Extension Magazine - Winter 2021

catholicextension.org 

STORIES OF FAITH FROM CATHOLIC EXTENSION 

WINTER 2021 

CHRIST’S 

LIGHT 

IN 

ALASKA 

20 

A missionary priest: 2021-2022 Lumen Christi Award recipient 12 

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10/14/21 3:39 PM

Extension | Winter 2021 3 

Catholic Extension has published Extension 

magazine since 1906 to share with our donors 

and friends the stories illustrating our mission: 

to work in solidarity with people in America’s 

poorest regions to build up vibrant and 

transformative Catholic faith communities. 

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Contact Us 

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Chicago, IL 60606 

800.842.7804 

magazine@catholicextension.org 


Board of Governors 

CHANCELLOR 

Cardinal Blase J. Cupich 

Archbishop of Chicago 

VICE CHANCELLOR 

Most Reverend Gerald F. Kicanas 

Bishop Emeritus of Tucson 

PRESIDENT 

Reverend John J. Wall 

VICE CHAIR OF COMMITTEES and SECRETARY 

Elizabeth Hartigan Connelly 

BOARD MEMBERS 

Most Reverend Gerald R. Barnes 

Bishop Emeritus of San Bernardino 

Most Reverend Steven Biegler 

Bishop of Cheyenne 

Arturo Chávez, Ph.D. 

John W. Croghan 

Most Reverend Daniel E. Flores, STD 

Bishop of Brownsville 

Most Reverend Curtis J. Guillory, SVD 

Bishop Emeritus of Beaumont 

The Honorable James C. Kenny 

Most Reverend Robert N. Lynch 

Bishop Emeritus of St. Petersburg 

Peter J. McCanna 

Andrew J. McKenna 

Michael G. O’Grady 

Christopher Perry 

Andrew Reyes 

Karen Sauder 

Pamela Scholl 

Most Reverend Anthony B. Taylor 

Bishop of Little Rock 

Most Reverend George L. Thomas, Ph.D. 

Bishop of Las Vegas 

Most Reverend William A. Wack, CSC 

Bishop of Pensacola-Tallahassee 

Edward Wehmer 

Your investment in Catholic Extension is tax 

deductible to the extent allowed by law. Catholic 

Extension is a nonprofit 501(c)( 3 ) organization. 

ISSN Number: 0884-7533 

©2021 The Catholic Church Extension Society 

All rights reserved. 

PHOTO SHIN OKAMOTO/SHUTTERSTOCK.COM 

Christ’s light 

in Alaska 12 

Father Stan Jaszek, a missionary 

priest from Poland serving in 

the Diocese of Fairbanks, is 

Catholic Extension’s 2021-2022 

Lumen Christ Award recipient. 

In his ministry among the Yup’ik 

people, he invites them to deepen 

their relationship with God while 

affirming their culture. 

Our cover illustration replicates 

Christ’s light shining in Alaska 

in the form of the great and 

beautiful natural phenomenon 

that seemingly descends from the 

heavens: the Northern Lights. 

Support the Catholic Church in Alaska 8 

MISSION NEEDS | Five ways to help build up some of the most 

remote and unique Catholic faith communities in the country 

Nuns pray for first responders 10 

NEWS BRIEFS | Sisters from our U.S.-Latin American Sisters 

Exchange Program conclude restorative justice course at 

memorial for fallen police officer 

Unwavering support over great 

distances and time 20 

FEATURE |Extension’s history in Alaska 

Fire in their hearts 40 

YOUNG ADULT LEADERSHIP INITIATIVE | Young adults grow as 

ministers of the Catholic faith through Extension scholarship 

program 

‘Their faith enlivens my faith’ 44 

MIGRANT MINISTRY | Seminarians of the Diocese of Yakima are 

formed through service to migrant farmworkers 

Christmas wish list 48 

WISH LIST | How you can make a difference this Christmas 

Letter from Father Wall 4 

Mission needs 8 

Past Lumen Christi Award recipients 32 

Connect 50 

Extension is a publication provided to you and your 

family by Catholic Extension. If you do not wish to 

continue receiving Extension, e-mail magazine@ 

catholicextension.org and we will remove you 

from this mailing list. 

COVER ILLUSTRATION CINZIA BATTISTEL 

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10/14/21 3:39 PM

4 

Letter from Father Wall 


What does it mean 

to be a missionary 

in America? 

G 

ood missionaries, real missionaries, 

are adept at locating 

the presence of God in 

their midst and bearing witness 

to it. 

Pope Francis says that 

every Christian is called in 

some way to be a “missionary 

disciple.” But a commonly 

misunderstood word in our 

Catholic vocabulary is “missionary.” 

The word can trigger negative 

connotations, some of 

which may be rooted in history, 

such as outsiders arriving 

to a foreign place only to 

impose ideologies or destroy 

others’ ways of life. 

A true missionary, however, 

is not that at all. Rather, 

a missionary is an individual 

who is called to bear witness 

to the Gospel, which compels 

us to love one another 

as we have been loved by 

God. Furthermore, a missionary 

is called to discover how 

God has already been at work 

and incarnated in a place 

long before the missionary’s 

arrival. 

When God entered human 

history through the birth 

of Jesus, it meant that God 

would be forever and inextricably 

connected to all people 

and places. Oftentimes God 

is at work in ways we cannot 

imagine. 

That is what happened in 

the Gospel of John. Philip 

of Galilee tells his friend 

Nathanael that he has found 

the Messiah in the person of 

Jesus of Nazareth. 

Nathanael is incredulous. 

“Can anything good come 

from Nazareth?” he asks. 

He cannot accept that God 

is up to something special in 

an ordinary place like Nazareth, 

much less with the son 

of Joseph the carpenter. 

In this season in which 

we celebrate the God who 

became flesh by being born 

in a lowly manger in Bethlehem 

and lived in an ordinary 

place like Nazareth, we, like 

Nathanael, are also called to 

discover and affirm the presence 

of God already afoot in 

our world and in our midst. 

This is what a missionary 

does. 

The patroness of missionaries, 

St. Thérèse of Lisieux, 

who believed in doing “little 

things with great love,” never 

actually visited the missions 

personally. But her prayerful 

and supportive presence was 

itself her missionary act. 

That is how we think of 

you, our donors. Through 

your prayerful and financial 

support of today’s missionaries 

in the field, you too 

are becoming missionary 

disciples. 

Jesus sent his disciples out 

two by two. This was not by 

chance. The disciples needed 

companionship and support 

on their journey. Our Two by 

Two giving society, described 

on page 18, is named precisely 

to capture this important 

idea: that missionaries are 

sent out together. 

The people featured in this 

magazine are the missionary 

disciples doing the heavy 

lifting in the field. Meanwhile, 

you and I are the “other 

disciple” on the journey with 

them, supporting their mission, 

albeit from afar. 

What a joy it is for us to 

accompany missionaries 

who inspire us by the way 

they bear witness to God’s 

presence in our world. This 

includes our 2021-2022 

Lumen Christi Award recipient, 

Father Stan Jaszek, 

faithfully serving in the Yup’ik 

villages near the Bering Sea; 

our seminarians in Yakima, 

Washington, working alongside 

the people who pick our 

crops; and our young adult 

leaders receiving scholarships 

from Catholic Extension so 

that they can bear witness to 

the Gospel among their generation. 

We are with them in 

solidarity on their missionary 

journeys. 

As we enter the holy seasons 

of Advent and Christmas, 

I pray that the God who 

is incarnate among us and 

born of the Virgin Mary will 

truly set our hearts on fire 

with missionary zeal. I also 

pray that this season of hope 

will show us we must no longer 

fear the darkness because 

Christ our light dwells among 

us. All the people living 

in the shadows have been 

given the light of Christ that 

warms, comforts and guides. 

May God bless you and all 

whom you love. 

Rev. John J. Wall 

PRESIDENT, CATHOLIC EXTENSION 

Father Jack Wall in Valdez, Alaska 


10/14/21 3:39 PM


MISSION NEEDS 8 | NEWS BRIEFS 10 

Good news from 

around the country 

Name 

Address 

Birth Date 

City State Zip 

Phone number 

Take part in the 

LEGACY CHALLENGE 

Include a gift in your estate plan to help us bring the life-restoring friendship of 

God to poor communities. Do so by December 31, 2021, and a $2,500 contribution 

will be made in your honor to support our youth ministries—the next generation. 

To learn more, visit legacy.catholicextension.org/legacychallenge or contact 

the Planned Giving Team at 1-800-842-7804 or 

plannedgiving@catholicextension.org 

Please cut along the dotted line and mail to: 

Catholic Extension, 150 South Wacker Drive, Suite 2000, Chicago, IL 60606 

Email 

I have made Catholic Extension a beneficiary 

of my estate in the following manner: 

I would like to know more about making 

a lasting gift through my estate plan. I’m 

interested in: 

gifts by will or living trust. 

gifts that provide me and/or my family 

with lifetime income. 

" 

Bishop Edward 

Burns offers 

Mass at Sacred 

Heart Church in 

Hoonah, Alaska. 

He served as 

bishop of Juneau 

from 2009 to 2017. 

Alaskan priests— 

and bishops— 

must travel vast 

distances to visit 

parishes. 

See Mission 

Needs, page 8. 


10/14/21 3:39 PM

8 BUILD Mission Needs 


Chukchi Sea 

PLEASE SUPPORT THE CATHOLIC CHURCH IN ALASKA 

SACRED HEART CATHOLIC CHURCH 

CHEVAK 

This vibrant church in 

western Alaska can 

only be reached by 

river in the summer 

or snowmobile in 

the winter. Chevak is 

home to around 1,100 

Cup’ik native people 

as well as Sacred 

Heart Church. Your support of the church’s 

operating costs will help it continue to 

serve the villagers. 

ST. CHRISTOPHER BY THE SEA 

UNALASKA 

Located on one of the 

Aleutian Islands, St. 

Christopher by the 

Sea serves families in 

Dutch Harbor, home 

to one of the largest 

fishing ports in the 

United States. The 

extreme location 

results in costly air travel to bring priests 

to the island to say Mass. Your donation 

will support the salary and travel expenses 

for a priest to serve this faith community. 

Bering Sea 

Diocese of Fairbanks 

FATHER JOE HEMMER 

RUBY AND KALTAG 

At age 92, Father 

Joe Hemmer, OFM, 

(second from left) 

has spent his last 20 

years of “retirement” 

serving both St. Peter 

in Chains Church in 

Ruby and St. Teresa 

Church in Kaltag. Your 

donation will support 

operating expenses at these churches, whose 

parishioners are mostly Athabaskan natives 

in Alaska’s interior. The area he ministers to is 

larger than 47 of the 50 states of the U.S. 

PHOTO DIOCESE OF FAIRBANKS 

Archdiocese of 

Anchorage-Juneau 

FATHER SCOTT 

GARRETT 

DILLINGHAM 

Known across Alaska 

and beyond as the 

“Flying Priest,” Father 

Scott Garrett pilots 

the parish plane to 

several remote villages 

in southern Alaska, 

often celebrating Mass in people’s homes for 

small groups of devoted Catholics. When not 

flying to some of the world’s most isolated 

communities, he is the resident priest for 

Holy Rosary in Dillingham and its mission 

church, St. Theresa, in Naknek. 

Your donation will help the Diocese of Fairbanks and 

Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau as they continue 

to support their many remote parishes with operating 

costs, priest travel and other critical ministries. 

To contribute to one of these projects, please visit 

catholicextension.org/missionmap. 

Your donation will be applied to a similar need should 

your specified project be fully funded before we receive 

your support. Thank you for your compassion toward 

those we serve. 

Gulf of Alaska 

SACRED HEART CATHOLIC CHURCH 

HOONAH 

Hoonah has a yearround 

population of approximately 

785 people 

and is home to Sacred 

Heart Catholic Church. 

The community relies 

on visits from priests 

from the Archdiocese of 

Anchorage-Juneau to receive 

the sacraments. Your support will help 

a priest travel to Hoonah for one weekend a 

month to celebrate Mass and help nourish 

and sustain this Catholic faith community. 

MISSION NEEDS 


10/14/21 3:39 PM

10 

BUILD Extension | Winter 2021 11 

News Briefs 

HIGHLIGHTS 

Deacon ordinations 

The Diocese of El 

Paso, Texas, ordained 

17 deacons, one of 

the largest classes in 

the country. Catholic 

Extension supported 

their formation and 

education. We extend 

our congratulations 

and prayers to these 

new leaders, who with 

their spouses will offer 

great service to their 

communities. 

Catholic Kinship 

Initiative 

Many parishes reached 

out in support of the 

Catholic Kinship Initiative, 

featured in our fall 

2021 magazine edition. 

We are so grateful for 

the generous faith 

communities who are 

helping financially 

devastated churches 

stay afloat during the 

pandemic! To learn 

more, visit catholicextension.org/cki. 

Nuns pray for first responders 

In September 45 sisters from our U.S.-Latin American Sisters 

Exchange Program traveled to Chicago for a week-long training 

on restorative justice at Loyola University Chicago. To conclude 

the course, they went out to the streets to pray for and honor the 

police officers who had been recently shot in the line of duty: 

Officer Ella French, who was killed, and Officer Carlos Yanez Jr., 

who was critically injured. 

The sisters led a prayer for peace and an end to violence. They 

offered their thanks for all of our first responders who faithfully 

serve and protect. 

A Chicago Police Department chaplain gave the sisters rosaries 

made by a retired officer to pray with as they continue their work 

as peace builders. The five-year program, in which they minister to 

faith communities in dioceses throughout the United States, is supported 

by Catholic Extension and the Conrad N. Hilton Foundation. 

REMEMBERING AN 

EXTENSION LEADER 

CHICAGO 

Richard “Dick” Ritter, a 

long-time lay leader of 

Catholic Extension, passed 

away peacefully on September 

7, 2021. He served 

under eight presidents 

of Catholic Extension in 

his 44 years of service 

(1963–2007). Reflecting 

on all of his encounters 

with Extension-supported 

communities, he said, “I 

do believe we have a lot of 

real saints right here in our 

own country.” 

IMPACT OF 

HURRICANE IDA 

LOUISIANA 

Many Louisiana communities 

continue to struggle 

in the wake of Hurricane 

Ida. Most churches in 

the Diocese of Houma-Thibodaux 

sustained 

damage. Catholic Extension 

has a long history of 

support to this Gulf Coast 

diocese and is committed 

to helping it recover, 

which will likely take years. 

Prayers and support for 

this devastated area are 

most welcome. 

LATINO ENROLLMENT 

INSTITUTE 

NATIONWIDE 

Seventy-two schools 

from 37 Extension 

dioceses have participated 

in the University 

of Notre Dame’s Latino 

Enrollment Institute. This 

program provides Catholic 

schools with strategies 

to more effectively attract 

and serve Latino families 

in their local community. 

Since the program began 

in 2012, over 850 Latino 

students have enrolled 

in Catholic schools that 

have participated in the 

program through Catholic 

Extension’s support. 

BUILDING FUTURE 

LEADERS 

NATIONWIDE 

Catholic Extension’s Encuentro 

y Misión (Encounter 

and Mission) program, 

in partnership with The 

Mexican American Catholic 

College and the Henry Luce 

Foundation, offers a unique 

immersion experience for 

Latino young adults who 

are seeking to deepen their 

faith and are exploring a 

call to serve in the Church. 

Students in the program 

recently completed their 

studies with a hands-on immersion 

on the U.S.-Mexico 

border—building a safe 

home for a family in need. 

MARINE FROM LAREDO KILLED IN AFGHANISTAN 

Lance Corporal David Lee Espinoza was among the 13 U.S. 

service members who gave their lives in service of this 

country during our nation’s withdrawal from Afghanistan. 

He was a member of Santa Rita de Casia, an Extensionsupported 

church of in the Diocese of Laredo, Texas. 

Bishop James Tamayo, who presided over the funeral, shared 

this beautiful sentiment: “From these small mission communities, 

you never know the miracles, the potential, and also the sacrifice 

that comes from them.” 

NEWS BRIEFS 


10/14/21 3:39 PM


INSPIRE Features of faith 

EXTENSION’S WORK IN ALASKA 20 | AT 88, SISTER WILLEM GOES STRONG 32 FATHER KOHLER RETIRES 36 | YOUNG ADULT LEADERSHIP INITIATIVE 40 

A MISSIONARY PRIEST: OUR 2021-2022 

LUMEN CHRISTI AWARD RECIPIENT 

CHRIST’S 

LIGHT 

inALASKA 

FATHER STAN JASZEK | DIOCESE OF FAIRBANKS, ALASKA 

THE LIGHT OF CHRIST SHINES in all corners of the world—even in places 

where, during the long, cold stretches of the wintertime, the sun barely 

emerges above the horizon. Father Stan Jaszek is the bearer and witness of 

that light among the Native Alaskans he serves in the Diocese of Fairbanks. 

He speaks in a humble, soft-spoken manner, but in his eyes and words are the 

clear convictions of an experienced missionary who has served diverse communities 

across the globe. 

Catholic Extension is honored to name Father Jaszek as our 2021-2022 

Lumen Christi Award recipient. This award is Catholic Extension’s highest 

honor, and it is given to people who radiate and reveal the light of Christ present 

in the communities where they serve. A missionary priest from Poland, Father 

Jaszek is one of just a handful of priests ministering in the geographically largest 

diocese in the United States. Catholic Extension has supported the Catholic 

presence in Alaska since our founding and continues to provide funding to 

ensure the future of this ministry. 

2021 u 2022 

Lumen 

Christi 

AWARD 

RECIPIENT 

Father Stan Jaszek, a missionary priest 

serving in the Diocese of Fairbanks, 

is Catholic Extension’s 2021-2022 

Lumen Christi Award recipient 

PHOTO ASH ADAMS 

Father Jaszek’s impact in the 

Alaskan villages he serves 

is immensely powerful in 

the hearts of the people. This is 

due, in part, because he has given 

his own heart to them. Years before 

Pope Francis 

said that a pastor 

should smell like 

his sheep, Father 

Jaszek was living 

out that vision. 

A true missionary 

priest, 

he embraced the 

lifestyle of the 

Yup’ik people he 

serves to better understand their 

reality and more effectively communicate 

the Gospel. 

He has carried out his mission 

across four continents—amid po- 


10/14/21 3:39 PM

14 INSPIRE 

Lumen Christi Recipient 


litical and social upheaval and in 

the blistering sun and bitter cold. 

He has dedicated his life to delivering 

Christ’s message to the ends 

of the Earth, literally. 

vited to visit Peru by a priest who 

had started a new mission serving 

indigenous people in the Andes 

Mountains. His two-month 

visit stretched into half a year due 

to the local political situation. 

Yet the tough conditions and 

precarious circumstances did not 

deter him. Rather, his time there as 

a young priest confirmed his other 

calling within his priestly vocation. 

Upon his return to Poland, he 

asked his bishop for permission to 

work long-term in the missions. 

Initially he sought to serve in 

another Spanish-speaking country 

to avoid learning a new language 

again. However, the life of a 

missionary brings surprises at every 

turn. A friend convinced him 

to take over his mission work 

among several tribes in South Africa. 

Father Jaszek began studying 

the English and Zulu languages 

and arrived shortly after the end of 

apartheid. During this time of great 

joy and hope, many problems also 

persisted. He served one primary 

faith community and traveled between 

14 villages on his own. 

“Working in South Africa demanded 

me to develop far-reaching 

independence,” said Father 

Jaszek. “That was the most important 

development in my personality—to 

become fiercely independent 

or resourceful without 

expecting much help.” 

After eight years, he felt in need 

of a change. He joked to his visiting 

cousin that he might go somewhere 

completely different, like 

Alaska. Soon, a book about the 

state arrived in the mail, courtesy 

of his relative. He felt drawn to the 

vast, foreign land and sent a letter 

to the bishop of Fairbanks. He received 

a prompt reply welcoming 

him to begin the next chapter of his 

missionary life. 

IMMERSED AMONG THE YUP’IK 

Unlike the Alaska known to 

most tourists who visit the state, 

the area served by Father Jaszek is a 

different reality altogether. The Yukon-Kuskokwim 

Delta region, inaccessible 

by roads, is located along 

the Bering Sea. It is largely a tundra 

landscape: low and flat with 

tiny vegetation. The land is interwoven 

with countless streams, lakes, 

marshes and the immense Yukon 

River. These prevalent waterways 

prevent the development of any 

major roads. 

This is the home of the Yup’ik 

people. These Native Alaskans have 

lived in this corner of God’s creation 

for 10,000 years. 

The Yup’ik mostly survive on 

a subsistence lifestyle—living on 

what the land and sea offer. It is 

much the same food that their 

ancestors thrived on for thousands 

of years. The diet is healthy, consisting 

of fish and arctic animals 

DRAWN TO THE MISSIONS 

Father Jaszek grew up in Poland 

under Communist rule. As a teenager, 

he felt called to serve in the 

missions. Unfamiliar with missionary 

religious organizations, he 

applied to his local diocesan seminary. 

During his time of formation 

for the priesthood, the Solidarity 

movement in Poland strengthened. 

Polish citizens, grounded in 

their faith and desire for independence, 

worked to demolish the 

oppressive communist government. 

The movement was greatly 

inspired by the groundbreaking 

visit of newly elected Pope John 

Paul II in 1979, returning to his 

Polish homeland. 

“The Church was the only force 

that was able to contradict the lies 

that communism spread about 

the dignity of workers, about the 

value of work, about the freedom 

of the people, about the right 

to choose their leaders,” Father 

Jaszek said. “The Church was actually 

the place where people could 

feel free.” 

This time in his life imparted 

wisdom he carries today. “Seeing 

Polish Catholics overcome communism—mostly 

through prayer— 

taught me that God works gently, 

and change takes time, but grace 

always brings forth positive results,” 

he said. 

Soon after his ordination in 

1988—a year before communism 

fell in Poland—he was insuch 

as seals, beavers or moose. 

People also grow vegetables, and 

forage for berries. 

Father Jaszek arrived in 2002 to 

start his mission, but first he had to 

learn how to survive. Finding food 

in most of the remote villages scattered 

around an unfamiliar wilderness 

is not as simple as driving 

to pick up groceries. There are few 

stores, and no guarantee they will 

be stocked. Out of the diocese’s 46 

parishes, only nine are accessible 

by road. 

His first assignment was in the 

In winter, above, 

Father Stan 

Jaszek drives a 

snowmachine to 

travel between 

the four villages 

he serves. In 

summer, left, 

he drives a boat 

along the Yukon 

River and its 

many tributaries 

to deliver the 

good news of the 

Gospel. 

village of Stebbins, just north of 

the region he currently serves. 

He asked the local Yup’ik people 

to teach him how to survive. He 

learned how to hunt, fish, forage 

for berries and how to plan ahead 

and prepare in an area with unpredictable 

weather events. Severe 

cold—he experienced temperatures 

plunging as low as 58 

degrees below zero—and days 

upon days of winter storms have 

tested his fortitude (not to mention 

his food supply). 

Father Jaszek says it is only nat- 

ural to learn about and join his 

flock in their way of life. This is 

in line with the teachings of the 

Catholic faith, which recognizes 

that every person is created in the 

image and likeness of God and 

therefore reveals something of the 

inexhaustible beauty of our creator. 

“We shouldn’t be afraid to let 

people live differently or express 

our Catholic faith in a different 

way,” Father Jaszek said. “Because 

if humanity teaches us anything, 

it’s that God likes variety.” 

Getting closer to his people and 

their daily experiences, Father 

Jaszek believes, is the best way to 

preach and teach. 

“Jesus in His ministry told the 

stories that were very familiar to 

the people that He talked to. They 

were stories that they experienced 

every day,” said Father Jaszek. “If I 

experience the lifestyle of the people, 

I hope that I will be able also 

to dress my stories into the everyday 

experiences of the people.” 

He continued, “The challenge of 

proclaiming the Gospel is not only 

to read the Gospel and to repeat it 

as written in the New Testament 

but also to give some kind of an indication: 

How can it be lived? How 

can it be kept? And that cannot all 

be done properly without truly experiencing 

the life that people live 

there.” 

Deacon Francis Peter served 

in Stebbins alongside the resilient 

pastor. “Father Stan has been 

good for our communities because 

he wants to live the way we live— 

close to nature,” he said. 

Out of his 19 years of missionary 

work in the Diocese of Fairbanks, 

Father Jaszek has spent 14 


10/14/21 3:39 PM

16 INSPIRE 



of them living among the Yup’ik. 

He is currently in his third year 

serving four parishes located along 

the mouth of the Yukon River: Sacred 

Heart in Emmonak, St. Joseph 

in Kotlik, St. Ignatius in Alakanuk 

and St. Peter in Nunam Iqua. Catholic 

Extension’s donors have supported 

each of these faith communities 

for many years. 

Father Jaszek joins in the communal 

life that is an essential 

means of survival among the 

Yup’ik. Mary Ayunerak, a parish 

administrator in the village of Alakanuk, 

said, “Native people are 

very generous and share what they 

have with others. Father Stan is like 

that too. He gives away extra fish or 

meat to help take care of villagers 

who don’t have as much. He’s got 

a Yup’ik heart, and that’s why he 

gets along so well with our people.” 

Father Jaszek sometimes faces 

risks in this wilderness. In addition 

to being the source of much 

of his food, the Yukon River is also 

his expressway. Using the very 

fuel provided by Catholic Extension 

support, he travels along it by 

boat in the summer and by snowmachine 

in the winter. The in-between 

seasons, however, can be 

treacherous as ice begins to form or 

melt. The Yup’ik taught him how 

to discern if ice is safe to ride on, 

but learning to navigate the rivers 

takes experience—sometimes by 

trial and error. One night, for example, 

while traveling by snowmachine, 

he suddenly started to sink. 

A warm spell had melted part of 

the ice during the day. Half-submerged, 

he barely managed to escape 

the frigid water with the vehicle 

and drove the remaining miles 

home wet but thankfully alive. 

Father Stan Jaszek 

(upper left) presides 

over a burial in the 

Diocese of Fairbanks, 

Alaska. 

Father Stan Jaszek 

baptizes a baby at 

Sacred Heart Church 

in Emmonak, Alaska. 

Once his vehicle nearly broke 

down in 30 below zero weather, 

almost stranding him in the wilderness. 

Another time on a visit 

to one of the villages, a passerby 

informed him that he was being 

stalked by a bear. He shrugs off 

these experiences as part of the 

job and remains unwavering in his 

commitment to the people. 

He has learned much more than 

how the people live physically. 

He has also learned what sustains 

them spiritually. The Yup’ik—as 

many indigenous people do—already 

believe that all living things 

and objects possess a distinct spiritual 

entity. As Jesuit poet Gerard 

Manley Hopkins put it, “The world 

is charged with the grandeur of 

God.” Understanding this heightened 

Father Jaszek’s perception of 

God’s presence in the world. 

“That spirit-filled reality is the 

thing I gained,” he said of the 

Yup’ik. “Everything is permeated 

by God.” 

He incorporates this perspective 

and other aspects of Yup’ik culture 

into his ministry. He includes their 

hymns and drumming in Mass, and 

introduces saints, devotions and liturgical 

practices that resonate with 

the people. 

“Father Stan brings to his ministry 

a strong sense of his priestly vocation,” 

said Patrick Tam, director 

of adult faith formation and a 

parish facilitator for Sacred Heart 

Church in Emmonak. “What occupies 

his mind and heart is the desire 

to bring people closer to God 

through the word and sacraments. 

In turn, the people have brought 

him closer to nature. Father Stan exemplifies 

a trait that all missionar- 

ies should hone—the willingness 

to be taught by the very people who 

call this land their home.” 

“[Father Jaszek] immerses himself in indigenous 

people’s way of life to demonstrate his love for them 

and invite them into a closer relationship with God.” 

—BISHOP CHAD ZIELINSKI, Diocese of Fairbanks 

SPIRITUAL CARE IN HARD TIMES 

The faithful cherish Father 

Jaszek’s presence in this region. 

Despite their continued subsistence 

lifestyle, the ways in which people 

live are drastically different compared 

to just a few generations ago, 

when people still maintained a nomadic 

lifestyle, moving to different 

camps depending on the season. 

They have been pushed into a more 

Western lifestyle, living in one 

place and encountering the world 

through new media and technology 

faster than they can grow accustomed 

to it. Many people struggle 

with their mental and spiritual 

well-being, and sadly suicide rates 

are high. 

In villages with only a few hundred 

people, the tragedy of suicide 

creates deep wounds. Father Jaszek 

believes faith brings comfort and 

stability to those he serves. 

Although their world is 

changing rapidly, he seeks 

to ensure that God’s love 

remains a constant in 

their lives. 

“It’s the same spirit 

that’s mentioned in the 

Book of Genesis in the very 

first verses. That same spirit, creative 

spirit, brought order 

out of chaos and that 

same spirit brings order 

and happiness 

also into the lives of 

people,” he said. 

“If you’re going 

through a hard time, 

you know Father Stan is 

going to be there for you—to listen, 

to give advice and to pray and 

share the scriptures with you,” said 

Ayunerak, the parish administrator 

in Alakanuk. “And he never rushes 

through. He takes his time with 

people, whether it’s just talking or 

celebrating a funeral. We appreciate 

that.” 

This spiritual care was desperately 

needed during the darkest 

days of the pandemic. In this region, 

entire villages were wiped 

out by the 1918 flu. So, when 

COVID-19 arrived, all in-person 

services and 

St. Ignatius Church 

St. Peter Church 

Sacred Heart Church 

Emmonak 

Alakanuk 

Nunam Iqua 

travel shut down very strictly. Falling 

victim to the virus is especially 

dangerous in an area without easily 

accessible hospitals. On top of this, 

the pandemic disrupted the fishing 

season, the primary income for the 

people. 

Father Jaszek said it was not 

unusual to spend four or five hours 

a day counseling people over the 

phone. When funerals were not 

permitted, he supported bereaved 

families by 

praying 

with 

Yukon 

River 

Kotlik 

St. Joseph Church 

Communities served 

by Father Stan Jaszek 

Chukchi 

Sea 

Bering Sea 

ALASKA 

Anchorage 

PHOTOS DIOCESES OF FAIRBANKS 

GOOGLE MAPS 


10/14/21 3:39 PM

18 INSPIRE 



BECOME A 

TWO BY TWO 

PARTNER 

Catholic Extension’s premier leadership 

annual giving society with exclusive benefits. 

This esteemed group of individuals represents our most 

engaged, dedicated and loyal annual giving donors who 

make an annual contribution of at least $1,000. 

Benefits provide access to the following: 

• Lumen Christi Award judging 

• Extension Magazine 

• Catholic Extension Annual Report 

• Mid-Year Impact Report 

• Regular email updates 

•Opportunities to visit Extension 

dioceses 

• Invitations to special 

Catholic Extension events 

For more information: 

CONTACT 

Shea Gilliland 

Manager of Development 

817.371.7826 

sgilliland@catholicextension.org 

VISIT our website at 

catholicextension.org/2by2 

them outside their homes and at 

gravesides, often in exceptionally 

cold temperatures. In these conditions, 

remains cannot be buried, 

because the ground is frozen solid. 

In one remarkable feat at the 

beginning of the pandemic, Father 

Jaszek walked 22 miles round trip 

in the snow on Palm Sunday to 

deliver blessed palms to the faithful 

in Alakanuk. The people were 

feeling very isolated and cut off 

from their faith—streaming Mass 

online is not a feasible alternative 

in these parts. 

“The Yup’ik people are deeply 

rooted in nature, so they intuitively 

understand the connection between 

the physical and the spiritual 

worlds,” said Father Jaszek. “That’s 

why sacramentals are important 

to them, because they get that the 

physical world can be a conduit for 

grace. I brought them the palms because 

I knew they would appreciate 

having something tangible to 

focus on while they were praying 

during Holy Week.” 

High noon in the Yukon–Kuskokwim Delta region offers a few hours of 

daylight for Father Stan Jaszek to go ice fishing, his main source of food in 

his subsistence lifestyle. 

strate his love for them and invite 

them into a closer relationship 

with God,” said Bishop Chad Zielinski 

of the Diocese of Fairbanks. 

“Native Alaskans, both Catholic 

and non-Catholic, universally hold 

Father Stan in high regard because 

they see this and know he affirms 

their human dignity.” 

Margaret Gerhart is a parishioner 

and volunteer at Our Lady of 

Sorrows Church in Delta Junction, 

where Father Jaszek spent five 

years ministering in the interior of 

Alaska. 

“Father Stan is the calmest man 

I have ever met,” she said. “He 

personifies strength, humility and 

love of his fellow man.” 

Sister Kathy Radich, OSF, 

coordinates ministries for the 

Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta region. 

She likened Father Jaszek’s mission 

to that of Jesus’ first disciples, 

many of whom were fishermen. 

Jesus said to them, “From 

now on you will be catching people” 

(Luke 5:10). 

“It has been through learning 

the ways of the people that he 

has preached Jesus, lived the Gospel 

and been present in the lives 

A TRANSFORMATIVE MINISTRY 

Ever humble, Father Jaszek provides 

credit to the deacons, lay 

leaders and volunteers who take 

up much of the responsibility in an 

area with so few priests. In turn, the 

diocese’s respect and appreciation 

for this humble shepherd is indisputable. 

“Father Stan deserves the Lumen 

Christi Award not just because he 

has dedicated his entire priestly life 

to serving marginalized children of 

God, but because his approach to 

sharing the Gospel with them truly 

reflects the spirit of Christ himself: 

He immerses himself in indigenous 

people’s way of life to demonof 

so many in the different villages 

where he has served,” Sister 

Kathy said. “He has caught men 

and women for Jesus because of 

his care for and knowledge of the 

ways of those he lives and ministers 

among.” 

Father Jaszek is committed to 

continuing his mission for as long 

as he can. “I see the need for God 

among the people,” he said. “Responding 

to that need is my strongest 

motivation.” 

Catholic Extension donors 

should feel proud about how they 

have contributed to his remarkable 

ministry. The Lumen Christi 

Award, with its accompanying 

$50,000 grant, will continue to 

support this diocese and exceptional 

missionary. 

Father Jaszek is thankful for our 

donors, whom he acknowledges 

are walking alongside him. By providing 

the funding for his salary, 

travel costs, the maintenance of 

the parishes he serves and more, 

our donors also serve as missionary 

disciples, helping the good 

news to take root everywhere, 

even in distant and remote regions 

of the world. 


10/14/21 3:39 PM

20 

INSPIRE 

Feature Story 

1906 

Within a year of its founding, Catholic Extension helped build St. 

Francis Xavier Church in the recently established town of Valdez. 

Extension magazine printed a letter written by the pastor, Jesuit Father 

Mathias Schmitt. He wrote about how his predecessor 

encouraged the project: “He persuaded the 

Catholics to build a church. Although few in number 

they took courage. The Catholic Church Extension 

Society made a donation of $250. Long live 

Extension Society!” 


1921 

UNWAVERING SUPPORT 

OVER GREAT DISTANCES 

AND TIME 

Extension’s history 

in Alaska 

THE STATE OF ALASKA IS HOME TO TWO 

CATHOLIC DIOCESES: the Archdiocese of 

Anchorage-Juneau and the Diocese of Fairbanks. 

There are about 40,000 Catholics in 

the state, 100 missions and parishes, and 50 

priests who serve both dioceses. 

Catholic Extension’s support has impacted 

almost every Catholic church—and Catholic—in 

Alaska. In addition to priest salaries, 

seminarian education and ministry support, 

Catholic Extension has helped build or repair 

the Catholic churches of Alaska more than 

260 times. 

The history of God’s children in Alaska 

stretches back 10,000 years, when the ancestors 

of today’s Native Alaskans crossed the 

Bering Land Bridge and forged a vibrant life 

and culture in the harsh northern environ- 

PHOTO JONATHAN NAFZGER, ISTOCK 

ment. The first Catholic Mass was celebrated 

by explorers in 1779, and the first missionaries 

arrived not long after that. In 1867 the 

U.S. government purchased the territory of 

Alaska from Russia for $7.2 million. In the 

next several decades, gold and copper mining 

drew thousands of prospectors and workers 

to the region. 

This timeline highlights Catholic Extension’s 

involvement through the significant 

events in Alaska’s history. Throughout the 

years, extreme distance, weather and remoteness 

have presented challenges that Catholic 

communities had to overcome. These examples 

represent just a handful of the thousands 

of ways our donors have helped build the 

Catholic Church in Alaska. 

1918 Influenza 

The 1918 influenza reached Alaska with devastating 

consequences, especially for Native Alaskans. During 

this time, many men were also enlisted in World 

War I, leaving behind their already small towns. This 

resulted in worker shortages in villages that supplied 

canned foods sent to Europe for the war. 

In March of this tumultuous year, Father G. Edgar 

Gallant became the first priest to be ordained in 

Alaska. By this point, Catholic Extension had already 

invested heavily in building churches and schools 

and assisting clergy. 

“Haines is a little town of about three hundred 

people, about thirty of whom are Catholics. We have 

no church building or any other building of our own 

in which we could conduct services,” he wrote in a 

letter published in Extension magazine in 1920. 

Our donors read his call and responded. Catholic 

Extension provided the community $1,000 to build 

Sacred Heart Church in Haines, a community our 

donors continue to support today. 

PHOTO COURTESY OF LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO ARCHIVES & SPECIAL COLLECTIONS 

Fort Seward and Haines, Alaska, in 1920. 


In 1921 Catholic Extension helped build St. Gregory Nazianzen Catholic 

Church in Sitka, Alaska. 

1927 

In 1927 Jesuit Father Martin J. Lonneux wrote to Catholic 

Extension requesting a “chapel boat” to minister in 

villages along the Yukon River in the summer. His letter 

was printed in Extension magazine: “I have great 

hopes, especially in the kind and generous Extension 

Society. I have before me a 

letter informing me that your 

reverence will try to secure a 

donation for my chapel. Would 

it be out of place if that donation 

were applied for a floating 

chapel? Without a boat I am 

rendered almost powerless, and 

there is so much to be done.” 


Father Martin J. Lonneux, S.J., the traveling missionary of Alaska. 

1900 

1906 1918 1921 

1927 

1930 


10/14/21 3:39 PM

22 

INSPIRE 

Feature Story 


1930s: The Great Depression 

Alaska did not escape economic turmoil as the 

United States sank into the Great Depression. 

Catholic Extension’s president at the time, Reverend 

William D. O’Brien, published a prominent 

letter titled “The Call of the North” from Jesuit Bishop 

Joseph R. Crimont, the first vicar apostolic of Alaska. 

The funding was most urgently needed because 

the missions of Alaska depended on a yearly shipment 

of food, clothing, medicine and other materials 

to survive. There was no funding left to pay for this. 

In 1932 the bishop wrote: “To whom, in the pangs 

of my dire distress, can I address myself with confidence 

and the hope of a great response to the S.O.S. 

message of our Alaskan Missions, but to the offices 

of The Catholic Church Extension Society, who at all 

times have an ear open to listen to an appeal, and 

a hand stretched forth to satisfy it? Surely, through 

you, our cry of distress will reach the ears and move 

the hearts of thousands, willing to save us from the 

dreadful calamity now impending.” 

A follow-up article two months later showcased 

letters of support and promises to help from around 

the country. Here is one of the responses: “Thanks 

for your earnest appeal for the Alaskan missions— 

also for the flattery which places us here among the 

more prominent congregations. We, small as we are, 

will do our best.” 

1938 


Part of the congregation in Fish Village, Alaska, in a photo published in 1932. 

In 1938, an unnamed pastor in Akulurak wrote this letter to Extension 

in an appeal for support: “During Masses on Christmas and Easter 

the music is sung by the full toned voices of the entire congregation. 

Standing at the altar I am time and again thrilled through and through 

by the melodious voices of my people. The Eskimo in this district is 

perhaps among the poorest of God’s children, but God has given him a 

warm heart despite his chilly surroundings.” 

“ 

Standing at the altar I am 

time and again thrilled 

through and through by 

the melodious voices of 

my people. 

The Eskimo in this district 

is perhaps among the 

poorest of God’s children, 

but God has given him 

a warm heart despite his 

chilly surroundings.” 

—UNKNOWN PASTOR 

PHOTO COURTESY OF LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO 

ARCHIVES & SPECIAL COLLECTIONS 

Parishioners at St. Michael Catholic Church in 

Palmer, Alaska. 


Father John P. Fox, S.J. (center) with some of his people at Hooper 

Bay, Alaska, in a photo published in 1932 


In 1937 Catholic Extension helped build St. Michael Catholic Church in 

Palmer, Alaska. 


The Sunday congregation in Chiniak, Alaska, in a photo published in the April 1938 edition of 

Extension magazine. 

PHOTO PETER HANSEN, UNSPLASH 

1930 1938 

1940 


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24 

INSPIRE 

Feature Story 


1940s-50s: WWII and the Postwar Boom 

1951 

Throughout World War II, as advertisements to “Buy war bonds” 

adorned the pages of Extension magazine, Catholic Extension continued 

to work in solidarity with faith communities in Alaska. In particular, 

priests received salary support as they ministered to their communities 

in these turbulent times. 

Bishop Walter J. Fitzgerald, the auxiliary bishop of Alaska, wrote in 

1942: “During the past five months I have visited many of the missions 

of the interior, along the Yukon and south on the Bering Sea. You will 

be pleased to know that at nearly all of the missions Extension is held 

in grateful remembrance, and memorial plaques testify to the part 

that The Catholic Church Extension Society has played in the furtherance 

of Christ’s Kingdom among the natives of Alaska. I was at St. 

Mary’s Mission at Akulurak and the splendid church reared with the 

help of Extension Society was entirely filled with Eskimos at Christmas 

Midnight Mass. The church seats 400 people.” 

Following the war, Alaska experienced an economic and population 

boom. Catholic Extension helped build and repair dozens of churches 

in existing native villages and new settlements across the state. These 

include many communities Catholic Extension continues to support, 

such as Holy Rosary Church in Dillingham, Sacred Heart Church in Chevak, 

Holy Rosary Catholic Church in Tok, St. Bernard Church in Stebbins 

and St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Mountain Village. 


St. Mary’s Mission in Akulurak, Alaska, dated 1937. 

PHOTO COURTESY OF LOYOLA UNIVERSITY CHICAGO 

ARCHIVES & SPECIAL COLLECTIONS 

St. Bernard Church in Stebbins, Alaska. 

The Diocese of Juneau, 

the first official diocese 

in the state, was formed 

in 1951 under Bishop 

Dermot O’Flanagan, 

D.D. His letter, printed 

in Extension magazine 

in February 1952, 

described the optimism 

and challenges 

of the time: “[There 

are] many new towns 

and settlements that 

have arisen and will 

continue to rise as the 

result of further development 

of the natural 

resources of the 

territory. These have 

brought with them 

and will continue to 

bring in the near future 

the demand for new 

churches, new schools 

and more priests.” 

He continued, “It 

is not possible at this 

time to tabulate all 

the help and aid that 

has been given to this 

portion of the Territory 

of Alaska, but I am 

confident that there is 

no church, no mission, 

no priest who has not 

experienced, in one 

way or another, during 

the past forty-four 

years, the kindness 

and generosity of the 

Catholic Church Extension 

Society. For what 

has been done we are 

indeed grateful to the 

officers and benefactors 

of the Extension 

The Extension magazine cover 

from February 1952 coincides with 

the letter by Bishop Dermot 

O’Flanagan, D.D. 

Society, and we look 

forward with hope and 

confidence in the future 

because we realize that 

our needs and our problems 

are not unknown 

to and unnoticed by its 

president, Bishop William 

D. O’Brien, and his staff at 

Extension headquarters.” 


St. Lawrence Catholic Church in Mountain Village, Alaska. 

Catholic Extension helped build a church for Holy Rosary Parish in 1957. 

Photo shows new church built with Extension help in 1984. 

1959 Alaska Becomes a State 

Alaska became a state in January 1959. By this time, 

Catholic Extension had helped build up the Catholic 

faith in the region hundreds of times with more 

than $200,000 in funding—millions of dollars in 

today’s money. 

1940 1951 

1959 1960 


10/14/21 3:39 PM

26 

INSPIRE 

Feature Story 


1962 1968 Prudhoe Bay 

1977 

1980 

Discovery 

Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church was built in 1962 in Soldotna, Alaska, a growing oil town, with 

help from Catholic Extension. 

1964 Great Alaskan Earthquake 

The largest reported earthquake in U.S. history hit Prince William Sound 

on Good Friday. Along with its subsequent tsunamis, the earthquake 

caused immense damage in over a dozen towns. Catholic Extension 

sent aid to support the devastated faith communities and help rebuild 

their churches. 

The largest oil deposit in North 

America was discovered in Prudhoe 

Bay on the northern coast. 

The discovery boosted Alaska’s 

economy and population for several 

decades. 

1971 Alaska Native 

Claims Settlement Act 

The Alaska Native Claims Settlement 

Act (ANCSA) was passed in 

1971, giving Native Alaskans rights 

to close to 150 million acres of 

land. At this time, Catholic Extension 

had been supporting native 

communities since our founding. 

This same year, America’s first 

Catholic radio station, KNOM, 

began airing out of Nome with 

the help of Catholic Extension. 

The station broadcasted spiritual 

guidance, prayers, Mass and educational 

Catholic programming to 

the faithful scattered through the 

vast region of Alaska—many of 

whom go without the presence of 

a priest for months. 

Bishop Francis T. Hurley of the Diocese of Juneau 

flew a plane funded by Catholic Extension to visit 

parishes and perform confirmations. An article in the 

November 1977 edition of Extension magazine shows 

that several of the parishes worshipped in trailer 

home chapels furnished by Catholic Extension. 

In 1980 Sister Ida Brasseur, SSA, who spent 30 years 

spreading the Gospel in isolated pockets of southwestern 

Alaska in the Archdiocese of Anchorage, 

received the Lumen Christi Award. 

1987 

Sister Margaret McCarthy, PBVM, received the Lumen 

Christi Award in 1987 for serving in nearly every mission 

area of the Diocese of Juneau. She worked as a 

pastoral leader, friend to the poor and incarcerated, 

and staff member in a soup kitchen and shelter. 

KNOM radio station broadcasts in Nome, Alaska. 

PHOTO OWEN RUPP, UNSPLASH 

1960 1962 1965 

1968 1971 1977 1980 

1987 

1990 


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28 

INSPIRE 

Feature Story 


1989 Exxon Valdez Oil Spill 

The Exxon Valdez oil tanker spilled 11 million gallons 

of crude oil along 1,500 miles of the Prince William 

Sound coastline. 

At this time, Catholic Extension was providing the 

equivalent of $1 million per year in today’s dollars to 

keep the Church in Alaska strong. This included supporting 

religious education, youth ministry, a deacon 

program for Native Alaskans and more. 

In particular, the Native Ministry Training Program 

was established with support from Catholic Extension. 

This was created to develop native lay leaders 

in the far-flung parishes in the Yukon-Kuskokwim 

Region. Here there are no resident priests, but many 

native Catholics eager to keep faith strong in their 

community. The program still runs successfully today. 

PHOTO GERALD CORSI, ISTOCK 

2002 

In 2002, at the age of 73, Father 

James Kelley, a retired navy chaplain, 

experienced pilot and pastor of 

the “world’s largest parish,” died in a 

plane crash on his way to celebrate 

Masses on Palm Sunday. Flying out 

of Dillingham, Father Kelley traveled 

across the 1,200-mile chain to serve 

23 communities across the Aleutian 

Islands. Catholic Extension, which 

funded Father Kelley’s ministry, 

including the plane he flew, printed 

a tribute to his incredible devotion 

to serve the Aleut people. 

“I salute Father Kelley’s memory, 

thank him for his mission spirit, 

and commend him to God’s loving 

mercy,” wrote the Most Reverend 

William R. Houck, Catholic Extension’s 

president at the time. “Priests 

in Alaska who must travel by plane, 

boat, snowmobile and dogsled to 

reach isolated villages risk their 

lives every day to reach these farflung 

Catholics in our country.” 

“ 

I salute Father Kelley’s memory, thank him for his 

mission spirit, and commend him to God’s loving 

mercy. …Priests in Alaska who must travel by 

plane, boat, snowmobile and dogsled to reach 

isolated villages risk their lives every day to reach 

these far-flung Catholics in our country.” 

— MOST REVEREND WILLIAM R. HOUCK, Catholic Extension 

former president 

2005 

In 2005 Holy Cross Reverend LeRoy Clementich received the Lumen 

Christi Award for his many dedicated years flying to isolated villages in 

the Archdiocese of Anchorage. He passed away in July of this year after 

a lifetime of service to God’s people. 

Clara Shorty (fourth from left in back), a catechism teacher and parish 

administrator from Marshall, Alaska, participated in the Native Ministry 

Training Program to better learn how to serve the people in her village. 

1992 

In 1992 Catholic Extension helped build a multipurpose 

center for the new St. Patrick’s Church in Utqiagvik 

(formerly Barrow), the northernmost community 

in all of Alaska. 

Father Charles Peterson, S.J., serves Yup’ik families in Cape Woolley, 

Alaska, in this photo from the December 1989 edition of Extension 

magazine. Father Peterson encouraged Yup’ik leadership in the Church. 

PHOTO DIOCESE OF FAIRBANKS 

Father LeRoy Clementich, C.S.C., with parishioners at St. Peter the Fisherman in Clark”s Point, Alaska. 

1989 

1990 1992 

2002 

2005 


10/14/21 3:39 PM

30 

INSPIRE 

Feature Story 


Present Day 

In solidarity with Archbishop Andrew Bellisario, 

C.M., of Anchorage-Juneau and Bishop Chad Zielinski 

of Fairbanks, Catholic Extension and our supporters 

are committed to strengthening the vibrant and 

diverse communities in Alaska. 

FUEL AND TRANSPORTATION COSTS 

Travel continues to be among the greatest challenges 

and costs facing the dioceses in Alaska. 

Catholic Extension provides funding for travel by car, 

boat, plane and snowmachine. 

Bishop Chad Zielinski celebrates Mass for St. Lawrence Catholic 

Church in Mountain Village, Alaska. 

Parishioners of St. Lawrence Catholic Church in 

Mountain Village went without a priest for 16 

months because of the pandemic. Bishop Chad 

Zielinski chartered a plane to the remote village 

and celebrated Mass right on the runway during 

Holy Week in 2021. Over and over again the community 

said “quyana,” which means “thank you” 

in the Yup’ik language. 

Father Scott Garrett serves as pastor of St. Paul Mission, which 

includes the Aleutian Islands and Dillingham in the Archdiocese of 

Anchorage-Juneau, Alaska. 

PRIEST SALARIES AND OPERATIONAL EXPENSES 

OF PARISHES 

Funds needed to keep lights on in churches and 

food on the table for priests are just as needed today 

as they were at Catholic Extension’s founding. Our 

donors support the salaries of most of the priests in 

Alaska as well as the operational expenses of the 

parishes they serve. 

Parishioners at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Church in Soldotna, Alaska. 

SEMINARIAN EDUCATION 

Our donors continue to support Alaskan men who 

follow the call to the priesthood. Catholic Extension 

also offers scholarships for advanced degrees. 

Archbishop of Anchorage-Juneau Andrew Bellisario, C.M., ordains 

Father James Wallace to the priesthood. 

“My love for God was life-changing, life-saving 

and soul-saving. To serve at the altar for Christ is the 

greatest gift that’s ever been given. And to do it in 

Alaska is wonderful,” said Father James Wallace. 

Seminarian Joshua Miller (left) with Bishop Chad Zielinski. 

“Beyond administering the sacraments and bringing 

God and his people together, I want to really 

help my fellow Catholics become more intentional 

about their faith,” said Joshua Miller, a seminarian 

in the Diocese of Fairbanks. “I want to help them 

embrace a lived experience of being in a loving relationship 

with God as his child and encourage them 

to make that encounter a reality in their daily lives.” 

LAY LEADERS, DEACONS AND THE NATIVE MINISTRY 

TRAINING PROGRAM 

Catholic Extension helps Alaskan dioceses in the 

formation and ongoing training of local and native 

lay leaders and deacons. These individuals are essential 

to keeping their Catholic communities strong, 

especially since the majority of villages in Alaska do 

not have a resident priest. 

The Native Ministry Training Program seeks out 

native leaders in particular. It has found great success. 

Deacon Dominic Hunt, a Yup’ik native, was 

recently ordained. His wife, Lala Hunt, was selected 

in 2020 to lead the training program. She has also 

served as a eucharistic minister for 10 years at Sacred 

Heart Church in Emmonak, one of the parishes 

served by this year’s Lumen Christi Award recipient, 

Father Stan Jaszek. 

Deacon Dominic Hunt and Lala Hunt, Yup’ik Catholic leaders. 

YOUNG ADULT LEADERSHIP INITIATIVE 

Catholic Extension’s 

Young 

Adult Leadership 

Initiative 

helps Extension 

dioceses 

retain, educate 

and develop 

outstanding 

young adult 

leaders by 

providing 

scholarships for master’s degrees in graduate theological 

education (see page 40). Anna Schulten from 

the Archdiocese of Anchorage-Juneau is currently 

enrolled at the University of Notre Dame. 

“Through this program, I am affirmed in my call 

to lay ministry,” she said. 

RELIGIOUS EDUCATION AND YOUTH MINISTRIES 

Catholic Extension provides funding for religious 

education materials, salary support for catechists, 

youth group programs and more. 

Young parishioners 

sing praise 

during Mass at the 

Cathedral of Our 

Lady of Guadalupe in 

Anchorage, Alaska. 

CHURCH BUILDING AND REPAIR 

Catholic Extension continues to build, repair and 

fortify Alaskan churches against the severe winter 

weather. 

PRESENT DAY 


10/14/21 3:39 PM

32 INSPIRE 

Lumen Christi Past Recipient 


‘There is nothing love cannot face’ 

Sister Marie-Paule Willem, FMM, 

received Catholic Extension’s 

Lumen Christi Award in 2018. 

SISTER MARIE-PAULE WILLEM, 

a Franciscan Missionary of Mary, 

has spent a lifetime building up 

communities of faith among the 

poor, persecuted and imprisoned. 

Similar to this year’s Lumen Christi 

Award recipient, she grew up in 

tumultuous times in Europe before 

beginning a life of missionary work 

across several countries. 

She has served as pastoral 

administrator of San José de 

Picacho Mission in the Diocese of 

Las Cruces, New Mexico, for eight 

years. She received the Lumen 

Christi Award in 2018. Now at age 

88, she is still going strong. 

She has not only witnessed 

history but also given her life to help 

shape history for the better. 

The following story, “Catholic nun 

in Las Cruces receives prestigious 

Lumen Christi Award,” written by 

Diana Alba Soular, was published 

in the Las Cruces Sun-News in 2018. 

The article offers an in-depth look at 

her extraordinary life as a missionary. 

The article is reprinted and 

slightly edited with permission from 

the Las Cruces Sun-News. 

THE EXTRAORDINARY 

STORY OF THE 2018-2019 

LUMEN CHRISTI AWARD 

RECIPIENT 

Over the decades, 

Sister Marie- 

Paule Willem, 

FMM, a native 

of Belgium, has 

seen her share 

of atrocity, violence 

and destruction. She recalls 

she was a young girl when the 

Nazis took control of her country. 

The family fled home as bombs 

dropped around them. And World 

War II became an ever-present 

reality in her young life. She and 

her five siblings slept with gas 

masks under their beds. 

And they were prepared to 

put them on at a moment’s 

notice. They ate dried food. 

But amid the destruction, 

Sister Marie-Paule 

drew inspiration from her 

Catholic faith—and from 

her mother, who dedicated 

herself to serving others. 

The family sheltered a Jewish 

girl, who survived the 

war and lives in Belgium today. 

“She was feeding the hungry. 

She was covering those in danger,” 

she said during an interview with 

the Sun-News. “My mother did 

such wonderful things during the 

war—helping people.” 

The Allied Forces eventually 

liberated the country. 

2018 u 2019 

Lumen 

Christi 

AWARD 

RECIPIENT 

As a teenager, Sister 

Marie-Paule did 

not believe she’d ever 

become a nun. She considered 

herself too independent-minded. 

But, 

as she attended college, 

she was tasked with taking 

on a charitable project, 

which is how she 

came to volunteer at a 

nearby prison for women. 

She worked with 

nuns there to visit and 

comfort the prisoners. And she 

enjoyed it. Driven in part by that 

work and by her childhood experience 

in the war, she felt a calling 

emerge: to counter—as much 

as one person can—calamity and 

affliction in the world. “I entered 

religious life because of 

all the death and terrible 

things that children 

shouldn’t see,” she said. 

A WINDING ROAD 

It was a winding path 

that led Sister Marie-Paule 

from her hometown in 

Bruges, Belgium, to southern 

New Mexico. She 

became a nun at age 23, 

joining the Franciscan Missionaries 

of Mary, whose mandate is to 

serve the “poorest and most forgotten,” 

according to the Catholic 

Diocese of Las Cruces. 

Initially, she wanted to become 

a missionary to India or China. 

But, around the time she entered 

the religious order, the Vatican was 

Sister Marie-Paule Willem, FMM, serves San José de Picacho 

Mission in the Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico. 

emphasizing work in South America 

amid an era of political upheaval. 

And so, by cargo boat, she 

departed Rome in 1965, bound for 

a faraway continent. Weeks later, 

she arrived at a seaport in Brazil. 

She stayed in that country a few 

weeks before departing for Argentina, 

where she would live nearly 

a decade. By the mid-1970s, she 

moved to Paraguay, developing a 

ministry to political prisoners. 

EXILED FROM PARAGUAY 

As Sister Marie-Paule recalls, 

entire families would be taken 

captive at once. And she said she 

and others in ministry would have 

to attempt to find where they’d 

been taken by sundown of the 

same day. Partly that was because 

of logistical challenges—there 

were no cell phones at the time, 

and she didn’t have a vehicle—and 

another part was because of wor- 


10/14/21 3:39 PM

34 INSPIRE 



ries about what might happen to 

the prisoners, if they weren’t immediately 

located. 

“They (the government) could in 

the middle of the night take them 

farther away, and it was harder for 

us to find them,” she said. 

Even when families were found, 

they were being kept in outdoor 

detention and, absent outside intervention, 

left to languish. Sister 

Marie-Paule was among those 

who intervened, supplying humanitarian 

aid. 

“We had to make sure they had 

food and water,” she said. 

She and others also notified 

humanitarian organizations in the 

United States and Europe, sparking 

letter-writing campaigns on 

behalf of prisoners. She received 

death threats and, eventually, the 

Paraguayan government exiled 

her from the country. That ouster 

meant she also couldn’t work 

in neighboring Latin American 

countries that were aligned with 

Paraguay. 

MOVING TO THE UNITED STATES 

While in South America, Sister 

Marie-Paule had worked hard to 

Parishioners grew 

from a mere dozen 

to more than 200 at 

San José de Picacho 

Mission through the 

dedicated work of 

Sister Marie-Paule 

Willem, FMM. 

learn Spanish—one of five languages 

in which she’s fluent—and 

she wanted to 

be able to continue putting 

that ability to use. After 

finding a bishop who’d 

agreed to her continuing 

her missionary work in the 

United States, she made her 

way to the U.S.-Mexico border, 

settling in Texas’ Rio 

Grande Valley in 1980.There, 

she worked with other members 

of the religious order 

and became director of religious 

education for the parish. 

She carried out programming for 

youth and ministered to women 

in a local detention center. 

In 1990, Sister Marie-Paule and 

her sisters decided to relocate farther 

north along the Rio Grande, 

settling in the small community 

of Chamberino in Doña Ana 

County. But, because the group 

became involved in ministry efforts 

in Las Cruces and El Paso, 

they found themselves spending 

more time in both places. 

Sister Marie-Paule focused 

upon helping immigrants and 

Aren’t we living in a strange 

historical moment in this 

world? There is so much division 

hatred, envy, resentment, 

selfishness around us, but also 

so much goodness to share. 

How can we help humanity to return 

to the source of joy, to the encounter 

with Christ? 

The battle for a better world is a battle 

of love: How can we help spread 

true love in the world–help love penetrate 

a little more in the hearts of the 

world leaders, the CEOs, the financial 

farmworkers and visiting people 

in the Doña Ana County Detention 

Center. During weekly visits 

to the jail, she takes holy Communion; 

holy water; and paper and 

cards for detainees to write letters. 

She said she’s always felt drawn 

to people who were incarcerated. 

And she is saddened to see some 

women appear repeatedly in jail. 

Most women there have children, 

and some are pregnant. Generally, 

she said she attempts to encourage 

them. 

“I try to build up their self-con- 

world leaders, all societies, all laws, all 

prisons, all borderlands. 

There is so much misery in our 

society because of the capacity we 

humans have to reject love. 

Through Jesus, we can share God 

with the most forgotten, the most 

vulnerable, because our power as 

humans is our capacity to love, to love 

our creator. 

There is nothing love cannot face. 

We can always expand our hearts. 

—Sister Marie-Paule, from a speech 

delivered to Catholic Extension in 2019 

fidence and tell them, ‘I can do it; 

I can overcome weaknesses,’” she 

said. “We pray together. We cry together. 

We sing, and we laugh.” 

Some of the nuns in her community 

retired, moving to the East 

Coast where the order runs a small 

compound in Rhode Island. And 

that left her looking for a place to 

live in Las Cruces. She asked former 

Las Cruces Bishop Oscar 

Cantú if she could move to the San 

José Mission, just west of Las Cruces 

city limits, and he agreed. 

THROUGHOUT HER LIFE, SISTER MARIE-PAULE HAS 

WITNESSED GREAT TRAGEDY, BUT HAS LEARNED 

THROUGH HER FAITH HOW TO FIND HOPE AND PROMISE 

EVEN IN THE WORST OF CIRCUMSTANCES. 

Sister Marie-Paule Willem, FMM, extends her ministry to women in a nearby detention center. 

REVIVING A CHURCH 

So, in 2013, at age 80, Sister Marie-Paule 

became pastoral administrator 

for the mission, comprising 

a small church, church hall and 

residence perched upon a hillside. 

Upon arriving, she found that the 

buildings were in disrepair, and 

few people were attending services. 

She estimated about five parishioners 

went to Mass on Saturdays, 

while a dozen or so attended 

on Sundays. 

All in all, it was in a pitiful state. 

But, piece by piece, she set her 

sights on transforming the property. 

In addition to building a garden, 

she has overseen numerous 

repairs to the church and its adjacent 

gathering hall. Volunteers— 

like a police officer who built a 

new wooden altar and furniture 

for the church—have given their 

time. And she has hired people 

when she’s able to find them. She 

said she often struggles with finding 

contractors who’ll travel to the 

property to work. 

She said she’s financed the efforts 

using the church’s existing 

finances. She’s extra-thrifty. “I’m 

very careful with the money,” she 

explained. 

Now, an estimated 200 people 

are participating in parish activities. 

The Saturday service draws 

about 25 to 35 people, while the 

Sunday service draws about 90. 

It’s a church, she said, that’s “full 

of life.” 

UNFINISHED WORK 

As for retirement, Sister Marie- 

Paule said that’s out of the question. 

There’s too much need in 

the world that must be addressed. 

Plus, she is in good health and 

can’t see herself idle. 

“I can’t retire; I cannot,” she said. 

“I do not know what I would do.” 

Should her health decline, she 

admits she’d likely be forced into 

retirement. She’d most likely move 

to the order’s compound in Rhode 

Island. But for the indefinite future, 

she is committed to serving Doña 

Ana County residents from her 

home in Old Picacho. “As long as 

my brain works well, my eyes work 

well—I can manage,” she said. 


10/14/21 3:39 PM

36 INSPIRE 



2010 LUMEN CHRISTI 

AWARD RECIPIENT 

RETIRES AFTER THREE 

DECADES OF MINISTRY 

TO BLACKFEET NATION. 

FATHER ED KOHLER, the 2010 

Lumen Christi Award recipient, 

served Little Flower Parish in 

Browning, Montana, the capital of 

Blackfeet Nation, for a combined 35 

years. In that time, he helped establish 

De La Salle Blackfeet School, 

guided parishioners as they celebrated 

their Catholic faith and cultural 

traditions and turned Little 

Flower Parish into a tremendous 

source of hope for the people of 

Browning. Catholic Extension has 

supported Father Kohler’s ministry 

for over 30 years, and we wish him 

well in his retirement! 

The following story, written by 

John McGill and reprinted with permission 

from the Glacier Reporter, 

celebrates Father Kohler’s retirement 

and his more than three 

decades of service to the people of 

Blackfeet Nation at Little Flower Parish 

in the Diocese of Helena. 

Long an institution in 

Browning, anyone 

who has been to or 

heard of the Little 

Flower Parish since 

the 1980s knows 

about Father Ed 

Kohler. He is a person who has 

accompanied the Blackfeet people 

through good times and hard times, 

bringing the gift of his presence 

and faith. 

‘A priest of 

the pavement’ 

And now, following 35 years of 

service, Father Kohler has retired 

as of the first of July, after suffering 

some heart issues. He has moved 

into housing in Missoula supplied 

by the Helena diocese, and welcomes 

any visitors. 

“It’s probably the hardest thing 

I’ve done in all my life,” he said of 

retirement, “but it’s because of my 

health, and I’ll be 75. My time in 

the hospital took some energy out 

of me, and it’s clear I’m not back to 

where I was before.” 

When his career began, Father 

Kohler was living in Dillon, and 

was drawn to Native American culture, 

not only in North America but 

also in Guatemala. 

“I think it was a calling of the 

Holy Spirit,” he said. “I’d never 

been to Browning, but I wanted to 

work with Native Americans. It was 

very clear to me. At first I thought 

about Guatemala, but 

Browning is closer.” 

Father Kohler came to 

the Little Flower Parish in 

1982 under Father Stephen 

Tallman and assumed the 

chief position in 1983. The 

lure of Guatemala hadn’t 

worn off, however, and he 

spent five years there before 

returning in 1990. 

The trip gave him the opportunity 

to meet the De La Salle Christian 

Brothers and see the school they 

had started there. 

A FATHER FIGURE TO 

GENERATIONS 

When Father Kohler returned 

to Browning in 1990 he saw the 

opportunity for a similar school. 

Thanks to 35 years of ministry led by 

Father Ed Kohler, our 2010 Lumen Christi 

Award recipient, Little Flower Parish and 

De La Salle Blackfeet School are beacons 

of light in Browning, Montana. 

2010 u 2011 

Lumen 

Christi 

AWARD 

RECIPIENT 

Father Ed 

Kohler visits with 

students at De La 

Salle Blackfeet 

School. 

“The concept [for a Catholic 

school] came from 

the parish council who 

said there is so much for 

adults and they wanted 

something for the kids. 

We wanted to do it on our 

own, but we didn’t know 

anything. The only order 

I knew was the Christian 

Brothers so I petitioned 

them, and all of a sudden 

[10 years later] they said yes, and 

Brother Paul [Ackerman] came.” 

Starting with only two Christian 

Brothers, the De La Salle Blackfeet 

School worked from the ground 

up to create a unique learning environment 

in Browning. 

“I am quite sure that without 

Father Ed there would be no De 

How De La Salle Blackfeet 

School was born 

Inspired during his time spent in 

Guatemala with the De La Salle 

Christian Brothers, Father Kohler 

petitioned the religious congregation 

for the creation of a Catholic 

grade school in Browning. In 2001 

the De La Salle Christian Brothers 

accepted the request 

of Father Kohler and 

the parish council at 

Little Flower, and De La 

Salle Blackfeet School 

was established. The 

school serves grades 

four through eight 

with a mission that “is 

committed to providing 

a quality, innovative and faith-based 

education to empower its students 

to become successful learners and 

able participants in the shaping of 

their community.” 

When Father Kohler received the 

Lumen Christi Award in 2010, he 

explained the community’s need for 

the school to Extension magazine: 

“We were worried about the kids. 

They were drifting into situations 

that were hurtful to them. So the 

concept of trying to get a school 

going began to form itself.” 

Former Diocese of Helena Bishop 

George Leo Thomas, Ph.D., said of 

Father Kohler: “His underlying support 

for the school here as a passport 

for hope has already proved 

itself a thousand times over.” 

Father Kohler’s initiative paved 

the way to the founding of De La 

Salle Blackfeet School, which today 

continues to develop students 

strong in both their faith and cultural 

identity. 


10/14/21 3:40 PM

38 INSPIRE 



La Salle,” Brother Paul said. “He 

and the Little Flower Parish Council 

petitioned the Christian Brothers 

for over a decade for sponsorship 

and creation of a Catholic 

school on the reservation. 

“As a result of their persistence, 

Brother Denis Murphy and I arrived 

in Browning in 2001, and 

the De La Salle saga began. Over 

the years, Father Ed’s vision has 

grown and developed, thanks to 

his unwavering support. His love 

for the Blackfeet is deep and powerful, 

and he has planted that 

love into the hearts of those who 

have served at our school. All he 

does is for the greater glory of 

God. Browning has been blessed 

to have such a man as our model 

and inspiration for so many years. 

THE GIFT 

THAT PAYS 

YOU BACK 

A Catholic Extension charitable gift annuity 

offers you immediate financial benefits 

and will help communities that are poor in 

resources but rich in faith. Future generations 

will thank you! 

• Receive fixed, stable payments for life 

• Get immediate and future tax benefits 

• Make a lasting impact 

For a personalized proposal, contact Betty Assell at 

800-842-7804 or Bassell@catholicextension.org 

or visit catholicextension.org/annuities 

Well done and thank you, good 

and faithful servant.” 

In his 35 years of service, Father 

Kohler says De La Salle is one 

of two things of which he is most 

proud. “It is one of the brightest 

lights,” he said of the school. “It’s a 

miracle and a great gift to the parish. 

Some of the kids here now are 

the kids of graduates.” 

The second thing is the Cursillo. 

“It’s a Spanish word for a short 

course in Christ, but it is so much 

more. It is a renewal event and an 

encounter with the Holy Spirit,” 

he said, “and that is what makes 

it so much fun. I’ve had probably 

more than 3,000 people in the 

program. I know that seems exaggerated, 

but it’s true. The Cursillo 

is our lifeblood. It’s thrilling, what 

AGE 

ATTRACTIVE PAYOUT RATES 

3.9% 

4.2% 

4.7% 

5.4% 

6.5% 

7.6% 

8.6% 

60 65 70 75 80 85 90+ 

I’ve seen, and it’s the people who 

put it on.” 

Having been offered every year 

except for last year’s COVID-19 

shutdown, the Cursillo developed 

as the Blackfeet parishioners 

brought their own Native American 

ideas into the mix. 

“The people developed the 

Step 2 Cursillo where they recycle 

through it again,” Father Kohler 

said. “The people also developed 

the Pilgrimage to get away from 

drugs and alcohol, so it’s the people’s 

invention. It’s who we are. … 

There are so many people. I’ve buried 

most of my friends here who 

are my age so I’ve experienced 

my share of grief. It can get overwhelming 

at times. You get very 

close friendships in the Cursillo. 

It’s a very tight-knit parish community, 

and that’s what has made 

it so edifying. The main things for 

me are the Cursillo and the school, 

and I’m so very grateful for my 

time here.” 

“I’ve known Father Ed all my 

life,” said James McNeely, who is 

40 years old. “He and Father Powers 

are the only priests I knew. He’s 

been here a long time, and I’ve 

known him personally and professionally. 

He loves the community 

deeply, he cares about people and 

he knows what needs to be done. 

He’s been a priest and father figure 

to many. He was honored with 

the Lumen Christi Award 10 years 

ago, and it suits him. He is a very 

humble man, and I can’t imagine 

Browning or the Blackfeet Reservation 

without him.” 

A HEART DEDICATED TO 

BLACKFEET NATION 

Although he is now bishop for 

the Diocese of Las Vegas, Bishop 

George Leo Thomas, Ph.D., has 

fond recollections of his time as 

bishop at the Helena diocese and 

Father Kohler. 

“I have so many happy memories 

of Indian Days,” Bishop 

Father Ed Kohler 

celebrates Mass at 

North American 

Indian Days in 

2016, an annual 

four-day cultural 

event in Browning, 

Montana, that 

attracts 10,000 

participants. 

Thomas recalled. 

“I usually went to 

Dupuyer and then 

to Indian Days, and 

I’ve known Father 

Ed all that time. 

He’s been working 

for more than 

three decades, and 

I’ve seldom found 

a finer priest in 40 

years than Father Ed.” 

One of the qualities Bishop 

Thomas praised is Father Kohler’s 

natural affinity for Native American 

people and his ability to work 

with others to attain greater goals. 

“He sees the human condition 

so he is very present with people 

who are suffering. There among 

the people, he is a ‘Priest of the 

Pavement,’” the bishop said. “He 

has selected women and men for 

key positions to assist him, and 

he so identifies with the Blackfeet 

Nation that I believe he is Native 

American at heart. When I was 

bishop there I asked him to distill 

his approach to Native American 

people to inform the bishops, 

so he became a member of the 

Subcommittee on Native American 

Ministry who benefited from 

his insights. He is a man of deep 

prayer, and with the Cursillo he 

has found a way to unlock the 

hearts of the men of the community, 

and that is his brilliance as a 

man who is very engaged in the 

church.” 

Leadership at Little Flower Parish 

turned over to the new pastor, 

Father Rod Ermatinger, in July. 


10/14/21 3:40 PM

40 INSPIRE 

Young Adult Leadership Initiative 


Genevieve G’Sell (far left) leads a young adult women’s Bible study 

as part of her ministry to the Diocese of Helena, Montana. 

Fire in 

their hearts 

Young adults grow as ministers 

of the Catholic faith 

through Extension 

scholarship program 

Young adult Catholic 

leaders across the 

United States are still, 

thankfully, answering 

God’s call to serve 

in the Church, filling 

critical roles in ministry. 

In response, Catholic Extension 

has been invested in helping 

dioceses support, retain, educate 

and develop their outstanding 

young adult leaders. One example 

is our Young Adult Leadership 

Initiative, in which Catholic Extension 

partners with the University 

of Notre Dame, Fordham Uni- 

From left to right, Marcus Ayers, Alyssa Salazar, Santiago Banda and 

Genevieve G’Sell are each pursuing a master’s degrees in theology at the 

University of Notre Dame through scholarships made possible by Catholic 

Extension’s Young Adult Leadership Initiative. 

versity and Boston College to offer 

scholarships to emerging leaders 

chosen by their local bishops for 

this special opportunity. Students 

finish the program with a master’s 

degree in theology and a commitment 

to serve the communities of 

their local diocese. 

Scholarship recipients spend 

part of each summer attending intensive 

courses on campus. They 

take online courses throughout the 

rest of the year. While they earn 

their degree over a period of two to 

three years, they work in campus 

ministry, youth ministry and many 

other diocesan programs. 

Students immerse themselves 

in their theological studies, gaining 

knowledge and experiences 

that they can immediately apply to 

their ministries. 

“Young people have such a 

fire in their hearts for life, and I 

want to kindle that fire in others 

for the Lord,” said Genevieve 

G’Sell, a scholarship recipient in 

her first year of the master’s program 

at Notre Dame and a campus 

and young adult minister for Christ 

the King Parish in the Diocese of 

Helena, Montana. “I wanted the 

knowledge so I could better minister 

to the people I was serving.” 

“Gaining a deeper understanding 

of the faith that wouldn’t 

have been available to me otherwise 

has been great,” said Marcus 

Ayers, the campus minister 

at Central Washington University 

in the Diocese of Yakima. He 

began his studies at Notre Dame 

through a scholarship from the 


in 2019. 

The students are as diverse as 

the dioceses they come from. Santiago 

Banda is among the thousands 

of faith-filled Latino young 

people from the Diocese of Kalamazoo, 

Michigan. He is now a youth 

minister at Immaculate Conception 

Catholic Church and is committed 

to being a credible teacher 

of the faith to his generation. 

“With this degree I can better 

answer questions for those I 

serve,” said Banda. “They’re seeking 

answers, and I can be a source 

of information in growing their 

faith.” 

Another first-year scholar, Alyssa 

Salazar, works as a Catholic 

legacy fund assistant for the Diocese 

of El Paso, Texas, and is an 

engaged parishioner at St. John 

Paul II Catholic Church. Driven by 

her passion for the Lord, she is eager 

to strengthen her theological 

knowledge through her studies at 

Notre Dame as she works to encourage 

people’s generosity and 

commitment to Catholic causes in 

her diocese. 

“Ministry can be done in everything. 

Every action can be used 

as a chance to minister to someone,” 

said Salazar. “These small actions 

will create ripples, and these 

ripples turn into waves. That is 

how we can spread the good news 

throughout the world.” 

Since the Young Adult Leadership 

Initiative began in 2011, 70 

young adults from nearly 30 dioceses 

have received theology scholarships. 

At present, 17 students are 

actively pursuing graduate degrees 

from one of the three partner universities. 

Catherine Cavadini, director of 

the Master of Arts in theology program 

at Notre Dame, relates the 


scholarship recipients enrolled at 

the university to a beautiful image 

from St. Thomas Aquinas. 

“He presents Christ as the Book 

of Charity—in his humanity, in his 

words and deeds, we can ‘read’ the 

love of God,” explained Cavadini. 

“I believe the students are such living 

pages of God’s charity. They see 

their studies as a way to let Christ 

continue to write in their hearts so 

that they can teach God’s love ever 

more fully to others.” 

With the support of Catholic 

Extension donors, we are adding 

more pages to this already beautiful 

book, the story of which will 

continue to be written over the 

next half century as these young 

adult leaders take what they 

learned in the classroom and apply 

it to their ministries, lives, careers 

and families. 

With their hearts on fire, they 

are preparing to pay forward this 

incredible investment to help build 

God’s kingdom in many different 

ways here in our own country. 


10/14/21 3:40 PM


IGNITE Making a difference 

MIGRANT MINISTRY 44 | WISH LIST 48 | CONNECT 50 

YOUR RETIREMENT GIFT 

TODAY IMPACTS THEIR 

CHURCH OF TOMORROW. 

REQUEST 

YOUR FREE 

BROCHURE 

TODAY! 

IMPACT 

TODAY 

A Qualified Charitable 

Distribution allows IRA owners 

age 70 ½ or older to make a 

nontaxable transfer of funds 

from their IRA directly to 

Catholic Extension. 

Name 

Address 

Birthdate 

City State Zip 

Phone 

Email 

IMPACT 

TOMORROW 

Naming Catholic Extension 

as a beneficiary of your 

retirement plan is an easy 

way to make a gift that 

costs you nothing now. 

For more about retirement giving, visit legacy.catholicextension.org/IRA. 

Please contact the Planned Giving team at: 800-842-7804 

plannedgiving@catholicextension.org 

Or, please cut along the dotted line and mail to: 

Catholic Extension, 150 South Wacker Drive, Suite 2000, Chicago, IL 60606 

I have included a gift for Catholic 

Extension in my Will, Trust, or by 

beneficiary designation. 

Please send me the free resource, 

“A Gift from Your Retirement Fund.” 

I would like to learn more about 

long-term gift planning 

Father Jesús 

Mariscal 

supervises the 

seminarians’ 

migrant ministry 

on behalf of the 

Diocese of Yakima. 

See Migrant 

Ministry, 

page 40. 


10/14/21 3:40 PM

44 

IGNITE 

Migrant Ministry 


Present each day 

Despite the ongoing pandemic, 

the seminarians remain 

in solidarity with migrants 

by living with them in 

a former hotel in Yakima that 

has been converted for worker 

housing. 

This has given the seminarians 

the chance to encounter 

the migrants every day as opposed 

to a few times a week. 

It has provided opportunities 

to offer several different ministries 

to the workers. This outreach 

ranges from Mass and 

catechesis in the evenings to 

simply waking with the migrants 

at 3 a.m. to greet them 

as they head out to the fields. 

They also welcome the migrants 

back home as they weaolic. 

While the workers may 

be away from their home faith 

communities, they can still 

find the presence of the Catholic 

Church among them, especially 

through the Diocese of 

Yakima’s seminarians on their 

summer break. 

In 2013 the Diocese of Yakima, 

under the leadership of 

Bishop Joseph Tyson, launched 

the seminarian migrant ministry 

program to enhance the 

priestly formation of its seminarians. 

The program takes 

place during the summer and 

requires seminarians to visit 

migrant camps and work with 

local priests to celebrate Mass 

during the week where the migrants 

are temporarily housed 

for the summer. The seminarians 

also provide catecheti- 

Seminarian John Washington and 

Father Jesús Mariscal meet with 

migrant farmworkers in a Yakima cherry 

field. Before restrictions brought on by 

the COVID-19 pandemic, seminarians 

would work alongside the migrants in 

these fields, critical to both their ministry 

to the workers and their own formation. 

‘ 

Every summer, Hispanic migrants 

travel to Yakima, Washington, 

with H-2A (seasonal 

worker) visas to cultivate and 

harvest the region’s bountiful 

crops. Beginning with the 

cherry season, from mid-June 

through late July, migrants begin 

their labor-intensive workdays 

around 4 a.m., climbing 

ladders, harvesting bunches of 

cherries and placing them in 

pouches around their necks. 

As the growing season progresses, 

migrants work other 

crops, such as the famous 

Washington apples, which are 

sold around the globe. 

Many of the 65,000 migrant 

workers, who travel to the region 

from their homes in Mexico 

and Guatemala with a seasonal 

worker visa, are Cathcal 

formation for those migrants 

who need sacramental 

preparation. 

The seminarian migrant 

ministry traditionally involves 

the seminarians physically 

working in the fruit warehouses 

and orchards with the 

migrants. The seminarians 

have actually worked side-byside 

with the people, developing 

relationships and dialogue 

and learning from those 

whom they will one day serve 

as priests. 

The COVID-19 pandemic 

and new protocols restricting 

seminarians’ access to the 

fields and warehouses forced 

Bishop Tyson and the seminarians 

to find new, creative ways 

to be present to the migrants. 

So, instead of taking a step 

back from this ministry during 

the pandemic, the bishop and 

seminarians leaned into this 

program even more. Bishop 

Tyson decided that he and the 

THEIR FAITH 

ENLIVE NS 

MY FAITH 

’ 

SEMINARIANS OF THE DIOCESE OF YAKIMA 

ARE FORMED THROUGH SERVICE 

TO MIGRANT FARMWORKERS 

seminarians would continue 

this migrant ministry program 

by living among the migrants 

in their temporary summer 

housing. That way they could 

continue to serve them. 

Bishop Joseph Tyson administers the sacrament of 

confirmation to migrant farmworkers in an evening 

celebration following their day of work in the fields. 

rily return after a hard day’s 

work havesting crops. 

Bishop Tyson ensures that 

the seminarians still pray as 

much as they did when they 

lived in parish rectories during 

the summer. Only now, their 

schedule is adapted to the routine 

of the workers. 

“It was an adaptation that 

allowed us to grow and have 

more exposure to them in a 

ministry context,” said seminarian 

John Washington, an Atlanta-area 

native who has ministered 

to migrants in Yakima 

for four summers. 

Washington completed his 

first months of seminary formation 

in the Archdiocese of 

Atlanta but was drawn to seminarian 

migrant ministry in the 

Northwest after learning about 

the program from Yakima seminarians 

while together at the 


10/14/21 3:40 PM

46 

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Migrant Ministry 


Mundelein Seminary in Illinois. 

Bishop Tyson took Washington 

in as an intern, and he has been 

serving in Yakima ever since. 

Throughout the ongoing pandemic, 

Washington notes that 

workers have been hesitant to 

leave their residence. With migrants 

not leaving the worker 

housing to go to church, the 

ministry of Washington and 

his fellow seminarians became 

more essential than ever before. 

Living in the same place 

as the workers and being available 

each day keeps the Catholic 

Church constantly present 

in the lives of the migrants 

amid the pandemic. 

“It was another way we 

could offer them the solace of 

the Church and the solace of 

the sacraments, while also giving 

them reminders of home,” 

Washington explained. “A lot 

of them have a Catholic background, 

but there was no way 

they were going to be able to 

get to a local parish or reach 

out to local groups just because 

of the various restrictions. We 

were able to be with them in a 

more sustained way.” 

Bishop Joseph Tyson prepares children for the start of 

a race, one of many opportunities for students to interact 

through the Literacy Wagon program. 

Through their ministry at 

the worker housing, Washington 

and his fellow seminarians 

are showing the migrants that 

the Catholic Church is a community 

where no one is forgotten. 

He wants all Catholics 

to remember this principle of 

the faith. 

“The workers are there. They 

are human, and they have spiritual 

needs,” Washington said. 

“We’re working with people 

who so very often get overlooked, 

and they shouldn’t be. 

The effect they have on the 

lives of people every single day 

around the country is actually 

quite profound.” 

Bishop Tyson and the seminarians 

are making sure that, 

despite the challenges brought 

on by the pandemic, the migrants 

feel the Church is always 

a home and present to 

them during their time in 

Yakima. 

“If you feel you are on the 

margins, I want you to know, 

as your shepherd, that I see 

you as being at the very center 

of the Church,” said Bishop 

Tyson. 

Literacy wagon 

Through Catholic Extension’s 

Parish Partnerships 

program, 

Saints Faith, Hope and 

Charity Parish in Winnetka, Illinois 

has been fully funding the 

Literacy Wagon in the Diocese 

of Yakima since 2017. This program, 

also led by seminarians 

from the diocese, brings books 

and education to children, helping 

increase literacy, fluency and 

vocabulary while their parents 

work in the fields. 

Unlike H2-A workers, who are 

mostly men traveling seasonally 

without their families, these migrant 

workers come from other 

parts of the United States with 

their families. Many of them journey 

from California and Texas to 

Washington to pick crops. During 

A formative experience for 

future priests 

The seminarian migrant 

ministry program, supported 

by Catholic Extension, certainly 

addresses the spiritual 

needs of the migrants by bringing 

the Church and the sacraments 

directly to them. But the 

main beneficiaries of the program 

are arguably the seminarians 

themselves. Washington 

continuously reminds himself 

of what Bishop Tyson has told 

him and his fellow seminarians 

throughout their formation. 

“If you feel like you’re too 

good to raise a box of cherries 

above your head, you have 

no business lifting the body 

of Christ off the altar,” quoted 

Washington. 

Washington recalls being 

amazed by the ministry to the 

migrants in Yakima from the 

beginning of his time in the 

program. “What a powerful 

witness that the Church wants 

to be with people regardless 

of where they’re at,” he said. 

“The migrants realize, ‘Oh, the 

Church is here with us even 

though we’re far from home. 

The one thing we were able to 

find when we got here was the 

Church, and the Church was 

here waiting for us.’” 

Catholic Extension has supported 

seminarian education 

in the diocese for decades. 

Among those impacted by this 

unique formation program is 

Father Edgar Quiroga, ordained 

a priest in 2020, who echoed 

similar sentiments to those of 

Washington. 

“We have the opportunity to 

see the migrant workers’ faces 

light up once we arrive because 

it is the Church who visits 

them,” said Father Quiroga. 

“It is meaningful for them 

to see that the Church cares 

about them and provides them 

the summers they live in camps 

isolated from the surrounding 

communities. As a result, most 

children of these workers do not 

have access to transportation to 

the public library or other educational 

services. 

“We were able to ensure that 

kids were able to have a nutritious 

meal during the day, engage 

in educational activities and 

have quality time with one another,” 

seminarian John Washington 

said. “While the need 

for these services under normal 

circumstances is critical, 

it is especially needed in the 

COVID-19 world we have found 

ourselves in.” 

The Literacy Wagon program 

offers children an opportunity 

grow their knowledge alongside 

one another throughout 

the summer. 

In the main meeting room of the worker residence, 

Bishop Joseph Tyson and the seminarians offer 

Mass and sacramental preparation to the migrants in 

the evenings, and will additionally rise to greet them 

at 3 a.m. as they head to the fields. 

with whom they need to be 

closer to: Jesus Christ.” 

Father Jesús Mariscal, ordained 

in 2019, helped launch 

the migrant program as a seminarian, 

and is now supervising 

the program on behalf of 

the diocese. His mantra about 

the program has remained a 

constant pre- and post-ordination. 

“Their faith enlivens my 

faith,” he said, speaking of the 

migrants he’s been blessed to 

know and serve as a seminarian 

and now as a priest. 

Father Mariscal joined Bishop 

Tyson and the seminarians 

on July 28, 2021, in the main 

meeting room of the migrants’ 

residence, where 100 farmworkes, 

after a long day of labor 

in the fields enduring temperatures 

above 100 degrees, 

gathered for an evening Mass 

to celebrate the confirmation 

and first Communion of three 

fellow migrant workers. 

After the liturgy, they celebrated 

the occasion with cake 

and refreshments. Bishop Tyson 

reflected on the core lesson 

he wants his future priests 

to learn from these sacramental 

celebrations with migrant 

farmworkers: “These are 

our parishioners. If folks can’t 

come to Church, we come 

to them. So, this is an extension, 

really, of our parish ministry.” 


10/14/21 3:40 PM

48 

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Wish List 


Christmas 

2021 

Wish List 

HOW CAN YOU MAKE A DIFFERENCE THIS CHRISTMAS? 

FOR DECADES, the Christmas Wish List has been an annual tradition 

at Catholic Extension. Your generosity can bless faith communities 

seeking to practice and strengthen their faith in poor regions of the 

United States. Please select an item from our list that touches your 

heart and extend your support to a community in need. 

Deliver your gift at catholicextension.org/wish or call 

1.800.842.7804. 

$ 

90 Will help fund a Catechist Training 

Program for lay leaders to teach the 

Catholic faith 

DIOCESE OF BISMARCK, NORTH DAKOTA 

In the Diocese of Bismarck, more than 95 parish 

volunteers have attended catechist training to learn 

how to properly teach the word of God at their local 

parishes. Please help fund future catechist training 

for lay leaders who are passionate about sharing the 

Catholic faith. 

PHOTO DIOCESE OF BISMARCK 

$ 

95 Will help a rural Texas parish offset 

some of the cost to construct the church of 

their dreams 

DIOCESE OF SAN ANGELO, TEXAS 

A rapidly growing Catholic community in rural Texas 

has purchased land to build St. Rita Catholic Church in 

Greenwood. Families currently attend Mass at a local 

elementary school or drive over 50 miles to the closest 

Catholic church. Please help this faith community 

build the church of their dreams. 

PHOTO GREENWOOD CATHOLIC COMMUNITY 

$ 

70 Will help a dedicated priest 

continue his hospital ministry assisting 

patients and their families dealing 

with COVID-19 

DIOCESE OF SPRINGFIELD-CAPE GIRARDEAU, MISSOURI 

$ 

95 Can help pay for a portion of a 

seminarian’s educational expenses 

DIOCESE OF LAFAYETTE, LOUISIANA 

$ 

65 Can help fund the ministry of two 

Catholic sisters serving in rural East 

Tennessee throughout the pandemic 

DIOCESE OF KNOXVILLE, TENNESSEE 

Sisters María Imelda Quechol and Eloísa Torralba 

Aquino, M.A.G., bring the peace of God to the 

poor and forgotten living in East Tennessee. The 

sisters’ ministry spans eight different counties, 

impacting the lives of over 10,000 people. The 

sisters visit migrant farmworker camps, assist 

families impacted by COVID-19 and help locals 

find employment. 

ADDITIONAL WISHES 

$ 

130 Will help a Franciscan sister continue her 

many duties on the Mescalero Apache Reservation 

in the Diocese of Las Cruces, New Mexico 

$ 

80 Will help defray education expenses for four 

church leaders studying to become permanent 

deacons in the Diocese of Salina, Kansas 

$ 

125 Will help support humanitarian organizations 

assisting vulnerable refugee families seeking asylum 

in the United States 

$ 

75 Helps a Catholic deacon continue his outreach 

ministry to elderly parishioners 

$ 

120 Can cover some travel expenses for a 

priest serving Catholics on a vast Native American 

reservation in the Diocese of Tucson, Arizona 

In the Diocese of Springfield-Cape Girardeau, 

Father Allen Kirchner provides loving care, comfort 

and delivery of the sacraments to ill Catholic patients 

at six non-Catholic hospitals. These essential 

services are desperately needed, especially during 

the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. 

Right now, 29 young seminarians are studying to become 

priests in the Diocese of Lafayette. However, 

educating a seminarian is extremely expensive. You 

can help build up the future of the Church by providing 

critical financial support to help cover their tuition, 

books and room and board. 

$ 

65 Helps cover a portion of funds needed to 

construct a new wheelchair accessible ramp in the 

Diocese of Colorado Springs, Colorado 

$ 

115 Helps support a vibrant youth ministry 

program in northern California in the Diocese of 

Santa Rosa 

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10/14/21 3:40 PM

50 

IGNITE 

Connect 


From the mail 

Dear Catholic Extension, 

I AM DEEPLY GRATEFUL FOR the generosity 

of those who have helped support 

my seminarian education as well 

as that of my 

fellow seminarians 

from 

the Diocese of 

Knoxville. In my 

rosary each day, 

I offer thanks to 

Our Lord and 

to Our Lady for 

the generosity 

of those who 

assist Catholic 

Extension with 

seminarian education. 

Although we don’t know you by 

name, God does. Thank you so much 

for your generous help to us. 

› Danny Herman | Seminarian 

Diocese of Knoxville, TN 

St. Kateri 

Tekakwitha 

Roman Catholic 

Missions Parish 

serves the Pascua 

Yaqui tribe in 

southern Arizona. 


DURING THE MONTHS that Covid 

reports became increasingly more 

dire and our parish became more 

affected, I often wondered how we 

could continue to meet our financial 

obligations. Of course, I was not 

alone in my worry. Father Odel and 

other members of our financial committee 

were also deeply concerned. 

What a blessing it has been to be 

able to pay these expenses without 

added stress. I often wonder if we 

would have been able to sustain our 

parish church without the generosity 

of those who made this Catholic 

Extension grant possible. As a 

member of the finance committee 

and the parish council of St. Therese, 

I have seen the tremendous relief that 

the Extension grant offered to our 

community. 

Dear Catholic Extension donors, 

THROUGH THE ASSISTANCE of Catholic 

Extension, our parish was able to 

provide the necessary items for our vol- 

Father Odel Medina, pastor of St. Therese 

Parish in Kosciusko, Mississippi, congratulates 

graduating high school students. This faith 

community is supported by a parish in central 

Florida through our Parish Partnerships 

program. 

We are a small community of 

believers, but struggle to meet all of 

our financial needs. With the help of 

this grant, we were able to pay all of 

our bills without worrying month to 

unteers to conduct classes via Zoom. 

Because we could do this safely, our 

parish children were able to receive the 

sacraments of Communion and confirmation. 

These blessings were muchneeded 

during a time of pandemic. 

The joy upon these children’s faces has 

been a great reward to the catechists of 

our parish. 

› Veronica Percy | Office Manager, 

Saint Kateri Tekakwitha parish 

Diocese of Tucson, AZ 

month. It has truly been a gift of love, 

and through the movement of the 

Gospel we can continue activities 

that enable everyone to experience 

the teachings of God. What a 

generous act of love. 

› Mary Cade | Bookkeeper, St. 

Therese Parish 

Diocese of Jackson, MS 

Dear Catholic Extension donors, 

THE FUNDING PROVIDED to the 

diaconate formation program in the 

Catholic Diocese of Jackson has made 

it possible for the diocese to support a 

formation program of its own. This has 

contributed to a beautiful sense of fraternity 

among the candidates of this 

class—only the second class of dea- 


Deacon 

candidates in 

the Diocese 

of Jackson 

receive 

support 

in their 

formation 

from Catholic 

Extension. 

THIS PAST YEAR PRESENTED OUR MINISTRY with an unexpected 

challenge because of the COVID-19 pandemic. But 

by the grace of God, we were able to continue our ministry 

for the students in our Newman Center. Amidst the trials, we 

tried our best to be faithful to the spirit of St. John Henry Newman, 

and that is to enhance students’ lives spiritually, intellectually, 

and socially by creating a sense of Christian community 

among Catholic students. 

Thank you very much, Catholic Extension, for helping the 

Newman Center community for the past year! 

› Father Joshua Maria Santos | Chaplain, St. Jerome 

Newman Center at Utah State University 

Diocese of Salt Lake City, Utah 

cons to be ordained in over 40 years. 

This camaraderie contributes to a joy 

that we have received in the formation 

process and will help us to take the joy 

of the Gospel out to the world as we 

enter into our official ministry. 

› David Rouch | Deacon Candidate 

Diocese of Jackson, MS 

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Extension Magazine - Winter 2021

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