In the last four or five years there has been a growing trend of
Catholic families with many children moving to Bismarck, North Dakota.
They
are attracted by the strong Catholic background of the University of
Mary, good Catholic schools, active parishes and priests who are
Catholic.
A diocesan call to pray for vocations 30 years ago had
an impact, as did a Monday evening Holy Hour that began over 20 years
ago at the Cathedral of the Holy Spirit and then spread to other
parishes.
After his installation in 1997, Bishop Paul Zipfel
(+2019) pledged to place a priest in every Catholic high school and held
a diocese-wide 'Enthronement of the Sacred Heart of Jesus'.
Bishop David Kagan, 75, who succeeded him in 2011, renewed both initiatives.
A
key factor has been the transformation of the University of Mary
(UMary) from a mainly regional school to one that attracts teachers from
other states. It is now a serious Catholic school.
Because of
UMary, teachers began to move in and students began to come from all
over the country looking for a solid, affordable Catholic education. And
many stayed.
Sometimes parents and siblings followed the students.
The
NCRegister writes of one family that moved to Bismarck from Nevada.
They felt like they were in heaven because they could go to Mass every
day, at different times and in many churches: "There are Masses all over
town, with a variety of priests, young and old, vibrant."
Bismarck
has it all: young, charismatic priests, a vibrant university and a
dynamic community, he told them. Under the decadent Novus Ordo regime,
this is an extraordinary situation.
One can only pray that the
Vatican does not find out about this paradise, otherwise they will send
some anti-Catholic homosexual activist as the next Bishop of Bismarck to
catapult the diocese back to the 1960s.
Picture: University of Mary © wikipedia CC BY-SA, #newsLyytywaasr