Lakeville Catholic’s St. Michael Project brings police officers spiritual support

Jason Parnell does not go anywhere without his medal featuring St. Michael the Archangel. A U.S. Marshall in Brunswick, Georgia, he believes in the protective powers of the patron saint of law enforcement officers, even though he is not Catholic.

“I am very religious,” said Parnell, who has been in law enforcement for 22 years. “I have a strong faith, and I think that God does provide us protection, whether it be his own hand or angels working in his stead. It’s all part of our faith.”

He first received a St. Michael medal in 2021, when Ruth Laursen of All Saints in Lakeville stopped at his work. She was on vacation with her husband, Paul, and did what she always does when traveling — dropped off St. Michael medals to the local police department. Parnell met Laursen outside his office and eagerly accepted a medal. That began a ritual of taking one wherever he goes.

Laursen has distributed more than 30,000 medals in more than 20 states, especially throughout the Twin Cities and greater Minnesota. It’s all volunteer work, a labor of love and protection sparked by the 2016 shooting deaths of police officers in Dallas.

“I found a video of a woman that was at the rally (in Dallas), and she had gotten shot,” Laursen said. “She was with her son. She had snuck behind a car and she was hit. The officers, when they found out she was hit, came and laid on top of her and her son. They were human shields protecting her from any other gunfire. It just broke my heart what had happened.”

Her emotion stirred a reflection. “I felt that it was not just a physical battle that these police officers were in, but also a spiritual one. And, God just seemed to put on my heart that they needed some spiritual protection.”

Protecting all citizens

Laursen points out that handing out the St. Michael medals is not meant to be seen as taking sides in the political debates that surround questions about policing. She said she has the best interests of all citizens in mind.

“The medals, in my opinion, are not just for (the protection of police officers)”, she said. “They’re also to help the officer make the right choices when it comes to interaction with people — that it (the medal) would protect not only the officer, but the people that they are involved with.”

Laursen discovered that St. Michael — whose feast day is Sept. 29, along with Archangels Gabriel and Raphael — is the patron saint of police officers. That prompted her to begin giving St. Michael medals to officers. She bought 200 medals, asked for them to be blessed by Archbishop Bernard Hebda, and set out to distribute them. She named her effort The St. Michael Project.

The nickel-sized medals feature a stamped image of St. Michael on one side and a guardian angel on the other, purchased from St. Paul Street Evangelization, a nonprofit Catholic organization in Michigan. Paul and Ruth then attach a cord to the medals so they can be worn, and place the finished medals in a small Ziploc bag. Each bag contains a sheet with the explanation of the medal on one side and the prayer to St. Michael on the other. Ruth calls each blessed medal a “sacramental,” meaning it can help bring a “connection to God.”

The Catechism acknowledges the use of blessed items such as these medals, called “sacramentals,” which are “sacred signs instituted by the Church that can “sanctify different circumstances of life.”

Her first stop for the medal distribution was the Lakeville Police Department, the closest one to her house. With no advance notice, she walked through the doorway of the building July 11, 2016, and announced her plan to bring medals.

Commander Jim Puncochar was summoned to meet her, and had “no idea” why she had come. “I’m like, ‘Is this a complaint? What’s going on?’” Puncochar recalled.

Laursen said she wanted to show support for police officers, and offered to bring St. Michael medals for all officers and staff in the department. The seemingly small gesture tapped into emotions he feels as both a police officer and a Catholic.

“I think every officer is driven in some way spiritually,” said Puncochar, who has been with the department for 28 years and attends Mass at several local parishes with his wife and three children. “That’s how we do our job. We know that, at the end of the day, … we want to be safe, and we want to go home to our families. And, that spiritual component guides us in how we conduct ourselves as officers.”

He thought handing out St. Michael medals was “a great idea,” but was unsure about how the department’s officers would feel about it. Two weeks after the initial visit, Laursen showed up with 73 medals, which was enough to cover everyone in the department. She later added 27 more so there would be some extras on hand.

Puncochar made the medals available to anyone who wanted them. The response was overwhelmingly positive. Some officers he thought would decline a medal responded enthusiastically, saying, “I want that,” he recalled.

“We still have some on supply,” Puncochar said. “New officers (can) get them as they get hired. I haven’t had one person turn them down yet.”

Puncochar, who is second in command at the department, said the police chief also “loves the idea,” and was one of the first ones to take a medal. Other officers feel the same way, and find special places for their medals.

“Some people wear it, some people keep it in their locker, some people have it in their duty bag, some people put it in their pocket,” Puncochar said. “Everyone has a different means of transporting it, or a place for it or location for it. I keep mine in my office. I’m kind of an office guy to begin with, and mine is hanging in my office every day. It’s just a reminder that a higher power guides us.”

Positive response

After her positive experience in Lakeville, Laursen has put medals in the hands of as many officers as she can. Everywhere she goes, the response is the same — eager acceptance of the medals, along with gratitude, she said. She estimates she has handed out a total of 30,000 to 32,000 medals, all blessed by Archbishop Hebda, to more than 300 police departments in at least 20 states.

She went to Faribault in 2019 and found a very enthusiastic recipient in Connie Holm, an administrative assistant with the Faribault Police Department. At the time, her husband, Mark, was a state trooper in Rochester (he has since retired). She also has two children who work in law enforcement, one as a police officer and the other as a deputy sheriff.

When Laursen stopped by, Holm took 40 medals and sent an email to officers and staff to let them know. Within two days, almost all of the medals were gone. Laursen also brought a medal to Mark Holm, making a trip to the district office where he worked and handing him a medal in person.

“I think it’s just amazing,” Connie Holm said of Laursen and her St. Michael Project. “Her kindness and thoughtfulness is just way above and beyond.”

Most of the time, Laursen works with administrative staff, but occasionally, she is able to talk to a police chief like Bill Messerich of the South St. Paul Police Department, who gladly accepted more than 40 medals in 2019.

“I’m all for it,” said Messerich, who retired in April. “This small token is huge for police officers, helping them through their difficult times, and just knowing that there’s people out there that care.”

Just days before his retirement, he remarked that there were no more medals left to hand out. Messerich, who was raised Catholic, dutifully kept one in his office.

In some instances, law enforcement personnel themselves become medal distributors. Parnell first received medals from Laursen in 2021. Since then, she has shipped him 400 more, and he has passed out at least 75% of those. He gives them away everywhere he goes.

“I keep one in my pocket,” he said. “And, if I come into contact with somebody that I think I should be giving that to, I’ll give them the one out of my pocket and replace it. … I keep a stack of them in my government car, in my personal vehicle, in my house. I try to keep plenty on hand because I don’t ever want to be without it if I feel like somebody could use it.”

Parnell said he thinks what Ruth is doing “is truly in the service of God.” He calls Ruth and Paul “amazing people” and said their show of support is especially meaningful during a time when police officers across the country have been under intense scrutiny and criticism because of the actions of some, like former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin, a white police officer who was convicted of second- and third-degree murder in April 2021 for the death of George Floyd, an African American, in May 2020 during an arrest.

“There’s a lot of tension,” Parnell said. “It’s very disheartening. And something like what The St. Michael Project does helps to kind of lift us up a bit. … It means a lot. To me, it’s a very big deal, and it’s got to be a true calling by God for them to be so passionate and devoted to it, and (be) touching and reaching so many people.”

Laursen has no plans to stop handing out St. Michael medals. She has since expanded her distribution efforts to include firefighters and emergency medical technicians. And now, like Parnell, she gives them to anyone she feels could use one.

“Hopefully, we’ll keep doing it as long as we can,” she said. “Eventually, when we retire (from a lawn care and snowplowing business), it would be kind of fun to do it full time. Whatever God has in store for us. We’re just going to go with God’s plan. We pray to do his will.”

For more information on the medals, visit thesaintmichaelproject.com.