{"id":3025,"date":"2008-08-08T09:04:00","date_gmt":"2008-08-08T09:04:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/deaconsbench\/2008\/08\/an-engaging-story-out-of-wyd.html"},"modified":"2008-08-08T09:04:00","modified_gmt":"2008-08-08T09:04:00","slug":"an-engaging-story-out-of-wyd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/08\/an-engaging-story-out-of-wyd.html","title":{"rendered":"An engaging story out of WYD"},"content":{"rendered":"

I saw this item a week or so ago and kept meaning to post it, but other things intruded. It’s heartfelt, and hopeful, and sweetly romantic. <\/p>\n

Anyway: I’ll let the story<\/a> speak for itself: <\/p>\n

<\/a> World Youth Day 2008 will always be a meaningful memory for Anders C. Bergmann of St. George Parish at Patrick Air Force Base in Cape Canaveral and Katherine Schinn, a parishioner at Queen of Peace Parish in Ocala. It will be inextricably linked to their engagement of marriage.<\/p>\n

The couple, both 21, traveled in a group of 12 from the Air Force base, which included Bergmann\u2019s younger brother Colin and his parents, U.S. Air Force Lt. Col. Anders P. Bergmann and Linda E. Bergmann, as chaperones.<\/p>\n

Anders C. Bergmann arranged the details of the proposal from home. He purchased the ring, searched online for the perfect event and even got train schedules to the location to ensure they wouldn\u2019t miss it.<\/p>\n

He learned Archbishop Denis Hart of the Diocese of Melbourne, Australia, was presiding at a Mass at St. Aloysius Parish in Caulfield, a suburb of Melbourne, July 12. The couple routinely kneels to pray after Mass and it was then, following prayer, that Bergmann chose to pop the question. Schinn said yes and the archbishop blessed their engagement afterward.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fact it was right after Mass and at World Youth Day was such a prayerful beginning,\u201d Schinn said. \u201cI think in the entire experience of the universal church, it is a perfect visual.\u201d<\/p>\n

The couple attended an interfaith youth pilgrimage July 13 that included guest speaker Cardinal Oscar Andres Rodriguez Maradiaga, archbishop of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. He is also president of Caritas International, an organization started in 1897 to eradicate poverty and social injustice in the world. The cardinal blessed the couple\u2019s engagement, an event that was extra special for Bergmann and Schinn, as Bergmann\u2019s parents had been stationed in Honduras and were present at the cardinal\u2019s first Mass in Tegucigalpa in 2001.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really excited and I can\u2019t wait to start my life with the woman I know I\u2019ll be spending the rest of my life with. I\u2019m really happy that she will be my wife and I will be her husband,\u201d Bergmann said.<\/p>\n

At the conclusion of the final Mass July 20 with Pope Benedict XVI, Schinn raised her hand with her engagement ring for a papal blessing.<\/p>\n

Bergmann and Schinn are students at the University of Florida in Gainesville. Their wedding date is set for May 16, 2009, and is already on the calendar at Queen of Peace Parish. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Photo: Archbishop Denis Hart of the Diocese of Melbourne, Australia extends his blessing to Anders C. Bergmann and Katherine Schinn on the occasion of their engagement following Mass at St. Aloysius Parish in Caulfield, Australia. After Mass, Bergmann asked Schinn for her hand in marriage as they knelt in prayer. Photo courtesy Anders P. Bergmann, from Florida Catholic.<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I saw this item a week or so ago and kept meaning to post it, but other things intruded. It’s heartfelt, and hopeful, and sweetly romantic. Anyway: I’ll let the story speak for itself: World Youth Day 2008 will always be a meaningful memory for Anders C. Bergmann of St. George Parish at Patrick Air…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":204,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3025","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-this-and-that"],"yoast_head":"\nAn engaging story out of WYD - The Deacon's Bench<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/08\/an-engaging-story-out-of-wyd.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"An engaging story out of WYD - The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I saw this item a week or so ago and kept meaning to post it, but other things intruded. It’s heartfelt, and hopeful, and sweetly romantic. Anyway: I’ll let the story speak for itself: World Youth Day 2008 will always be a meaningful memory for Anders C. Bergmann of St. George Parish at Patrick Air…\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/08\/an-engaging-story-out-of-wyd.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Deacon's Bench\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-08-08T09:04:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/4.bp.blogspot.com\/_0DySLTT4PWo\/SJxFO_A6l3I\/AAAAAAAACu0\/n-YAW9fDkyw\/s320\/20080712_wyd_engagement_dsc01077.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Deacon Greg Kandra\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"An engaging story out of WYD - The Deacon's Bench","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/2008\/08\/an-engaging-story-out-of-wyd.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"An engaging story out of WYD - The Deacon's Bench","og_description":"I saw this item a week or so ago and kept meaning to post it, but other things intruded. 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Prior to that, Deacon Greg worked for 26 years as a writer and producer for CBS News, where he contributed to \"The CBS Evening News with Katie Couric,\" \"60 Minutes II,\" \"48 Hours,\" (Emmy Award, Writers Guild of America Award) and \"Sunday Morning.\" He was co-writer for the acclaimed documentary \"9\/11,\" hosted by Robert DeNiro. (Emmy Award, Christopher Award, Peabody Award, Writers Guild of America Award.) His radio essays were featured in the bestselling book \"Deadlines and Datelines\" by Dan Rather. He's also a two-time winner of the Catholic Press Association Award. Other places you may find him: AMERICA, U.S. CATHOLIC, CATHOLIC DIGEST, REALITY (Redemptorist Communications) and THE BROOKLYN TABLET. He also contributes homiletic reflections to the parish resource CONNECT!, published by Liturgical Publications. In November 2009, he began serving a three-year term as a consultant to the Communications Committee of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB). Deacon Greg grew up in Maryland (Go Terps!) but he and his wife today live in the beautiful borough of Queens, New York. You can contact Deacon Greg at dcngreg@gmail.com.","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/author\/gkandra"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3025","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/204"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3025"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3025\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3025"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3025"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/deaconsbench\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3025"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}