A crowd of 550 people turned out to hear U. S. Senator Mike Rounds, the keynote speaker at the annual Palm Sunday Brunch fundraiser for Catholic Social Services. He is well known in South Dakota for his service as state governor from 2003 – 2011. Rounds was the oldest in a family of 11 children and he used several anecdotes from growing up Catholic for his talk.

 “I haven’t seen this many Catholics in one room since they forbid smoking in the bingo hall in Pierre,” he joked.

 Senator Rounds recalled dressing up for Palm Sunday Masses.  “Palm Sunday was the beginning of that very special time of the year when you can see all those things that you’re doing during Lent coming to an end fairly quickly.

“I remember Palm Sunday in my 4th grade year, it was the first year I served Mass. Msgr. Paul McGuire, who at that point had been the pastor for close to 30 years, was pretty strict and he expected his altar boys to know what they were doing,” he said. The senator recalled he had practiced his Latin responses and had been teamed with an older boy who knew the ropes for 7 a.m. Mass. “My whole family was there, my partner did not show up, but it worked out. Msgr. McGuire was the pastor all the way through my high school years when he retired to Maryhouse in Pierre.”

 He also remembered coming home from college for Christmas break as a freshman. Someone at the church called his mother and asked if there was anyone who could serve Mass with Msgr. McGuire at the Maryhouse Chapel. “I went down there and Msgr. McGuire said, ‘How’s your Latin?’” Senator Rounds said he did not remember a lot.  Mass began and “everything comes back, I’ve never forgotten.” 

 He said he is uncomfortable with Palm Sunday. He wondered if he were there would he praise Jesus coming into town, then join the mob against Jesus? “On that day we also talk about what we did to Jesus and that makes us all uncomfortable. We are part of it. How would we have reacted if we were there? Laying down the palms, then just as quickly, would we deny him?” he asked.

 Senator Rounds also shared a memory of a phone call from his youngest brother Jamie who was studying at North America College in Rome. They were talking and in the background, he could hear beautiful music. He asked Jamie what it was, and the younger brother realized it was the bells of St. Peter Cathedral and he had to get to Mass in five minutes. Jamie had heard the bells so many times he took them for granted according to Senator Rounds.

 He said in South Dakota citizens can take goods and services for granted. “We should remember that there are other people in our society that don’t have that same comfort level. These are the people that need the rest of us to pay attention. We sometimes just pass them on the street. This is what Catholic Social Services is designed to help us with. This is our opportunity to be involved and not to forget things taken for granted,” he said. 

 He thanked the audience for taking the time to be there, for giving of their treasure, and for celebrating their faith.

 At the end of the brunch, Jim Kinyon, executive director of Catholic Social Services, recalled a member of the Knights of Columbus named Schmitty who served in World War II. In a fox hole his buddy asked what he was going to do after the war. Schmitty replied he didn’t know, but whatever it was, he was going to do good. Schmitty was called to help with a radio message and when he came back to the fox hole, his buddy had been killed by shrapnel from mortar fire. Kinyon told how Schmitty showed up year after year to help the Knights because he felt he owed it to his friend.

 Kinyon then explained that it is the generosity of donors that allow his agency staff to help others. He went on to tell about the staggering amount of mental illness his staff has responded to since the pandemic. He said hundreds of children have found forever homes because of the agency adoption services and that since 2014, there are 183 single moms who have earned their degrees to support their children. He added $7 million has been given out to families in need of disaster aid.

 He thanked the sponsors of the event who have shown up to give year after year. He said that is how good work gets done – just keep showing up.