Priestly vocation involves leadership as well as discipleship
June 28, 2009

     Earlier this month on the Feast of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, Pope Benedict XVI opened a Year of the Priest.  He will close this Jubilee Year on June 19, 2010, the 150th anniversary of the death of St. John Vianney, with a meeting of priests in St. Peter’s Square.  While St. John Vianney is already considered the patron saint of parish priests, Pope Benedict XVI will proclaim the Cure of Ars the patron saint of all priests during this Jubilee Year.  This 19th-Century saint is an inspiring example of a priest totally dedicated to the service of his people.

      St. John Vianney drew thousands of Catholics to his confessional in the small village of Ars.  He heard confessions for many hours each day.  He was also known for visiting his people and teaching them in his own simple, but effective, way about the mysteries of God.

      We now live in a time of great social upheaval when the forces of secularization are eroding the Christian vision of life.  While it is important for all of us to keep our priorities straight and to strive to grow in union with Jesus, it is particularly important for priests to model for their people lives centered in Christ and to proclaim zealously His reconciling Gospel of life, love, and peace.

      Every baptized Catholic is called to hold Jesus at the center of his or her heart and to witness to Jesus’ love in their families, workplaces, and beyond.  Ordained priests are further called to share in the apostolic ministry given to the apostles and carried on by the bishops in collaboration with their co-workers, the priests.  Thus, the vocation of a priest involves not just discipleship, but leadership.  They are to bring Jesus’ call to discipleship to others and to teach all of the baptized how to live their lives as followers of Jesus.

      As co-workers with the bishop, priests are ordained to preach the Gospel and teach the faith, to shepherd the faithful in their life together, and to celebrate divine worship.

      Pope John Paul II, in his encyclical on the Eucharist, described the priesthood as born from, living in, and working and bearing fruit from the Holy Eucharist.  There can be no Eucharist without the priesthood, just as there can be no priesthood without the Eucharist.  The priest acts in the person of Christ.  The Holy Spirit, who causes the bread and wine to become the Body and Blood of Christ through the words and actions of the priest, is at work throughout the ministry of the priest.

      The high point of the priest’s life each day is to bring about the Eucharistic Sacrifice in the person of Christ and offer it to God in the name of all the people.  So, too, does the priest act in the person of Christ as he extends the forgiving and healing touch of the Savior to the faithful in the other sacraments.

      The purpose of this Jubilee Year of Priests is to encourage priests to strive for an authentically priestly heart, to foster an evermore intense union with the Lord Jesus Himself.  It is to help priests re-discover their proper identity, to appreciate more deeply their own presbyterate and their sacramental relationship with their bishop.

      I strongly encourage each of you to say at least a Hail Mary each day during this year for the continuing sanctification of myself and our priests in this diocese.  I also encourage your prayers for our seminarians that they might be formed after the Sacred Heart of Jesus.  Pray also that the Lord will bless our diocese with an increase of generous young men who respond to the call to the priesthood for service in our diocese.

Diocesan newspaper —
valuable tool for learning about faith
February 15, 2009

      Through modern technology, we have grown accustomed to instant information. Through the touch of a keyboard or the flick of a channel, we have 24-hour access to news about politics, weather, stocks, sports, religion, and even the personal lives of people in the news.

      The secular media carries some news about our faith and about the Church.  But how often and what kind of news is featured?  Our faith must be primarily concerned about our relationship with Jesus and His desire for us to live our faith in community, in the Church.

      We develop our relationship with the Lord through prayer, faithful reading of the Scriptures, and very regular participation at Sunday Mass.  We also learn about Jesus’ Gospel values and about the Church He established through homilies at Mass, religious education classes, and adult formation programs.

      One other very valuable tool for learning about our Catholic faith and its ongoing mission in our diocese and throughout the world is the Northwest Indiana Catholic.  For more than 20 years, the Northwest Indiana Catholic has provided readers with articles intended to enrich our faith and news of important Catholic activities at the parish, diocesan, and international level reported professionally and in depth.

      Each week the Northwest Indiana Catholic contains news, photos, and columns that help us appreciate the depth of God’s love for us and examples of how our brothers and sisters in the faith respond to God’s love and share it with others, especially those in need.

      Our diocesan newspaper has taken readers from moving stories of our priests and deacons at Indiana State Prison’s death row and St. Dismas Catholic faith community to the farm fields of LaPorte County, where farmers rely on faith as well as a good harvest.  It has helped us come to know Indiana’s first canonized saint, St. Theodora Guerin, and has inspired us with volunteers from our parishes who have served in Appalachia, New Orleans, Iowa, and our own local parishioners who have struggled to re-build after damaging storms and flooding.

      The Northwest Indiana Catholic uses modern technology to spread the good news about our Catholic faith.  Since 2004, its Web site, www.nwicatholic.com, supplements the print edition and provides additional information for families, including movie and book reviews and a study guide for religious education students with questions based on stories from that particular week’s edition.

      I have written 770 columns for this newspaper because these columns afford me an opportunity, as your bishop, to communicate with you about our treasured faith in the Lord Jesus, the challenges of discipleship, and the way to develop a greater love for the Church which Jesus founded as He breathed His last upon the cross.

      February is Catholic Press Month – a time to renew your subscription to our diocesan newspaper.  Please renew your subscription.  If you know someone who cannot afford the paper but would like to receive it, please consider a gift subscription.  If you are not a subscriber or your subscription has lapsed, please consider rejoining our community of believers who deepen their faith through the Northwest Indiana Catholic.