle in Kansas City. I watched our pastor, Father John Coleman, as he worked with his parishioners and thought, ‘How great, to get to help people all day.’”

He said he didn’t realize in the early days that all the work he did — the financial, the planning, solving problems and the rest was in fact helping people. “I finally realized, ‘It isn’t about me, it’s what God is doing to and for all people.’”

He then reminded the seminarians and priests in attendance, “Listen to what God says, keep listening. With God, no word, no thought, no moment of glory can ever be lost.”

Along with financial support, many pledged support of the seminarians through prayer. Near the evening’s end, a spiritual bouquet was displayed on the video screens, showing that between now and Easter, 872 Rosaries would be said, 205 Divine Mercy Chaplets, 294 hours spent in Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament, 212 hours of reading Holy Scripture, 126 Stations of the Cross and more than 1,200 Masses would be attended.

As Deacon Michael Shreck of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, father of a seminarian at Conception, said, “It has been fantastic to see his vocation blossom.”

Proceeds from this year’s event are still being tallied.

Holding signs promoting “Life,” people gathered in front of the Federal Courthouse downtown to pray together on the 41st annniversary of the legalization of abortion. (Marty Denzer/Key photo)

By Marty Denzer
Catholic Key Reporter

KANSAS CITY — On Jan. 22, 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the Roe v. Wade case that women have the legal right to abortion. Since then, each year, thousands of men, women, young adults and children have gathered on the Mall in Washington D.C., to march for life.

This year, the 41st anniversary of that ruling, many thousands traveled through snow, wind and bitter cold to Washington, D.C. for the March, and those who were unable to travel there, gathered in their home cities to pray for life, for the not yet born all the way to natural death.

In Kansas City, a Mass, sponsored by Missouri Right to Life and the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, was celebrated in the Chapel of Our Lady of Ephesus at the Catholic Center, with Father Ken Riley, Judicial Vicar, as principal celebrant and concelebrated by Father Charles Rowe, Vicar General.

In his homily, Father Riley told about 50 people in the chapel and the main lobby a story about a husband whose wife lived in a nursing home, suffering from Alzheimer’s. How he visited her every day, telling her the latest family news, which she would forget as soon as she heard them, feeding her lunch and telling her he loved her. When friends would question why he kept going to visit her when she didn’t know who he was, his answer was always “Because I know who I am.”

“The husband’s faithfulness,” Father Riley said, “is the perfect and complete answer to what we are doing … as well as who we are … in continuing a quest that promotes, protects, provides for human life, especially the unborn: Because I know who I am; because we know who we are … made in the image and likeness of God.”

The Gospel reading for that day was Mark 9:30-37. Part of the reading included:

“They came to Capernaum and, once inside the house, he began to ask them, ‘What were you arguing about on the way?’ But they remained silent. They had been discussing among themselves on the way who was the greatest. Then he sat down, called the Twelve, and said to them, ‘If anyone wishes to be first, he shall be the last of all and the servant of all.’ Taking a child he placed it in their midst, and putting his arms around it he said to them, ‘Whoever receives one child such as this in my name, receives me; and whoever receives me, receives not me but the One who sent me.’”

Father Riley explained that through the gospel account can be seen that the disciples were beginning to realize exactly who Jesus is … “the good news that Jesus embodies, the importance of God’s will and way over human domination, power, rank and privilege. And so do we as Catholics, start to understand who we are, what our lives are about and what we mean when we say we believe in Jesus Christ, God’s only son and our Lord.”

This belief “is a journey of discipleship,” he continued. Our faith is one of witness like the early disciples … “of innocence, and of trust in what is not visible to worldly eyes, easily grasped by little children.” Father Riley suggested striving to be as “a child who welcomes another, a child who loves people without hate or prejudice … a child who in welcoming and acknowledging, treating with respect and love the born and the unborn, welcomes God’s eternal love,” … again revealed upon earth. “At this we ought not to fall silent.”

He reminded those present of the words of Isaiah, that God promised to “make you a light to the nations that his salvation may reach to the ends of the earth.”

In shining as a light to the nations, Father Riley said, we have to speak, we have to act in both charity and true love, but with a voice of truth, with a witness of faith and with a trust in God’s eternity.”

Harkening back to the story of the husband and wife, he said, “it was not her recognition of him, not her knowing the names of family or friends, not even remembering the story of their life together that mattered; it was his beloved’s being a child of God, born … innocent, welcomed, loved.”

At the conclusion of the homily, Father Riley said, “God our creator, … grant that we, whom you have made stewards of creation, remain faithful to this sacred trust and constant in safeguarding the dignity of every human life.”

After Mass, about 20 people bundled into coats and scarves and, some praying aloud, some silently reflecting, walked the 5 blocks in 30 degree temperatures to Ilus Davis Park across from the Federal Courthouse at Ninth and Oak streets. There they met others who were gathering to pray, holding signs reminding drivers, passersby and those entering or leaving the courthouse that adoption is an alternative to abortion and of the pain and regret those who have gone through an abortion feel, even years later. The prayer vigil was organized and sponsored by Missouri Right to Life.

Several Kansas City area faith leaders led prayers. As they prayed, a few drivers waved thumbs up or honked horns in support.

Reverend Aaron Lavendar, pastor of Grace Baptist Church in Kansas City, prayed that American leaders “would get to know the Lord” and change would occur, starting at the center and moving out to the circumference. In other words, the changes would start with the leaders and lawmakers and move out to encompass everybody.

Reverend Algernon Baker, pastor of Bethel Family Worship Center in Ruskin Heights, urged repentance and thanked God for being the God of all. “Show us the way back to you,” he said.

Reverend Jim Shimel, pastor of Buckner Restoration Branch, asked those present to “cry out to God for those who have no voice to speak for them.”

Father Angelo Bartulica, pastor of Our Lady of Lourdes Parish in Raytown, asked God to help those present “be agents of love” and let those hurting from abortion know that “there is a heavenly Father who loves them.”

Deacon Bob Bates of St. Sabina Parish in Belton also urged prayer and repentance, and asked all those present to join him in the “Our Father.”

When the prayer vigil ended, with quiet goodbyes the group picked up their table, the placards, and the bullhorn, and departed, many for lunch at Anthony’s Restaurant a few blocks away, others to return to work or their homes. But for everyone who participated in the Mass and the prayer vigil on a cold afternoon, the words of Father Riley and of the priest, the deacon and the ministers, remained in their minds.

Becky Lynch, surprised but smiling after being named the 2014 Our Lady of the Presentation Teacher of the Year. (Marty Denzer/Key photo)

By Marty Denzer
Catholic Key Reporter

LEE’S SUMMIT — The last week of January each year is the time when, across the country, Catholic school faculty, staff and students, along with their parents, come together to celebrate what Catholic education is all about. It’s a packed week: students and perhaps teachers wear crazy, mixed up outfits or even pajamas to school instead of uniforms, gather for service projects, special Masses and assemblies. The theme this year was Catholic Schools — Communities of Faith, Knowledge and Service.

Our Lady of the Presentation School in Lee’s Summit held a special assembly Jan. 31 to acknowledge the school community and celebrate its faith, knowledge and service to others. Father Tom Holder, pastor of Presentation Parish, led the students, faculty and parents in a prayer asking God’s help to grow each day in the ways of faith.

The Grand Knight of the parish Knights of Columbus Council and two Council members announced the winners of the Knights of Columbus essay contest. Archbishop O’Hara High School cheerleaders, pep band and Shamrockettes performed cheers and dance routines, and fired up the students’ enthusiasm even more.

After a game of “Simon Says,” with help from K.C. Wolf, the Kansas City Chief’s mascot, a service project was applauded. Students collected 360 snack items to fill backpacks for children in need attending one of the Strong City Schools to take home over a weekend. Jeremy Lillig, Managing Director of the diocesan Bright Futures Fund and Strong City Schools Fund, thanked the students for their generosity. He then assisted school Principal Jodi Briggs in a game of “Heads or Tails.”

Accompanied by cheers from the O’Hara squad, Mrs. Briggs announced that the students had collected $634.64 voting for the teacher who best represented the 1980s during Catholic Schools Week. The money raised was split 50/50, half to the third grade class and half to the Bright Futures Fund.

The S.A.V.E. Foundation (Safety, Abuse and Violence Education), each year awards grants to teachers for special class projects. Five teachers were awarded grants to purchase needed equipment or special articles for their class.

There is a special parking place near the school entrance reserved for the Teacher of the Year. He or she may park their car in that spot for the year. There is also a $1,000 check from the Parent Teacher Organization made out to the teacher. Teachers are nominated by students and former students; the nominations are then submitted, unidentified, to a panel of Catholic professionals outside the parish, which reviews and deliberates until they reach a consensus upon the recipient. The process keeps the teachers, and the students, totally in the dark as to who the Teacher of the Year will be.

Third Grade teacher Maureen Van Becelaere, the 2013 Teacher of the Year, received a blessing tree made up of 26 hearts, commemorating each year she has taught, first at Christ the King School and, since 1999, at Presentation. Each heart contains a quote from one student from each year of her teaching career, the student’s name and year in her class, and the logo of the Catholic schools where she attended or taught. The students also had a special gift for her — a framed heart containing the sentiments from her nominations last year.

A member of the independent selection panel for the past three years, Father Robert Stewart, pastor of St. Margaret of Scotland Parish, also in Lee’s Summit, announced the 2014 Teacher of the Year Award.

This year, Father Stewart said, the Sisters of Charity Selection Panel chose two teachers to be recognized with an Honorable Mention, deserving “respect and recognition and, they are eligible to win next year.” Art teacher Julie Sherfinski and Fifth Grade teacher Denise Russell were so recognized.

And then, the moment the entire assembly had been waiting for.

Father Stewart shared some of the winning nominations: “…has impacted the lives of countless students … she maximizes the success of each child by working with their particular learning style and needs. … She has really neat ways of teaching … and gives lots of hugs! … She truly teaches the entire child and has a way of making each one feel as though she came to work just to see them …”

Outgoing Teacher of the Year Maureen Van Becelaere opened the envelope and, following a drum roll, announced the 2014 Teacher of the Year, “Mrs. Becky Lynch!” Lynch is a second grade teacher. Escorted to the stage by Presentation’s Panther mascot, “Paws,” the surprised teacher found her family waiting for her with hugs and congratulations. She was presented with the check and “the reserved parking space.”

Closing the assembly with a prayer and the school song, the students and teachers returned to their classrooms to collect coats and books and then to join their parents or carpools and go home.

Monday, Feb. 3, Becky Lynch would be able to use the reserved parking place close to the school entrance for the first time.

Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson, head of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, speaks with Father Ernie Davis, administrator of St. Therese Little Flower Parish, and Jim Carlyle, Jan. 25 after Msgr. Steenson formally inaugurated the Our Lady of Hope Society into the ordinariate. (Kevin Kelly/Key photo)

By Kevin Kelly
Catholic Key Associate Editor

KANSAS CITY — It was as simple has handing over a stack of some 20 signed applications.

On Jan. 25, following an Anglican use High Mass, Msgr. Jeffrey Steenson personally received the applications from Father Ernie Davis and accepted the Our Lady of Hope Society as part of the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter.

“You might wonder why we do this. It’s because the pope says so,” Msgr. Steenson said, further explaining that the Vatican wants the ordinariate to have on file the documents from each member seeking full communion with the Roman Catholic Church.

The Vatican established the Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter two years ago to receive in full communion former members of the Anglican Communion who also desired to retain their own prayers and forms of liturgy as full members of the Roman Catholic Church.

Pope Benedict XVI first announced the structure of the “personal ordinariate” which might, though not quite precisely, resemble a “diocese” covering all of the United States and Canada, for receiving former members of the Anglican Communion in 2009 in the apostolic constitution, Anglicanorum Coetibus.

Pope Bendict also appointed Msgr. Steenson as the founding “ordinary”, and elevated him to the rank of protonotary apostolic, the highest rank of monsignor.

Because he is married — “Happily married for 40 years” — he could not be ordained as a bishop, although he is a full member of the both the United States and Canadian conferences of bishops.

Msgr. Steenson however reminded his newest community that they are attached to a parish which remains a parish of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, and celebrates its 4 p.m. Saturday Anglican Use High Mass under the care of a former Episcopalian priest, Father Davis, who remains a priest of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, although the community itself is no longer a “personal parish” of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, but now a “community of the ordinariate.”

“We’re plowing new ground,” he told the community. “Bishop (Robert W.) Finn is the bishop of this place, and that includes our community.”

Confusing? In his homily at the Mass of inauguration, Msgr. Steenson simplified for the community the task before them.

“Fly under the flag of evangelization,” he said. “We need to bring people to Christ.”

Whatever reason that led individual members to full communion with Rome, and whatever hurt or anger they may have experienced, Msgr. Steenson urged them to reach out, particularly to their Anglican or Episcopalian brothers and sisters.

“We did not become Catholic because we opposed something that happened in our old church,” Msgr. Steenson said.

“We became Catholic because it is true,” he said.

“We pray for the Episcopal diocese (of West Missouri) here. We pray for Episcopal congregations in this city. We pray because even though much divides us, we still have a common baptism,” Msgr. Steenson said.

Msgr. Steenson noted that the inauguration occurred as the annual week of prayer for Christian Unity was drawing to a close.

That week, he reminded the congregation, was first proposed by a former Episcopal priest, Paul Wattson, who was received into full communion with Rome in 1909.

“He was one of ours,” Msgr. Steenson said. Early in the 20th Century, “contact with Protestants was not much welcome. Father Wattson’s idea initially received a chilly reception. But he attained the attention and support of Pope Benedict XV in 1915.”

The next “Pope Benedict” recognized that elements of the Anglican “patrimony” could add gifts to the Roman Catholic Church, Msgr. Steenson said.

“Everything in our old tradition that is worthy and true and good, it all has an ecumenical dynamic to be in unity with the Catholic Church,” he said.

“It is a remarkable thing to take the structure of our Book of Common Prayer as an instrument to be a meeting point, and use it to become Catholic.”

And make no mistake, Msgr. Steenson told the congregation. They are not part of a separate rite. They are fully Catholic.

“The ordinariate is not intended to be a separate, ritual church,” he said. “We are not a separate rite of the Catholic Church. We are part of the Latin rite. We belong with everybody else, and we are here to stay.”

Msgr. Steenson said the ordinariate is very much still in its infancy. Extending from the Arctic Circle to the Rio Grande and from Hawaii to Nova Scotia, he operated last year with a budget of $200,000, one employee — his executive secretary, and the generosity of Galveston-Houston Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, where the ordinariate has its headquarters.

But he noted already that a “family in Houston” is giving the ordinariate its own offices.

“We are going to have a stunningly beautiful chancery at the end of this year,” Msgr. Steenson said.

He also said that the ordinariate will ask each community to donate 10 percent of its income to finance operations, and that there will be a separate appeal for funds, similar to a bishop’s appeal in a diocese.

“But we are so young yet that we haven’t gotten our act together to send out a letter,” he said.

Lynn Hire, Executive Director of FIRE, the Foundation for Inclusive Religious Education, speaks at the FIRE Starters breakfast Feb. 4 at the Roasterie’s Bean Hanger. A video of the children, their families and classmates introduced many of the children with special needs. (Marty Denzer/Key photo)

By Marty Denzer
Catholic Key Reporter

KANSAS CITY — The falling snow, and the threat of much more to come, kept some folks at home that morning, but about 50 people braved the weather and the early hour to attend the FIRE Starters Breakfast at the Roasterie Bean Hanger Feb. 4. Children with special needs, and the opportunity for them to attend Catholic schools with their siblings and friends through the Foundation for Inclusive Religious Education proved more compelling than staying home.

The FIRE Starters breakfast began in 2012 as a way to bring people together to share their stories, breakfast and a cup (or three or four) of coffee, and raise money for FIRE. The foundation, founded in 1996, provides financial grants to partner schools within the Kansas City-St. Joseph Diocese to help defray the costs of special education teachers, para-educators and resources. The grants enable schools to educate children with special needs along side their peers. Beginning in 1998 with three children attending two diocesan schools, today there are 67 children with special needs who receive direct support through FIRE who attend nine parish schools and one diocesan high school. The partner schools include Nativity of Mary in Independence, Our Lady of the Presentation in Lee’s Summit, St. Therese in Parkville, St. Elizabeth, St. Peter, St. Thomas More, the Strong City Schools — Holy Cross, Our Lady of Angels and Our Lady of Guadalupe —Visitation and Archbishop O’Hara High School, all in Kansas City. More than 400 children with mild learning disabilities receive classroom modifications and assistance. And their schoolmates, about 4,000 in all, learn acceptance, compassion and the value of every child, as everyone has unique gifts.

As the attendees enjoyed pastries, fruit and the Roasterie’s special FIRE blend of coffee, Matt Mitchell, owner/operator of five Culver’s restaurants, shared his story. Matt and Jeannie Mitchell have five kids, one of whom, Tony, was born with Down syndrome.

Matt recounted some of his journey as a parent of a child with special needs, a little poignant, a lot funny. In 2004, he and his wife, along with their children, opened their first Culver’s in Lee’s Summit. Tony has been a part of the work force since the beginning. Matt said his son has been teaching his coworkers and the customers about the value of inclusion in the workplace since day one.

“I can tell you,” Matt said, “people with Down syndrome have the best smiles!”

Including people with special needs in the workplace has all sorts of rewards, he added. “They create warm hearts in former Grinches. It’s amazing to watch employees with special needs grow in confidence and competence. And all sorts of people receive a great hello, every time.”

Employees with special needs work at each of Matt Mitchell’s Culver’s. Several students with special needs attending Archbishop O’Hara High School spend an hour or so each school afternoon either at Culver’s, Chick-fil-A or a Honda dealership in Lee’s Summit, gaining work experience, social skills, countless friends and a pay check.

Matt urged those present that if they took away just one idea from the breakfast, consider inclusion in the workplace. “Inclusion of children and adults with special needs at school, at work and at church makes lives better, richer, fuller; the entire school, parish or business benefits!”

Inclusive education doesn’t just happen, he said. It takes dedicated people, trained teachers, specialized equipment and lots of resources.

Coach Dave Rebori, Athletic Trainer and a para-professional, works with the O’Hara students with special needs, and provides transportation to get the students to Culver’s, Chick-fil-A and the Honda dealership. “We have a great time,” he said. “And so many people help them grow in confidence. William, the Pepsi man at Culver’s, shows them how to stock and stack the different Pepsi products.”

Joe Rose, whose wife Julie is the administrative assistant for FIRE, spoke of their daughter, who has Down syndrome. “FIRE provides an infrastructure and hope for families,” he said. “It gives families the ability to step back, be in the moment right now and appreciate it. “

FIRE Executive Director Lynn Hire said that she was most grateful to the people who attended the breakfast. About $14,000 was raised, which she said would be deposited into FIRE’s general fund to provide grants for partner schools. “We are the funders, not the educators,” she said. “Inclusive education looks a little different at St. Peter’s, St. Elizabeth’s, Visitation or Nativity.”

As Kevin Connor, a FIRE Board member said during the opening prayer, “Thank you, God, for your presence among us … (as we) praise and care for our young people who grow and learn more mysteriously than others. … Thank you for blessing us with the kids served by FIRE in our parish schools — a reminder of your many ways of beauty.”

Everyone has abilities and disabilities, he said. Children with special needs can teach other children the many faces of God.

By John Heuertz
Special to The Catholic Key

Combine the spirit of St. Benedict’s instruction to “Pray and Work” with St. Augustine’s maxim that “He who sings, prays twice,” and what do you get?

You get something very much like “Lent At Ephesus,” a wonderful new CD that was released on February 11 – the feast of Our Lady of Lourdes.

This is the third CD produced by the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles, a traditional Benedictine community north of Kansas City. Like the first two, about a dozen members of the community were recorded at the community’s priory in the Missouri countryside.

“Advent at Ephesus,” their first recording, spent six consecutive weeks at the top of Billboard Magazine’s classical music chart. “Angels and Saints” was number one for 13 consecutive weeks.

The new disc is, if anything, even better than the first two.

Every chorus reflects the musicality of its conductor, and Mother Cecilia Snell’s sure musical touch is evident across 1,300 years of unbroken Catholic culture.

There are so many nice touches in these 23 performances in English, Latin and Greek of several Lenten sequences – one was written no later than 800 A.D. – plus some well-known Catholic hymns, contemporary but tonal Catholic hymns that deserve to be better known, and three original works.

One original, “My Mercy,” is a hymn of love to the Divine Mercy. Another is based on St. Alphonsus Liguori’s poetry and the third was inspired by St. Mark and Ezechiel.

Gregorian, Ambrosian, Orthodox chant: it’s easy to believe all were inspired by the Holy Spirit (and easy to believe they were usually written for the greater glory of God) because they’re all alive. They’re still alive. We know this because we can hear for ourselves that when they’re sung properly, they breathe.

One can hear this life in “Lent at Ephesus.” The sisters sing as one living being. And be warned: their phrasing can be so good that it might leave a little lump in your throat here and there.

All this is the more remarkable because we’re not listening to trained voices perform these works.

What shines through on this disc, what makes it so sweet and moving, isn’t the considerable best that classical music education has to offer.

What shines through on this disc is the love of Christ that animates the singing of these modest young Benedictines.

You can hear it for yourself if you look on YouTube for De Montfort Music. A 30-minute special is also planned for broadcast later this spring on EWTN and on Catholic TV, and PBS is planning to air an hour-long pledge drive program on the Benedictines of Mary in March.

 More information is also available at www.benedictinesofmary.org.

Bishop Raymond J. Boland

Priest and bishop. Son and brother. Irishman and American. Scholar and wordsmith. Genius.

Raymond James Boland was born Feb. 8, 1932, the eldest of what would be the four sons of John and Gertrude O’Brien Boland. He was born with a desire, and a family that nurtured it, to develop fully every gift that God provided him, physically, intellectually and spiritually.

Growing up in Tipperary, County Cork, he was an athlete as well as a scholar. He excelled in the rugged and uniquely Irish sport of hurling — a game similar to the Native American game of lacrosse — as well as rugby, cricket and track.

But pushing himself to find the depth of his God given talents, he excelled also in the classrooms at Christian Brothers College in Cork, and at the National University of Ireland in Dublin.

His first call was to be a teacher, prompted by his early love of great literature. His next was to study architecture.

“God wastes nothing,” he would later joke to the Catholic school fifth-graders at the annual Vocation Days, telling them that as a young priest, he taught literature in schools, and as the Bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph during a period of remarkable construction, he examined many blueprints.

But Raymond James Boland was to hear another call, not simply to the priesthood, but to the missionary priesthood.

He enrolled in All Hallows Seminary, founded a century earlier to train Irish priests to follow the great Irish migration to the corners of the world.

Newly ordained Father Raymond J. Boland.

“Early on, I was asked to go to Washington, D.C., which was a new diocese and was short of priests,” he said.

Ordained in 1957, Father Raymond J. Boland served the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C., as associate pastor, youth ministry director, pastor, archdiocesan secretary for education, director of communications, chancellor and vicar general.

“I wasn’t able to keep a job,” he quipped. “I kept moving.”

One job he was given in 1979 was to lead all archdiocesan preparations for a moment in history — the visit of Pope John Paul II to Washington, D.C. It was not only a pastoral visit by the pope. It was also an official state visit from the head of the Vatican to the President of the United States, then Jimmy Carter.

And he had 10 weeks to do it.

Assembling a staff and handing out assignments, he pulled it off — and at a budget of less than $1 million for the two-day papal visit. Later visits by Pope John Paul II would cost some $3 million per day.

It was during that papal visit that Msgr. Raymond J. Boland had a moment he would never forget. Flown in from Ireland as a gift from her sons, 72-year-old Gertrude O’Brien Boland received Holy Communion from Pope John Paul II himself.

Trusting in the Holy Spirit “to do the work,” Msgr. Boland would take on all tasks. But even he became concerned when he saw so many good priests of the Archdiocese of Washington leaving to become bishops.

In 1988, Msgr. Boland had a talk with Cardinal James Hickey.

“You’ve got to stop sending up so many names. We are losing all of our middle managers,” he told his ordinary.

“Two weeks later,” he joked later, “I was appointed Bishop of Birmingham.”

He took as his motto, “Euntes Docete Omnes Gentes” — Go Teach All Nations.

His five years in Birmingham, Ala., would be a foreshadowing of his 12 years as bishop of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

While there, he would oversee the renovation of Birmingham’s cathedral, the construction of new parish churches, and the construction of a new diocesan high school — all done in typical Bishop Boland style.

Bishop Boland’s vicar general in Birmingham, Father Paul Rohling, told of a group of leading Catholics who came to his office to offer their full support in the construction of the new high school.

“He turned that around,” Father Rohling said. “He said, ‘If you build a new high school, I will support you.’”

And support them, he did. Under his servant leadership, the new John Carroll High School opened in September, 1992.

Bishop Boland also took a heart filled with love for the poor to Alabama. Together with Archbishop Oscar Lipscomb of Mobile, he penned the 1990 pastoral letter, “Make Justice Your Aim: A Pastoral Letter on Poverty in Alabama.”

“So many church documents are written for the intelligentsia,” he said. “This one is understandable by the average person in the pew.”

Consulting with all facets of Alabama, from the power brokers and especially to the poor, the two bishops of Alabama examined the economy of their state and nation against Catholic social teaching.

They wrote: “In 1988, Alabama had the highest infant mortality rate in the nation. There are Alabamians who are living in cars, or under bridges, or in shacks with no running water or indoor plumbing. There are Alabamians who go to bed hungry most nights. There are Alabamians condemned to joblessness because of an inadequate education or unavailability of suitable day care opportunities, or simply the lack of a job that would support them. Others work hard at jobs that lack adequate pay . . .

“That so many people are poor in a nation as rich as ours is a social and moral scandal that we can’t ignore.”

In 1993, just as summer was beginning, Bishop Boland received another call. He was to become the fifth bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

In his very first press conference, on the day his appointment was made public, Bishop Boland made clear his vision:

“The parish is where the rubber meets the road. I have had many assignments to parishes and to various apostolates which have enabled me to look at the role of the priest from many vantage points. I have come to the conclusion that the real work of the church is done at the parish level. Everything else that we do should be done to strengthen the parishes and make them vibrant communities of Catholicity.

“The bishop’s agenda is only as successful as the priests make it. I’m very high on evangelization. I have seen some magnificent results in Alabama, where only 2.4 percent of the people are Catholic. . .

“I am also very strongly in favor of Catholic schools and Catholic education of all sorts. I think Catholic schools are still the best way to educate our young people. . .

“Another area where I feel we’re on the cutting edge in the church of the 1990s is in the area of collaborative ministries. By that I mean priests, religious, deacons and laity putting together a parish team in those areas where the work was done mostly by the clergy and religious in the past.”

Before his installation on Sept. 9, 1993, devastating floods along the Missouri River and its tributaries would ravage the diocese from the Iowa-Nebraska border to Carrollton. In his first “official” act as head of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, Bishop Raymond J. Boland ordered that no formal reception would follow his installation, held at the downtown Municipal Auditorium to accommodate the crowd, but that the money that would have been spent on such a gala be donated by the diocese to the relief of flood victims.

“This, then, is our pilgrimage — to know God, to know Jesus Christ and to accept him in word and work,” he said in his homily at his installation Mass.

“Prayer, which bridges the gap between human yearning for spiritual completeness and the transcendent reality of a loving God, is the transforming element which nourishes the honest searcher of truth,” he said.

Then Bishop Raymond J. Boland rolled up his sleeves and began his work.

Before 1993 was over, Bishop Boland announced he was strengthening the diocesan policy against the abuse of children by including “zero tolerance” for any church clergy, employee or volunteer.

Nine years later, the U.S. bishops would also adopt the same “zero tolerance” language in the landmark Charter for the Protection of Children and Youth.

As episcopal moderator the National Catholic Risk Retention Group, Bishop Boland with Bishop Gregory Aymond of Austin, Texas, now the Archbishop of New Orleans, developed the “Protecting God’s Children” program adopted by several dioceses, and required of all adult employees and volunteers. The program raises awareness of the plague of child sexual abuse, and trains in the recognition of early warning signs in the behaviors of both predators and victims.

In an address to all Catholic school faculty and administrators during Catholic Education Week in January, Bishop Boland challenged all schools to begin raising endowments as a source of permanent funding. It would replace the priceless gift given by women religious who built the Catholic school system and who, according to the bishop, “worked for a pittance, and when the parish couldn’t afford that, they worked for free.”

Before he retired, several parish schools had built endowments exceeding $1 million.

And the building began.

With the booming economy of the 1990s, parishes began to build new churches, expand existing ones, or renovate their present worship spaces to add beauty. On Bishop Boland’s watch, some 26 parishes built, expanded or renovated their sanctuaries, while 11 built or expanded other buildings including schools and parish halls.

But the best was yet to come.

On July 29, 1999, Bishop Boland announced the first diocesan-wide capital improvements campaign of its kind, the “Gift of Faith” campaign.

With a target of raising $25 million, the campaign had five major goals — renovation of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Kansas City; shoring up education by providing badly needed support for improvements at the four diocesan high schools; fully financing the outstanding liabilities of the Priests’ Retirement Fund; folding in the annual appeal that provided funding for diocesan charitable activities; meeting parish needs by sharing funds with parishes who met or exceeded campaign goals.

On Feb. 22, 2003, Bishop Boland presided as the renovated Cathedral was dedicated.

But as he had done at every parish that had built or renovated magnificent new worship spaces, Bishop Boland reminded that the beauty of the cathedral was not nearly as important as what was to happen inside it for generations to come.

“A church building fails if it does not re-echo the response of Peter when Jesus cleverly inveigled a personal profession of faith from his perplexed apostle,” he said in his homily.

“The very stones around us should proclaim that Jesus is truly the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”

He continued.

“Here, both today and for years to come, may this holy place be a catalyst of grace, enabling us to understand what is good and what is evil as we ponder our choices between heroism and cowardice, beauty and ugliness, selflessness and selfishness, reverence and abuse.

“May the Lord speak to us as we grapple with the great issues of our time — the morality of war, the dignity of humankind, the ethics of the marketplace and the multiple injustices within our society. And then, conscious that all church doors permit two-way traffic, may we return by the way we have come to share God’s wisdom with the same crowds and those involved in the affairs of men.”

The renovated Cathedral, as well as the beautiful new and renovated churches and schools around the Diocese, is but the physical signature accomplishment of the years of Bishop Boland as leader of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.

But of far lasting importance was his spiritual mark.

Facing an increasingly aging population of priests with few younger priests being ordained to replace them, Bishop Boland planned to meet that challenge on two fronts.

He first encouraged deanery planning, particularly in scheduling the number and time of parish Masses, to allow one priest to serve more than one parish, if necessary.

He then expanded the diocesan Vocation Office, which launched programs specifically designed to encourage young people to recognize and hear a call to priesthood and religious life.

Then on Nov. 2, 2002, he called a diocesan Vocations Congress, gathering people from around the diocese, to create a new “climate of vocations.”

He told the hundreds that day that the Catholic Church is a Eucharistic church. Without priests, there would be no Eucharist.

“Suppose you come here on Sunday and there is no priest. You could pray here, but you couldn’t have the Eucharist. If we lose our priesthood, we are no longer the Catholic Church,” he said.

Bishop Boland did not stop there in strengthening the spiritual life of the diocese. He re-instituted the permanent diaconate program, which was wildly successful from its very beginning, ordaining men to serve at the side of the priests in both parishes and in the community.

He also began the Lay Leaders of Prayer program to develop lay people in the skills to restore and conduct devotions, such as the Liturgy of the Hours, which do not require an ordained minister.

“People worry that lay people will preach heresy,” he said. “Well, you can’t preach heresy when you are praying the Hours.”

And, student that he always was, he immersed himself in the history of the diocese, becoming particularly fascinated with another Irishman, Bishop John J. Hogan, the founding bishop of both the Diocese of St. Joseph and the Diocese of Kansas City, which would not be merged until nearly a century later.

In 1999, Bishop Boland made a trip to the parish in Bruff, County Limerick, where Bishop Hogan was born and raised. He unveiled a plaque honoring the original bishop of the two dioceses that the present-day Irishman would serve.

“Although he provided spiritual leadership for emigrants from many nations streaming west in search of cheap land, gold and adventure, he had a special spot in his heart for his beloved Irish,” he told the congregation that packed the small village church.

And so did Bishop Hogan’s Irish-born successor.

Bishop Boland, survivor of one cancer operation and suffering from a blood disorder that would steal his considerable strength and stamina, made another trip to Ireland in the summer of 2001.

Stopping in Tipperary at St. Michael’s Church, where his parents were married and he was baptized, Bishop Boland chose his gravesite, “on the right hand side, immediately inside the railing and immediately behind grave of Father James O’Neill coincidentally also an All Hallows College graduate.”

This son of Ireland was going home.

In a document he entitled “My Personal Funeral Arrangements,” dated Sept. 3, 2001, Bishop Boland has special words for those whom he loved and who loved him.

“It is obvious that God has blessed me in many ways,” he wrote.

“For that reason, I would hope that my passing will not bring sorrow or pain to others because I will be sharing the happiness promised by the Lord of compassion and love,” he wrote.

“It is my prayer and I only ask that, on my behalf, it be yours too, at least for a little while, that the God of mercy will be waiting to welcome me home.”

KANSAS CITY — A memorial Mass in recognition of the life and service of Bishop Raymond J. Boland will be celebrated 7 p.m. March 25 at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in downtown Kansas City.

March 25 is the Feast of the Annunciation and the 26th anniversary of Bishop Boland’s episcopal ordination.

Bishop Robert W. Finn will be the celebrant as Bishop Boland’s nearly 54 years of ministry as priest and bishop to three dioceses are remembered.

Bishop Boland was ordained in 1957 in his native Ireland as a missionary priest for the Archdiocese of Washington, D.C.

He became bishop of Birmingham, Ala., in 1988, then bishop of Kansas City-St. Joseph in 1993. Following his retirement in 2005, Bishop Boland continued to serve the diocese as bishop emeritus until his death on Feb. 27.

He died in a hospice in Cork, Ireland surrounded by family. Bishop Boland returned to his native land Feb. 22 in order to fulfill his wish to be buried at the church of his Baptism, St. Michael Church in Tipperary. A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated on March 4 at St. Patrick Church in Cork City, Ireland.

All are welcome to attend the March 25 memorial Mass in Kansas City.

John Massman presents Katy Crabtree with a Waterford crystal vase in recognition of her years of service as wellness coordinator for priests, and especially her service to the diocese’s retired priests. The surprise presentation was made at a gathering of retired priests Feb. 27 at Visitation Parish in Kansas City. (Kevin Kelly/Key photo)

By Kevin Kelly
Catholic Key Associate Editor

KANSAS CITY — Just as Katy Crabtree was introducing her successor at a Feb. 27 gathering of retired priests, in walked latecomer Father Chuck Jones.

“He’s the one who never answers his phone calls,” Crabtree warned Eva Skahan.

And that, in a nutshell, is why Crabtree was so effective for a decade as the diocesan wellness coordinator for priests, and especially why she worked so well with retired priests.

She was the boss, make no mistake about it. If often on her rounds of checking in on them, a retired priest was ailing but reluctant to see a doctor, Crabtree would take them there. She’d coax them, and if that didn’t work, she’d bully them. And she often drove them to doctor’s appointments herself.

And she did it out of love.

Crabtree was told that the Feb. 27 wine and cheese gathering would be an opportunity for retired priests to meet her successor, whom Crabtree called “a nurse’s nurse.”

In reality, it was an event for the priests and the Retired Priests Committee dedicated to their welfare to thank Crabtree for her years of love and service.

“If we told her that in advance, she wouldn’t have come,” said John Massman, a leader of the committee that includes representatives of the Knights of Malta, Knights of the Holy Sepulcher, Knights of Columbus, Diocesan Council of Catholic Women, and the World Apostolate of Fatima.

Massman told the gathering of a few dozen retired priests that the committee asked retired priests a decade ago what they needed the most. Health care assistance topped the list.

Bishop Raymond J. Boland then hired Crabtree, a veteran registered nurse, to regularly monitor the health of retired priests.

Her job, Massman said, was supposed to be “part-time.” She put in much more time than that.

“If she would have worked full-time she would have worked 24 hours a day,” Massman said.

“She knew every priest,” he said. “She even got the respect of some priests who shut the door on her the first time she came.”

On behalf of the committee and priests, Massman gave Crabtree a Waterford crystal vase, which will be inscribed with words of appreciation for her service.

Crabtree assured the priests that if they thought she was tough, meet Skahan. She’ll know they need medical help before they tell her, and she also will not take no for an answer.

“I’ve already told her who to look out for,” Crabtree said.

Crabtree also told the priests the reason she was leaving her job. She had come to love the priests dearly, and it became too painful when the inevitable happened and they returned home to God.

“It really became too hard for me to give them up,” she said.

“It’s been a wonderful time,” she said. “You are family to me.”

2013 St. Joseph Table at Holy Rosary Parish, Kansas City

During a time of drought and famine, no rain fell on Medieval Sicily. Food crops for both people and livestock withered and died. The people prayed to St. Joseph for help.

When the clouds opened, pouring the desperately needed rain, there was rejoicing. After the harvest, to show their gratitude, they prepared a table with special foods to honor St. Joseph and to share with the poor. After thanking and honoring the saint, they distributed the food to the less fortunate.

A parish St. Joseph’s Table is a three-tiered display representing the Holy Trinity. A statue of St. Joseph is placed on the top tier. A special smaller table is set for the Holy Family at the front of the display. The tables are filled with food, flowers, candles and “zepolla,” pasta. Giving food to the needy is an important part of the tradition.

Small at first, as time went by, the tables grew larger, more ornate, beautiful and bountiful. And the tradition continues. The decorated tables are blessed by the parish priest, and the parish and larger community is invited to see the table and share a meal.

Many symbols are found on a St. Joseph’s Table. Bread crumbs on spaghetti represent saw dust on a carpenter’s workshop floor. White lilies symbolize transformation and purity. Breads may be baked in the shapes of carpenter’s tools, canes or chalices. Wine recalls both the miracle at Cana and, with bread, the Last Supper.  Pineapples on the table symbolize hospitality and 12 fish represent the 12 apostles.

The wearing of red clothing is traditional, symbolizing charity and strength.

Blessed fava beans are often given out at St. Joseph’s Tables. Once considered cattle feed, fava beans survived the Sicilian drought, sustained the people, and saved them from starvation. It is believed that if these beans are carried in a coin purse all year, one is never without resources. Blessed, dried beans are also kept in the pantry, so there will always be food in the home.

The table’s breads, cookies and pastries are sold to raise funds for the parish or for charity. A traditional spaghetti or pasta Milanese (fish sauce) dinner is often served.

Today, St. Joseph is honored by Catholic communities worldwide. The saint is a secondary patron of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, and his feast is honored in many parishes with a St. Joseph Table, pasta dinner and charity to the poor.

2014 St. Joseph Tables

St. Therese (North) Parish, March 8 and 9, 7207 N.W. 9 Highway, Kansas City. March 8, Table viewing in the Gathering Space, 2 – 6:15 p.m. March 9, Table sales begin 2 p.m. Pasta Milanese Dinner served 11 a.m. – 3 p.m., Education and Parish Center, Free will offering.

 St. Joseph the Worker Parish,  March 15, 2200 N Blue Mills Road, (1½ miles north of Highway 24), Independence. Table will be blessed at noon. A spaghetti and salad dinner served noon – 4 p.m. and 6 – 7 pm. Items from the table will be available for sale during these times. Celebration of Mass will take place at 5 pm. All proceeds including a free will offering for the meals will be used to benefit the needy in our community.

Our Lady of the Presentation Parish, March 16, Auditorium, 130 NW Murray Road, Lee’s Summit. Table to be blessed at 11 a.m. Table viewing and sale of baked goods, Sicilian cookies and cannolis, 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. Pasta dinner served immediately following the table blessing until 3:00 p.m. Free-will offering for the dinner. Proceeds benefit the Presentation Parish Emergency Assistance Fund for Families in Need and the Sisters of St. Francis of the Holy Eucharist in Independence.

Coronation of Our Lady Parish, March 16, 13000 Bennington, Grandview. Table blessing follows 8:15 a.m., Mass. Viewing of the table is immediately after the blessing. Traditional St. Joseph’s Day dinner served Noon – 3:30 p.m., Pasta Milanese, salad, bread, wine, dessert and soft drinks. $4/adults and $2/children (12 and under). Booths will feature bread, cookies and cannolis. All proceeds benefit Coronation’s Food Pantry.

Holy Rosary Parish, March 18 and 19, Scalabrini Hall, 910 Pacific Avenue, Kansas City. March 18 – 12 Noon, Blessing of the table, sale of cookies and cannoli until 6 p.m. March 19 – 10 a.m., Mass followed by pasta Milanese lunch served 11 a.m. – 6:30p.m. Free will donation. Carry Out $5. All pastries, cookies and cannolis will be sold.

St. James Parish-Liberty, March 18 and 19, Church social hall, 306 S. Stewart Road. March 18, 4 p.m., table blessing, 4-7 p.m., table viewing. March 19, 11 am – 7 pm., traditional meal served. Homemade cannolis, breads, cookies, cakes and other items will be available for purchase. This event is open to the public; no charge for the meal but a freewill donation will be appreciated. All proceeds benefit the needy in the area.

St. Anthony’s Parish,2 – 7 p.m., March 18, Viewing of the Table, St. Joseph’s Hall, 3208 Lexington, Kansas City. Italian cookies, cannolis and more available for purchase.  7 p.m., Italian chamber music concert, Father Paul Turner on harpsichord, Alex Shum on violin and Ho Anthony Ahn on cello, St. Anthony’s Church, 318 Benton Blvd. March 19, 8 a.m. Mass in Italian, followed by blessing of the table. Pasta Milanese dinner served 11 a.m. – 7 p.m., St. Joseph Hall. Free will donations welcomed.

St. Patrick Parish, 1357 NE 42nd Terrace, Kansas City. 6 p.m., March 18, Blessing of the table & items for sale.  11 a.m.-7 p.m., March 19, Dinner served. Dinner includes Pasta Milanese, plain pasta, salad, frittata, & dessert. Free will donations appreciated. Items from the table are for sale all day March 19. For further information, please contact the parish office  (816)453-5510.

Guardian Angels Parish, March 18 and 19, cafeteria, 4232 Mercier, Kansas City. March 18, table to be blessed following 5:30 p.m., Mass, viewing 6 – 8 p.m. March 19, Spaghetti dinner served 11:30 a.m. – 7 p.m. Handmade cannoli, Italian breads and cookies will also be sold. Free will donations accepted.

Holy Cross Parish, March 19, Parish Hall (handicapped accessible), 5106 St. John Avenue, Kansas City. 8:30 a.m., Mass, followed by table blessing. Table viewing until 11 a.m., Pasta Milanese or plain pasta served 11 a.m. – 5:30 p.m., carryout available. Italian cookies and cannolis available for purchase.

Cathedral of St. Joseph Parish,March 19, 519North 10th Street, St. Joseph. Blessing 2:15 p.m., Traditional spaghetti & meatballs dinner, with salad, breadsticks and drinks served 4 – 7 p.m., Auditorium. Carryout available. Free will offering. Baked goods, cake, cookies, jellies and pies for sale. All proceeds benefit Cathedral Food Pantry.

St. James Parish, St. Joseph, 8:30-5:30, March 19, Casper Erk Room, St. James Church, (enter through parish office building) 5815 Pryor Street.  Table blessing, 8:30 a.m., viewing and sales until 5:30 p.m. Homemade cannoli, many baked and specialty items. Proceeds benefit St. Vincent DePaul Food Pantry.

St. Charles Borromeo Parish, March 19, 900 NE Shady Lane Drive, Kansas City. 8 a.m., Table Viewing, 10 a.m., Table Blessing, Spaghetti dinner served 11 a.m. – 8 p.m., free-will donation.  All proceeds to benefit the poor. 

St. Thomas More Parish, March 19, More Hall, 11822 Holmes Road, Kansas City. 8:15 a.m. Mass and blessing of the table, at which time the items on the table can be purchased. The traditional Spaghetti Milanese dinner served 11 a.m. – 7 p.m. Free will donation for the meal. All proceeds will be donated to those in need.

Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, March 23, corner of Blue Ridge and Gregory Blvds., Raytown. Early Sales will begin at 9 a.m. Father Angelo will bless the table at 11:15. Pasta with traditional Milanese or Marinara sauce served 11:30 a.m. – 3:30 p.m., Free will offering. All types of Italian cookies and a wide variety of baked goods will be for sale. We will also have raffles and a silent auction. All proceeds go to charity.

Little Sisters of the Poor, March 9, Jeanne Jugan home, 8745 James A. Reed Road, Kansas City. March 8, Table viewing, 6 – 8 p.m. March 9, Table blessing 11:30 a.m., dinner served immediately following until 3 p.m., salmon appetizer, salad, pasta milanesa, fritata, homemade rolls and Italian cookies.  In keeping with tradition, there is no charge for the dinner but we ask for a generous donation to the Sisters for the poor. 3 p.m., table items may be purchased, Italian cookies and confections also for sale.

St. Joseph Parish, March 9, McDevitt Hall, 11311 Johnson Dr., Shawnee, Kan.8:30 a.m., Table blessing; viewing until 2 p.m. A pasta dinner served 11 a.m. – 3 p.m., freewill donations accepted. Table items: home-baked breads, cookies, pies and cakes, candies, fruit, wine, floral arrangements, and religious articles may be purchased. Proceeds will benefit the needy in the parish community.