Six Adorers of the Blood of Christ celebrate

455 years(!) combined service

65 Years
On Sunday, May 12, Sister Angelita Alfaro celebrated 65 years as an Adorer of the Blood of Christ at the ASC Wichita Center. She made her first vows on July 1, 1948 and final profession on July 1, 1953.
Sister Angelita, daughter of Jose Trinidad Alfaro and Carmen Huaracha of Augusta, Kansas, entered the Adorers of the Blood of Christ on August 30, 1946, began her novitiate in 1947.

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Inaugural ‘National Catholic Sisters Week’, March 8-14

Week highlights the lives, mission and work of Sisters

The first National Catholic Sisters Week takes place March 8 - 14 as part of Women’s History Month.
To highlight this important week, the Register has asked several Sisters in the Diocese of Dodge City: 1) What is your greatest joy? and 2) What is your greatest challenge?
The purpose of NCSW is to bring greater awareness to Catholic Sisters and to make their presence more widely known and visible on a national level.
Women religious have made, and continue to make, vital contributions in education, health care, criminal justice, social justice, theology, the arts, and politics. This is more than a “Catholic” story.
Wherever good things are happening, there are often Sisters involved making a tremendous difference. Catholic Sisters stand with the poor and vulnerable, regardless of race, socioeconomic status or religion.
In addition to highlighting the significant role that Catholic Sisters have had historically, National Catholic Sisters Week will focus on a contemporary view of these women -- their lives, their mission, and their works. The goal is to shed light on the tremendous impact Catholic Sisters continue making today.
National Catholic Sisters Week is possible because of a three-year grant provided by the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation to St. Catherine University where the initiative was launched. (The preceding was printed with permission.)

Sister Anita Schugart, OP
My greatest joys:
My greatest joy comes from belonging to a Congregation of Women Religious (Dominican Sisters of Peace) who are so involved in Peace and Justice issues----Care for the poor and disenfranchised, human trafficking, care for the earth, and  missionary work--- to name a few.
My greatest challenges:
My greatest challenge is to accept my own advancing age and the fact that I do not have the energy to be more active in these ministries.    My work now is to hold these ministries and the people involved in prayer.

Sister Catherine Therese Paulie, CSJ
My greatest joys:
One of my greatest joys is celebrating the birth process of a child into a family, especially in a family where God plays an important role.  The anticipation, the preparation, sharing the good news, the joy and pride as the baby is baptized in the midst of the parish community – God’s miracles, indeed, bring joy to my heart.
My greatest challenges:
A great challenge is struggling with someone in pain whether physical suffering or mental anguish.  I hurt with them and pray for guidance – to get out of the way – to somehow let God’s healing and comfort take over the situation – to not tell them what they should do or how they should be.

Sister Irene Hartman, OP
My greatest joys:
As a teacher to hear a student say, “Now I understand that”;
As a chaplain in a chemical dependency unit, to see joyful faces after a 5th step completed;
As a leader with the RCIA groups: to celebrate the Easter Vigil;
As a Sister to have opportunities to celebrate Eucharist almost daily;
As a helper in a parish to teach, preach, write, and assist as needed;
As an itinerant preacher to travel to many states and proclaim the Gospel;
As a pilgrim to traverse the Lands of St. Dominic and journeys of St. Paul;
As a Catholic Sister to enjoy freedom to practice my religion.
My greatest challenges:
To move from teaching children to adults;
To move from my typewriter to learn how to use a computer;
To make daily study a priority;
To continue to search the Scriptures and to follow the footsteps of Jesus;
To be thankful every day for good health and a long life.

Sister Andre Kravec, OP
My greatest joys:
When I think about my greatest joy, I think it is two-fold.  My first joy is that of community, even though I do not live with other Sisters, but am working singly in a parish.  The fact that my Sisters know what I’m doing, support me in my efforts, keep me in prayer -- all these make me feel very close to them. Many of us, even if separated by distance, keep in touch via a phone call or e-mail.  All of this helps me to not feel in isolation.  I guess what I’m saying is that community is way more than just living together in the same residence, it’s a union of hearts, purpose, and a sense of the Gospel.
My greatest challenges:
My greatest challenge is making certain the woman I am, my motivation for what I do, and the image I project is that of a woman of faith and prayer.  This vocation has been difficult at times but it also is a great source of joy.  I am glad to be who I am, where I am, and to have the privilege of working with God’s people.

Sister Jolene Geier, OP
My greatest joys:
My greatest joy has been that I was called by God to live as a Dominican Sister.  I heard that call as a five-year-old first grader at St. Mary’s School in Garden City.  In those tender years of growing up I was encouraged by my parents and my Dominican teachers to follow that call.  In 1952 I was able to be obedient to that call when I was accepted as a Postulant to live in community with the Great Bend Dominican Sisters.  Over and over again I said “yes” to different ministries that I was entrusted to, even though at times I did not have the credentials or preparation needed to do the work.  My prayerful “yes” and support of my community, family and friends helped me do the ministry which God desired.  Obedience works if you are doing God’s will.  
My greatest challenges:
These ministerial challenges included establishing our Lay Dominican Associates and being involved in many social Justice events and projects.  These last 10 years with many ecumenical Christians we have established the Life Giving Center, a transitional housing ministry for homeless women and children.  Being on staff at the Heartland Center for Spirituality is also a constant delight to be present to the many people who come to our Spiritual Oasis.  My favorite prayer is “Thank you, God, for my wonderful Life.”

Sister Renee Dreiling, OP
My greatest joys:
My greatest joy is sharing with those who come to me for spiritual direction or counselling, the tremendous support and unconditional love I have received from the Sisters with whom I have shared community over the years. Living a vowed life is a tremendous gift, and the Sisters have loved me into a greater wholeness. It is a gift I enjoy passing on to others.
My greatest challenges:
My greatest challenge is twofold: trying to figure out how to share the awesome life and many blessings we have in religious life in order to inspire young women to join us; and not having younger people here to carry on the ministry!

Sister Virginia Pearl, CSJ
My greatest joys:
One of my greatest JOYS has been a gift to be able to serve women, men and youth in our Larned Youth Correctional Center, The Mental Health Facility and Larned State Hospital. Before I began I thought it would be a negative for me to be employed in these facilities serving youth, women and men who were incarcerated. I have been serving for nearly 25 years in these facilities and it has become a highlight in my life. I grew to know the depth of pain many of our youth and adults continue to encounter. Just one example of what joy prevails is when the persons who are in the Recovery Program do a recall of their lives. They write what their plans are in order to be sure to clinch the depth of their personal work ahead for themselves. There is joy as they write their plan and graduate from the program. Being asked to participate in their graduation and knowing the depth of their prayer for themselves that they have developed, the depth of their gratitude to all who have helped to inspire them to be able to graduate is gratifying and inspiring. It is truly a healing ministry that continues to bring JOY to my heart.
My greatest challenges:
For many years I lived at Heartland Farm. It was the most delightful life of gardening, delivering an alpaca, and harvesting roasting ears. Yet, a challenge to have enough hours in the day to do all of the outdoor projects that needed to be accomplished. I also worked off of the farm several days a week.

Sister Rose Mary Stein, OP
My greatest joys:
My greatest joy is the freedom I feel to use my God-given gifts to witness Christ to others.  The Dominican Sisters of Peace continues to challenge me to reach out to those in need and empower God’s people to use their gifts for the good of others.  We all have gifts that God wants us to use to help each other, poor, rich, of our faith, not of our faith, and to do it with joy in our hearts.
My greatest challenges:
My greatest challenge is to stay faithful to the gospel.  Praying with a heart that is positive.  Knowing there is evil in the world, but always finding the good in all people.  Remembering to affirm the good I see and not being critical.

Father Jim Baker honored with golden anniversary celebration

GARDEN CITY -- Father James Baker has been on a 50-year mission.
A native of Erie, Pa., then-seminarian James Baker was assigned to the young Diocese of Dodge City in the latter half of the 1950s by Archbishop (and later Cardinal) Ameleto Cicognani, Apostolic Delegate, at the request of Dodge City’s first bishop, the Most Rev. John B. Franz. Father Baker was ordained to the priesthood on May 25, 1963 as a diocesan priest missionary by the Most Rev. Egidio Vagnozzi.

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‘Dinners With the Bishop’ ...

...Allowing Catholics a chance to get to know Bishop John

By DAVID MYERS
Southwest Kansas Register
They welcomed the Most Rev. John B. Brungardt with opened arms -- several parishes across the diocese -- to small and intimate gatherings where he could listen to parishioners share their hopes and dreams for their parish and diocese, and where the bishop could share his hopes with them.
But at the heart of the “Dinners with the Bishop” series was yet another goal, that of simply allowing Catholics across the diocese to get to know their bishop on a more personal level.

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Woman recounts friendship with future Kansas saint

By DAVID MYERS
Southwest Kansas Register
Imagine living your life having had personal interaction with not one, but two future saints.
In fact, imagine having counted one as a close friend.
While neither Father Emil Kapaun or Bishop Fulton J. Sheen’s sainthoods have been assured, that matters little to Marian Hurtig, who’s not surprised at all that the two men she knew are well on the road to beatification.
Father Emil Kapaun
“He talked easily and had a very soft voice,” Marian said of Father Kapaun from her home she shares with her daughter, Mary Lou, and Mary Lou’s husband Walynn, in Cheyenne, Wyo.
Marian and her husband, Louis, who died in 2009, met the young Father Kapaun while he was a student at Catholic University in Washington, D.C. Louis served at the university as a counselor, and the three struck up a friendship when it was discovered that they shared Kansas roots.
Father Kapaun was born in Pilsen, Kansas in 1916, the son of Czech immigrants. He graduated from Conception Seminary in Conception, Mo. in 1936, and was ordained a priest four years later at what is now Newman University in Wichita.
He entered the U.S. Army Chaplain Corps in August, 1944, and soon found himself chaplain to 19,000 service men and women in Camp Wheeler, Ga. He was released from active duty in 1946 and entered Catholic University under the G.I. Bill.
And that’s when he met the Hurtigs.
“We discovered he was a young priest from Kansas,” said Marian, who, with her husband, Louis, lived in Dodge City for many years, and later in Wichita. “He would come to our apartment and visit, and we would go on picnics together.
“We talked about where we had lived and the churches we had gone to, just ordinary things like that.”
After attending Catholic University, Father Kapaun served briefly in southwest Kansas, in the towns of Spearville and Timken. It was while serving in Timken that Father Kapaun decided his place was back in the military, helping the service men and women in Korea.
Marian said that months later they “sent a letter to Father Kapaun, and it came back to us with a note telling us that he had died. We were good friends with Father Kapaun. And then we went to Korea. He did wonderful things while he was there.”
Father Kapaun died of malnutrition and pneumonia on May 23, 1951 after being refused aid by his captors. For his many acts of heroism prior to and after being taken prisoner -- heroism given strength by an ever-deep faith, by the rosary, by his deep love for all God’s children -- he was presented the Medal of Honor by President Barack Obama on April 11, 2013.
For his faith-filled service to his fellow human beings at a time when some of humankind acted anything but humane, the Catholic Church declared him a Servant of God, the first stage on the path to sainthood.

Bishop Fulton J. Sheen
Marian is a convert to Catholicism. Not long after she and her husband moved to Washington, D.C. – at the same time as they befriended a young Father Kapaun – Marian began taking classes so she could fully enter the Catholic Church.
Her instructor? A monsignor by the name of Fulton J. Sheen, who was just a few years away from reaching world-wide fame for his powerful words and, not to mention, his fun-to-watch flamboyancy on TV.
Then-Father Sheen hosted a night-time radio show, “The Catholic Hour,” from 1930-1950 before making the move to television and hosting “Life is Worth Living” from 1951-1957. From 1961-1968 he hosted “The Fulton Sheen Program,” for which he was awarded two Emmys for “most outstanding television personality.”
“He was a good lecturer,” Marian recalled. “He liked to teach. I remember that first year I took the class. I went to him and said I didn’t feel like I was ready to become Catholic. He said that was fine.
“I took it again the next year, and did it. He baptized me conditionally because I had been a member of the Episcopal church. It was exciting to know that we knew him. He did come to Dodge City one time and gave a lecture. I went back and renewed with him that I had known him in Washington.”
Archbishop Sheen authored 73 books and numerous articles. Two months prior to his death in 1979, Pope John Paul II visited the archbishop in New York where he embraced him, saying, “You have written and spoken well of the Lord Jesus Christ. You are a loyal son of the Church.”  
“Good experiences, the two of them,” Marian said of Father Kapaun and Archbishop Sheen.

House rejects farm bill;

Catholic advocates had called for fairness

WASHINGTON (CNS) -- The House of Representatives June 20 voted down the farm bill 234-195.
Catholic leaders had urged Catholics nationwide to call their representatives in the House and ask for a farm bill that does not make deep cuts into food assistance programs both here and abroad.
“The bill reported by the (House Agriculture) Committee includes over $20 billion in cuts (over 10 years) to SNAP,” the federal Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, formerly known as food stamps,” said a June 17 letter signed by six national Catholic leaders. “These cuts should be rejected.”
Bread for the World, the Christian citizens’ anti-hunger lobby, said the farm bill deserved to be defeated.

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Diocese establishes Bishop John B. Brungardt

Endowment Scholarship at Newman University

It was both a Christmas gift for the Most Rev. John B. Brungardt, and a financial gift for a multitude of future Newman University students from the Catholic Diocese of Dodge City.
The Diocese of Dodge City, in cooperation with Newman University, has established the Bishop John B. Brungardt Endowed Scholarship Fund to honor Bishop Brungardt. The scholarship will be open to any student from the Diocese of Dodge City enrolled full-time at Newman University, and is especially designed to help those students facing financial needs.  
Bishop Brungardt learned about the honor after being presented a framed certificate while at the diocesan staff Christmas party last December.
“This scholarship is a wonderful blessing:  to encourage and support our students wishing a Catholic education at Newman University,” Bishop Brungardt said. “I appreciate the administration and staff at Newman University for establishing classes in Dodge City and Garden City, and providing many other educational opportunities via interactive television in several sites throughout the diocese.

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KQSH celebrates a year spreading Gospel across Kansas airwaves

By DAVID MYERS
Southwest Kansas Register
Chances are, if you spent any time on the road between Meade and Jetmore (to the south and north), or Ingalls and Kinsley (to the west and east), you’ve happened upon a radio station that sounded both familiar and familial.
That’s because KQSH, 90.7 FM is a Catholic radio station run entirely by volunteers intent on spreading the good word as far and wide as its airwaves will permit. While it doesn’t reach all of the diocese, its reach is pretty impressive considering it’s a relatively small operation run entirely by volunteers.
The station, which operates out of an office at Sacred Heart Cathedral School in Dodge City, recently celebrated its one year anniversary. Chad Meitner, principal at Sacred Heart, is a member of the board of directors and serves as station manager.

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