An AMerican Apparation
Jennifer Bugner- Our Lady of Champion Advocate
The catalyst for tonights talk was a fire. It was one of the most destructive fires in the United States, but one that you have probably never heard of. That is because it occurred on the same day as the Great Chicago Fire, October 8, 1871. That fire was one of legend, allegedly involving a cow, a lantern and an inferno that mostly destroyed Americas second largest city. The Peshtigo Fire, by contrast, was a large inferno as well, but was mainly in a rural area east of Green Bay, Wisconsin.
Jennifer gave a brief introduction of her interest, not so much on the fire, but in the amazing result of that inferno. She showed a video about the fire itself. The fire was the result of a perfect storm of weather, a bone-dry landscape that had suffered from draught for several years, and a heavily wooded region in eastern Wisconsin that was a tinderbox. The 1st video gave us all a graphic impression of the voracity of the fire, the hellish vision of a fast-moving, extremely hot fire and no real escape for the unfortunate people in its path. The imagery was hard to forget.
Now for the remarkable part of the story. 35 years prior to the fire, Adele Brise and her family moved to Wisconsin. While walking through the woods one day, Adele, now a young woman, witnessed an apparition of the Virgin Mary. After several appearances over the next few days, Adele spoke with the apparition, who asked her to “gather the children in this wild country and teach them what they should know for salvation.” Adele began traveling from house to house to teach children the Catholic faith. Because few Catholic priests served the area in the 1850s, religious education was nearly nonexistent. Several women joined her efforts, and together they founded St. Mary’s Boarding Academy near the site of the first apparition. The community, originally called Robinsonville, was later renamed Champion after the Belgian town where Adele was born. She eventually built a school and convent on the site.
The Peshtigo Fire was roaring toward the town of Robinsonville, destroying everything in its path. Adele and her companions led the people in prayer as the fire approached and amazingly the path of destruction stopped at the boundary of the academy grounds. Wooden fence posts attest to this miracle as one side was scorched and the other still painted white as if nothing had happened. A fire quenching rain halted the fire’s progress on October 9th exactly 12 years after the Queen of Heaven appeared to Adele. A priest at the time of the fire described the area as ‘an emerald isle in a sea of ashes.’
The site became the National Shrine of Our Lady of Champion as serves as a location of the only known apparition of Mary in America. In 2009, the Catholic Church gave official recognition of the apparition in Champion, Wisconsin.
This fascinating talk gave listeners another reason to believe that God is still active in the world today. This apparition and miraculous result are a testament to God’s grace and power and a serve as a light to all who seek and believe in the Lord.
'Be not afraid'
Guest Speaker Deacon Conrad Sissell - Seminarian
Deacon Conrad Sissell opened his talk with the familiar passage from Luke in which Jesus tells Simon Peter to cast his nets again after a fruitless night of fishing. Despite his initial hesitation, Simon obeys and catches an overwhelming number of fish. Jesus then calls him to follow and become a fisher of men—a passage Deacon Conrad often reflects on.
His seminary journey began in high school. He was reminded in those years not to be a seminarian in high school. Enjoy your high school years and if seminary is what God desires, that time will come soon enough.
There were 2 priests who had a major impact on his life. One was Father Sam Brandt. Father Sam was the Chaplain at Bishop Carrol for 3 years. He was one of the 1st priests he got to know as a friend. Father showed him the human side of being a priest. The other priest of influence was Father Jacob Karlin. He was an associate at St. Pattricks Parish and the youngest priest in the diocese. He had a very ‘bubbly energizing personality’. It as a breath of fresh air as he didn’t know his parish priest all that well. Priests became more real to him during these years.
By the end of high school, Conrad was uncertain about his next step. He was in a serious relationship but was also considering seminary. At last, he prayed, “Lord, you need to help me make this decision.” The turning point came during a TEC retreat his senior year, when a girl told him that one of his talks had persuaded her not to leave the Church. Her words transformed his outlook and confirmed that he should pursue religious life.
During his seminary years, the Lord purified his desire to serve His people. At first, Conrad wanted to be “out there” celebrating Mass and performing priestly duties rather than sitting in class. He soon realized that he first needed to discover not who he was, but “whose he was.” The answer was God. Like a tree rooted in soil, he needed to be rooted in God. From that foundation, he understood his identity as a son of God: he had to know whose he was before he could understand who he was.
Returning to the opening Scripture passage, Simon says, “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” What struck Deacon Conrad was that Jesus did not respond directly to Simon’s statement; He simply said, “Be not afraid”—as if to say, “I know you are a sinful man, but follow me anyway.”
He knows that in seminary, the devil is always saying that you are not capable of this, that this is not your calling. He knows that God saying ‘Be not afraid’ applies to him and his fellow seminarians, priests and religious Sisters. It is through the prayers of not only the Serra Clubs but all Catholics in the diocese and beyond that support and help in the battle against Satan.
We are excited for the future Deacon Conrad Sissell and are glad that he chose the priesthood in service to us all.
LISTENING TO THE WHISPER
Guest Speaker Alex Vieth - Seminarian
If you think this story from a seminarian from the diocese is like any tale you have heard before, be prepared. This not one containing ‘aha’ moments in a young man’s life that are times when Gods voice and hand were saying, 'I want you to be a priest'.
Alex Vieth is 21 years old in his 4th year of College at Newman University and living at the House of Formation. How he got there is a subtle yet compelling story. Events happened throughout his life that might be said to be directing him to the religious life, but he didn’t realize their significance at the time. It was only through later reflection that he came to see what they really were.
He calls his vocation story ‘very boring’. He grew up in St. Pat’s Parish with a traditional Catholic upbringing. He saw a lot of value in his grades and worked hard to achieve good ones. One common thread throughout his early life was service. Whether at school, at home or at church, Alex received a lot of joy and satisfaction from serving others. It was who he in and who is parents and teachers raised him to be.
It was from 7th grade to his sophomore year of high school that things began to change and not for the better. He was angry with God because of he how perceived that God had screwed up his life. He began to doubt God and, looking back, might be considered an atheist in those years.
It was the introduction of other people in his life, a best friend, a high school instructor and others that helped to change his negative attitude about God and his life. He got involved with CYM (Catholic Youth Ministry) at St. Francis which is a group of high schoolers that met for social activities, projects, Mass and fellowship. They seemed to be joyful and genuinely happy to share that joy with him. This was a foreign concept to Alex.
One of the CYM activities was a project called prayer and action. It included Mass, saying the Rosary, and then 8 hours of work followed by reflection. To Alex, this activity was so good and so fulfilling. Offering up the work to God was amazing to Alex. But it still wasn’t what he considered to be the beginning of his vocation story.
He gets a little nervous when he hears others vocation stories. They often start when the person is in the 4th grade and they hear God talking to him about considering a vocation. Some would tell of their family having a priest over for dinner every week. Some would play the role as a priest and do the Mass as a child. He had none of that growing up. He never once though about being a priest until his freshman year at Bishop Carroll.
His 1st thoughts about the priesthood came after a prayer and action workday. He had a long conversation with a female member of his crew, and she asked if he had considered becoming a priest. His answer was ‘not at all’. His actual thought was that priests just came from God and were not real people who were asked and became priests as a life choice!
But Alex couldn’t get that thought out of head. He began to have this intense joy and anticipation, and the thought began to develop that ‘this is what I want’. He began to become associated with priests, and he thought ‘these are real men'. They have their likes and dislikes and their own stories. They seemed to have so much joy, and they began to teach and guide him towards God.
Another ‘amazing’ experience was TEC, Teens Encounter Christ, a 3-day retreat sponsored by the diocese. He truly encountered Christ and was invited into a relationship with him. He still had no idea what he wanted to do for the rest of his life. The idea of going to work each day seemed unfulfilling and empty. He began to notice that his values with his peers were different. He grew up not wanting to be around them at school so much, so he chose to go to the chapel to pray for 10 minutes each day after lunch It was there that God began to speak with him and it was there that he believes that finally his vocation story begins.
This author believes that his vocation story began long before that. It was perhaps too subtle to be noticed, but little by little he began to be formed by the hand and voice of God. His ‘boring story’ is not that at all but serves to show that God speaks in a whisper and not as a loud roar. God word needs to be heard as in the parable of the sower as it falls on good soil for the benefit of His church. I think Alex is good soil.
Discover the Ancient Order of Hibernians
Presented by Jeff Reilley
He represents a group you may not have ever heard of, unless you are Irish. The Ancient Order of Hibernians. Jeff Reilley, son of Kent and Nora Reilley, spoke to our club recently about this, well, ancient club, that has roots back to antiquity but has a very modern presence today.
For brevity, I’ll refer to the Ancient Order of Hibernians as AOH throughout this text. Jeff described it as an Irish organization, but it is more correctly, an Irish Catholic fraternal organization. It is, in Jeff’s terms, more about being Catholic than about being Irish. It began as an organization to protect Catholic priests from immigrants in the 1800s. It was founded in Ireland but has a much larger presence in the United States. The AOH started to defend the faith but has evolved as time went on. Actually, the founder of the Knights of Columbus, Blessed Michael McGivney was a Hibernian.
Requirements for being in the AOH aren’t that strict, being a male and Catholic are about it. Fraternity, unity and Christian charity are the three tenants of the AOH. These are lived out in helping a brother in the organization who needs assistance, seeking unity especially in Ireland and their long-standing feud with England over Northern Ireland and being charitable with others as seen through Project Saint Patrick which he talked about later.
Jeff’s personal journey to discovering the AOH started 15 years ago when he watched a movie called Monument Ave. It’s a gritty, 1990s, not great mob movie, In one scene the main character asked another to go to the AOH Hall. Jeff didn’t know what that was and through some research discovered that AOH Halls were considered a ‘sanctuary’, where all who are there consider it a safe space. He went to a meeting in Olathe, where he lived at the time. He liked the guys in the club and what they did and decided to join. There are divisions in Hutchinson, Leavenworth, Olathe and most recently Wichita. He got more involved, but it was more than just because of his Irish heritage. The mission and the goals of the club really resonated with Jeff and thus he remained a member and later an officer. It was a good chance for him to get ‘involved with a cause outside of himself’.
Project St. Patrick is a flagship endeavor of the AOH. It is a grant-based program that offers money to Catholic students who are in seminary formation. It does not have to be used for tuition but can be used however the student wishes. The student does not have to be on a diocesan priest track necessarily but can be a Jesuit or Dominican priest track.
The main focus of Hibernianism is the Catholic faith. The health and welfare of your clergy is paramount to the goals of the Ancient Order of Hibernians, and we welcome other Catholic based organizations that support formation and sustainability of all our priests and seminarians.
Bishop Kemme's Address to Serra Club
Bishop Carl Kemme began his remarks at a recent Serra meeting discussing former Bishop Emeritus Eugene Gerber. They were out together for dinner one night and Bishop Kemme was trying to get Bishop Gerber to share some thoughts on the wonderful things he had accomplished during his time as Bishop. At one point he asked, ‘What was it like to be the Bishop here in those days after growing up here, serving as a pastor and then as our Bishop? He told Bishop Kemme, ‘I have nothing but gratitude’.
Bishop Kemme thinks that this is the key to the stewardship way of life. We should have nothing but gratitude when we see God’s hand at work in everything around us and in us and through us. He noted that so many of his audience, that evening, have chosen to answer the call from bishops and pastors to follow the stewardship way of life. He considers us to be ‘his heroes in the diocese’ that great generation of faithful supporters. He has nothing but gratitude when he thinks about how we have helped make our diocese the priestly vocation center of the United States, that we are, the ‘envy of Catholics around the country’.
Bishop said it was ‘astounding’ that we have 4 Serra Clubs in the diocese. That is rare in this country. His home diocese started one a couple of years ago and it has since dissolved.
He has gratitude for the Serra Club members who pray and support vocations and sponsor activities to encourage and fundraise for seminarians. He joked that we ‘spoil’ our seminarians with various activities throughout the year and he is ok with that.
He noted, anecdotally, that not all seminarians throughout the country even know their bishop and wonder if their bishop even knows them. Kemme stated this won’t happen here. He is set to meet individually with each seminarian over the next several days at the House of Formation. This is a chance to really get to know each one and that they realize that he knows and cares about them as well.
He thanked the Serra Clubs for the mission that we do. It is a very exciting mission and one that is vital to the life of the church. He would like to see a newer younger generation, take the reins of the clubs in the upcoming years to keep the mission alive.
Bishop Kemme will celebrate 12 years as our Bishop this year. Through that time, he has crisscrossed the state to confirm, to visit priests, to bless parishes and altars and schools, to visit prisons. These are all parts of what the life of a bishop is all about. He is certainly grateful for the opportunity to serve this diocese in this way. He is especially joy-filled about the presbyterate in the diocese. He is proud of the fact that we have so many talented, faithful priests in service to the people of God.
Bishop mentioned meeting Pope Leo on a pilgrimage to Rome during the jubilee year. It was exhilarating for him to greet him, shake his hand and speak to him in English! During his brief time with the Pope, He mentioned the cause for canonization for Father Emil Kapaun to which the Pope showed great interest.
Bishop mentioned that he loves to go on pilgrimages. He quipped that some of the priests, think he’s gone too much, but that he ‘always get his work done’. He enjoys going to Holy sites throughout the world and to being there together in a spiritual way. It leaves him with a feeling of encouragement and love in being a Catholic and a part of this great universal church. He encouraged us all to take the opportunity to go on a pilgrimage, if possible, at some point as it will really change our view of not only the church but our diocese as well.
We are truly blessed to have Carl Kemme serve as our Bishop. Continue to pray for his well-being and to support his love for the Church and this diocese.
Celebrating Divine Providence
Presented by Sister Therese Wetta
Sister Terese Wetta is an Adorer of the Blood of Christ Sister at New man University. At a recent meeting she discussed Cardinal John Henry Newman, from whom the University is named, and the history of Newman She is quite capable of speaking on this topic as she has been involved out there for over 50 years.
God’s Providence had a major role to play in the founding and the continuation of Newman University. The school was eventually named after Cardinal Newman because of his ‘veracity of and love of God’.
The roots of Newman University go back to a little mountain town in Italy, called Acuto, where St. Maria founded a religious community. They eventually founded a girls school there which grew quickly. Reading was taught to the student and their mothers so that they could read scripture. The local priest caught wind of this and reported her activities to the Bishop. In those days, Only me could preach the word of God. The Bishop sent three people to listen to Sister Maria’s preaching, and they determined that there was no heresy and it was only the word of God.
It was through teaching that Maria wanted everybody in Italy to know that God loved us so much that he shed every drop of blood He had for us.
Due to Christian persecution in German in the mid-1800s a great exodus began of Christians to the United States. Bishops in the United States recognized the need for teachers of the faith. They welcomed the sisters including Sister Maria, first to Illinois, then to other parts of the country. In 1902 this same group migrated to Wichita. They have since expanded to 26 countries around the world.
From Wichita the sisters moved to Colwich, St. Marks and Andale and other little German communities. That expanded to teaching students to become nurses and hospitals wr established in several areas in the Midwest.
In Wichita, Bishop Hennessey constructed a house for the sisters to live, which was located on the current Newman campus property. He wanted to have a seminary and a boys orphanage on the site but those plans never worked out.
The school for boys and girls opened in the fall of 1902 at the house. By 1905 the sisters a-had purchased 25 mor acres on the site for expansion. In 1922, they began construction of what is now Sacred Heart Hall on campus.
In 1945 the elementary school was closed, and a high school was started. In 1930, the state of Kansas made a law that said all educators must have 2 years of college education. Bishop McNeil, who was the superintendent of schools, met with the sisters at the high school and told them that they needed to start a junior college to train teachers. In the fall of 1933, a community college started. By 1954, the community college was accredited as a 4-year college. In 1973 the name was changed from Sacred Heart College to Kansas Newman College. The name changed since across the world, there were 2 other Sacred Heart Colleges. It was determined that the name needed a geographic designation in the title. Kansas Newman had a location, and it followed the precepts of a Catholic educator. In 1998, it became Newman University because graduate degrees were being offered.
Sister Wetta went on the discuss the core values of the University including Catholic Identity, Care of the Earth, Academic Excellence, Critical Thinking, Cultural Services and a Global Perspective.
Sister Therese Wetta is a treasure to the community, The Adorers of the Blood of Christ and to Newman University.
Inspiring Talk by Fr. Mike Schmitz
Sharon Hagan, Serra Metro Club VP of Programs, happened to see a talk given by Fr. Mike Schmitz at the annual SEEK conference in Duluth, Minnesota. Father Mike is a renowned lecturer and podcaster and is Chaplain at the University of Minnesota, Duluth. These are highlights of his talk shown at a recent Serra meeting.
Father Mike acknowledged at the beginning of his talk that there are people in the audience who do not want to be there. They just want to be left alone. The heart of his talk is the statement that every sin is an attempt to be happy apart from God. We are free to make any choice we want; we are not free to choose the consequences of those choices.
He used the analogy of a man on a spacewalk who loses contact with the spaceship and is now drifting in space. Nothing he can do will bring him back to the ship. He will die in this separation. It is the same with our lives. We are splintered or separated from God. That is the meaning of sin.
When God created Adam and Eve it was good, and the world was good. After original sin, the world was still good but was broken. We experience this every day.
The brain and will are both weakened due to this brokenness. We are trapped in our sin. We can confess our sins, but we go on to repeat them. It is our choice to live as we want to live apart from God. He likes the term 'original wound' instead of original sin. As in 'How is a child born with original sin?' We have all inherited this as we inherit nearsightedness or other characteristics.
Like the astronaut, we all think we are drifting, but that we are drifting to heaven. He compared that to the Olympics. No one ever says they just ended up at the Olympics. They didn't drift there. It was a conscious effort over many years to reach that goal. I the same way, how can we think that we can drift to heaven?
Every sin is an attempt to tell God to just 'leave me alone.' Let me drift. We can still do good things but what we can't do is change our direction. In the world of relativism today, we shoot our arrow at the target and if we miss, we just paint a circle around where the arrow lands and call it our new target.' Success!' We try to make virtue out of faults we have no desire to correct.
G.K. Chesterton was quoted as saying, 'I don't want a church that tells me that I'm right, I need a church that tells me that I'm wrong'. We need more than a feel-good church but one that challenges us and helps us to see how we are pushing God away in our lives.
But what God did was send His Son into the world to reconnect us with himself. Religion means a binding together. Because what this world needs today is religion that will bind our hearts together to God. Schmitz defines sin as,' God, I know what you want, I don't care, I want what I want.' Every time we say that, we get what we've chosen. We become what we repeatedly choose.
Fr. Mike offered a message of hope. He said that we are here in this world on purpose. 'God doesn't want a universe without out each of us in it.'
Carmelite Sisters Worldwide
Meet Sister Anjana from the Carmelites
Our speaker was Sister. Anjana from the Carmelite Sisters of St. Teresa of St. Rose of Lima. She was joined by Sr. Dibya for an opening prayer which was sung. Their order was founded in 1887 and they work to serve others especially the marginalized. They have an intimate relationship with God through fasting and service. Prayer, contemplation, and service are the words that guide them. They follow the charism of St. Teresa of Avila and St. John of the Cross.
The order works in healthcare and pastoral care serving the needs of the church in India and also worldwide. There is a deep devotion to Mary and Our Lady of Mt. Carmel. There are 800 sisters working in 143 convents, serving schools, parishes, preparing children to receive the Sacraments, and in homes for the destitute. They work in many different countries.
There are three sisters working in Wichita at the Catholic Care Center. Bishop Gerber invited the order to come to Wichita and they began their work at the Center.
Eastern Catholic Traditions
Faith Journey with Dr. Lisa Gilbert
She is a Wichita physician, who traveled the world in her youth and now shares her faith journey as a member of the Byzantine Rite of the Catholic Church. Her talk the other evening was enlightening and informed our members on church history that many of us had never known.
Dr. Gilbert is a convert, raised by her parents in several countries in Africa. Her parents were missionaries for an evangelical church. She stayed in Africa until college where she attended Missouri State and later Medical School in Texas. Through this time, she wondered where the Lord was leading her. She thought, at the outset, that she would be doing medical missions much like her parents had done.
After medical school, she went to Africa to do medical work. She found the work difficult as there were so many deaths, especially among the young and pre-born. She decided that she couldn’t continue practicing medicine in Africa and returned to Ottawa, Kansas to continue her education. There she encountered the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church. She converted to the Catholic Church at this time. Leaving there, she went to Lakin, Kansas which is about as far culturally and every other way from Africa and Ukrainian Greek brand of Catholicism. It was the season of the desert her, separated from friends and a religious expression she had grown accustomed to.
She came to Wichita in 2017 and joined the St. Anna Byzantine Catholic Outreach Church. There is no church building here but have a Mass once a month said by a priest from Kansas City at Newman University. Anna is a derivative of Hanna who is the Mother of Mary.
Part of the Byzantine Rite is called a Rite of Betrothal which most Catholics know nothing about. It is a pre marriage ceremony, perhaps months before the actual Marriage Ceremony. Dr. Gilbert will have her Betrothal Ceremony on February 14th and will be married later next year.
She spent a great deal of the talk explaining where the Byzantine sect of the Catholic Church came from. The church got its start in Jerusalem and then had 4 main branches; Rome, Antioch, where Peter and Paul preached, Alexandria, where St. Mark preached, and Constantinople. The term ‘Christian’ began in Antioch with Paul. It was in Constantinople where the Byzantine Rite began. St. John Chrysostom and other took the faith north from there as Christianity spread through the world. This sect went thru Hungary, Austria, Romania, Ukraine and other part of Eastern Europe and eventually into Russia. This is how the Russian Orthodox Church had its beginnings.
In India, St. Thomas, spread the faith into that part of the world even reaching into China and Japan. In a nutshell, that is how the rapid expansion of Christianity spread including the Byzantine Rite with Lisa has embraced.
She went on to explain about the various schisms that have occurred in the church. The first was in 435 AD at the Council of Calcedon. This is when the Coptic Ethiopians split from the Roman Catholic Church. This was primarily over language as they were trying to spread the faith of many languages with the ensuing challenges that that created.
Between 1000-1300 AD the Great Schism between Rome and Constantinople began. The Crusades were a part of the schism. The Eastern Orthodox and the Catholics began the split during these 3 centuries. There was an attempt to reunify with Rome, starting in Eastern Europe, Rumania, Poland and Czechoslovakia. St. Josephat, whose feast day was recently celebrated died in his attempts to unify the Roman tradition and the Eastern Orthodox Rite of the Church in 1623.
This schism has caused there to be 22 churches that are Catholic Churches but not Roman Catholic that fall under the Eastern Orthodox universe. They are recognized by Rome but not Roman Catholic. Byzantine Catholic are the largest non-Roman sect in the United States.
The liturgies are different for the 2 sects. They call their sacraments, mysteries. They call their Mass Divine Liturgy instead of Eucharistic Liturgy. Confirmation is called Chrysmation. There are some similarities in the prayers said at Mass and some prayers that are different. For Eastern Orthodox the posture of prayer is standing as opposed to kneeling. No instruments are used during the Mass and most of the prayers are chanted not spoken.
While different, the 2 main divisions on the church have many similarities and we are grateful for Dr. Lisa Gilbert’s explanation of and love for the church in its many forms. We are indeed the Universal Church.
Medjugorje Miracles
Fr. Jarrod Lies: A Faithful Journey
Our speaker was Fr. Jarrod Lies. He was raised in Christ the King parish and has been a priest for 24 years. Bishop Kemme appointed him as the Vicar for Evangelization, Stewardship, and Discipleship for the Diocese of Wichita in 2023. This happens to be the topic he wrote his thesis on when he was in Detroit. He is incredibly motivated. He asked us to pray for our priests who are trying to embrace stewardship in caring for our parishes. We have to have healthy priests.
In 2022, he took a 90-day sabbatical right before the renovations at St. Francis. He was able to take a 21-day free trip to Medjugorje. In 1984, there was a period of 3 days of darkness and everyone was asked to pray the rosary. His family prayed the rosary together sometimes more than once a day. One day he sat on the couch to pray. His silver rosary was changed to gold. This was something tied to Medjugorje. The Blessed Virgin Mary was instrumental in his call to the priesthood.
While he was in Medjugorje, he stayed near Apparition Hill. It is a very small area with lots of dirt paths. There is one central church there and Mary has been appearing to one or more of the then six children every day for 45 years. At the church, there are confession lines going on all the time. Many people stayed in a room at the back of a home and shared meals with the family.
He usually walked around in his cassock which was an oddity. Part of the Marian apparition is respect for priests. Whenever people saw him, they asked for a blessing. The guides were Catholic and shared their devotions with the people they were guiding. The trip gave Fr. Jarrod a resurgence of priestly identity. The presence of a priest is the presence of Jesus is how the people feel. He attended an outdoor rosary of all 4 decades which was prayed in the languages of the people who were there. He had an experience of interior death. He felt he should get over himself. He felt like all his prayers were being heard. He felt great peace. At the bottom of the mountain, he found himself giving blessings. A woman shared with him that she knew something had happened to him. Fr. decided to write it all down. As he was writing, he realized it was the day of his ordination and also Ascension Thursday. Mary was looking out for him. God arranged a moment for him.
Faith in God's Plan
Speaker: Sarah Betsen
Our guest speaker the other night told a tale of 2 tales. Her life recent life story was one part and how that intertwined with her working life and God’s work in both. Our guest speaker was Sarah Betsen and she works for A Better Choice.
She was married in 2017 at the Cathedral and saw her life as being a stay-at-home mom and raising a family. Prior to marriage, she was a teacher for a short while but soon realized that that was not the direction that God was calling her to.
She began work at A Better Choice starting as a receptionist and then training to be a parent advocate. There she conducted pregnancy tests and provided peer to peer counseling. The agency also does ultrasound and provides newborn needs such as diapers and wipes.
Sarah and her husband soon realized that they had fertility issues. They went through a myriad of options including natural family planning and medical fertility assistance. Her diagnosis was endometriosis. Surgeries were performed with no positive results. They considered adoption and Sarah described the false narratives surrounding that process.
Adoption is very expensive; $20-80,000 with no guarantee that they will get their money back if the birth mother changes her mind. In the United states, there are over two million couples wanting to adopt a child but there is only 1 child available for every 36 couples. 96 percent of couples seeking adoption give up as the wait is too long and difficult. Studies show that there are over a million abortions each year. ‘Something to pray about’.
Well-meaning people asked how many children they had or when they will start a family? All her friends were having children, and they still waited for theirs. She knew this was part of God’s plan, but she still suffered.
The irony in her work/life situation is that people come to her agency who want to terminate the life that she so desperately wanted. Sarah struggled to keep her personal life separate from her work life.
She talked a lot about Hope. Hope is what keeps her going through the struggle to be a mom. Hope is the expectation that things are going to get better soon. Hope is a person. Our hope is in the Lord. “Even in this darkness, I will trust You’.
About a year ago, she got a call from an agency asking if they would like an early Christmas present. A mom at a local hospital was about to give birth and wanted to give the child up for adoption. She immediately said yes, they contacted their adoption lawyer and that day met their new son, Benedict Maximillian Betsen. The name means ‘greatest blessing.
God is Good!
Faithful Journey to Priesthood
Faith and Persistence: Father Grant Huslig
‘I think the greatest gift my parents gave me was the gift of faith’. Father Grant Huslig, one of our 3 most recently ordained priests spoke to the Serra Club recently. He began his talk speaking of his rather normal prayer life that his family exercised that told him that there was a God who loved him and cared about him. Nothing in his upbringing would suggest that his life would be one of service to God.
As an adolescent, Fr. Huslig was a very shy kid. During those years, he was asked to go to a youth prayer group by a fellow classmate. Though initially hesitant to go, he found the experience of making new friends and sharing faith and prayers to be exhilarating. He knew there was a God that listened to him and one he could have a conversation with.
His early career desires were to either be a professional soccer player, a dentist (like his father) or a neurologist. He attended KU his freshman and described it as a miserable experience. During that year, he went to Benedictine College with some friends on a weekend visit. While there, a friend asked if he would be interested in becoming a diocesan priest. From that, he began to ask God, ‘do you want me to be a priest?’ He hoped the answer would be no. At about that same time, he started going to daily Mass, going to confession and began studying more about the Catholic faith.
He transferred to K-State the next year because two of his best friends went there. He was still uncertain of his career path between priest, dentistry and a scientist. He felt God ask him, ‘ if I asked you to be a priest, would you do it?’ His honest answer was no. He participated in the 33 Days to Morning Glory. It began to untie knots in his heart, and he felt an increase in holiness. He still asked God the career question and really began to feel that God was calling him to the priesthood. It was then that he felt a ‘stupid amount of joy’.
His grandmother, seemingly out of the blue told him there was a show on EWTN geared toward men discerning to the priesthood and that maybe he should watch it. During that broadcast, the book To Save a Thousand Souls was mentioned. He was meeting with a priest at the student center at K-State and he mentioned that he was thinking about being a priest. The priest gave him the book, To Save a Thousand Souls.
In the book there is prayer from St. Therese of Lisieux that states in part, that if you pray her novena for 9 days and then receive a rose, that you will be come a priest. Having a science background, he thought the odds of that happening were slim, so he did the novena. On the night of the 8th day, he received a text message from a friend he hadn’t spoken to in a year. He didn’t open it until the next day. It was a picture of a rose.
He started to have regular meetings with Fr. Chad Arnold, who was the diocesan vocation director. He told Fr. Chad that he thought he should finish his degree and then go to seminary. But when he said it, he knew in his heart that this was not what he really wanted to do. He really wanted to go straight into seminary.
His parents were initially unsure about this whole seminary thing. But they could see as the months passed that he had an outward joy that he hadn’t expressed before and they knew he had made the right choice. For Grant, the House of Formation was a wonderful experience. It is ‘a special place’, like nowhere else in the world. There is no other place where everybody there supports you and loves you and are praying for your success.
Upon graduating from Newman, he went to Mundelein near Chicago. He realized that during his 1stsemester, which was a ‘horrible experience’ that he was done and didn’t want to continue with his studies. One day, after leaving the adoration chapel, in the middle of winter, he ventured over to a pond on campus. The pond was frozen and covered with snow. On the pond there was a rose. He told God then, that OK, I’ll stay.
After hearing that talk, we know that the diocese and the people of God that he will serve are fortunate to have a Father Grant Huslig as our priest.
God's Work in Our Lives
About Linda Landohl
Linda Landohl’s career started in Marysville, Kansas as a social worker. It was there that she met and married her husband 50 years ago. They moved to Wichita in 1977.
She took a position at St. Francis Hospital in the oncology unit. The unit was very faith-based. Her talk centered around how God has spoken and worked thru her in her life.
She was 42 and unexpectedly were expecting their third child. She was concerned about that when she was asked to meet with a patient on the unit who was going home to die. When she visited with them, he told her that they had 3 kids between 42 and 46 years of age. God put her in that room to hear that and knew that all weas going to be OK in her own pregnancy. His wife kept in touch with Linda for the next 20 years because of that conversation.
She was asked to find the daughter of a cancer patient who was likewise dying. She called her friend Judge Mike Corrigan for help. He told her he had only done 2 adoptions in his career and hers was one of them. Coincidence, maybe. But the hand of God was there for her that day.
A job change at the hospital caused another life change. Sister Silvia at the hospital asked her to take over the renovation of Gerrard House in North Wichita. Linda didn’t know anything about construction, but Sister Sylvia said, ‘yes, but you know people.’ Linda called every Knights of Columbus council, every mens club and altar society. With just a month to go before the dedication, they needed a driveway, patio and sidewalks poured. A friend of her daughter was a concrete foreman for Ritchie Construction. He got together 5 concrete companies and did the work needed to finish the project. Luck, probably not. The money she was paid was set aside to pay for her Masters in Social Work degree. It was exactly how much she needed for the degree to the penny.
Her next department awas the Emergency Room at St. Francis. There was a mom who was admitted that who was in a bad car accident. Linda needed to find the lady’s son who was vacationing in Mexico. This was before cell phones and computers. Linda gathered all the information what she could on this young man, including bank accounts and credit cards. She called hotels and car rental agencies, none of whom had ever heard of him. The son happened to be using his rarely used American Express card at dinner one evening when everyone else’s cards did not work. Because he used his card, she was able to trace him down, get ahold of him and he left Mexico to see his mother.
Once she was taking flowers on Memorial Day to the graves of her relatives. There were 3 young men at the cemetery who asked if they could help. They did and when she started to thank them, they were gone. There was no car, bikes or anything. She is pretty sure she was in the presence of 3 angels that day.
Linda told these and many other stories about the seemingly small ways that God impacted her and others lives if we only take the time to see it.
Our Lady of Guadalupe: A Historic Pilgrimage
Journey of Faith: Guadalupe: Barb Pinaire
It was part history lesson, part spiritual journey. It was all interesting as Barb Pinaire told of her recent trip to Mexico on a Pilgrimage for Our Lady of Guadalupe. The pilgrimage was sponsored by Guadalupe Missions a non-profit organization whose goal is to introduce people to the shine there.
Here’s the history lesson part. It was the early 1500s and Cortez was on his conquest of the area we now call Mexico. He encountered the Aztec people in what is now the Mexico City area. Cortez and his men were seen as gods to the Aztecs. They were a pagan, demonic people who daily sacrificed 2 people to their gods. The Aztec civilization was very advanced, with many buildings and systems in place. They conquered the Aztecs and outlawed human sacrifice. The Franciscans came soon after to convert them to Catholicism.
Juan Diego was an early Franciscan priest who led the Spanish efforts at conversion. There was much civil discord and competition from other factions which caused the local Bishop to fear that all of Mexico would soon be lost to the other competing groups. It was at this time that our lady appeared to the people there 5 different times in less than a week. All the apparitions related back to the history of the indigenous people of the area. Juan Diego ascended Tepeyac which was an elevated area in Mexico City. There he encountered our Blessed Mother. Mary asked Juan to request of the Bishop that they build a ‘house for my Son”. The Bishop, at first, refused but through Juan Diegos persistence, he relented, and a house was built. Our Lady told Juan Diego during this time, that even though she had a number of servants to do her Bidding, “I chose you.”
The Bishop had to be convinced that Mary was making the request. He wanted ‘a sign’. Diego had gotten flowers to present to the Bishop and when he made the presentation, Our Lady’s image appeared in Diego’s tilma which is a burlap like cloth. This miracle convinced the Bishop that the apparition was real. The Bishop kept the image in the church, and many were converted to the faith by just viewing the image. Each part of the image has something to do with the faith of the people there. The image is now well known as the Lady of Guadalupe. Barb explained all the symbolism of the Our Lady image and how they related to the time of the apparition.
Throughout the early 1900s several attempts were made to destroy the image by those afraid of its power or heretics and disbelievers in the Church. A copy was made of it that was used for public display so the original could be kept safe. A cathedral was built to house and protect the image in Mexico City.
Barb Pinaire brought the story of the Our Lady of Guadalupe image to life, and we thank her for the informative presentation on this sacred part of our Catholic heritage.
Support for Venerable Emil Kapaun
Scott Carter Shares Kapaun's Journey
The work of sanctification of now Venerable Emil Kapaun is ongoing in the diocese of Wichita. That process is headed up by Scott Carter and Father John Hotze and the office of the Cause for Sainthood in the Chancery. Scott spoke to the club about the process and where we stand today.
Having a near saint from our own diocese is truly a blessing to all. American saints are rare and having one who grew up here served here is rarer still.
On February 24th, the Pope issued the decree naming Fr. Kapaun as the Venerable Father Emil Kapaun, the next step I towards eventual sainthood. The cause for Kapaun’s sainthood opened unofficially in 1993. That step was fairly straightforward with little investigation needed to support the cause. In 2008, the formal cause for sainthood officially opened. That was begun by then Bishop Jackels. Documents from across the diocese were collected by many people to be sent to Rome to help support the initial stages of the project. Everything from grade cards to letters written home during the Korean War to homilies given were included. These were meant to describe his life and to show the great devotion that he had for the church and the faith. This amounted to 8,000 pages worth of documents which were each copied so now it’s over 16,000 pages being sent to Rome.
The Vatican theologians approved the case and then that was sent on the Bishops and Cardinals who actually vote on the case. That process was approved in early November of this year and the Holy Father said give it a couple of weeks and then Kapaun will be named Venerable. But the Pope was hospitalized and that delayed that announcement. The pope actually approved the Venerated stage from his hospital bed.
The Dicastery stated the Kapaun had ‘offered his life for Christ’. This is a new path toward sainthood by the Vatican. This was described as an ‘authentic measure of holiness’. This goes back to scripture that says ‘There is no greater love than to lay down ones life for ones friends’. There is something heroic about this act. From the Christian perspective, it is more than heroism, it is an imitation of Christ.
Carter mentioned the example of Saint Maximillian Kolbe who during World War II in a concentration camp in Germany offered his life for another prisoner. Scott gave other examples of similar circumstances where the offering of one’s life for another as an oath to holiness. There has been one other person who attained the title of Venerable throughout church history with a similar path as is being pursued by the Cause for Sainthood for Father Kapaun.
Giving up one’s life at an early age and seeing it as a gift is a part of the ‘requirements’ for this path to sainthood. Instead of thinking that a person is giving up his life he is I essence giving life. Every time we go to Mass we commemorate Christs giving up His life so that we can have life. Love grows when it is given away.
In applying to be an army chaplain, Kapaun was determined to spend himself for others. Not living in comfort but going to wherever that need was. He felt compelled to serve his people in faraway places where the availability of soldiers to receive the sacraments was limited. Carter related 4 moments during his army career where Kapaun offered his life for the soldiers. The last of which was after he was captured, and he sacrificed his health so that his fellow soldiers could live. Each moment was his own choice to help others regardless of the personal sacrifice that he had to make. End the end his sacrifice lef=d to his death,
While the work of sanctification goes on, we can rest assured knowing that with the diligent efforts of Father Hotze and Scott Carter, that they will do all in their power to see this cause for sainthood for Father Kapaun to the end.
Fiat Ministries
Meet Emily Savage
Emily Savage’s day job is director of the youth ministry and the confirmation program at St. Francis of Assisi Parish. An outgrowth of that and her passion for several years is the Fiat Program that she oversees. Fiat provides discernment opportunities for women interested in the consecrated life. Emily realized that there was ‘a gap’ in discernment opportunities for women that may be interested in the religious life. In 2014 she began the Fiat Ministry to serve women so moved at the parish. Now it is so much more.
When she began, there were no youth ministry positions available in ther Wichita area. Her first retreat in 2014 had 39 women and 9 sisters attending from Oklahoma and Kansas. To date they have given retreats in 11 dioceses and have had 782 women from across the nation attend these discernment weekends. He principal at St. Francis, Mary Carter, is on the Fiat board and helped found 8th grade Fiat at SFA to assist There you are female’.
Fiat has no advertising, relying on word of mouth to spread the message of this ministry. Eleven dioceses have proven the value of this grassroots movement. It as this point in their history that they are beginning to go beyond the present boundaries and being open to offering the retreats on a more regional scale. It’s up to the Holy Spirit to determine how far that reach will go.
Emily shared several stories concerning meeting Sisters who several years prior had attended a Fiat retreat and are now Sisters serving Christ and the Church. Each story confirms the value that this discernment process can have in young lives.
Fiat Ministries is the vehicle that ‘allows women to see who they can be.’ This is not only true in terms of discernment to the religious life but as mothers, daughters, sisters and brides. Savage believes that when it is time for women to discern their calling that they will be ready to make that decision.
Fiat is for and woman who wants to ‘dive deeply into their spiritual life as a woman.’ Their three-part retreat doesn’t talk about religious vocations until the third session. She told the club that if there is anyone in their lives who they think needs an invitation to Fiat that they should reach out to Emily. The website is fiatministries.org.
This was a n inspiring about yet another ‘home grown’ ministry that can impact young women in an era of conflicting messages about who men and women are and what role they have in society. We are proud of Emily’s now 10 year journey with the Holy Spirit to pioneer this vital discernment process.
Father Reilley: Serving in Vatican
Imagine combining the worlds of law and procedures with the world of the Church with sacraments and liturgies. That is the world the Father Patrick Reilley lives and works in as a priest in the Vatican in the Dicastorate for Priests.
Currently Father Reilley is the only English-speaking priest dealing with legal issues that confront the church. A second one will begin his work later in August. The Dicastorate for Priests is one of many such organizations within the Vatican and it also concerns itself with Deacons and other religious. Legal issues that Father Reilley deals with vary as to the wishes of the current Pope. Issues that he gives opinions on come from throughout the world but only from English-speaking countries. He deals with priests’ retirements, selling of church property, removing priests from duty and violation of the rule of law involving priests and deacons. The Pope has the ultimate approval on recommendations made by the Dicastery for Priests. Father Reilley rarely sees the Pontiff but certainly has more access than you or I.
He was asked by the Vatican several years ago, if he would be interested in serving in this manner. Bishop Kemme had to approve the plan and Fr. Patrick will serve a 5-year term. He is currently in his 2nd year of that assignment. He looks forward (as does the Bishop!) in returning to Wichita in 4 years to start what he thought he would do on becoming a priest, serving in a parish.
Father spent some time talking about the structure of the Vatican (think spokes on a wheel) when it comes to deciding cases. The various departments sometimes work together to resolve complex issues. Once a decision is made, then his superior and ultimately Pope Francis must approve it before it becomes actionable.
He lives in an apartment made possible by the US Catholic Bishops some years ago. He considers himself lucky in this regard as many priests serving at the Vatican must rent from the Church or other entities at a higher rate than he pays. There are about 20 other priests in his apartment currently, all English speakers. The Vatican is its own country inside of Rome and some buildings as where Father Patrick live are auxiliary structures within the Vatican’s control.
His work is challenging and important and we in the diocese can be proud as he represents us at the highest levels of the church’s hierarchy. We should all welcome the day when his time in the Vatican has concluded, and he can come back to serve the people of God in South Central Kansas.
