Each day when I walk through the Archdiocesan Catholic Center lobby doors, I glance at the memorial plaque on the wall with the picture of James and Florence Trainor, the couple whose generous estate gift allowed us to purchase in 2022 the former 3M headquarters that we had been renting since 2017. In that moment, I always remember to pray for the Trainors, and for their family members, some of whom were here to help us dedicate the building to the memory of James and Florence.
A situation in which someone explicitly asks, “Why are you Catholic?” has rarely happened to me. But even if I don’t always say why I do something, Catholicism lies at the heart of my actions. Teachers in my Catholic grade school weren’t lying when they said, “Jesus is always the answer.”
Deacon Bob Schnell, 75, is a grandfather and a retired attorney who serves at St. Patrick in Edina. As his 20th anniversary of diaconate ministry nears, he looked back on his spiritual journey.
In front of a crowd of silent onlookers at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minneapolis Dec. 16, Father Jim Radde, a Jesuit priest, walked solemnly and slowly to a monument for those who have served in the U.S. Marine Corps.
It was after dark in a small hospital room in Denver. Stephanie Villanueva-Montoya sat at the bedside of her 6-year-old son, Santiago, who was suffering severe headaches from a condition called arteriovenous malformation.
As transitional Deacon Nicholas Vance helped his father, Christopher Vance, 58, put on the deacon’s stole and dalmatic vestment during his father’s ordination to the permanent diaconate on Dec. 9 at the Cathedral of St. Paul, the junior Vance thought about how his father helped him get dressed when he was growing up.
Nearly 150 people gathered at the Cathedral of St. Paul in St. Paul Dec. 2 after the 5:15 p.m. vigil Mass. Some held babies, some held canes. Many raised their hands in worship as contemporary Christian music echoed through the cavernous Cathedral. Some clapped spontaneously. Others repeated the name of God out loud.