Earlier this advent I told the story of flight 232 which crash landed in the Gateway Airport in Sioux City Iowa. Gary Brown was appointed Woodbury County Emergency Services Director in 1987. He was responsible for organizing the first local rescuer response drill in that area and indeed one of the first of its kind in the entire country. The scope of their rescue drill was designed to deal with a catastrophic event where multiple lives would be lost and multiple injuries would result. It was a plan to deal with communication, logistics, triage and the mobilization of professionals, volunteers and first responders in responding efficiently to a tragedy in order to save lives. In Gary Brown's mind at that time he was thinking of how he would deal with an airshow tragedy, something much smaller than any type of air disaster which he would eventually have to face only months later. Many people criticized Gary Brown when he first began to reveal and put his plan into action. They said it was over the top, unnecessary and way too expensive for the likes of Woodbury County. The thinking was, that they type of disaster for which Gary Brown was preparing would

likely never happen in the Sioux City area. Nevertheless, Brown and his team worked diligently in preparing, practicing and drilling for all the possible scenarios of a catastrophic disaster. It's one thing to

have a plan in place, and it's quite another thing to put that plan into action. It's also about being vigilant and being prepared at a moment’s notice because even the best plan can be worthless if it isn't effectively and efficiently put into action.

Continued on page 2...

Finding Redemption in the

Midst of Chaos By Fr. James Kirby

Advent 2012 | Carlisle, Iowa

St. Elizabeth Seton Catholic Church

But when

these signs

begin

to happen,

stand erect

and raise

your heads

because your

redemption

is at hand.

Luke 21:28

On July 19, 1989 flight 232, a DC-10, loaded with 296 passengers and crew, took off from Stapleton International Airport in Denver Colorado for a flight to Chicago with continuing service to Philadelphia. At some point during the flight a

catastrophic engine failure took place, leading to almost total loss of flight controls. Due to the heroic efforts of Capt. Alfred C. Haynes and his crew, the plane was routed toward Gateway Airport in Sioux City, Iowa for a possible emergency landing. As the scenario began to unfold, officials contacted Gary Brown to alert him of the possible disaster that was looming over Gateway Airport. Gary Brown responded by telling the officials ―you tell that crew we will be ready.‖ Gary Brown and his team sprang into action and were already on site even before the crippled plane began its descent into the airport. As the plane landed, its right wing caught the ground sending the plane and the 296 passengers and crew cartwheeling across the airfield. Even as the plane careened down the airfield Brown had already dispatched ambulances to the site and were already rolling up to the crash site as the wreckage settled. Within moments rescuers were able to pull survivors from the wreckage and to triage those patients and discharge them to local hospitals that were already prepared for the incoming flux of disaster survivors.

Redemption, continued from page 1

It was because of the quick and efficient response of Gary Brown and his team, that 111 people survived this catastrophic and miraculous disaster. Gary Brown's story is a great example of what our posture should be during Advent and indeed throughout our entire lives. It is exactly what Jesus was talking about in Luke’s Gospel from the First Sunday Advent. The Story of Flight 232 and the heroic response, is a real-life example of what it means to stand tall in the midst of chaos, calamity and earthshaking events to be open and ready for the redemption that is at hand. It is an example of the importance of being prepared and willing to respond in the midst of chaos to the redemption that Jesus is offering us. There is no doubt that all of us will experience our own share of earth shattering and chaotic events throughout our lives. The test of our faith is how ready we are, how well we respond during those moments and how tall we stand with confidence and faith that our redemption is at hand.

“... all of us will experience our own share of earth

shattering and chaotic events

throughout our lives.”

- Fr. Kirby

God of Love,

Your son, Jesus, is your greatest gift to us.

He is a sign of your love.

Help us walk in that love during the weeks of Advent,

As we wait and prepare for his coming.

We pray in the name of Jesus, our Savior.

Amen.

Gary Brown

Christ Our Life Conference

Kevin Kauzlarich, son of Moe Kauzlarich, spent two

weeks in Haiti on a mission trip this summer with an

organization called CiVi. He shared details of his

experience with St. Elizabeth parishioners when he

was back in Iowa late this summer. Kevin described

some of the things his group did to help the Haitian

people who were devastated by an earthquake in

2010. Kevin and the CiVi missionaries stayed on a

compound run by a Catholic religious order near Port

Au Prince. He and his group helped build a garden at

the compound, cleared a field at Camp Kayre and

helped in a number of other ways. He shared how

despite all of the humanitarian aid that’s poured into

Haiti since the earthquake, there is still a great deal of

devastation, homelessness and many, many hungry

children. He said it was difficult to know that they

couldn’t help every child, and was touched by one

father who asked him to help his starving daughter. He

said in that situation, all he could do was pray for her.

Kevin said the experience definitely changed him –

he’s more grateful for what we have in America. He

said that he plans to continue to do mission work

whenever he can. He said, ―When you work with the

poor, you are not just serving them, you are serving

with them.‖

Parishioners from St. Elizabeth were on hand to experience the Christ Our Life regional conference on September 22 and 23rd at Wells Fargo arena. Among those attending were several who volunteered to make the event a success. Ginny Striegel has played a leadership role in the planning of the event, and acted as the business manager. Margaret and Keith Gass, volunteered to help throughout the conference. Michelle Dillon and Amy Bishop participated in the choir of over 100 voices who provided music throughout the event. The two-day conference featured worship, music and top notch Catholic speakers, including Cardinal Woerhl and Immaculee Ilabagiza. The Christ Our Life regional conference will be back in 2014. Already scheduled for this event is Cardinal Timothy Dolan.

Kevin Kauzlarich:

Mission to Haiti

Photos courtesy of Kevin Kauzlarich.

Keith and Margaret Gass

Those attending the August trivia contest experienced Trivia Madness of Olympic proportions. Father Kirby emceed the event sponsored by the Stewardship Committee. Team Smarticle (pictured above) took first place for the competition featuring an Olympics theme. Five teams competed by answering questions about Olympics past and present. Plan to attend the next Trivia Madness night in January, where the Stewardship Committee will hold a movie themed trivia night.

Friends of the Poor Walk On a beautiful day in September, the Des Moines District Council of the Society of Saint Vincent DePaul held its annual Friends of the Poor Walk at Pete Krivaro Park in Des Moines. The walk, which included ten conferences, was chaired by Moe Kauzlarich of St. Elizabeth. Overall, the walk raised $3,000. Our own St. Elizabeth conference had good representation at the walk and raised over $900 of the pledges. We earned the ―Big Shoe‖ award for raising the most in pledges. The funds raised by the St. Elizabeth walkers will be used right here in the Carlisle area to help those in need.

Trivia Madness Winners

Advent Projects:

Our Chance to Be Christ for Others The Social Justice Committee is once again sponsoring an Advent Tree to help those in need. The tree is decorated with commitment cards that list the items that are needed by several organizations.

It’s easy to help! Here’s how:

Select a commitment card with the donation you want to fulfill

Fill out the top half of the card and place it back on the tree

Take the bottom half of the card and purchase the items requested

Bring the items to the church by the last weekend of advent and place the unwrapped items under the tree along with your card

Know that you will bless someone with your generosity!

The organizations we’ll be helping this year include: St. Joseph Emergency Shelter, Ruth Harbor, Inner Visions, Catholic Charities Outreach, Central Iowa Shelter and Services and Carlisle Christians in Action (CCA).

The Social Justice Committee will distribute the items to the charities. For questions, contact John Greubel at 961-0243 or Kathy Penman at 989-3754.

Fill the Food Pantry

In addition to the projects mentioned above, the St. Vincent DePaul and Knights of Columbus groups are asking for donations of non-perishables to help stock the food pantry here in Carlisle. You can pick up a grocery sack with a list of the items needed, fill the bag with some of the items listed and return it to the church before Christmas.

Thank you to all who help!

Learning to Love Bible Study by Dean Flaws

About 15 years ago my interest in the Bible and the history of the Catholic Church reached an inquisitive new high. I knew that all Christians (Catholics and Protestants) were in agreement that the Bible is the Word of God. It is the most

published and read book on earth. Catholics and Protestants use the same New Testament. Thirty-nine books of the Old Testament books are identical. Okay, so Catholics and Protestants agree that the Bible is the true word of God. Where we differ is where the burden of interpretation lies. Protestants follow Martin Luther’s feeling that an individual can interpret the Bible perfectly if they pray first. Catholics agree that the Holy Spirit guides our Bible reading and broadens our understanding. What many Protestants don’t know is that each Catholic Mass has several Bible readings in it, and the Liturgy is pulled right out of Scripture. This layout of the Mass has continued for over a thousand years. The Catholic Church protected the Bible since it chose which books to actually include in 397AD at Carthage. Century after century, monks in monasteries faithfully copied Scripture. Even translating several earlier languages of Aramaic, Greek and Italian, the monks were incredibly accurate. We have a modern discovery that is a testimony to how accurate the monks were when they copied the Bible. The ―Dead Sea Scrolls‖ were discovered in 1947 and they date back to 200 BC. The scrolls were found in caves in Qumran located near the Dead Sea, close to Jerusalem and the Holy Land. Several of the Old Testament books predate some of the monks’ copies by 1500 years. One such book was Isaiah. Even with these many centuries between the copies of copies translated by the monks, they are almost identical to the Dead Sea Scrolls. Catholics protected the Bible over the centuries of wars,

Catholics protected the Bible over the

centuries of wars, famines, plagues, the fall of Rome, fires and threats from all sides.

- Dean Flaws

famines, plagues, the fall of Rome, fires and threats from all sides. Again, this was long before any other Christian denomination existed. It wasn’t until the 1500s that the Catholic Church found itself in the middle of a major Christian reformation led by the likes of Martin Luther, John Calvin and John Wesley. Now the world has over 1,000 different Christian denominations that appear to be interpreting Scripture differently, but at least with the same truth that Jesus Christ is Lord and Savior of mankind. In the last several years my interest has been on a former Catholic who left the church and eventually became a Protestant preacher for a dozen years. Jeff Cavins loves the Bible and loves teaching it to people. As he continued as a Protestant pastor, he just simply felt something missing. He started examining the Catholic Church a little closer and felt the need to consume himself in the Catholic faith again, especially with a desire to teach Catholics more about the Bible and its origins. So, he returned to the Catholic Church under the guidance of Bishop Paul Dudley. Cavins received his MA in theology from Franciscan University of Steubenville with catechetical certification. Over the past several years, Cavins developed a practical and extremely useful interactive Bible timeline system, ―The Great Adventure: A Journey through the Bible.‖ The Great Adventure enables students to understand the chronological flow of Scripture in a way that helps each book of the Bible have more meaning for the reader. The Great Adventure is being used currently in parishes all across North America. About two years ago, I was one of about 12 to 15 parishioners from St. Elizabeth who studied the Great Adventure series. I found it to be absolutely the best study of the Bible I have experienced. The Church did purchase the series and it is available to the parishioners. If you are interested in learning more about the Bible, this would be an excellent tool. I have found the Bible to be the most interesting and fascinating book I have ever read. I would encourage everyone to read and study the Bible; to help you learn more about God and how he wants us to live our lives so we can be with Him in heaven.

By Fr. James Kirby

Recently I have had conversations with several members of our parish who are veterans. There has been a rise of churches, schools and other organizations that have honored their members who are

veterans. I think it is something that we as a parish should do when considering the veteran members of our parish. Granted, the reason these heroic people are often overlooked until recently is because most of them shrink away from any attention shed on their service to our country. Many believe they did nothing heroic and it was just what they did back in the day. In other words signing up or being drafted was just the expectation. There was a time when being a veteran was something that wasn’t necessarily socially acceptable, such as the experience veterans of the Vietnam War had when they returned home. Still others experienced things so horrible that they found them too terrible to talk about. Many manage to live with horrible memories and experiences that continued to effect their consciousness and behavior throughout their lives. While these veterans of war shrink away from any attention or recognition, they do need to be honored for the great service they provided defending our country, freedoms, rights and indeed our very lives. Most receive our ―thank yous‖ reluctantly and try to diminish or deflect our gratitude by saying, ―it’s just what we did back then‖ or ―it just wasn’t a big deal.‖ I feel I must disagree and say to our veterans, ―it is a big deal and thank you for your service to our country.‖

Heroes Among Us

These veterans are those we know well and those we don’t know so well. We see them around the parish and perhaps their stories and experiences as veterans elude us, while most of these veterans prefer it that way. Still, if you have the time and interest in spending some time asking one of these veterans about their time and experiences, you will likely be fascinated, inspired and grateful after listening to their stories. I sat down recently with one of the veterans of our parish, Dan Cunningham, to talk with him about his experience in the military service.

Many vets believe they did nothing heroic and it was just what they did back in the day.

U.S.S. Estes

Dan’s service wasn’t all danger and nerves. For much of his time, his ship was the flagship for the Admiral, which brought ―certain privileges‖ for Dan and the crew. As hostilities wound down, the Estes ventured far enough south that they cruised across the equator. Not that the crew needed any reason for celebrating, but the equator was something worthy of a big celebration on board the ship. Eventually Dan was discharged and in 1956 he headed home to Albert Lea. When asked about the excitement and possible emotion of his homecoming and reuniting with his family, Dan doesn’t have much to say except, ―well, I couldn’t find anybody.‖ I think Dan enjoyed talking with me about his service days and without being asked he brought in a book of photos of his ship and crew. While many of our vets aren’t necessarily forthcoming with describing their days of service, their stories are sure worth the time to hear. If you’re lucky you’ll find yourself sitting next to one of our beloved vets hearing fascinating and heroic stories of their service to our country. They are sitting right next to us at Mass and standing with us at parish functions and other community events. Time marches on and it would be a shame not to appreciate their stories and to take any chance we can to honor their heroic service to our freedoms and our country.

Dan Cunningham went to high school in Albert Lea, Minnesota. He was one of eleven kids in a family trying to carve out a life in the late 1940s and 1950s. Times were tough for the Cunningham family and like other boys his age, Dan was forced to help out by working on a nearby farm. It was hard work and one day, Dan found himself working on a fence in a creek. Standing waist deep in water and freezing Dan considered ―how about enlisting in the military?‖ He was seventeen years old at the time and not yet finished with high school. Nevertheless, Dan enlisted and found himself shortly thereafter at the Naval Training Center in San Diego for six weeks of basic training and six more weeks in the desert for combat training. Asked about his basic training, Dan, always a man of few words said, ―Oh, I don’t know. It was hot.‖ Eventually the training ended for Dan and he later found himself at Pearl Harbor assigned as an engineer or mechanic on the USS Estes, a communication ship dedicated to the Pacific Theater. Dan and the USS Estes steamed toward Korea as the war was ending. Even though the war was winding down, it was far from peaceful. Dan and his crew were still charged with transporting Marines from ships to beaches under fire from the shore. Not long after Dan’s time off the shore of Korea, the Estes was assigned to assist with refugees in North Vietnam held up in Saigon. The Estes was the first American ship to navigate up the dangerous Saigon River to rescue refugees stranded near the river.

Veteran Dan Cunningham

While many of our vets aren’t necessarily

forthcoming with describ-ing their days of service,

their stories are sure worth the time to hear.

Knights of Columbus

Altar Servers Go Bowling

Pancake Breakfast a Hit

Becker Receives 4th Degree

Knight Tony Becker of the St. Elizabeth council received the fourth degree of the Knights of Columbus in October. The fourth degree is the highest degree of the order and focuses on patriotism and encourages Knights to live lives of active Catholic citizenship. Congratulations, Tony!

The Knights of Columbus Council 8114 of St. Elizabeth recently purchased a grill from the St. Thomas Aquinas knights and put it to good use with a breakfast for the parish after mass on November 11th. The Knights served nearly eighty breakfasts including pancakes, sausage, biscuits and gravy, fruit, hash browns and juice. Based on the positive turnout, the Knights plan to make this a regular event at St. Elizabeth beginning in January. Thanks to our wonderful Knights for all they do for our parish!

The St. Elizabeth Knights of Columbus treated the altar servers to an afternoon of bowling recently. Pictured are just a few of the altar servers who participated in the recognition event.

by Amy Bishop

Every year at this time, we pull out the advent wreath at our house. I store it close to the front of the Christmas closet so that I can get to it before we do the Christmas decorating. The advent wreath is one of the first signals at our house of the season of advent. One of my favorite traditions is the lighting of the advent candles every Sunday evening before dinner. In the twenty-five year-old photo that accompanies this article, my husband Kevin is lighting the advent candles while our three young daughters watch. Over the years, we’ve replaced the original inexpensive plastic advent wreath, but we still use the same small advent prayer book that I picked up at our church in Osceola when our children were small. Why is this such a beloved tradition for us? Probably because it’s

so easy to forget the reason for all of the excitement and chaos of the Christmas season and forget that our most important ―to-do‖ is to prepare our hearts for Jesus to come. Hey, I’m as guilty as the next person when it comes to getting caught up in the shopping, wrapping, baking and all. By stopping to spend a few minutes in prayer as a family as you light the candles those four weeks of advent, you’ll be helping the kids (and yourselves) focus on getting ready for Christ. This is a small way of putting the focus back where it should be as we prepare for Christmas. If you haven’t made an advent wreath one of your family traditions, I highly recommend it as a simple, yet meaningful way to prepare for Christ’s coming.

Becker Receives 4th Degree

Waiting for Jesus

Advent blends penitence, preparedness, and joy. We are called to consider our lives and to repent—or turn around—from those things that keep us from God. In this way, we repent and prepare for the Second Coming of the Lord. This theme of preparedness permeates the liturgies of Advent. Lastly we are called to be joyful as we get ready to celebrate the incarnation of our Savior in Bethlehem.

We wait for the coming of Christ in human history at Bethlehem, in our hearts each day, and at the end of time. The readings of Advent direct us to be prepared as we ―do not know the hour or the day‖ of Christ's coming. But it is the present to which we should give our attention. Christ comes to us each day in word and sacrament, in prayer and grace, and through the people in his Church.

Source: Loyola Press

Experiencing

Advent

“Advent is the time to get the house of our hearts in order for

the greatest guest of all, Jesus Christ.”

- Archbishop Timothy Dolan

Christmas Mass Schedule

Christmas Eve Mass 5:00 p.m.

Midnight Mass 12 a.m.

Christmas Day Mass 9:00 a.m.

If you have suggestions for future issues of the St. Elizabeth quarterly newsletter,

please contact Amy Bishop. Call 515-989-2062 or email bishopk@mac.com

Parishioners of

the Year

At the third annual St. Lizzy Fest this fall, Bill and Donna Mae Schumann were named 2012 Parishioners of the Year! Bill and Donna are long-time members of St. Elizabeth Seton parish and have been very active in various groups and ministries over the years. We’re proud to have them as our Parishioners of the Year!

Scenes of

Advent 2011