Mary Kate Metrvier, a sophomore at Immaculata High School in Leavenworth, cheers a speaker at the annual March for Life in Topeka. Many Catholic schools throughout the state sent students to the rally, held Jan. 22.

The March for Life, commemorating the 37th anniversary of the Roe V. Wade decision that legalized abortion, passes in front of the state capitol in Topeka on Jan. 22. Because the capitol is undergoing renovations, the rally was held at the supreme court.

Many people came from around the state, bringing their children to the March for Life, which was preceded by a Catholic Mass at the Topeka Performing Arts Center. Around 1,600 people attended the Mass.

Topeka March for Life draws 2,500

By Paula Glover
TOPEKA – More than 800 enthusiastic young people from Catholic Schools were the highlight of the annual March of for Life in Topeka on Jan. 22. Because the number of people attending the Mass preceding the march had outgrown the Mater Dei – Assumption Church, the Mass was held at the Topeka Performing Arts Center. Following the Mass where around 1,600 were in attendance, marchers assembled for the walk to the Kansas Supreme Court building, where the rally was held, with around 2,500 on the march, led by Knights of Columbus from around the state.
Father Jarett Konrade, vocation director for the Diocese of Salina, met with 45 college students from seven different colleges during a retreat the previous evening.
“It is wonderful to see college students making sacrifices to be here,” Father Konrade said. “It is invigorating and renewing. This is one of the most important causes they can be a part of.”
Father Konrad’s father, Reg Konrade, director of the Diocesan Family Life office and member of St. Andrews parish in Abilene, said he has come to the marches for more than 10 years, because it is an important part of the pro-life movement.
Ron and LaVonna Brown, from Delphos, were also on hand for the march. “There is strength in unity and marching forward together to make our voice heard,” LaVonna said. The couple was most interested in encouraging pastors and church leaders to speak out against abortion. “This is the time to ‘be not afraid’,” she said.
Kathy Martin, an elected representative to the State Board of Education and a member of Sts. Peter and Paul Church, Clay Center, said that she was there to “stand up for children all the children of Kansas, and this includes children who are not born yet.” She added that she was pro-life before her election to the board, and fully intended to continue as a pro-life advocate.
Robbie Kramer of Herington, wife of Deacon Dick Kramer, said she believes that people need to be awakened to the truth of abortion, even if it means using graphic signs. Graphic signs, showing the baby following an abortion, are not used at the March for Life, but she believes they have a place, in showing people the truth of abortion. “We need an awakening,” she said. “We need to for people to awaken compassion in their hearts, even if it shocks you into the reality of what abortion really is.”
Mary Kate Metivier, a sophomore from Immaculate High School in Leavenworth, attended the march with her school.
“I know that as soon as the baby is conceived it is a life,” she said. “I’ve been to other youth events, and I really wanted to come to the march,” added, in between cheering the speakers.
David Gittrich, state development director for Kansans for Life said he’s been involved with the pro-life movement since 1980. He said, while the numbers at the Topeka March for Life have waxed and waned, the numbers were increasing, primarily due to the young people who attend with their schools.
“These young people know that abortion is wrong, no matter what the government says,” he commented following the march. “They can see how abortion has affected their friends. Young people are really ‘getting it’.”

Appeared in the The Register, newspaper for the Diocese of Salina.

Rev. Robert "Cam" McConnell, First Presbyterian Church, Manhattan

Dr. Wesley Paddock, professor of Old Testament, Manhattan Christian College

Kansans rank high in religion survey
By Paula Glover
MANHATTAN – In a recent survey released by the Pew Forum on Religion in Public Life, Kansans ranked number 13 in the nation in placing religion as important in their lives. Utah was number 12 and the top ranked states, with the exception of Oklahoma, were all in the Deep South.
The Pew Forum measured four factors considered important to measure the level of religious commitment. Sixty-one percent of Kansans ranked “religion as very important”; 62 percent said they prayed daily; 77 percent said they had a “strong belief in God; but only 48 percent said they attended weekly church services.
There may be several factors contributing to the importance of religion in Kansas, local experts speculated. One might be that the state was settled by religious groups or that a small town Midwestern ethic promotes continues to promote the value of religion. But, despite the high ranking, there are still challenges facing religious groups in Kansas.
Wesley Paddock, a professor of the Old Testament at Manhattan Christian College and Father Frank Coady, director of liturgy for the Diocese of Salina and pastor of St. Elizabeth Ann Seton parish in Salina, both mentioned that the state was settled by religious groups and that influence remains.
“Until about 30 years ago, each community maintained their religious identity,” Coady said. “Where the culture and religion coincide, it is easier to maintain that religious emphasis.” He noted in western Kansas in particular, the population is dropping, and no different ethnic or religious groups are coming in that might challenge the religious identity.
Paddock said he witnessed supportive interaction between a town and church when he was in Washington recently on a Sunday evening, and found the only place for a bit to eat was the local Lutheran church’s soup supper. “It was a fabulous soup supper, and I found out about it from a sign in the center of town,” he recalled. “When you arrive at a town in Kansas, you generally see a grain elevator, a water thank and a church’s spire,” he noted, often a Catholic Church. “It says something about the people who settled here, that they were willing to put such a commitment into building a church.”
Rev. Robert “Cam” McConnell is the senior pastor at Manhattan’s First Presbyterian Church. He has previously lived in Illinois, Minnesota and Michigan. He said the “heartland’s religious values are reflected in the faith and work ethic” of members of the church in Manhattan. “There are talented and accomplished people here, with a deep humility.” Particular to Manhattan, he sees a strong connection between the faith community and the university, for the betterment of both.
“Even in the lowest ranked state, I’m sure you find religious vitality and vigor,” McConnell said. “Our lowest state is probably better than any European nation” in terms of placing importance on religion, he added.
When it comes to attending church services, all three men said it was important, but it represents a challenge facing religious groups today.
“When you talk about spirituality in the country, people think they can go for a walk on the prairie and that is time with God,” McConnell said. However, “as a pastor, I also believe that you find true spirituality in community, in the church, in helping people beyond your own walls, in the Body of Christ.”
While support from the community remains a positive factor, there is also competition from the greater culture that is a challenge.
“The religious scene now is completely different than when I was younger,” Paddock, age 70, said, “with multiple services each week and two week revivals. The attitude was if the church was open, you were there.” He noted it used to be that there were no Wednesday evening or Sunday school activities, and now that has changed. “The sports emphasis is so broad that it has crowded out a lot of other things,” he said.
Coady said that the social aspects are often more important than church and it is fruitless to fight against the greater culture. “It is better to work within the cultural forces,” he said.
“National statistics show that people believe in God, but don’t belong to an organized Church,” Coady said. “People distrust organizations in general, and they want to believe in God, but on their own terms.”
The state is only 20 percent Catholic, Coady noted, but it is still “religiously dishonest as a Catholic to say you want to be Catholic, but not belong to the church.”
While Manhattan Christian College benefits from the more religious emphasis of the state, Paddock said that students often come with a limited knowledge of the Bible, another deficit he’s noted over the years.
Just asking about belief in God is inadequate, Paddock said. He believes a better way of measuring the importance of religion is biblical literacy, and the answer to the question “Does your religious faith change your lifestyle?”

The Pew Forum survey measured 35,556 households in the United States, including all faiths, Christian and non-Christian. For more information on the survey, go to www.pewforum.org

Appeared in the Friday/Saturday edition of The Manhattan Mercury, Jan. 16.

With a shirt saying "Some of us will have to set up front with the Lutefisk," Ernest Wilkins fits right in at the Swedish Supper in the Olsburg grade school Dec. 5. The annual supper draws more then 350 to the school as a fundraiser dinner for the Olsburg Evangelical Lutheran Church.

Co-pastors Gordon and Sonja Sandquist greet church members following services.

Gordon Sandquist distributes communion to worshippers. The church offers communion twice a month.

Sonja Sandquist leads the children's church time during the regular church services.

Swedish Supper unites church and community

By Paula Glover
OLSBURG – Even the Christmas tree was decorated with the Swedish flag at the Olsburg Evangelical Lutheran Church’s 53rd annual Swedish Supper, Dec. 5. The celebration of Swedish heritage continued with the table blessing being said in Swedish and the Swedish decorations inside the Olsburg Grade School. Swedish or not, many people attended the event, which unites the church and the community.
The annual tradition kicks off the Christmas season for many in the town and region. Olsburg residents join in by decorating their homes. Becky Avery isn’t Lutheran, but she lives in Olsburg and loves the town and on Dec. 5, she was in the kitchen helping make lut fisk, the rather aromatic cooked fish stew Swedes are known for. She was joined in the kitchen by other volunteers, including Joan Schweer, a former church member who has moved away, but returns each year to volunteer. “It is a social event, and a tradition,” Schweer said.
Everyone is in their places to make the dinner work. “We are the desserts,” said Mary Rosell. The volume of food produced by the small church and volunteers is rather astounding, with 25 gallons of raw milk used for the Ost Kaka (rennet pudding), and volunteers making 800 Spritz, or butter cookies, 475 Rosettes, a deep fried cookie, and 650 Pepparkakor, or ginger cookies. The large volume of food continues, with 20 loaves of rye bread and 16 of white donated. All the cooking is done by church and community volunteers according to the Swedish Supper Recipe book, which is also for sale to the general public.
Coordinator Luellen Kasselman said that around 320 tickets were sold for this year’s event. The money raised is used for scholarships for young people in the church, and now, also to assist the pastor in completing his training for full ordination.
There are many traditions in how the supper is run. Among them, the men serve as dishwashers. Children are involved at a young age, with 4th graders working as runner for messages and such, and older students are allowed to carry food. Shelby Peter, age 12, said she helps out because “its fun and I get to be with my friends.”
The roots of the church go deep into the community. Rosell said her great-grandmother was the first child of Swedish descent born in Riley County. Laurine Catt worked on placing cookies on trays, and recalled that in bygone days, it was less popular to speak Swedish. “My parents spoke Swedish when they didn’t want us to know what they were saying,” she recalled. But later, her parents taught Swedish to her children. While the Swedish traditions and heritage are important, the women told co-pastor Sonja Sandquist that they consider one of the church's strengths to be its openness to anyone who wants to join the church, or come and help.
The Olsburg Evangelical Lutheran Church was established in 1881, with services being held in a frame schoolhouse, until the wind blew it down. A wood frame church with a steeple was finished in 1886 and dedicated the following year. At first, the pews on the left were for the women, those on the right, for the men. Originally lit by coal lamps, the lighting was modernized with the advent of electricity in 1919. As early as 1915, the congregation began considering a new building and they worked for 25 years, raising funds, and the new brick church was dedicated in 1939. The old church was torn down, but the bell, added to the original church in 1898, was kept.
Gordon and Sonja Sandquist are joint pastoral leaders for the Olsburg Lutheran Church.
“One of the things that make the church work well is that they are unapologetically Lutheran,” Gordon said, “but at the same time, there is not a strong delineation between church and community.” The church works on projects with the local Methodist church, for example, and welcomes volunteers from the community for the Swedish Supper. The Lutheran church and the Methodists have come into full communion with one another.
The Sandquists have been ministering in Olsburg for 18 months. “There is a lot of history here,” Gordon said, “it is important to listen to the stories of the families and acknowledge the history.” Sonja commented that “it seems that everyone is related.” Gordon noted that funerals are a significant part of the couple’s ministry, and it has been a way for them to also learn about, and honor, the close family connection.
It is unusual to have a couple who both work as licensed pastoral leaders in the same congregation.
“We are not a typical pastor team” Sonja said. “Whatever success we have is not due to us, it is what God is doing. We arrived at co-pastoring through divine surprises.” The couple met when they were working in churches in the Denver area.
Gordon has 27 years of pastoral experience in church settings and Sonja has 17. Gordon’s experience is as an associate in ministry, but he is currently preparing for full ordination through distributed learning with the Lutheran Seminary in St. Paul, Minn. In June, Sonja will begin a Masters in Ministry with an emphasis in congregational mission and leadership at the same seminary. Now, in addition to her ministry in the church, she is a life coach and certified spiritual director.
“We always look and ask, ‘what is God up to; what is my call; and what is the Church’s call as community.’” Sonja said. “It isn’t about the answer, it is about asking the right questions. We’re not after a quick fix.”
The couple has two adopted children, Symone, age 11, and Monique, age 12, sisters the couple adopted from foster care.
“The children have been accepted here,” Gordon said, in part because of the area’s history, with the orphan train coming through the area. Between 1854 and 1929 an estimated 200,000 orphaned, abandoned, and homeless children were placed into adoptive families throughout the nation in what is known today as the orphan train movement.
Gordon said the Swedish supper is tradition, but it also helps the people of the congregation open doors to new members and to make new friends. “This time, there were more first-time people from outside the community,” he commented.

Article appeared in Manhattan Mercury, Dec. 11.

Swedish Supper Recipes
Cookbook published by the Anna Group of the Oldsburg Lutheran Church. Call 785-468-3500 for information on purchasing the book.

Sill Sallad – Herring Salad
1 cup pickled herring
6 medium potatoes cooked in jackets and diced
6 apples, diced
½ t. pepper
1 ½ T. vinegar
½ pound beef roast, ground
2 cups beets, diced
2 T. dill pickles
1 small onion, chopped fine
1 T. sugar
Mix all together, mold and chill. Serve chilled.

Kottbullar – Swedish Meat Balls
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork
2 cups bread crumbs
1 to 1 ½ cup milk, depending on how bread absorbs the milk
1 t. salt
¼ t. allspice
¼ t. cloves
2 eggs
Soak bread in milk. Beat eggs slightly and add to milk and bread. Combine all other ingredients with above, mix well. A ¼ measuring cup works well to get a nice size meatball. Put in refrigerator until chilled, then reshape balls. Brown in skillet, if making large quantity, brown in oven. After browning, pt into roaster and bake at 325 degrees for half hour.

Joe Carpenter discusses the way the stock pond on the Downey Ranch, near Wabaunsee, is built to reduce damage to the watershed. Around 150 people attended the annual event, sponsored in part by the K-State Extension Service.

Joe Carpenter demonstrates gentle cattle handling during the Ranch and Range tour.

Ranch and Range Tour features Downey Ranch;
Speaker encourages participants to defend their way of life

By Paula Glover
ALMA – It is time for ranchers and food producers to stand up for themselves, Ben Wileman told around 150 people assembled for the 16th annual Wabaunsee County Ranch and Range tour, held Oct. 3 at the Downey Ranch, south of Wabaunsee and at the fairgrounds in Alma.
Wileman, with the Beef Cattle Institute in the College of Veterinary Medicine at Kansas State University, said ranchers should form one organization dedicated to the well-being of animals that would serve as a self-regulatory agency and combat those who oppose ranching and farming over concern about the treatment of animals.
Karaline Mayer, the extension agent for Wabaunsee County, said she heard a presentation similar to Wileman’s and realized it would be perfect for the Ranch and Range Tour.
Wileman was the final speaker in a day that began with a tour of the Downey Ranch, just south of Wabunsee. The other afternoon speaker was Larry Hollis on calf health management.
Wileman explained that farmers and ranchers used to sell their products in a variety of places, from local markets to small grocery chains, but now there are fewer outlets. The top 10 retailers supply 75 percent of the food. The result of this has been that those private environmental groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals and the National Humane Society can effectively apply pressure on only a few retailers to achieve their goals.
“Our industry is under attack,” Wileman said. “We need to address this now, on our own terms.”
Farmers and ranchers “do a poor job of influencing others,” he said. He encouraged the participants to be pro-active in educating people on what producers are doing right in terms of animal welfare. He used the example of taking the time to chat with hunters the rancher might allow onto the property.
He said, in the days of viral videos and cell phone cameras, producers should “operate as if you are being filmed.”
“We need to start doing better and take ourselves to the fight, rather than waiting for the fight to come to us,” he said.
He argued for the formation of a U.S. Food Animal Well-Being Commission that would self-regulate to ensure that food animals are raised according to national standards, with training verification provided by veterinarians.
“We need to head off ballot initiatives, solve our own problems, develop working groups, challenge activist language, and condemn abuse,” he said.
Ranch Tour
Barb Downey and her husband, Joe Carpenter, led the tour which used hay wagons pulled by farm pickups to transport the participants around the 6,500 acre ranch that spans two counties. There are 550 head on the cow-calf operation, mostly spring calving. The tour included a stop to see range management, one for low-stress cattle handling, and one to see a controlled access pond.
The tour began with a stop at a pasture where one side of the road had been sprayed for weed control, and the other had not. Justin Kearns, with Dow AgroSciences in Parkville, Missouri, explained that the yield of grass was so much better on the sprayed field that it was profitable, figuring in the cost of the chemicals.
Carpenter noted that another important part of the ranch’s rangeland management was to move the cattle from pasture to pasture around every five weeks. This is better for the range, and helps to prevent scourers, he said.
The tour continued to the bunkhouse, where there are also cattle pens for a demonstration of low-stress cattle handling. Downey jokingly said that at first, the notion of low-stress cattle handling sounded like “voo-doo.”
“But it is easier on the livestock and you have the knowledge you are doing the right thing by your livestock,” she said. The goal on the ranch is that the cattle “never have a bad day.” They work with the cattle from the time they are calves, accustoming them to the presence of humans, and teaching them to respond to the low stress handling.
There are several principles to this type of handling, Downey said - including that cattle are uncomfortable when you are near them and they want to go back where they came from. The cattle are moved slowly and quietly, with no hotshots. The method also uses open sided chutes.
Now that the cattle are accustomed to the change in handling, one person can now do what it used to take five to do.
“We want to produce beef for a higher-quality market,” Downey said. “We want people eating beef that tastes good and is produced in a quality manner.”
Because water quality is an issue, the tour included a stop at a controlled access pond, where the cattle are allowed to the pond only in a small area. This reduces erosion and sedimentation in the pond.
“We want to give the cattle quality water so they will drink more and be healthier,” Carpenter said. He noted the access was built four years ago, and it hasn’t needed much work.
In the afternoon, Hollis, a beef specialist at Kansas State University, discussed low stress weaning of calves. He said low-stress weaning helps deal with problems such as pneumonia in the calves, which is aggravated by physical stress like dusty pens, psychological stress from being separated from the cow, and other factors like weather, dietary and water changes.
He said common methods of weaning – weaning on the truck, dry pen weaning, and pasture weaning – are too stressful for the calves.
He recommended a method called “fence line weaning” where the calves are left in a pasture and the mothers are moved to a pen just on the other side of the fence. “This is much better than any abrupt methods,” he said.
Peggy Schultz ranches west of Alma with her husband.
“We enjoy the Ranch and Range Tour,” she said. “We always pick up something. We do everything, so we were particularly interested in the low-stress cattle handling.”
Mayer said that over the course of the tour’s 16 years, more than 3,400 people had participated. The tour was recently moved to a Saturday to allow people who have out-ranch jobs to attend, she said, and it was combined with the ranch rodeo to allow for a festive cap to the day.
“We always choose a good operation to tour; one of the more progressive operations,” she said. “It is an honor for the ranch to be on the tour.
“We need to know what we are doing right as producers,” she said.

Appeared in the Grass and Grain.

Lesyle Haller, pastor of Louisville United Methodist Church, distributes communion. The first Sunday of each month is "communion Sunday."

Haller blesses the communion prior to distribution in the Louisville church.

At St. George United Methodist Church, were Pastor Haller also serves, the children are called forward during the services, prior to being sent to a "children's church."

Intinction is the method of distributing communion at the St. George United Methodist Church.

Woman pastor finds acceptance in rural churches
By Paula Glover

ST. GEORGE – It is all about responding to God’s call. Pastor Leslye Hailer heard God’s call to the pastorate six years ago, and she is now a pastor for two United Methodist churches, one in Louisville and one in St. George.
She would tell any woman who might want to be a pastor to “go for it. If this is something God is calling you to do, he’s going to make it possible.”
Hailer responded to a conversation with her own pastor at a church in Manhattan. She had approached him, asking to do more with the youth, but at one point in the conversation, she recalled, he leaned back, and said “I think you’re being called to be a pastor.”
It took her husband, Marvin, and children, Jason, 30; Brandy McDonald, 24; and son Daniel, 21, a little time to adjust. “Marvin was a little bit worried, maybe he’d have to change somehow, but people have allowed him to be who he is,” Hailer said.
While the notion of a woman pastor is still foreign to some denominations, it isn’t uncommon in the United Methodist Church. In 1880, a woman was ordained as clergy in a Methodist denomination that later became part of the United Methodist Church, according to the denomination’s web site. But women clergy didn’t have equal rights until the General Conference voted in 1956 to grant full clergy rights to women. About 10,000 of the approximately 45,000 clergy in the United Methodist Church are women. The United Methodist Church was the first to ordain a women bishop, add the denomination has elected 21 women bishops and 16 remain active, with four retired and one deceased.
Hailer has received a warm welcome in her two churches.
“Leslye is a strength of this church,” said the church pianist for St. George, LeRoy Johnson. “She has a lot of wisdom, everybody is pleased with her. She’s like a missionary.”
“Leslye keeps us invigorated,” said Don Gardner, a member of the Louisville church since 1958.
The two churches are different in their membership, but Hailer is clearly fond of both groups. “The folks in Louisville are a hoot,” she said. The Louisville congregation is mainly elderly, with the youngest man, Albert Menhusen at age 75, being the person to ring the church bell. There are currently 25 members of the church, but about half don’t come to the church, due to age or disability.
Darrell Larson, a member since 1964, confessed to converting from Lutheranism when he married. “We feel there is a real need for a church in this community; it helps keep the community together,” he said. The United Methodist church is the only one in Louisville proper.
Fern Worthing, a member since 1955, praised the church for its “sense of community.” She grew up in the church, and used to come to Sunday School and recalled when there was a sandbox in the corner.
There was some remodeling done to the church, originally built in 1878, but the real change came in the early 1960s, when the ceiling was lowered and Gardner recalled “the whole community came to help.”
People still pull together. “Everyone does their little things to make it work right,” said Betty Schumacher, who is the treasurer. “Everyone has their niche.”
There is still a strong sense of community at St. George United Methodist, but with 100 members and around 30 at Sunday worship, there are some young people in the mix.
Winnie Sharp, who is the assistant communion steward and a member for 30 years, said “the young people add a lot to the church. We have a good fellowship here, we love each other like a family.”
Church historian Phyllis Berges has compiled a complete history of the church, tracing the roots back to the circuit riding Methodist ministers that the Methodist denomination is known for. In some sense, that time has returned, with pastors like Hailer serving more than one church.
In 1866, Jacob Boucher was pastor of the Louisville Circuit, which encompassed Louisville, Wamego, St. George, some schoolhouses and Westmorland. The cornerstone of the present church in St. George was laid in 1879, the same time frame when the Louisville church was completed.
Since the 1980s, the St. George church has hosted a food pantry, which is a community food pantry. The members of St. George also reach out to the community in various ways, through barbecues, pancake breakfasts, and hay rides; and their fellowship hall is used for various community meetings, from senior citizens to Boy Scouts. A pancake breakfast is planned for Nov. 21.
On Nov. 1, Hailer began using a more modern style worship aid – with the Sunday reading projected like a power point. She wants to begin a contemporary evening worship service. “Young people know technology,” she said. “It helps draw them in.”
She works to make the church friendly, emphasizing that it is acceptable to come to church “as you are,” regardless of tattoos and no need for fancy clothes. “It is very important that we be centered in Christ,” she said. “We are all sinners, saved by God’s grace, striving for perfection.”
Throughout her journey, she has felt accepted and her decision for the ministry honored. “MCC’s people were very supportive,” she said. “It was a wonderful place to go to school. I just haven’t experienced people who have rejected me.”
Her training as a minister continues, through a course of study geared for Methodists who are unable to attend seminary full time. She is a part-time minister for the two churches, and has maintained a full time job with K-State’s Conservation Seedling Program.
She visits the sick and homebound following both church services, and said the congregations at both churches have been positive about respecting her time.
“The congregations are is used to a part time pastor,” she said. “They are very self-reliant.”

Appeared in the Manhattan Mercury Nov. 6.

Father Arul Carasala speaks with parishioners at St. Columbkille Church in Blaine before Mass recently. The native of India has come to the United States to help fill rural parishes that need priests.

St. Columbkille Church in Blaine stands landmark on Kansas route 99. The parish used to also have a school.

People attend the annual Soup Supper and Auction at St. Bede Church in Kelly. The annual fundraiser garners around $17,000 to support the parish.

Due to unseasonably cold weather, people wait inside the sanctuary for entrance to the soup supper at St. Bede's.

People enter into the church for the soup supper. St. Bede Church stands as a beacon on a hill in Kelly.

Four rural parishes united by faith – served by one priest

By Paula Glover
It is missionary work. Only in reverse.
Father Arul Carasala, a native of India, is one of 18 foreign-born priests in the Archdiocese of Kansas City who have come to the United States to help serve in the Roman Catholic Church.
Father Carasala, from the Diocese of Cuddapah, originally came to the archdiocese as part of his mission appeal on behalf of the Christian Foundation for Children and Aging, based in Kansas.
“India was a mission country,” he said. “India is rich with pastoral ministries. Now it is time to help those in need in the United States.”
It is a trend common to most Catholic dioceses in the U.S. – countries where there are more priests than needed come to serve, sometimes specific immigrant populations, but sometimes, just to serve as a parish priest where otherwise, there might be no priest.
“I stayed four months and liked it here, liked the people, and found that the people liked me,” Father Carasala recalled. He spoke with his bishop at home and received permission to come and help out in the archdiocese and arrived in 2004. In addition to serving at four parishes, he continues appeals for the orphanage during the summer.
Father Carasala serves four rural parishes north east of Manhattan – St. Patrick in Corning; St. Vincent de Paul in Onaga; St. Columbkille in Blaine; and St. Bede in Kelly.
“This rural life is not what I grew up with,” he said. “It was a big cultural change for me. The food is different, the English accent is different, the driving is different … but the Mass is the same, unifying element all over the world.”
Father Carasala had stopped for a quick break amid the festivities of the annual parish soup supper and auction at St. Bede Church in Kelly. St. Bede towers over the Flint Hills like a beacon, and it is a beacon of faith for the 150 church members.
The night of the festival, Oct. 11, was so cold the hundreds of people who came for the festivities waited in the church sanctuary before the meal.
Fred and Kim Henry grew up in the area. The soup supper “shows a lot of spirit,” said Kim Henry. “Everybody knows everybody. People understand that faith is what keeps us strong.”
Janet Hermeach, a member of the church for all of her “50 plus” years said more people are returning to the parish because they want a rural lifestyle.
The Catholic parishes in the area are going strong, she said, pointing to the Kelly Youth Rally, held just after the school starts, which draws around 500 youth.
With one priest and four parishes, there is one Mass at each parish on the weekend and the schedule rotates quarterly, with two having Saturday evening Mass and two having Sunday morning Mass. It can be a little confusing when the schedule changes, but keeps it fair for each parish. Although there is one priest serving the four parishes, the parishes remain separate, with their own pastoral councils.
Kellie O’Shea, a parishioner at St. Columbkille in Blaine, noted that the 50 member families “pull together as a community to keep the parish alive. Each family contributes and we have a strong Knights of Columbus,” (the Catholic men’s organization). Although, as is the case throughout the United States, the parish school has been closed, students still come to the parish for religious instruction.
“I’m glad to have a priest who can come and say Mass,” said Michael Finan, who was born and raised in the Blaine area.
“The word catholic means universal,” said Father Brian Schieber, a priest at Most Pure Heart of Mary in Topeka, and the vicar for priests for the archdiocese. “The international priests bring the richness and diversity of the Catholic Church and we see the universality of the Church; whether Indian, African, or from the United States, we are all part of the same Church.” There are around 130 priests in the archdiocese, Father Schieber said. The international priests in the archdiocese mainly come from India, Korea, Ghana and South America.
With an upswing in the numbers of men studying for the priesthood, the use of foreign-born priests to help keep smaller parishes open could be just a temporary solution. “It has been a blessing to have these priests here,” Father Schieber said.
“We feel particularly blessed to have Father Arul,” Father Schieber said. “He’s been a great friend and has integrated into the presbyterate (the group of all the priests.) The archbishop is very grateful he is here.”

This story appeared in the Manhattan Mercury, Oct.23/24 issue.

Zeandale Community Church modernized country worship

Zeandale Community Church modernizes country worship

Story for Manhattan Mercury

By Paula Glover

The exterior of the Zeandale Community Church may be from 1896, but inside, worshipers participate in a modern worship service, complete with power point presentations and song lyrics displayed on a screen. At the same time the church with fewer than 100 members affords a sense of community.

“The components that make this church go are the people who are committed to keep it going and do what they believe God wants them to do,” said Wesley Paddock, a professor at Manhattan Christian College, who had led the congregation since 1999. “The church has always been very community minded as well as mission minded (concerned about the world at large). On one occasion we received word that a church had burned in Salina. They were asking for help to rebuild. The Zeandale church voted that night to send $5,000 to the church.”

Originally founded as a Christian Church, during the 1950s, it merged with the local Methodist denomination, and became a non-denominational church, Paddock said.

Together, the congregation supports overseas missionaries, with 40 percent of the church budget. The church members also participate in a variety of charitable efforts, including Angel Food, a program that helps provide groceries for those that might need it.

Carol Cowen grew up in the church, and said the Angel Food program is very gratifying. The women of the church also serve supper to various service clubs as a fundraising activity and that helps give a sense of community, Cowen added, recalling the women have done so since 1959. Marie McConnell coordinates the Angel Food program, and said of the 20 boxes recently brought to the Zeandale Community Center, seven were donated from the church. “It is a good community effort, and gives us fellowship in distributing the boxes,” McConnell said.

Such community efforts are important for a church, Paddock said, to develop a positive Christian experience.

Darrell Parks, who grew up in the church and has been a member for more than 50 years, said he thought people were drawn to the church because “it is definitely a Christ-based church. The Bible is taught here.” Over the years, there have been more young families than there are now. “The church needs to be rejuvenated with young families,” he said.

Paddock agrees. “The greatest challenge is finding young married people that want to be a part of the church. Our church is growing older every year and there are too few coming in to fill the gaps. As with all rural communities, the children grow up and move away.” He said the church has not come to grips with how to solve this problem.

Melissa Boutz leads the choir and the women’s Bible study. Her husband, Bryan, has family connections to the church. Members for 12 years and former students at Manhattan Christian College, they are among the youngest families in the church.

“We have a big sense of family here,” Boutz said. “But we also have a sense that the church community is part of our family.” She joked that the church set up a nursery area because of the birth of their child in 2002 in a corner of the fellowship hall.

As a leader of the women’s Bible study, she is instrumental in building that important fellowship within the church. During the Bible study, on Sept. 27, the women finished a book called “Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World.” With around ten women in the group, the women have developed friendships as they share their faith journeys. There are a couple of ladies in their 80s in the group, Boutz said, but most are between 40 and 60. In her 30s, she’s the youngest member.

Sean Warner, a freshman student at K-State who recently moved near Zeandale from Wichita, bucks the trend of young people not joining the church. “I saw the sign for the church (on Highway 18),” he said. He began attending and “I enjoy the sermons, Dr. Paddock is a great teacher. I thought this would be a good place to get involved.”

During the Sept. 27 service, Paddock began a series on knowing Christ, based on a book by Philip Yancy, “The Jesus I Never Knew” which featured a power point style presentation.

“MCC has provided leadership for the past 30 years,” Paddock said. With a Masters in Divinity in 1971 and a Doctorate in Ministry in 1995, he teaches Old Testament at the college. “I followed another MCC professor who had been there for a long time also.” The church has adapted its practices to the students. For example, they now celebrate communion every Sunday, because the students requested it.

Because of the participation of Manhattan Christian College students, Warner did not stand out due to his age. Students often come to the church, and while they might not be official members, they add a sense of vibrancy to the church. On Sept 20, students participated in the worship service, and the congregation then hosted a luncheon. The following week, members were still enjoying Paddock’s joke to the students that the luncheon would be food they were used to – noodles and mac and cheese.

“No,” said Cowen, “we fed them well.”

The pastor of the church was so kind as to send me a note saying how pleased they were with the story - and the exterior photo included a long-time member of the church, who was tickled pink to have his photo in the paper.