Denver Catholic

CATHOLIC LIFE I 3 DENVER CATHOLIC REGISTER I OCTOBER 9, 2013 UNC students bare feet for babies REAL LIFE CATHOLIC BY NISSA LAPOINT Students at the University of Northern Colorado in Greeley are walking barefoot on campus this week in hopes to convert hearts. The campus ministry's annual Bearfoot for Babies initiative through Oct. 11 is meant to silently protest abortion and the culture of death. "We don't want to win arguments, we want to change hearts," said 20-year-old junior Melissa Timmermeyer, a student ministry leader. Bear Catholic Campus Ministry, named after the college mascot Klawz, sponsors the week-long prayerful student initiative with a series of prolife events including a life chain, "kick-off shoes" Mass, adoration, inspiring talks and a eucharistic procession. Today, Oct. 9, the ministry will hold a Life Expo and a concert followed by an outdoor "illuminated" rosary. Steve Mosher, president of the Population Research Institute, will give a talk on the myth of overpopulation on Oct. 10. The event ends with Mass and a procession Oct. 11. Throughout the week, students place 3,300 crosses at sites across campus to symbolize the number of babies aborted daily. Students are also encouraged to go barefoot. "It is a grassroots pro-life effort started by students at UNC where they go barefoot all week in penance and prayer to end abortion," said Father Matt Hartley, campus chaplain and pastor of St. Peter Church in Greeley. He said it serves as a powerful reality check. CHRISTOPHER STEFANICK My hero PHOTO PROVIDED IN THIS PHOTO from last year, 3,300 white crosses, symbolic for the number of daily abortions, dot the University of Northern Colorado campus in Greeley. The campus ministry group is hosting its annual Bearfoot for Babies initiative through Oct. 11 when students pledge to go barefoot for a week in silent protest of abortion. "Everyone knows it's Bearfoot She said she will pray and for Babies week. There's no way offer up sacrifices for those around it," he said. "We have a aborted and those impacted by lot of people who are curious. abortion. We do have some people who get angry and try to put up signs. BEARFOOT And we have a bunch of students FOR BABIES who walk barefoot, both Catholic and non-Catholic alike." SCHEDULE Through the week's events, his hope is for students to see the Where: University of Northern "culture of life is more beautiful Colorado, 1700 Ninth Ave., Greeley than a culture of death." It doesn't come without some Oct. 9: 10 a.m.-4 p.m. Life Expo sacrifice. 7 p.m. Concert for Life by Tony Timmermeyer will join other Melendez and the Toe Jam students early each morning to Band place the white crosses at a different spot on campus with bare 9 p.m. illuminated rosary Oct. 10: 7 p.m. Steve Mosher feet. "It's a lot harder than you talk on "Are there too many think it is," she said. "Walking people in the world?" on the concrete early in the Oct. 11: 3 p.m. Mass at campus morning really affects you. And chapel, 800 19th St., Greeley you definitely get a lot of looks 3:30 p.m. eucharistic procesduring school." sion on campus Priest, deacon to explore 'Zombies and the Thirst for Communion' at Theology on Tap BY DAVID HAZEN es mbiies zo Father Nepil pointed out that this individual-against-the-world outlook often colors the way we approach the Church and faithful questions of faith. iirst rst the th he th "We were inspired by the final and t on and uniio n line of the (2009) movie 'Zomm mm un or Co m r Co fo f bieland': 'Without other people, you might as well be a zombie,'" said Father Nepil. "If the experience of faith is not lived fundamentally as communion, then e is th alypse it becomes destructive to our oc us? b ap zomlrie dy upon a humanity," because it remains a e merely a set of data or moral imperatives and does not become 7 pm a life-giving relationship. october 21 "If that's the Christian life—'I just hope I can make it!'—that is ultimately going to be incred- than a lecture, inviting attendibly boring," added Deacon ees to grow in awareness of their Goebel. need for authentic communion The duo hopes to make their See Zombies, Page 5 presentation more of a dialogue theolog on tap y t fall seri es At Theology on Tap on Oct. 21, Father John Nepil and Deacon Nathan Goebel will join forces to tackle the undead. The title for the event, "Zombies and the Thirst for Communion," sprang from Deacon Goebel's interest in a pop-culture phenomenon that apparently refuses to die. "I think the zombie myth appeals because of this: In a zombie story, technology fails, community fails and people have to fend for themselves," he explained. He said the motivation of such movies' isolated protagonists as, "I'm just trying to slaughter enough zombies so I can stay alive," which serves as a metaphor for the experience of most members of the audience. g: urin feat er fath john nepil on deac el oeb an g nath at Katie Mullen's pub 1550 Court Pl., Denver Oct. 19 is the feast of St. John Brebeuf, St. Isaac Jogues and Companions. You can see the full blazing beauty of leaves at the end of their lives, just before they fall as winter approaches. That's also generally true of the saints, especially the martyrs who gave their lives for the faith. I recently visited Martyrs' Shrine in Midland, Ontario, where one of my heroes is buried and his skull is on display with visible scratches that speak of his violent death. St. John de Brebeuf grew up in France. He knew high culture and had studied at the best universities. But he left it all for Canada to serve the Huron nation. Canada is a beautiful place to visit today. Four hundred years ago there were no major cities, hospitals, supermarkets, central heat, or any other modern conveniences. Rather, there were roving bands of Iroquois determined to kill every single Huron and every Frenchman they met. That's the forest St. John ventured into, alone, in a canoe, looking for souls to serve. He found the Huron and approached them without even knowing their language. No white man did. He won his welcome by humbly serving them. Even after he was welcomed in, his life didn't get much easier or safer. Every culture has its beauties and its difficulties. He wrote to his friend, St. Isaac Jogues, to prepare him for the mission where he'd join St. John in service—and later in martyrdom. He described how he could barely sleep because of the fleas and rodents in the long houses. His eyes were constantly burning because the houses were smoke-filled and poorly ventilated all winter. Food was bland corn meal and, if you were lucky, some dog meat. He wrote about a culture where wives were often traded in gambling bets and how a witch doctor might turn the people against a missionary at any moment, blaming them, out of superstition for anything that went wrong, even a change in weather. He warned Father Isaac, "You may be killed at any moment." Yet, despite all the difficulties he encountered, he didn't judge the Huron. He didn't think himself better than them. He thought of himself as one of them. He was able to see the beauty and goodness in their culture and wrote about the generosity in their hearts, their capacity for the purest love, the sacrifices they'd make for one another, and about their contemplative spirits. He told his fellow missionaries, "You must love these Huron, ransomed by the blood of the Son of God, as brothers." He and his friends spent endless hours studying them and learned their language. It's because of these Jesuit missionaries that we have written records of the Huron language and culture. They weren't on a mission to crush a culture, but to preserve it, raise up what was good in it, and bring the light of Christ to it, so that light could shine through the Huron in its own unique way. Through all the ups and downs, which were extreme, St. John's ministry was marked by a superhuman courage; "love casts out fear" after all (I John 4:18). He once arrived at a village where he was told to wait in a wigwam while a council met to decide whether to kill him. When they delivered the verdict, they found him taking a nap! One of his friends wrote, "Nothing could upset him during twelve years I've known him." In 1649, a band of about 1,000 Iroquois overran a small fort where Father John and his priest friend, St. Gabriel, were ministering to Huron braves. He was told to run but said, "No, I am remaining to minister to my people until the end." He told Father Gabriel Lalemant to run but his friend begged to stay. Like John, he wanted to die with his Huron brothers. After they were captured, they endured some of the worst torture of any martyr in the history of the Church. St. John was burned, scalded, stabbed, had a hot iron rammed down his throat, he had to watch parts of his flesh be filleted and eaten in front of him, and worse. It's difficult to even write that much gory detail, but it shows the intensity of his courage and love. See Stefanick, Page 5

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