The Catholic faith of Caitlin Clark

 

From Prayer to Pointers: How Faith Fuels Caitlin Clark's Game

6 Things to Know About Her Catholic Faith Ahead of NCAA Final Four

Alyssa Murphy BlogsApril 5, 2024

Caitlin Clark has been taking the internet by storm this past week with good reason. Star of the University of Iowa women’s basketball team, they took out defending champs LSU on Monday, and may now potentially be the last team standing as we round out March Madness 2024. 

With the first game of the Final Four tipping off tonight, sports gurus are taking to social media to have heated debates about her G.O.A.T. status. The Catholic rising star has shattered an impressive record, scoring more points than anyone in college basketball, men and women. She was also just named the Naismith National Player of the Year, a title she first achieved last year.

And did I mention her ability to drain a three close to center court? The girl's got game. And murmurs are also rippling about another integral aspect of Caitlin Clark: her fierce Catholic faith.

Here are 6 things to know about the 6-foot tall guard's faith ahead of her quest to clinch an NCAA championship:

1. Clark, a native of Des Moines, grew up attending Catholic school. When she's home, she is a parishioner at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in West Des Moines, That's where she went to elementary school, St. Francis of Assisi Catholic School, before going to Dowling Catholic High. 

2. Clark is vocal about her own faith on and off the court. Playing Varsity basketball for Dowling Catholic High School in West Des Moines, Iowa, she told the Des Moines Register in 2018, “We get to live our faith every day. Dowling starts every day with prayer and ends every day with prayer. This is a big reason why Dowling has such a special culture and is such a special place to go to school.” 

3. Her brother also plays college football and is quick to keep her focused on faith. Even with a busy football season and college classes, Blake Clark who leads the Iowa State Cyclones as quarterback finds time to remind his sister to pray the Rosary and not to miss Mass near her campus. Parishioners say she is there more often than not. A St. Benedict bracelet was also spotted on her brother during the Final Four last year. He prayed the Rosary ahead of the game, the last decade recited inside the arena. 

4. Actually her entire family is very sports-minded. Clark's grandfather was the coach for Dowling Catholic High's football team. Her father played both baseball and basketball in college. And her mother Anne thought her daughter would wind up at Notre Dame. 

5. Her high school basketball coach witnessed her devotion. Kristin Meyer coached Clark during her years at Dowling and noticed her fervent faith and the player's understanding of the many gifts God has given her. “It’s not just about scoring a lot of points or winning; she loves playing in front of a sold out arena because she gets to entertain people and bring a smile to their face," Meyer told Crux in a recent interview. "For two hours she lets them have this great experience and she takes that pretty seriously, and knows that those gifts from God are an opportunity to bring joy to other people.” 

6. Father Joseph Pins, pastor of St. Francis, Clark's hometown parish has a strong relationship with the entire family. Father Pins told Crux about how the entire parish community is so proud of all of Clark's accomplishments including himself. “We’re proud of our alumna who has done such a great, great, great, thing in life. It’s always good as we form children to watch this go through and see success not just on the basketball court but also in her faith life.” 

Make sure to catch Caitlin Clark on the court this evening as Iowa takes on UConn at 630 p.m. PT/930 p.m. ET from Rocket Mortgage Fieldhouse in Cleveland, Ohio. The game will be aired on ESPN.

Vatican taps Davenport Bishop to become Archbishop of Dubuque Iowa

 

Appointment of metropolitan archbishop of Dubuque, U.S.A.

The Holy Father has appointed Bishop Thomas Robert Zinkula, hitherto bishop of the diocese of Davenport, United States of America, as metropolitan archbishop of Dubuque.

Curriculum vitae

Archbishop-elect Thomas Robert Zinkula was born on 19 April 1957 in Mount Vernon, Iowa, in the archdiocese of Dubuque. He was awarded a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, economics and business from Cornell College, Mount Vernon. After graduating in law from the University of Iowa and a professional experience, he entered the seminary where he attended the Theological College and the Catholic University of America in Washington.

He was ordained a priest on 26 May 1990 for the archdiocese of Dubuque.

After ordination, he first held the offices of parish vicar of Saint Columbkille (1990-1993) and Saint Joseph the Worker (1993-1996), Dubuque; and parish priest of the Saint Joseph parish, Rickardsville, and administrator of the parishes of Saint Francis of Assisi, Balltown, and Saints Peter and Paul, Sherrill (1998-2002). He was awarded a licentiate in canon law from Saint Paul University, Ottawa (1998) and went on to serve as judge at the archdiocesan tribunal (1998-2000); judicial vicar (2000-2010); parish priest of the Holy Ghost (2005-2011), Sacred Heart and Holy Trinity (2007-2011) parishes, Dubuque; episcopal vicar for the Cedar Rapids region (2012-2014); and rector of the Saint Pius X Seminary, Dubuque (2014-2017).

He was appointed bishop of Davenport on 19 April 2017, and received episcopal consecration the following 22 June.

Iowa Catholic Parish sprung into action when a neighborhood emergency struck

 

Davenport, Iowa, parish opens wide ‘window of mercy’ to neighbors in need

by Gina Christian

 

May 31, 2023

A parish became a disaster relief hub over the Memorial Day weekend, and volunteers were ready to respond, as staff told OSV News they have been operating “a field hospital for the works of mercy” since the late 1980s.

St. Anthony Catholic Church in Davenport, Iowa, served as a Red Cross station after a nearby six-story apartment building partially collapsed May 28. Nine occupants have been rescued as of May 31, so far, with two possibly trapped amid the rubble and three others still unaccounted for. More than a dozen fled the wreckage on their own. No deaths have yet been reported as recovery efforts continue amid concerns the remains of the building may fall at any moment.

The cause of the collapse has not yet been determined, but residents had complained of numerous plumbing and electrical issues at the structure, which as the former Davenport Hotel is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Father Rudolph Juarez, pastor of St. Anthony, told OSV News May 30 that Eucharistic adoration was taking place at the church when the apartment building crumbled — and some of those affected were “regulars” at a longtime parish outreach known as the “McAnthony Window.”

The ministry — the name of which evokes the drive-through service of the McDonald’s restaurant chain — provides meals five days per week, Monday through Friday, serving up more than 28,100 hot platters last year alone. More than 54,750 people were fed by the outreach’s food pantry, with volunteers also giving out close to 25,000 bus tokens, “countless bikes, clothing, toiletries and acts of love,” said St. Anthony pastoral associate John Cooper.

Window volunteers delivered water and sandwiches to rescue workers at the collapsed building, and “many of the residents” were familiar faces at the ministry “as they were living on the margins,” Cooper told OSV News.

“Our response was just like another day of helping people in distress at McAnthony Window,” he said.

Father Juarez agreed, saying that parishioners saw their efforts as “an extension of the work we were already doing,” with many “coming back on the Memorial Day holiday to help” as well.

Both the window and the parish doors have long been open to the neighborhood, Father Juarez and Cooper said.

The McAnthony Window began in 1987, when then-pastor Father James P. Conroy and Sister Ludmilla Benda, a Religious Sister of Mercy, began distributing meals each morning through a rectory window. Father Conroy eventually installed a sliding window to make the handoffs easier.

In 2018, volunteers began “developing a ministry of presence” by coming outside and spending time with patrons as they ate, said Cooper.

“We started talking to people and getting to know them,” he said. “We started to see what (else) they needed.”

Those conversations led to adding “personal finance classes, job coaching, men and women’s support groups and AA meetings” to the lineup, Cooper said.

Learning that many clients had been incarcerated at points, a religious sister specializing in prison ministry joined the team, he said.

The ministry also feeds the soul: a wooden kiosk, named for former St. Anthony pastor Father Apollinaire Mpanda, stocks rosaries and religious books for the taking, with a box for prayer intentions.

Funded by donations and fueled by the energy of parishioners, the outreach is “a labor of love that keeps on going and going,” said Cooper.

Even if supplies were uncertain, the parish would keep the McAnthony Window open, he said, adding that any parish could do the same.

“The parishioners just have to say, ‘We’re going to do this; we’re going to make it happen,'” Cooper said. “Just like the Apostles did at Pentecost — they didn’t say, ‘How much money do we have?’ They just walked out (of the Upper Room) and ministered.”

Iowa Bishop resigns due to poor health

 

Archbishop Michael O. Jackels of Dubuque, Iowa, resigns for health reasons

By Hannah Brockhaus

Vatican City, Apr 4, 2023 / 05:00 am

Pope Francis on Tuesday accepted the resignation of Archbishop Michael O. Jackels from the pastoral government of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, Iowa.

An April 4 statement from the United States bishops’ conference said Jackels’ resignation was for health reasons.

Bishop Emeritus Richard E. Pates of Des Moines, Iowa, has been appointed apostolic administrator of the Archdiocese of Dubuque, the USCCB communication said.

Jackels, who will turn 69 on April 13, has been archbishop of Dubuque since May 2013. He is scheduled to offer the archdiocese’s Chrism Mass in the Cathedral of St. Raphael in the afternoon on April 4.

The archbishop was hospitalized for a heart attack in early May 2019. He returned to ministry six weeks later with the permission of his cardiologist.

He thanked the people of his archdiocese for their prayers in a message published in the now-closed online publication The Witness.

“The doctor would have me follow a diet and exercise regimen, and learn how to deal appropriately with stress. I am going to need Divine Assistance to carry that out!” he said on June 14, 2019.

“I am humbled by the thoughtfulness and generosity that people have shown me. I will do my best to honor that by making your sacrifices count for something, and to pay it forward.”

Jackels was born in Rapid City, South Dakota, but spent part of his childhood in Wyoming, California, and Madrid, Spain.

He attended junior high and high school in Bellevue, Nebraska, and graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln before attending seminary and being ordained a priest for the Diocese of Lincoln.

Before serving as bishop of Wichita, Kansas, from 2005 to 2013, Jackels spent eight years working in the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith under Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger, the future Pope Benedict XVI.

Another state Attorney General with devastating, disgusting evidence of clergy sexual abuse and cover-up

 

Iowa Attorney General report cites ‘overwhelming’ incidents of sexual abuse by Catholic clergy members

Report: ‘Sexual abuse took place over decades’

Rod Boshart

Jun. 23, 2021 3:15 pm, Updated: Jun. 23, 2021 7:49 pm

 

 

 

“Our hearts go out to the victims of these acts. The consequences are severe and lifelong,” the report from Attorney General Tom Miller’s office says. (The Gazette)

DES MOINES — Citing “overwhelming” incidents of abuse and "extensive" cover-up that spanned decades, Iowa Attorney General Tom Miller issued a report Wednesday detailing 50 complaints his office received about allegations of sexual impropriety by Catholic clergy, non-clergy or spiritual leaders — including 17 victims who had not previously come forward to report abuse to authorities.

The report concluded the Catholic Church in Iowa has had a "long, painful history of abuse by priests and a cover-up by officials" but has taken steps recently to implement reforms and respond to victims.

According to Miller, his office looked into 50 complaints of sexual abuse and misconduct reported to the Attorney General’s Office. Of those, 45 complaints were against Catholic clergy or others involved in the Catholic church and five were about non-Catholic pastors or spiritual leaders. The complaints made accusations against 36 Catholic priests or brothers.

“Sexual abuse took place over decades. The complaints, the victims, the duration of the abuse were overwhelming," the report concluded. “Our hearts go out to the victims of these acts. The consequences are severe and lifelong.”

None of the complaints involving Catholic clergy fall within the statute of limitations for criminal prosecution, the report said. The allegations ranged from the 1930s to 1997.

Three of the allegations involved currently active Catholic priests, and according to the report 29 complaints named a priest or priests who are included on one of the Diocese lists of credibly accused priests. Overall, 17 of the complainants said they had never reported the allegations previously to any authorities.

"The cover-up was extensive," according to the report. "The image and reputation of the church were put ahead of the enormous harm to young people."

Documents released Wednesday verify that one of the allegations reviewed was a complaint last year from a man who alleged he was forced to have sex by a priest at the Boys State Training School in Eldora in the early 1990s.

The name of the priest and the complainant were withheld, but the allegations match those made by Rick Harrison, a Wisconsin prison inmate, in a November article in The Gazette. Harrison, 45, told the newspaper he was forced by a chaplain to have sex in dark corners and private rooms of the state school in Eldora in the 1990 or 1991, when Harrison was a teenager. He said he filed a complaint with the Eldora Police Department, which the agency verified, and with the Iowa Attorney General’s Office, which declined to comment at the time.

The report released Wednesday says in investigating the Eldora complaint, the Dubuque Archdiocese provided documents about allegations in the late 1980s and early 1990s involving five additional people.

“The priest was dismissed from state employment in 1991 because of allegations of indecent contact,” the report states. “The priest denied the charges. After a series of hearings, an administrative law judge ruled that the charges were ‘undetermined.’ Because the allegations were made to the state institution, and not the Archdiocese, the Archdiocese accepted the investigation and findings of the judge.”

The archdiocese received two more allegations against the same priest, but the people did not want to pursue investigations, the report states. The Attorney General reported this priest is retired but “has duties in the diocese.”

While citing a history of abuse by priests and a cover-up by officials, the Attorney General’s Office noted in a news release that the Dioceses of the Catholic Church in Iowa have enacted many reforms over the last two decades, have become more responsive to victims of clergy abuse and each now reports all accusations to law enforcement.

Miller began to focus on clergy sex abuse in Iowa after the release in 2018 by the Pennsylvania Attorney General of a grand jury report that revealed over 300 Catholic priests across that state sexually abused children for 70 years.

The Iowa attorney said he was "appalled" by the Pennsylvania findings and in November 2018 announced he was gathering information on sexual abuse of children by clergy in Iowa. He and his staff began meeting with Catholic Church officials on a voluntary basis, as well as meeting with survivors of clergy sex abuse. "The goal is to tell the truth about what has happened and, through that process, potentially provide some accountability and closure," according to the report issued Wednesday.

Early in 2019, two of Iowa’s dioceses — Sioux City and Des Moines — released their first lists of credibly accused priests. The Davenport Diocese and Dubuque Archdiocese had previously released such lists.

In June 2019, Miller announced he had met with Iowa’s four bishops and sent them a letter requesting more information. He also launched a hotline and online submission form, inviting survivors to report abuse.

The office’s investigation focused on two areas: examining complaints reported to the office alleging abuse by clergy — of any religion or denomination — and particularly those that had not been previously reported; and reviewing decisions by Iowa dioceses to include some accused priests on their published lists but exclude others.

The dioceses agreed to provide confidential information, including accusations, summaries of review board decisions and other internal documents.

Since the review began, three names were added to the list in the Diocese of Sioux City and one name was added to the list in the Diocese of Davenport.

"None of the current bishops have been involved in handling previous complaints and resulting cover-ups," the report noted.

The Catholic bishops of Iowa — Bishop Thomas Zinkula of Davenport, Bishop William Joensen of Des Moines, Archbishop Michael Jackels of Dubuque, and Bishop R. Walker Nickless of Sioux City — released a joint statement Wednesday, saying they agreed two years ago to comply with the request to submit documents requested.

"The report on the Attorney General’s review of cases was released today and will be studied for suggestions on how the efforts of the Catholic Church might be improved." according to the bishops' statement. "The Catholic Church is committed to do all that is humanly possible to protect minors from the sin and crime of clergy sexual abuse, and to promote healing. Policies and procedures in place provide for responding to each allegation, cooperating with civil authorities, removing offenders from ministry, and being held accountable."

According to the report, the unreported allegations included an accusation against the Rev. Robert “Bud” Grant, who is on the faculty at St. Ambrose University and a priest in the Des Moines Diocese. The diocese conducted an eight-month investigation as a result and placed Grant on restrictions and supervision, the report said.

Of the reports regarding non-Catholic pastors, two involve allegations within the statute of limitations for prosecution. These allegations involve possible adult victims.