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With a congregation of faithful gathered, Fr. Lance Harlow, Rector of the Cathedral of St. Joseph, blessed the Cathedral's new stairs and steeple on a cold and cloudy morning Sunday, November 10 before the 10:00 AM Mass. The new stairs were finished and inspected two days earlier, and now are open for use. Weekend Masses and other parish devotions return to the upstairs main church after using the lower chapel for the last four and a half months. Fr. Harlow checked in daily with the many trades people on the job site, getting to know them personally, learning about the process and even cooking them breakfast. He said "It's my way of evangelizing". He said the workers were nice people laboring in the heat of summer and the cold drenching rain the last week before inspection. Cranes, excavators and jackhammers made the work easier than when the stairs and steeple were constructed more than 100 years ago but the time honored craftsmanship and dedication went into the latest projects to beautify our Cathedral. The new stairs have a shorter rise making them easier to climb while retaining the red stone facade from the original building. Bushes and flowering shrubs have been added on either side and the vintage lighting was also restored to keep the historical look.

Congratulations to Celia Asbell, our Parish Music Director, for winning the Loyola Institute for Ministry Scholar Award, recognizing excellence in Scholarship, Leadership and Service in a graduate from the Ministry. Celia's final project for her Master of Pastoral Studies degree focused on "building a vibrant parish community starting with a strong music ministry to engage with the parish." Through her research, she found that music ministry can be the beginning of a vibrant parish. Our congratulations to Celia on this achievement!

Due to unforeseen circumstances the Flu Shot Clinic has had to be cancelled at St. Josephs for this year. Please contract Lori Daudelin at Joseph's House on Tuesdays, Wednesdays or Thursdays between 10:00 AM and 4:00 PM at 802-951-4290 if you were planning to attend this event. In partnership with Walgreens, Joseph's House was going to sponsor a flu shot clinic on Tuesday, November 19 in the Parish Hall from 10:00 AM to 12:00 Noon. Pre-registration was required. There was no cost through most insurance coverage. If you are uninsured or under insured ask Walgreen's about obtaining a Walgreens Flu Shot Voucher to get the shot free.

Out Congolese community has started French and English conversational practice with students from Rice Memorial High School. It's a bilingual learning opportunity with the students improving their French and the community members bettering their English. The group so far has met on two Saturdays, October 19 and November 2, from 12:30 to 2:30 pm in the St. Joseph Cathedral parish hall. The y plan to continue these conversations every other weekend. The next meeting will be November 16. For more information about the conversation group and the French Mass, please contact Juleswetchi2007@yahoo.fr or (802) 310-3672.

OCTOBER 29, 2019. Vermont Catholic St. Joseph Cathedral Parish in Burlington will again host a Warming Shelter for homeless persons ages 18-24, beginning Nov. 1. “The need for the Warming Shelter has been proven over the last two years of operation. Last year, the number of youth nearly doubled, with 45 percent of those youth accessing a Spectrum program for the first time,” said Mark Redmond, executive director of Spectrum Youth and Family Services in Burlington, the agency partnering with the cathedral in the warming shelter project. “With the housing shortage in the area, it is even more difficult for youth to gain permanent stable housing, due to a lack of rental history, credit and employment history. These factors, as well as many others, make the Warming Shelter a necessity in the community.” Last year 58 youth received assistance at the shelter.Besides being a warm, safe place to stay, the Warming Shelter provided the opportunity to get youth connected with other services, such as counseling, case management and other housing supports. “While not a mandatory part of the shelter, having the ability to easily connect people proved beneficial to many clients. In addition, the shelter provided the opportunity for people to regain stability and get back on their feet,” Redmond said. Spectrum hires staff specifically to operate the shelter over the winter months. “The shelter provides the opportunity to make positive peer connections,” Redmond said, noting that many of the youth that stay at the shelter for long periods of time become friends, and a sense of community forms. “The support of the parishioners, Father [Lance]Harlow [cathedral rector], and the rest of the church community is felt on a daily basis. There are always ample donations of clothing, food and other necessities for the youth to access, and that makes a huge difference to them,” he added. Members of the community donated snack food and drinks for evening snacks; some made occasional meals for the evening and some went in early to help cook breakfast in the morning. Others donated personal hygiene items and clothes. “I had three volunteers who worked making breakfast in the morning and numerous people and youth groups who donated snacks and personal hygiene items,” Father Harlow said. “There was a lot of interest by the Catholic community in Chittenden County because we are the only Catholic church that operates a homeless shelter in Vermont.” The Cathedral parish decided to collaborate again with Spectrum because the need for a warming shelter for that age group continues to exist. “We have had a very cordial working relationship with the Spectrum staff, and our immediate goals are the same: that is, keeping homeless youth from freezing during the cold winters in Vermont,” Father Harlow said. “The youth love staying at the Warming Shelter at St. Joseph’s. They feel very safe and secure there, but there is also the unseen experience of being in the sacredness of a church building. They are among their own age group and don’t have the additional stress of being mixed in with an adult population many of whom they are afraid.” His ministry with the youth is twofold. On one level he took care of their physical health by providing food for breakfast and in the evening. “Most of them have very bad nutritional habits and live on junk food or go for days without eating because of substance abuse,” he said. “While food is available to them during the daytime and for supper at the Spectrum Youth and Family Services Drop-In program, the homeless youth are very disorganized and were often not present when food was available.” The second level of Father Harlow’s ministry was talking with the youth — or, more especially, listening to them. “Homelessness, by its very nature, breeds distrust and betrayal. In the end, it’s ‘every man for himself.’ In the homeless community, loyalty is often coupled with betrayal and vulnerability with exploitation,” he said. “My interactions with them in the morning and in the evening gave them the opportunity to talk about their day, their lives and whatever stresses and joys they were experiencing. Some of the conversations could be very serious and at other times they could be just for fun.” At the same time, the youth asked a lot of questions about faith and life. “They are all lonely and struggling with bad family situations so it was important for them to have an adult in their lives who listened to them and who also gave them good, moral advice,” Father Harlow said. The Warming Shelter will operate from 6 p.m. to 8 a.m. from Nov. 1 to March 30. To see how you can help, call St. Joseph Cathedral office at 658-4333.

Four men preparing to be ordained to the permanent diaconate in the fall of 2020 were formally instituted as acolytes by Bishop Coyne at Mass at the Cathedral of St. Joseph Sunday, October 6. The Rite of Institution of Acolytes along with the Rite of Institution of Lectors (celebrated this past spring) are steps toward ordination. Lector and Acolyte are formal, life-long ministries in the Church, and allow the deacon candidates to gradually begin exercising the ministry of the word and of the altar.

The St. Nicholas Project works with people like you to help the boys and girls at the Kurn Hattin Homes in Westminster, Vermont. The back to school fundraiser collects financial donations in order to purchase shoes for the boys and first at the beginning of the school year. Kurn Hattin can accommodate 100 children ages 5-15. Last year children came from VT, NH, MA, NY, ME, RI and PA. Their reasons for admission include homelessness, physical, mental and substance abuse in the home, domestic violence and jailed parents. Kurn Hattin is a charitable organization which depends on donations from people like you. The Knights of Columbus and the Catholic Daughters in Vermont have been great friends to Kurn Hattin along with you. Please contact Fr. Lance Harlow. kurnhattin.org

17 APR Photo Credit: Diocese of Burlington Archives - Bishop Louis deGoesbriand (center) watches a parade from the front of the bishop’s residence in 1899. This is believed to have been his last public appearance. Cause for celebration: Bishop deGoesbriand to be recommended for sainthood. The first bishop of the Diocese of Burlington, Bishop Louis deGoesbriand, made God, the sacraments, education and assistance for the most vulnerable as accessible as possible to all entrusted in his care, explains Kathleen Messier, assistant archivist for the Diocese. Indeed, many consider him to have been a saintly man, and soon, the process to declare him officially a saint is to begin. Msgr. John McDermott, vicar general for the Diocese, said Burlington Bishop Christopher Coyne plans to announce the canonization cause at the conclusion of the last session of the current Diocesan Synod: “The first step, after the announcement of the process, is to develop and foster the cult/devotion of the faithful toward Bishop deGoesbriand.” The process is directed through the Vatican’s Congregation for the Causes of Saints. Born in France, Bishop deGoesbriand devoted his priestly life to missionary service in America. When he arrived in Vermont in 1853, there were only eight churches throughout the state with five priests to minister to Catholics. “Bishop deGoesbriand, even though he was raised in a well-respected and well-to-do household, lived in austere simplicity,” Messier said. “In several biographical accounts of Burlington’s founding bishop, his Christ-like love of the poor and children has often been noted.” Though he had inherited from his parents about a quarter of a million dollars, by the time he died in 1899, he had spent his entire fortune; he had only $2.12 to his name and a few old suits, noted Father Lance Harlow, rector of St. Joseph Cathedral who wrote a biography of the bishop in 2001. Bishop deGoesbriand spent his funds on the purchase of church property, building churches, establishing and supporting an orphanage and helping the poor residents of Burlington as well as his priests who were struggling in poor parishes. “Researching his life forever changed the direction of my priesthood in that the saintly qualities of his life have become a model for me how to live: to devote myself whole-heartedly to my Diocese, to labor to promote the Catholic faith by writing and today by the internet; by teaching the history of great Catholics in the Diocese, to use my financial resources for the poor; and to have a deep trust in the Blessed Virgin Mary and in his motto that God will provide,’” Father Harlow said. There are no known miracles attributed to Bishop deGoesbriand, but his contemporaries had described him as “the saintly bishop.” In the 1930’s, there had been discussion about pursuing his cause for canonization, but in a missionary Diocese such as Vermont, “the needs of taking care of parishes precluded any serious investigation into his heroic life, so nobody ever pursued it,” Father Harlow said. Bishop Coyne was impressed with the sacrificial nature of Bishop deGoesbriand’s life and wanted to pursue the cause for canonization. Bishop deGoesbriand’s “life was lived in true service to the flock entrusted to his care,” Msgr. McDermott said. Saints with a connection to Vermont include St. Andre Bessette and St. Marianne Cope who had/have family in Vermont; Brother Joseph Dutton, a Stowe native who cared for lepers on Molokai for whom the Diocese of Honolulu has opened the cause canonization; St. John Paul II who visited Vermont while a cardinal; and St. Isaac Jogues and other North American martyrs who are believed to have done missionary work here. Steps to becoming a saint: A bishop launches an investigation of the candidate’s life. The Church will also investigate the candidate’s writings to see if they possess “purity of doctrine.” All of this information is submitted to the Congregation for the Causes of the Saints. If considered worthy, the candidate is deemed a “Servant of God.” A Church official must prove — via documents and testimonies — the candidate lived heroic virtues. The congregation investigates if the candidate was motivated by a profound charity toward his or her neighbor and practiced the virtues in an exemplary manner and with heroism. Once approved, the candidate is deemed “Venerable.” Confirmation of a “miracle” is required. In verifying the miracle, the Church looks at whether God really performed a miracle and whether the miracle was in response to the intercession of the “Venerable.” If so, the person can be beatified and called “Blessed.” After beatification, another miracle is required for canonization and the formal declaration of sainthood. —Originally published in the Spring 2019 issue of Vermont Catholic magazine.