IN THIS ISSUE ...

Visitor Stories:

• Donor of radio station to diocese ushered into Hall of Fame

• Monk includes no ‘cardboard cutout’ biblical characters in his latest book of poetry

• Priests and their hobbies

FAITH ALIVE

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Father Gerald Dalseth

Donor of radio station to diocese ushered into Hall of Fame

by Sue Schulzetenberg
Visitor Staff Writer
ST. CLOUD — After more than 50 years in broadcasting, a former owner of four St. Cloud-based radio stations has been inducted into the Pavek Museum of Broadcasting Hall of Fame in St. Louis Park, Minn.

On Oct. 28, Bishop John Kinney of the St. Cloud Diocese did the honor of presenting the award to Andy Hilger, a parishioner of St. Mary’s Cathedral in St. Cloud.

In his lifetime, Hilger has been of service to the St. Cloud Diocese in many ways. In one of the biggest ways, he donated his radio station Spirit 92.9 (KKJM) to the diocese in 2000. It’s not every diocese that owns it own radio station.

	Andy Hilger was inducted into the Museum of Broadcasting Hall of Fame on Oct. 28. He donated the radio station Spirit 92.9 to the Diocese of St. Cloud in 2000 and has volunteered with Catholic News and Views. (SCV photo by Sue Schulzetenberg)

Hilger told the Visitor in an interview that values were an important factor in how he operated the four stations he owned.
“I felt I wanted to run stations that respected and nurtured the family,” Hilger said.

Monk includes no ‘cardboard cutout’ biblical characters in his latest book of poetry

by Sophie Schottler
Visitor Staff Writer

COLLEGEVILLE — St. John’s is rewriting the Bible in more ways than one lately.
The Saint John’s Bible, the first handwritten, illuminated Bible in the modern era, is a literal rewriting of the Good Book that is well on its way to completion.
Father Kilian McDonnell, a monk of St. John’s Abbey in Collegeville, has already completed his more figurative “rewriting” of the Bible, which is actually more of a reworking of Biblical characterization.

In his latest book of poetry, “Yahweh’s Other Shoe,” Father McDonnell aims at giving characters — especially those in the Old Testament — real flesh.

“Scholars see people like Abraham and Sarah as cardboard cutouts, but I try to show them as real beings. As people with struggles and doubts,” Father McDonnell said before a book signing Oct. 3 at St. John’s Ecumenical Institute.
“Like Job, I want to confront God, and challenge him,” he said.

Priests and their hobbies

ST. CLOUD DIOCESE — Parishioners are used to seeing their pastors presiding at Mass, attending parish council meetings and making their rounds at the hospital or nursing home. But they don’t often see what priests do during their “down” time for variety or entertainment. They have hobbies, activities, and exercises just like everyone else. Take the four pastors featured, for example. Their interests range from bicycling to star-gazing, from oil painting to changing oil in an automobile. The Visitor interviewed four priests who engage in those four activities for this week’s cover story. This featured quartet are just four examples of the wide range of talents and interests enjoyed by the priests of the St. Cloud Diocese.

Father Gerald Dalseth
For Father Gerald Dalseth, biking provides physical exercise and a clear mind. It goes back to the Latin phrase, mens sana in corpore sano, meaning “a sound (or strong) mind in a sound body,” said Father Dalseth, pastor of St. Joseph Parish in Pierz and St. Michael Parish in Buckman.

Father Dalseth has biked 3,503 miles between January and August. He bikes every day year-round for about an hour and 15 minutes. During his daily trek, he travels about 20 miles. The biking leads him on roads around Pierz, against the wind going out and with the wind coming back.

His bike is a Colnago Altain. When biking, he wears a biking outfit, a helmet and biking shoes that lock into his pedals. He said he has gone through many tires and inner-tubes and carries a spare inner-tube and pump on his bike. He has never broken any bones but, he said, like anyone who bikes, he has had scrapes.

Scrapes and all, Father Dalseth said biking keeps him in good shape. It relieves stress and keeps weight down and is easier on the knees than running, he said. He said biking provides some physical activity for him in contrast to many of his duties that require one to be sedentary. Along with biking, he completes 50 push-ups and 50 sit-ups every night for upper body exercise.

He began biking when he was a kid but really got into biking after getting the Colnago Altain bike eight years ago. It’s an activity for all ages, Father Dalseth said.
“Biking is something you can do all your life,” he added.

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