Full text: Sister Dede Byrne’s speech at the 2020 Republican National Convention

Atlanta, Ga., May 31, 2019 / 10:00 am (CNA).- Following the passage of the Living Infants Fairness and Equality (LIFE) Act in Georgia earlier this month, major film and television companies have said they may consider relocation if the law comes into f… […]

St. Paul, Minn., Mar 27, 2019 / 03:01 am (CNA).- The Archdiocese of of Saint Paul and Minneapolis is organizing a lay advisory board aimed at bringing input and suggestions from parish councils to the archbishop’s office.

Its goal is to help bring parishioners healing after a tumultuous past several years in the archdiocese.

Father Michael Tix, archdiocesan liaison for the effort and vicar for clergy and parish services, told CNA in an interview that the archdiocese set up the board in a way that mirrored the existing diocesan presbyteral council.

“It does help to be able to create a flow of information back and forth from parishes to archbishop, and archbishop back to parishes through their parish council though an existing structure that’s there,” Tix said.

Archbishop Bernard Hebda asked each parish pastoral council last December to choose a representative to send to meetings held during a week in March with fellow parish figures within individual deaneries.

Subsequently, each deanery in the archdiocese will elect a representative – chosen from among the parish figures – and an alternate to sit on the lay advisory board. That representative will serve as a link between the archbishop’s advisory board and the parishes back home, Tix said.

“The deanery rep would be part of the lay advisory board that would meet with the archbishop, and then that deanery rep would also go back to bring together the parish reps to share information, get feedback from the advisory board meetings as well as from the parish reps, to serve as a conduit,” he said.

The discussions with the archbishop, Tix said, will mainly be about the “particular needs” of parishes or areas of deaneries in order to move forward and promote healing after “four years of bankruptcy, civil and criminal charges, [and] resignations.”

The archdiocese filed for bankruptcy in January 2015 amid many abuse claims that had been made possible under Minnesota legislation that opened a temporary window for older claims to be heard in civil court. In addition, former Archbishop John Nienstedt stepped down in 2015 after the diocese was charged with mishandling cases of child sexual abuse.

The discussions will also be a chance for the archdiocese to inform the lay representatives about what has been going on in the local Church regarding sexual abuse, and what steps the archdiocese is taking to addess it.

“The last four years have been a tough four years for our archdiocese, clearly for the victims and survivors on the one hand, and for anybody who’s been a parishioner,” Tix said.

“It’s been a tough time to be Catholic in the Twin Cities because of a lot of stuff that’s come out that we’ve had to deal with and that we continue to deal with. So I think the first thing that we’re going to talk about is about healing. How do we bring healing to folks? There’s a range of need that’s there. And so in order to move forward we have to address that healing,” Tix said.

The board’s first meeting with the archbishop will be April 3, Tix said, and he said he notes a “positive energy and enthusiasm” in the participants, which he credits to the presence of the Holy Spirit.

He said this lay advisory board may also assist in planning a diocesan synod in the future, a project that Archbishop Hebda has discussed in the past but which “hasn’t really been defined in terms of time or scope.”

Hebda announced in May of last year a $210 million settlement package for victims of sexual abuse. He has said there are no plans for additional parish appeals to help to fund the settlements, saying last June that most of the settlement money – $170 million – would come from the archdiocese’s insurance and from money already collected from parish appeals.

The settlement, announced after more than two years’ deliberation, includes a plan for abuse compensation as well as for bringing the archdiocese out of bankruptcy. The amount is an increase of more than $50 million from the proposal that the archdiocese had originally submitted.

Hebda has said he will continue to advocate for an independent review board for sexual abuse cases, and would commit to transmitting the entire 2014 archdiocesan investigation in former Archbishop Nienstedt’s conduct to whatever national or regional review board is created. He has also said that he strongly favors a “lay-led mechanism for investigating and assessing any allegations made against me or any other bishop.”

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Chicago, Ill., Jul 26, 2017 / 03:02 am (CNA/EWTN News).- Taking its cue from the recent and massive Convocation of Catholic Leaders in the U.S., one Chicago-based organization is partnering with parishes to form missionary disciples.

The convocation took place in Florida July 1-4, drawing several thousand participants. Aimed at equipping and invigorating Catholic leaders, the event addressed challenges that inhibit parishes from evangelization, especially the deflating attendance of parishioners in Catholic churches.

In a July 20 interview with CNA, president of L’Alto Catholic Institute Tim Glemkowski said “the way this New Evangelization is going to be accomplished is by forming each lay Catholic as a missionary disciple, for normative Catholicism to be heroic Catholicism.”

Established this year, L’Alto works closely with the parishes of Chicago to form disciples according to each community, taking into account the goals and people of each parish rather than imposing a generic formula without understanding specific needs.

Glemkowski said the organization’s goal is to walk with parishes who long to develop this culture of discipleship but face obstacles or do not know where to begin. Developing disciples is a lifelong process, he said, adding L’Alto may give parishes a starting boost, and help chart a course during a church’s beginning stages.

Additionally to working closely with parishes, the organization has developed three other initiatives: a school of prayer, a bi-weekly discipleship group for high school women, and a three-day parish event filled with the sacraments and geared toward a personal encounter with Jesus.

When asked about his reference to a quote by Pope Emeritus Benedict the XVI, stating that true conversion follows an encounter with Christ as a person and not just as an ethical solution, Glemkowski said the Christian faith must contain a personal encounter with Christ because “the reality is, though, that people will find it difficult to die for a detached notion.”

“Catholicism requires sacrifice, at times the ultimate sacrifice of the martyrs, but even just every day sacrifices that result from living according to a belief system that runs contrary to the world.”

At the convocation, the Auxiliary Bishop of Los Angeles, Robert Barron, said that every era’s crisis is met by a movement of the church, a movement which Glemkowski believes will arise from a commitment to the “New Evangelization” by the clergy, religious, and especially the lay people.

“It is not the role of the clergy alone to form disciples. It is the task of the entire Church, lay included.”

Glemkoswki said that indifference and relativism are major problems within our culture today, noting a lack meaning in hearts of people which is substituted by inadequate things.

“The human heart cannot live without meaning. Where meaning is not found, all kinds of strange substitutes take its place, and what we are seeing in the world are the strange reactions to billions of human hearts desperately craving a reason to live.”

Even within the Church, there are a number of Catholics who do not know its teachings and are not interested. He referenced a 2008 study by Pew Research Center that showed that less than 50 percent of Catholics believe religion contains a personal relationship with God. Additionally, he said about six Catholics leave the Church per every convert who comes into the Church, according to another study by Pew Research Center in 2015.

The decrease in numbers and zeal paints a picture of a church that hasn’t been creating disciples to spread the message of the Gospel, Glemkoswki said. He also pointed towards the encounter of the faith as identified in the Book of the Acts of the Apostles – saying that this is not a reality for people at Catholic parishes today, leaving the guest or parishioner to wonder if it’s even the same faith.

“Community, shared life, joy, apostolic zeal; these things should be the normative experience for Catholics, and often, our communities just don’t measure up,” he said.

“I don’t think when most people walk into your average Sunday liturgy, they feel like they’re worshiping God with a multitude of saints.”

Glemkowski said this was a major concern for the convocation in Florida. In reference to Pope Francis’ 2013 encyclical Evangelii Gaudium, the conference strongly recognized the need for developing missionary disciples to spread the Gospel within the culture.  

“To be a disciple means to adopt the yoke of Christ meaning you have an active and growing prayer life, you participate frequently in the life of the Church, and you are attempting to conform your every moment to His teachings through ascesis and purgation.”

However, creating discipleship is more than an ethical problem – and Catholicism is more than “an intellectual system with a moral code attached to it.”

He said he understands why the Church at times mistakenly pushes a stringent morality as a response to a perceived ethical laxity on the part of Catholics.

But the faith can’t be sustained solely as an idea, or even as the sacrifice required in the Christian life and as seen in martyrs and saints, he said. Rather, it’s sustained through the love of the person of Christ.

Glemkowski quoted Saint John Paul II, saying: “It is necessary to awaken again in believers a full relationship with Christ. Only from a personal relationship with Jesus can an effective evangelization develop.”

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