Year: 2012

Applications for the Marguerite Ritzinger Scholarship of the Diocese of Davenport are being accepted now through Feb. 1. Any Catholic individual who plans to attend a college or university next fall may apply for a $1,000 scholarship.
The award is named for the late Marguerite Ritzinger, a Sigourney native, who left $388,770 to the diocese to help with scholarships for seminarians and students to attend colleges or universities.
The diocese launched an annual scholarship program in late 2009. Char Maaske, diocesan chief financial officer, said the committee that awards the scholarships received more than 150 applications for the 2012-13 school year and awarded 28 scholarships. At least one student from each deanery re­ceived a scholarship in 2012.
“I am so impressed going through the quality of students who apply for the scholarships,” Maaske said. “They are so involved in their church and communities, have good grades, are active in sports and organizations like 4-H, and many also work.” She said it’s difficult for the committee of five to choose from among the excellent applications. Non-traditional students may apply for the scholarships as well, Maaske noted.
The scholarships are not automatically renewed each year. Applications for next year’s scholarships will be due by Feb. 1.
Applications must include an essay, copy of a high school or college transcript and two reference letters all sent together.
Application forms are available on the diocesan website at www.davenport
diocese.org. Click on chancery, finance, library and then M. Ritzinger scholarship application.

By Anne Marie Amacher

DAVENPORT — Although students didn’t always know when their families came to America or what route they took to get here, they appreciated learning about their family roots during a project led by middle-school students at All Saints Catholic School.
Sixth-graders through eighth-graders hosted a cultural fair Dec. 13 during the day and later that evening for students, parents, relatives and alumni to showcase what they learned about their native countries.
Nearly 30 different countries or Native American tribes were represented in displays in the school gym.
Teacher Sandy Thomson said she assigned the project so students could learn about themselves and their ancestry. The assignment included creation of a tri-fold poster emphasizing three cultural aspects about the country such as traditions, food, clothing, holidays, religion and architecture. Students also wrote a report and made a presentation to classmates prior to the cultural fair.
Seventh-grader Fred Hollings­worth reported on the Lakota Sioux. He estimates he is about 15 percent Native American from his mom’s side of the family. He knew about his heritage, but said he learned some new statistics. He explained that Native Americans have seven rituals that are part of their tradition. One example involves energy. Fred said Native Americans burn a lock of hair in a fire to “get rid of bad energies.

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By Anne Marie Amacher

DAVENPORT — With change in hand, kindergarteners through fifth-graders took turns buying homemade gifts for their family at a Christmas bazaar hosted by St. Paul the Apostle Catholic School sixth-graders.
Sixth-graders have hosted the annual bazaar for years, said teacher Tara McCabe. Students divided into groups in their social studies class to decide what item or items they wanted to sell. Then they figured out costs for materials and designed a PowerPoint computer slideshow and written proposal to present to loan officers from Quad City Bank and Trust.
Students Jon Herrington and Bret Kopp said they were nervous asking the bankers for a $100 loan for their project. “After a while it became fun talking with them,” Harrington said.  The group made snowmen with Rolo candies inside fleece and pet rocks decorated for the holidays.
Josie Bedard and Dylan Peeters also were nervous, but relaxed as they and fellow team members Spencer Goree and Rachel Lucas made their presentation to the loan officers. That group went for a loan of $55 to make candy cane pals (candy canes with pipe cleaners to make them look like reindeer) and snowball hair ties (hair ties with colorful poms attached). Josie said the loan officer suggested the group raise the price of their hair ties, and approved their loan. The group produced both items in bulk and also added holiday lanyards that could be used as bracelets.

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To the Editor:
Father Robert Barron has a talent for explaining well the elements of our faith in terms of the culture we experience.  I am usually charmed by his insights.
However, his last column trading on the Vatican II Council as being “the greatest meeting of all time” and propagating bureaucracy in the Church seems to have missed the mark.  He seems to imply that the council came without the sense of urgency or prompting of the Holy Spirit expressed by John XXIII: the need for aggiornamento and engagement with the world.  He blames such engagement as responsible for a weak fervor for evangelization.
Although Fr. Barron was young in receiving the fruits of the council, he may be naïve in thinking the council fathers were merely enthralled by the process of “listening, dialoguing, wondering, doubting and discussing” rather than  discerning the challenges and opportunities which could refresh our faith and renew the face of the earth.
Unfortunately, a trend seems to be developing in which such attitudes as Fr. Barron’s seek to erode the good work, spirit and call of the Holy Spirit within that council to be a people of hope and Good News.
Father Walter Helms
St. Thomas More Church
Coralville

By Frank Wessling

In the beginning there was Jesus, and nothing has been the same since.
That could be a summary of Christian faith, our faith.
There was something before Jesus, certainly. Important human history preceded him, including significant faith. But in Jesus all that is human was, and is, liberated from human limits.
We remember this every year at Christmas time as if waking from sleep again. So-called normal life has us plodding along working only for ourselves, head down and determined to get ahead. Then we look up and look around, put up lights and notice each other fresh.
The sometimes garish and extravagant display of Christmas lighting on our homes is an eruption of hope. Yes, there is darkness, but that is not the end.
Jesus, the one we exalt, was an infant just like all of us. The Evangelists tell us that he arrived in helpless poverty and while in that condition was still greater than the powers of the world. Herod could not kill him and the wisest men were in awe of him.
The story of him, our Gospel, places a woman at the center of new power. Mary, the mother of Jesus, was asked to turn herself over completely to mystery. There was a promise of unimaginable new life, but the reality for her was still mystery.
“How can this be?” she asked sensibly. Then, let it be.

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By Barb Arland-Fye

DAVENPORT — After Bishop Martin Amos announced “we choose this man, our brother, for the Order of the Priesthood,” the congregation that filled Sacred Heart Cathedral for Father Steve Witt’s ordination Mass applauded heartily.
“At least you have a few friends,” Bishop Amos quipped before beginning his homily. The new priest’s children, grandchildren, mother-in-law, siblings, former parishioners, fellow priests and deacons were among hundreds of people gathered for the Dec. 15 Mass.
Julie Witt, the youngest of Fr. Witt’s three children, observed after Mass that her father had come full circle. He started out in the seminary, then met his future wife, Patti, became a deacon when his children were young, mourned the death of his wife, and now he’s a priest. “Everything happens for a reason,” added Julie Witt, who is proud of her father for choosing the priesthood. “It’s something he’s always wanted to do.”
Fr. Witt smiled broadly throughout his ordination Mass, but said afterward he had tears in his eyes during Bishop Amos’ homily.
“Steve, you were baptized into the body of Christ and share in the universal priesthood of the baptized,” the bishop said in his homily. “You were confirmed in the Spirit, nourished with the body and blood of Christ, shared in the sacrament of marriage, ordained to word and service as a deacon, and today, through the laying on of hands and prayer, become a priest.”

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By Loxi Hopkins

As we plan our pro-life activities for January in the Social Action Department of the Davenport Diocese, I find myself reflecting on the 20 years I spent as a pro-life counselor and the women who crossed my path.
Three women in particular come to mind. One was a 20-something mother-to-be who decided to make an adoption plan. She lived with my family for four months until she could give birth. I thank God for Catholic Charities in the Peoria (Ill.) Diocese for the counseling she received during her pregnancy so that when the time came to have her baby she was able to make a clear choice. I remember being at the hospital with her the day her beautiful baby girl was born. I was also present on the day she held her baby for the last time and said goodbye. What a beautiful choice she made when she gave her baby an opportunity for a life she wasn’t prepared to provide at that time.
The second young woman was still in her teens. She also lived with my family during her pregnancy. She wavered on whether to keep her baby and finally decided to go through with adoption. I heard from her several years later and she told me that she was married and had two children, but that every day she thought of her first baby.  She said she knew she had made the right decision in completing an adoption plan. She said that she had been so young at the time, unmarried and unable to provide the home that her baby deserved.

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