November 2017 Bulletin: God’s Not Dead! He Is Surely Alive!

Lead article from the November 2017 bulletin, online now. Reminder: The November council meeting is moved to Thursday, Nov. 9!

OK, so in 1990 I ventured out of my indifference to embrace my higher power that was and is God almighty.  I left behind my irreligious, if not atheist, upbringing that stood at odds with that which was all around me.  I was no longer an agnostic; I was officially a believer.  What then to do?  It was much easier just to believe in God than to sort through all the organized manifestations of worship.

Because the beauty of my natural surroundings brought me to where I was, pantheism seemed the place where I stood.  I saw God everywhere!  Nature was God, and it left me underwhelmed.  It gave me little passion.  I could never bring myself to hug a tree.  Nature was awesome!  But God created nature.  I was much more likely to cut it down and have a fire.  My kids then came, and I remembered a commitment.  My wife Gina was Catholic, and Father Joe at St. Gerard's would only marry us if we agreed to raise our kids in the Catholic faith.

We started going to Mass and enrolled them in the parish school.  I found passion as I observed the way fathers and husbands led their families to Mass and conducted themselves.  I then realized and embraced the truth of Jesus Christ.  I went thru RCIA and was led into the water by Fr. Gregory Abbott at the Easter Vigil 2009, the same baptismal font my daughter Anna was baptized in five years earlier.  I then went through CRHP and joined the KCs. I became hyperactive with all things Catholic.  And then one day I was told it was my job to get my family to heaven.  What?!  Great, I was pretty sure I would not be allowed safe passage considering some things I left out of the introduction I just wrote.   Now I was faced with a heavy task, like three tons laid on my shoulders.  Just do good works, go to Mass and enroll them in the parish school? That was all I needed do, right?

All of a sudden it all seemed insufficient.  I worked 60 hours a week and only saw my wife and kids on weekends, which were also filled with doing "good works" and such.  Was I doing too much?  Was it getting in the way of my task?  It looked as if the train was going to derail.  Flash forward eight years or so, and I am now retired with two teenage girls and a wife who still needed me to help get them to heaven.

I now have more time. I also have much more to do.  I thought I could get it all in if I did not work.  What was I thinking?  I found myself losing ground to contemporary culture (they wanted to go to a movie about a homicidal clown bent on murdering kids) rather than a Christian one: smart phones, social media apps, pop song lyrics and teenage drama to beat the band!  The train is still clearly in danger of coming off the rails.  I sometimes search and long for signs of progress.  Some evidence that my duty is not left undone.  They are only going to be with us for five or six more years.  I spend much time worrying about it, praying on it, thinking about it and trying to unwrap its mysteries.

Recently, following some significant turbulence there was a time of peace and enjoyment on a family three-day outing in Rochester, where these signs came in at a pace I was not prepared for.  My daughters both made me aware upon arrival that we would need to plan for Mass.  We toured the city on foot, ate at expensive restaurants, laughed and had the most fun we have had in a long time.  Marina asked me if she could go with her friend to a Catholic youth retreat called Steubenville next summer.  Anna wanted to listen to Christian pop music the whole time there.  We walked our dogs in the park in between showing them in competition, and the girls worked together at the dog show.  It seemed too good to be true, but it was true.  An answer to my prayers?

We arrived home and my wife was at work and the kids were in school while I was chasing dust balls and dog hair bunnies with my "Shark" vacuum. When going by my little Anna's room I sent skidding across the room a piece of art that had been taped to her door and fallen.  It had been there since the third grade. The artwork read, "Gods Not Dead He Surely A Live," and it was a drawing of Anna, God, God's people, the sun and a roaring male lion, maybe representing  fathers trying to get their kids to heaven.

Was it a sign that the weekend had not been a fluke, that indeed the train to heaven was not derailed?  Had God himself caused the bonds to be loosed?  It was progress in my task to help get them where we all long to be.  God can do anything.  He can surely borrow a third-grader's illustration to bring his point home to a struggling servant on Earth.

God Bless.

Gary Frandsen

Grand Knight

June 2013 Bulletin: Tremendous Pro-Life Message

The pro-life message for the June 2013 bulletin was written for Mother’s Day by a parishioner of St. Michael Catholic Church, who agreed we could share it . Please pray for her, her unborn babies, and her family. — Pro-Life Director Jim Shovelain 

PRO-LIFE. Hey, guess what? Ever since I was very, very young, my mom taught me about something a child should never know, but it was real despite the atrocity, and we had to know about it in order to fight it. Abortion.

We fought by quietly praying. We fought by getting together every year to make Mother’s Day flowers/corsages to sell to raise money and awareness. We fought to...teach others who may not have known, or who may have been too scared to learn the TRUTH of what was happening when they were “terminating.” We spoke of it as it was: killing a baby. We fought to provide support for those who learned too late. We prayed for all of them. For the babies, the MILLIONS of babies and for the mothers who suffer in silence, in many cases.

And then, I grew up and had children of my own. And it shocked me that in this day and age still a mother, a MOTHER, could kill her own child. So I continued to fight and pray. And then one day, a few months ago, I learned that my two babies were in the same amniotic sac. And then another day I learned that one of my baby girls was missing a majority of her brain.

“Incompatible with LIFE,” they said. In other words, “your baby girl with anencephaly WILL ABSOLUTELY DIE and what’s more, uniquely, very uniquely, her being in there with her sister MAY KILL HER SISTER via cord entanglement.”

So they gave me options:

1. “Terminate” your baby to give the other baby a better chance but no guarantee. 
2.  Risk allowing them to continue to grow to term and deliver both, then kiss one goodbye shortly after she is born. 

Immediately I spoke of these “options” as:

• KILL my baby, or 
• Not kill my baby. 

I had no patience or tolerance for anything but the truth of what would take place. As you can see, there really was only one option, as my sister pointed out.

I saw them today, moving around like crazy, holding hands, playing, kicking the @#$% out of each other. It is HARD. HORRIBLE. EXCRUCIATING seeing them together knowing that they will never ever be together on Earth, save perhaps a few moments.

But guess what isn’t hard? Seeing her worth, seeing her value, understanding that she is a living human being who is apparently unaware that that her condition is incompatible with life. She is, for now, living. Just like millions of babies who right at this moment are being sent to slaughter for no “reason” at all.

This Mother’s Day, please join me in praying for an end to this evil. Pray that hearts and minds are changed. Pray for the babies and for God to forgive what we have become or have allowed to happen. Pray that others are strong enough to continue the fight.

December 2012 Grand Knight's Article: A New Beginning

Grand Knight's message from the December 2012 bulletin:

“Hail, Full of Grace” — Luke 1:28 

I promised myself this article would not be about the election. Personally, I feel the elections support a belief many of us felt: that our culture is sliding further from a just society—further and further into an unjust society. Many issues we hold in our hearts to be just and true were defeated. And what is important is seen as unimportant in our society.

Before I move on to the man point of this article, I feel it essential to recognize the courageous position the laity, priests and bishops took in speaking up on issues of morality. I have been Catholic for 18 years — and in the span of 2,000 years, that’s not much. However, I can say that in my short life as a Catholic, never before have I seen the Church defend her teachings so concretely. The next time you see one of our clerics, thank them for their bold proclamation of the truth. I am sure those who do not agree with their position on issues are more than happy to let them know what they think.

John Paul the Great, at the beginning of his pontificate, proclaimed “Do not be afraid.” In light of very uncertain times, Blessed John Paul always seemed to lead us with great joy and hope. The perfect response to poll results we do not like can be found in scripture:

In the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent forth from God to a city of Galilee named Nazareth, to a virgin betrothed to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin’s name was Mary. And he came to her and said, “Hail, full of grace, the Lord is with you!” But she was greatly troubled at the saying, and considered in her mind what sort of greeting this may be. And the angel said to her, “Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God, And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus.” — Luke 1:26-31

In the Incarnation, hope is never lost. In fact, we shall, in the words of John Paul II, “fear not.” In the great mystery of the Incarnation, we place all of our hope and joy in the victory yet to come. We look forward with joy to Christmas morning and hope for the fulfillment of time when heaven and earth are united for eternity. The season of advent helps refocus our thoughts of things of this world, and direct them to what really matters, the supernatural world. It helps us to remember that while we must live in this world, we are intended for another. We should see this season as a time to focus and prepare on the greatest gift ever — Christmas morning, and ultimately our fulfillment with God at the end of time. In light of this truth, this great joy, our struggles here begin to be put into place. And while even greater persecution shall come to us, our hope is not lost. In fact, it can become a cause for joy. For in times of great persecution, God always raises up great saints to help guide Mother Church. He is calling each of us to become the saint we were intended to be. We are placed in a society in which we will be given plenty of opportunity to die to self for Christ.

The Incarnation is God’s response to darkness. For He sent his son, the “Light of the World,” to illuminate our world, and so this light overcomes all troubles we may have.

In light of this great truth, we begin to move forward with hope. Our mission is to spread hope this Advent and to let those who may think differently that we are not defeated, but rather, rejuvenated in Christ. So in Advent, we hope in the possibilities of a new beginning.

Fraternally In Christ,

Mike Engel

Grand Knight, Council 4174

 P.S. I apologize that this article had more to do with the election than I had hoped!