Summer Internship 2011 - Emporia, KS

I hope everyone is having a very blessed summer and I wanted to take a moment to give you a little update on my pastoral internship down here in Emporia, KS. I actually received two assignments earlier this spring from the Vocation Director which included assisting in various pastoral assignments at Sacred Heart Parish as well as a being on staff for the launch of a new youth mission experience called Prayer & Action.

Sacred Heart Parish has their religious education program during the summer for two weeks, so I was able to assist with preparing the eighth graders who will be receiving the Sacrament of Confirmation later this year. Additionally, I offered multiple communion services when Fr. Rich Warsnak was out of town, visited the sick in the nursing homes, sat in on marriage preparation meetings, and served in multiple funerals as well as a wedding. I thoroughly enjoyed working and meeting all the parishioners of Sacred Heart and learning more about the Emporia community.

The majority of my time was dedicated to launching the 1st ever Prayer & Action Missions within the Archdiocese. Along with three of my brother seminarians, we oversaw three, one-week missions that attracted over 100 high school kids from across northeast Kansas. The students arrived on a Sunday evening and stayed through Friday afternoon. This was a "unplugged" experience and mobile phones, iPods, laptops, etc. were all prohibited. Lodging every night for the staff and participants took place on the floor at the Sacred Heart Grade School.

Each day consisted of a morning rosary followed by mass and then the teens were assigned to different homes throughout the city to do substantial exterior/interior work on. The work included painting, landscaping, trash removal and most importantly, spending spiritual time with the home owners to learn more about their journeys through life. Many of these homeowners had little family support, were suffering from various diseases and had very little income. The work done by the teams were life changing for the homeowners and emotions ran high as the kids finished and said their goodbyes each week.

The evenings included various skits, a series of talks by each of the staff members, songs, prayer in front of the Blessed Sacrament as well as a reconciliation service one night. The transformation that took place in these young adults was awesome to witness and I was blessed to grow as well in my role as a spiritual mentor for these young people. This was the first time in my life that I had been involved in a summer youth camp and it was truly a transforming event that I was very grateful to be part of.

Here are links to the videos from the first two missions we held this summer. We are still working to load the third week and hope to have it done soon.

Prayer & Action Week I

Prayer & Action Week II

Additionally, I participated as chaperone for the Sacred Heart Youth group who attended the Catholic Heart Work Camp the final week of July. This mission experience was a lot like the Prayer & Action program except the students were from across all the Midwest. We were based out of St. James Academy in Lenexa, KS and each day was spent either renewing homes through painting, housecleaning, yard work, and minor home repairs or helping at day care centers for low income families by assisting with the children’s programs, working at homeless shelters or helping at centers that distribute food to the needy.

This will now be my final week down here in Emporia and then I will be heading over to Madrid Spain to attend the World Youth Day with the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. Archbishop Naumann will be accompanying all of the seminarians of Kansas City, KS and this will be an experience that I look forward to sharing with all of you in a future blog update. Upon my return from Spain, I will head directly to the seminary to begin the Fall Quarter. Once again, I just completed two years of philosophy this last May and I'm now beginning the first of four years of theology.

May the Holy Spirit continue to inspire and guide each of you in your family, work and spiritual journey.

March for Life 2011

I had the opportunity this last weekend to represent Mundelein Seminary, along with 30 of my brother seminarians, in the annual March for Life in Washington DC. There were an estimated 400,000 people in attendance this year, 80% of the attendees were under the age of 25. I'm confident that most of the major news networks didn't cover the event justly, so I wanted to update all of you who are praying for an end to this man-made law which allows the termination of an unborn child on demand.

The Sunday night Vigil Pro-Life Mass took place in the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. This Basilica is largest Roman Catholic church in the United States and North America, and one of the ten largest churches in the world. In attendance were over 8,000 people (mostly young adults) 500+ seminarians, 400+ priests, 34 bishops, and 6 cardinals. The principal celebrant and homilist was Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, Chairman of the USCCB Committee on Pro-Life Activities and the Archbishop of Galveston-Houston.

The tear filled expressions were abundant as I processed in, but none were as piercing to the soul as the looks from the youth. These young men and women had traveled from all over the nation, slept on the floors in churches, all for the cause to one day live in a nation which outlaws the scourge of abortion.

Following the Mass, confessions were heard for more than two hours, a National Rosary for Life was prayed and seminarians from around the country led holy hours of Eucharistic Adoration in the crypt church from midnight until morning. We had the holy hour from 2:00 AM until 3:00 AM.


Monday morning began with the Youth Rally and Mass at the Verizon Center. There were 27,000 youth in attendance. His Eminence, Cardinal Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington DC was the main celebrant.


“How beautiful when so many younger brothers and sisters gather together,” said Archbishop Pietro Sambi, Apostolic Nuncio to the United States, to sustained cheering from the crowd. “I become younger and younger with you.” Archbishop Sambi shared a letter from Pope Benedict XVI with those gathered at the rally.

An estimated 50,000,000 abortions have been reported since 1973. The NY City Department of Vital Statistics data reported just this month that 41% of all pregnancies reported in New York City in 2009, ended in abortion. That is twice the national average.

Pictures from the march which begins at the National Mall and ends in front of the United States Supreme Court.

May God give us the grace to awake from this deadly moral slumber, renounce the death wish, and live like truly free men and women in the glorious freedom of the children of God.

2010 Seminarian Pilgrimage to Colorado

My brother seminarians and I had the wonderful opportunity to go on a pilgrimage the 2nd week of August to Colorado with Archbishop Naumann and our vocation director, Fr. Mitchel Zimmerman. Additionally, Fr. Brian Schieber the Pastor of Most Pure of Mary in Topeka, Vicar for Priests and co-director of seminarians, met up with us as well. The retreat was a tremendous opportunity to get to know the men who are currently in formation at the other seminaries and a chance to meet the new men just beginning the seminary this Fall. We have five new men who were accepted to begin formation this year and one man who transferred in from the Diocese of Wichita last Spring. We have a total of thirty-one men in formation currently, three of those men are deacons who will be ordained to the priesthood in the Spring of 2011. Attached above is the new seminarian poster which you can click on to see the updated pictures of all the seminarians and where they will be studying.

Before reaching our permanent destination of Camp Saint Malo in Allenspark Colorado, we stopped off at a couple of shrines and churches in Kansas. Just one hour south of Kansas City in Mound City is the St. Rose Philippine Duchesne Shrine (1769-1852 Feast Day Nov. 18th). Born into a family of great wealth and political connections, St. Rose dedicated her life to educating children, caring for the sick and toward the end of her life, evangelizing the Native Americans. Although she never mastered their language, she was known by the Pottowatomi tribe as the "Woman-Who-Prays-Always".

Our next stop was to Pilsen, hometown of Fr. Emil Kapaun, an Army Chaplain who died while in a North Korean Prisoner of War Camp in 1951. The Cause for the Canonization of Father Emil Kapaun was opened in 2008 and will be submitted soon to the Congregation for Saints in Rome. Many of you are probably aware of the miraculous recovery of the high school pole-vaulter whose family and friends prayed unceasingly to Fr. Kapaun for his intercession to our Lord, after a near death accident. Here is a picture of the interior of Fr. Kapaun's hometown church, St. John Nepomucene.

St. John Nepomucene Church
Pilsen, KS

Our final stop in Kansas took place in Victoria at the St. Fidelis Church or better known as "The Cathedral of the Plains". This church is a definite must see for anyone traveling through western Kansas. We spent the night with the Capuchin Franciscan Friars who have a friary attached to the church and who oversee the parish. It is always incredibly awesome to think back to the turn of the century and how the early settlers to this state sacrificed many years to build these magnificent churches. All the amazing work was done without automatic lifts and power tools. Every family was responsible for carrying rock to help build the church. Fathers and grown sons of some families are recorded as hauling as many as 70 to 80 loads of stone. Here is a nice picture of the nave and the sanctuary.

St. Fidelis Church
Victoria, KS

We arrived at the Camp St. Malo Retreat Center finally and this was the same location The Venerable Pope John Paul II visited during the 1993 World Youth Day in Denver. The retreat center is just a few miles from Estes Park and Rocky Mountain National Park. It was reaffirming to my vocation to be able to witness the sincere joy of my brother seminarians outside of the masses we serve together throughout the year. The daily holy hour and liturgy in the little St. Malo Chapel was very powerful. The homilies Archbishop Naumann delivered were incredibly insightful and it was a holy and spiritual experience that I will continue to reflect on in prayer.

Retreat Center

Stone Chapel Exterior & Interior

Another highlight of the pilgrimage was the opportunity to tour and celebrate mass at The Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception in Denver. The French Gothic Basilica is the mother church for the Archdiocese of Denver which serves about 500,000 Catholics and 144 parishes in northern Colorado. The stain glass windows were very impressive and this window pictured below depicts the formal proclamation by Pius IX of the doctrine of the Immaculate Conception in 1854. The lower portion portrays eight Church fathers who wrote and preached about Mary Immaculate.

Click Pictures to Enlarge

The Cathedral Basilica of the Immaculate Conception
Denver, CO

We got a chance to visit the St. John Vianney Seminary as well. This seminary was actively used for formation by the Archdiocese of Kansas City Kansas from the '50's until the early '80's. We transitioned to the current seminaries in St. Louis and Chicago due to our former and current archbishops going to each of these respectively. We had our holy hour and daytime prayer with Archbishop Chaput of Denver and his Auxiliary Bishop, James Conley. Archbishop Chaput was born in Concordia KS and is half Native American from the Potawatomi tribe. Bishop Conley is a native of Overland Park, KS and a convert to Catholicism. Here are interior pictures of the main chapel.

St. John Vianney Theological Seminary
Denver

We had one free day which I used to hike up Longs Peak with Fr. Schieber, Trent Schmidt and Tom Hornbeck. It took us about six hours to climb up to Chasm Lake and back down to the base. The lake we stopped at was 11,800 ft. above sea level (Kansas City is about 1,000). It is a great hike and it got a little technical towards the top where we stopped for lunch. It was a great experience to spend some time with my fellow seminarians and to learn more about Fr. Brian's ministry.

We begin our Fall Quarter on Labor Day and our annual week long silent retreat begins August 30th.

God's Blessings Always,
Jeff

Summer Pastoral Internship 2010

The Spring Quarter at Mundelein Seminary concluded on May 21st and the first year of formation went by in a flash. Along with my brother seminarians, I'm very thankful to all the benefactors who make it possible for my advanced education and formation at Mundelein. In addition to receiving a wonderful initial submersion into philosophy, I really benefited from my one-on-one work with the young adults at the juvenile detention center. I will have another field assignment in the 2011 school year, but it will be in a different area of service.

Upon the completion of the Spring Quarter, I moved directly into my pastoral internship assignment at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Kansas City, KS. Attached is a picture of the interior of the church which was constructed in 1927, with the actual founding of the parish in 1907. Fr. Harry Schneider is the Pastor and in addition to assisting him at weekend/weekday masses, I'm shadowing him on his multitude of weekly duties which have included anointing the sick, serving in funerals, leading communion services, wedding preparations and many others. As a fun fact, I served as an altar boy for Fr. Harry when he was at Holy Name Parish in Topeka back in the early '90's. Fr. just celebrated 36 years as a priest and I'm very blessed to be assigned to such a reverent and experienced priest.

Additionally on the weekdays, I'm working at Catholic Charities in the Refuge and Migrant Services division. Refugee & Migrant Services assists families and individuals that flee their home country in fear of their lives. Catholic Charities is a subcontractor of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). This Refugee Program will receive over 250 primary clients throughout 2010 who have been granted refugee permission to come to the United States. This division resettles refugees upon initial entrance into the US with the goal to have them living on their own within six months. Most of these men and women are from Nepal, Bhutan and Burma. The sub-division that I'm assisting in is called Match Grant and focuses on refugees achieving early self-sufficiency through an alternative to public cash assistance. I work directly with these families in areas such as initial reception, accessing social services, cultural orientation, general transportation, English tutoring and any tools that might help them to become independent.

Thanks again to all the family members, friends, Serran's, fellow Knights of Columbus members, and former business acquaintances who have contacted me with their support as I transitioned into the seminary this last year. I'm so grateful for having nearly ten years of working in the business field and I'm confident that God will allow me to tap into those experiences to serve the needs of His Church.

Please send me an e-mail if you are going to be in the Kansas City, KS area and would like to tour the Cathedral of St. Peter, or join us for a Mass. Mass times can be found here http://www.cathedralkck.org/schedule.html.

May the grace and peace of Jesus Christ be with you always.

Jeff

Winter 2010 Update

I hope that everyone is off to a joyful new year and having a blessed Lenten season as we prepare ourselves for Easter! We just finished the Winter Quarter up at the seminary and it's time for a short break before the final ten week Spring Quarter that will run through late May. Here is a picture of one of the few sunny winter days and the statue is of St. Paul.

Classes have been excellent and transition into life as a seminarian has been wonderful. Coming from a business orientated background, I wasn't sure how I would handle all the philosophy courses, but they have been very engaging. Once again, we have two years of predominantly philosophical courses prior to entering the four year school of theology. It's interesting to begin to see how the philosophical way of thinking documented by so many great minds can be applied to the way we live, speak and write in today's era. "History doesn't repeat itself, but it sure does rhyme." Mark Twain

The 3rd year men in the school of theology have been over in the Holy Land on a ten week pilgrimage-study program. Our archdiocese has one man, Nick Blaha, who attended the trip and I look forward hearing all about it in the Spring Quarter. The pilgrimage is an optional part of our masters in divinity curriculum and the goal of this program is to gain a greater understanding of the land of Jesus, learn more about the various Catholic rites, obtain a deeper appreciation of the other Christian churches, increase the understanding for people in need, and further confirm our call to a vocation to religious life.

One of my brother seminarians and I spent the first part of this week at the St. Benedict Abbey in Atchison, KS. This monastery was founded in 1857 and is part of the Benedictine Order started by St. Benedict of Nursia (480-547) in Italy. The college currently has an enrollment of over 1,500 students. This was the first time I have had the privilege to stay at the Abbey and I really enjoyed getting to know the monks as well as becoming familiar with their "Rule" of pray and work. The day began at 6:20 AM with vigils and morning prayer in the Abbey Church pictured here. Additionally, we met for daytime prayer at noon and for evening prayer at 6:30. Per one of my previous blogs discussing the Divine Office (or Liturgy of the Hours) from which these prayers are prayed from, monastic orders typically pray these throughout the day in community. The parish or diocesan priest typically prays these prayers alone or with another priest(s) that may be in residence at the rectory. The prayers in the Divine Office are primarily comprised of the psalms taken from the Book of Psalms in the Old Testament. They were written in a conversational format and this is why monasteries built out part of the church with seats that face each other. Finally, night prayer was prayed in community in the Cottage Chapel next to our rooms at 7:30. Grand Silence was then in effect where the community didn't talk until after breakfast the following morning.

Below are some additional pictures from around the monastery and Benedictine College.

Click on Pictures to Enlarge

The Abbey
The Cottage where we stayed is the dark brick building on the right

My Guest Room in the Cottage

The typical room for most of the monks too.

Rear view of the Abbey Church

The "Raven"
As legend has it a raven would bring the saint food during his time as a hermit in the mountains near Subiaco, Italy. The bread was also poisoned and given to Saint Benedict by a jealous priest. The wonder-worker and prophet Benedict knew the bread was poisoned and commanded the raven to take it away.

The Refectory
(Dining Hall)

St. Benedict's Church on SW side of Campus

Built in 1866

Marian Grotto of Our Lady of Lourdes
Located on the Benedictine Campus

Picture of MO River behind the Abbey facing the NE