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Saint Vincent de Paul
Roman Catholic Church
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Bayonne, New Jersey 07002
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Founded 1894
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[Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults] [Pope Benedict XVI]
  Pope
Benedict XVI
Apostolic Journey to the United States
April 15 - 20, 2008
Prepared text as released by the Vatican of
Pope Benedict’s address to the U.S. bishops:
Dear Brother Bishops,
It gives me great joy to greet you today, at the start of my visit to this
country, and I thank Cardinal George for the gracious words he has
addressed to me on your behalf. I want to thank all of you, especially the
Officers of the Episcopal Conference, for the hard work that has gone into
the preparation of this visit. My grateful appreciation goes also to the
staff and volunteers of the National Shrine, who have welcomed us here
this evening. American Catholics are noted for their loyal devotion to the
see of Peter. My pastoral visit here is an opportunity to strengthen
further the bonds of communion that unite us. We began by celebrating
Evening Prayer in this Basilica dedicated to the Immaculate Conception of
the Blessed Virgin Mary, a shrine of special significance to American
Catholics, right in the heart of your capital city. Gathered in prayer
with Mary, Mother of Jesus, we lovingly commend to our heavenly Father the
people of God in every part of the United States.
For the Catholic communities of Boston, New York, Philadelphia and
Louisville, this is a year of particular celebration, as it marks the
bicentenary of the establishment of these local Churches as Dioceses. I
join you in giving thanks for the many graces granted to the Church there
during these two centuries. As this year also marks the bicentenary of the
elevation of the founding see of Baltimore to an Archdiocese, it gives me
an opportunity to recall with admiration and gratitude the life and
ministry of John Carroll, the first Bishop of Baltimore - a worthy leader
of the Catholic community in your newly independent nation. His tireless
efforts to spread the Gospel in the vast territory under his care laid the
foundations for the ecclesial life of your country and enabled the Church
in America to grow to maturity. Today the Catholic community you serve is
one of the largest in the world, and one of the most influential. How
important it is, then, to let your light so shine before your fellow
citizens and before the world, “that they may see your good works and give
glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Mt 5:16).
Many of the people to whom John Carroll and his fellow Bishops were
ministering two centuries ago had travelled from distant lands. The
diversity of their origins is reflected in the rich variety of ecclesial
life in present-day America. Brother Bishops, I want to encourage you and
your communities to continue to welcome the immigrants who join your ranks
today, to share their joys and hopes, to support them in their sorrows and
trials, and to help them flourish in their new home. This, indeed, is what
your fellow countrymen have done for generations. From the beginning, they
have opened their doors to the tired, the poor, the “huddled masses
yearning to breathe free” (cf. Sonnet inscribed on the Statue of Liberty).
These are the people whom America has made her own.
Of those who came to build a new life here, many were able to make good
use of the resources and opportunities that they found, and to attain a
high level of prosperity. Indeed, the people of this country are known for
their great vitality and creativity. They are also known for their
generosity. After the attack on the Twin Towers in September 2001, and
again after Hurricane Katrina in 2005, Americans displayed their readiness
to come to the aid of their brothers and sisters in need. On the
international level, the contribution made by the people of America to
relief and rescue operations after the tsunami of December 2004 is a
further illustration of this compassion. Let me express my particular
appreciation for the many forms of humanitarian assistance provided by
American Catholics through Catholic Charities and other agencies. Their
generosity has borne fruit in the care shown to the poor and needy, and in
the energy that has gone into building the nationwide network of Catholic
parishes, hospitals, schools and universities. All of this gives great
cause for thanksgiving.
America is also a land of great faith. Your people are remarkable for
their religious fervor and they take pride in belonging to a worshipping
community. They have confidence in God, and they do not hesitate to bring
moral arguments rooted in biblical faith into their public discourse.
Respect for freedom of religion is deeply ingrained in the American
consciousness - a fact which has contributed to this country’s attraction
for generations of immigrants, seeking a home where they can worship
freely in accordance with their beliefs.
In this connection, I happily acknowledge the presence among you of
Bishops from all the venerable Eastern Churches in communion with the
Successor of Peter, whom I greet with special joy. Dear Brothers, I ask
you to assure your communities of my deep affection and my continued
prayers, both for them and for the many brothers and sisters who remain in
their land of origin. Your presence here is a reminder of the courageous
witness to Christ of so many members of your communities, often amid
suffering, in their respective homelands. It is also a great enrichment of
the ecclesial life of America, giving vivid expression to the Church’s
catholicity and the variety of her liturgical and spiritual traditions.
It is in this fertile soil, nourished from so many different sources, that
all of you, Brother Bishops, are called to sow the seeds of the Gospel
today. This leads me to ask how, in the twenty-first century, a bishop can
best fulfill the call to “make all things new in Christ, our hope”? How
can he lead his people to “an encounter with the living God”, the source
of that life-transforming hope of which the Gospel speaks (cf. Spe Salvi,
4)? Perhaps he needs to begin by clearing away some of the barriers to
such an encounter. While it is true that this country is marked by a
genuinely religious spirit, the subtle influence of secularism can
nevertheless color the way people allow their faith to influence their
behavior. Is it consistent to profess our beliefs in church on Sunday, and
then during the week to promote business practices or medical procedures
contrary to those beliefs? Is it consistent for practicing Catholics to
ignore or exploit the poor and the marginalized, to promote sexual
behavior contrary to Catholic moral teaching, or to adopt positions that
contradict the right to life of every human being from conception to
natural death? Any tendency to treat religion as a private matter must be
resisted. Only when their faith permeates every aspect of their lives do
Christians become truly open to the transforming power of the Gospel.
For an affluent society, a further obstacle to an encounter with the
living God lies in the subtle influence of materialism, which can all too
easily focus the attention on the hundredfold, which God promises now in
this time, at the expense of the eternal life which he promises in the age
to come (cf. Mk 10:30). People today need to be reminded of the ultimate
purpose of their lives. They need to recognize that implanted within them
is a deep thirst for God. They need to be given opportunities to drink
from the wells of his infinite love. It is easy to be entranced by the
almost unlimited possibilities that science and technology place before
us; it is easy to make the mistake of thinking we can obtain by our own
efforts the fulfillment of our deepest needs. This is an illusion. Without
God, who alone bestows upon us what we by ourselves cannot attain (cf. Spe
Salvi, 31), our lives are ultimately empty. People need to be constantly
reminded to cultivate a relationship with him who came that we might have
life in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10). The goal of all our pastoral and
catechetical work, the object of our preaching, and the focus of our
sacramental ministry should be to help people establish and nurture that
living relationship with “Christ Jesus, our hope” (1 Tim 1:1).
In a society which values personal freedom and autonomy, it is easy to
lose sight of our dependence on others as well as the responsibilities
that we bear towards them. This emphasis on individualism has even
affected the Church (cf. Spe Salvi, 13-15), giving rise to a form of piety
which sometimes emphasizes our private relationship with God at the
expense of our calling to be members of a redeemed community. Yet from the
beginning, God saw that “it is not good for man to be alone” (Gen 2:18).
We were created as social beings who find fulfillment only in love - for
God and for our neighbor. If we are truly to gaze upon him who is the
source of our joy, we need to do so as members of the people of God (cf.
Spe Salvi, 14). If this seems counter-cultural, that is simply further
evidence of the urgent need for a renewed evangelization of culture.
Here in America, you are blessed with a Catholic laity of considerable
cultural diversity, who place their wide-ranging gifts at the service of
the Church and of society at large. They look to you to offer them
encouragement, leadership and direction. In an age that is saturated with
information, the importance of providing sound formation in the faith
cannot be overstated. American Catholics have traditionally placed a high
value on religious education, both in schools and in the context of adult
formation programs. These need to be maintained and expanded. The many
generous men and women who devote themselves to charitable activity need
to be helped to renew their dedication through a “formation of the heart”:
an “encounter with God in Christ which awakens their love and opens their
spirits to others” (Deus Caritas Est, 31). At a time when advances in
medical science bring new hope to many, they also give rise to previously
unimagined ethical challenges. This makes it more important than ever to
offer thorough formation in the Church’s moral teaching to Catholics
engaged in health care. Wise guidance is needed in all these apostolates,
so that they may bear abundant fruit; if they are truly to promote the
integral good of the human person, they too need to be made new in Christ
our hope.
As preachers of the Gospel and leaders of the Catholic community, you are
also called to participate in the exchange of ideas in the public square,
helping to shape cultural attitudes. In a context where free speech is
valued, and where vigorous and honest debate is encouraged, yours is a
respected voice that has much to offer to the discussion of the pressing
social and moral questions of the day. By ensuring that the Gospel is
clearly heard, you not only form the people of your own community, but in
view of the global reach of mass communication, you help to spread the
message of Christian hope throughout the world.
Clearly, the Church’s influence on public debate takes place on many
different levels. In the United States, as elsewhere, there is much
current and proposed legislation that gives cause for concern from the
point of view of morality, and the Catholic community, under your
guidance, needs to offer a clear and united witness on such matters. Even
more important, though, is the gradual opening of the minds and hearts of
the wider community to moral truth. Here much remains to be done. Crucial
in this regard is the role of the lay faithful to act as a “leaven” in
society. Yet it cannot be assumed that all Catholic citizens think in
harmony with the Church’s teaching on today’s key ethical questions. Once
again, it falls to you to ensure that the moral formation provided at
every level of ecclesial life reflects the authentic teaching of the
Gospel of life.
In this regard, a matter of deep concern to us all is the state of the
family within society. Indeed, Cardinal George mentioned earlier that you
have included the strengthening of marriage and family life among the
priorities for your attention over the next few years. In this year’s
World Day of Peace Message I spoke of the essential contribution that
healthy family life makes to peace within and between nations. In the
family home we experience “some of the fundamental elements of peace:
justice and love between brothers and sisters, the role of authority
expressed by parents, loving concern for the members who are weaker
because of youth, sickness or old age, mutual help in the necessities of
life, readiness to accept others and, if necessary, to forgive them” (no.
3). The family is also the primary place for evangelization, for passing
on the faith, for helping young people to appreciate the importance of
religious practice and Sunday observance. How can we not be dismayed as we
observe the sharp decline of the family as a basic element of Church and
society? Divorce and infidelity have increased, and many young men and
women are choosing to postpone marriage or to forego it altogether. To
some young Catholics, the sacramental bond of marriage seems scarcely
distinguishable from a civil bond, or even a purely informal and
open-ended arrangement to live with another person. Hence we have an
alarming decrease in the number of Catholic marriages in the United States
together with an increase in cohabitation, in which the Christ-like mutual
self-giving of spouses, sealed by a public promise to live out the demands
of an indissoluble lifelong commitment, is simply absent. In such
circumstances, children are denied the secure environment that they need
in order truly to flourish as human beings, and society is denied the
stable building blocks which it requires if the cohesion and moral focus
of the community are to be maintained.
As my predecessor, Pope John Paul II taught, “The person principally
responsible in the Diocese for the pastoral care of the family is the
Bishop … he must devote to it personal interest, care, time, personnel and
resources, but above all personal support for the families and for all
those who … assist him in the pastoral care of the family” (Familiaris
Consortio, 73). It is your task to proclaim boldly the arguments from
faith and reason in favor of the institution of marriage, understood as a
lifelong commitment between a man and a woman, open to the transmission of
life. This message should resonate with people today, because it is
essentially an unconditional and unreserved “yes” to life, a “yes” to
love, and a “yes” to the aspirations at the heart of our common humanity,
as we strive to fulfill our deep yearning for intimacy with others and
with the Lord.
Among the countersigns to the Gospel of life found in America and
elsewhere is one that causes deep shame: the sexual abuse of minors. Many
of you have spoken to me of the enormous pain that your communities have
suffered when clerics have betrayed their priestly obligations and duties
by such gravely immoral behavior. As you strive to eliminate this evil
wherever it occurs, you may be assured of the prayerful support of God’s
people throughout the world. Rightly, you attach priority to showing
compassion and care to the victims. It is your God-given responsibility as
pastors to bind up the wounds caused by every breach of trust, to foster
healing, to promote reconciliation and to reach out with loving concern to
those so seriously wronged.
Responding to this situation has not been easy and, as the President of
your Episcopal Conference has indicated, it was “sometimes very badly
handled”. Now that the scale and gravity of the problem is more clearly
understood, you have been able to adopt more focused remedial and
disciplinary measures and to promote a safe environment that gives greater
protection to young people. While it must be remembered that the
overwhelming majority of clergy and religious in America do outstanding
work in bringing the liberating message of the Gospel to the people
entrusted to their care, it is vitally important that the vulnerable
always be shielded from those who would cause harm. In this regard, your
efforts to heal and protect are bearing great fruit not only for those
directly under your pastoral care, but for all of society.
If they are to achieve their full purpose, however, the policies and
programs you have adopted need to be placed in a wider context. Children
deserve to grow up with a healthy understanding of sexuality and its
proper place in human relationships. They should be spared the degrading
manifestations and the crude manipulation of sexuality so prevalent today.
They have a right to be educated in authentic moral values rooted in the
dignity of the human person. This brings us back to our consideration of
the centrality of the family and the need to promote the Gospel of life.
What does it mean to speak of child protection when pornography and
violence can be viewed in so many homes through media widely available
today? We need to reassess urgently the values underpinning society, so
that a sound moral formation can be offered to young people and adults
alike. All have a part to play in this task - not only parents, religious
leaders, teachers and catechists, but the media and entertainment
industries as well. Indeed, every member of society can contribute to this
moral renewal and benefit from it. Truly caring about young people and the
future of our civilization means recognizing our responsibility to promote
and live by the authentic moral values which alone enable the human person
to flourish. It falls to you, as pastors modelled upon Christ, the Good
Shepherd, to proclaim this message loud and clear, and thus to address the
sin of abuse within the wider context of sexual mores. Moreover, by
acknowledging and confronting the problem when it occurs in an ecclesial
setting, you can give a lead to others, since this scourge is found not
only within your Dioceses, but in every sector of society. It calls for a
determined, collective response.
Priests, too, need your guidance and closeness during this difficult time.
They have experienced shame over what has occurred, and there are those
who feel they have lost some of the trust and esteem they once enjoyed.
Not a few are experiencing a closeness to Christ in his Passion as they
struggle to come to terms with the consequences of the crisis. The Bishop,
as father, brother and friend of his priests, can help them to draw
spiritual fruit from this union with Christ by making them aware of the
Lord’s consoling presence in the midst of their suffering, and by
encouraging them to walk with the Lord along the path of hope (cf. Spe
Salvi, 39). As Pope John Paul II observed six years ago, “we must be
confident that this time of trial will bring a purification of the entire
Catholic community”, leading to “a holier priesthood, a holier episcopate
and a holier Church” (Address to the Cardinals of the United States, 23
April 2002, 4). There are many signs that, during the intervening period,
such purification has indeed been taking place. Christ’s abiding presence
in the midst of our suffering is gradually transforming our darkness into
light: all things are indeed being made new in Christ Jesus our hope.
At this stage a vital part of your task is to strengthen relationships
with your clergy, especially in those cases where tension has arisen
between priests and their bishops in the wake of the crisis. It is
important that you continue to show them your concern, to support them,
and to lead by example. In this way you will surely help them to encounter
the living God, and point them towards the life-transforming hope of which
the Gospel speaks. If you yourselves live in a manner closely configured
to Christ, the Good Shepherd, who laid down his life for his sheep, you
will inspire your brother priests to rededicate themselves to the service
of their flocks with Christ-like generosity. Indeed a clearer focus upon
the imitation of Christ in holiness of life is exactly what is needed in
order for us to move forward. We need to rediscover the joy of living a
Christ-centred life, cultivating the virtues, and immersing ourselves in
prayer. When the faithful know that their pastor is a man who prays and
who dedicates his life to serving them, they respond with warmth and
affection which nourishes and sustains the life of the whole community.
Time spent in prayer is never wasted, however urgent the duties that press
upon us from every side. Adoration of Christ our Lord in the Blessed
Sacrament prolongs and intensifies the union with him that is established
through the Eucharistic celebration (cf. Sacramentum Caritatis, 66).
Contemplation of the mysteries of the Rosary releases all their saving
power and it conforms, unites and consecrates us to Jesus Christ (cf.
Rosarium Virginis Mariae, 11, 15). Fidelity to the Liturgy of the Hours
ensures that the whole of our day is sanctified and it continually reminds
us of the need to remain focused on doing God’s work, however many
pressures and distractions may arise from the task at hand. Thus our
devotion helps us to speak and act in persona Christi, to teach, govern
and sanctify the faithful in the name of Jesus, to bring his
reconciliation, his healing and his love to all his beloved brothers and
sisters. This radical configuration to Christ, the Good Shepherd, lies at
the heart of our pastoral ministry, and if we open ourselves through
prayer to the power of the Spirit, he will give us the gifts we need to
carry out our daunting task, so that we need never “be anxious how to
speak or what to say” (Mt 10:19).
As I conclude my words to you this evening, I commend the Church in your
country most particularly to the maternal care and intercession of Mary
Immaculate, Patroness of the United States. May she who carried within her
womb the hope of all the nations intercede for the people of this country,
so that all may be made new in Jesus Christ her Son. My dear Brother
Bishops, I assure each of you here present of my deep friendship and my
participation in your pastoral concerns. To all of you, and to your
clergy, religious and lay faithful, I cordially impart my Apostolic
Blessing as a pledge of joy and peace in the Risen Lord.
1. The Holy Father is asked to give his assessment of the challenge of
increasing secularism in public life and relativism in intellectual life,
and his advice on how to confront these challenges pastorally and
evangelize more effectively.
I touched upon this theme briefly in my address. It strikes me as
significant that here in America, unlike many places in Europe, the
secular mentality has not been intrinsically opposed to religion. Within
the context of the separation of Church and State, American society has
always been marked by a fundamental respect for religion and its public
role, and, if polls are to be believed, the American people are deeply
religious. But it is not enough to count on this traditional religiosity
and go about business as usual, even as its foundations are being slowly
undermined. A serious commitment to evangelization cannot prescind from a
profound diagnosis of the real challenges the Gospel encounters in
contemporary American culture.
Of course, what is essential is a correct understanding of the just
autonomy of the secular order, an autonomy which cannot be divorced from
God the Creator and his saving plan (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 36). Perhaps
America’s brand of secularism poses a particular problem: it allows for
professing belief in God, and respects the public role of religion and the
Churches, but at the same time it can subtly reduce religious belief to a
lowest common denominator. Faith becomes a passive acceptance that certain
things “out there” are true, but without practical relevance for everyday
life. The result is a growing separation of faith from life: living “as if
God did not exist”. This is aggravated by an individualistic and eclectic
approach to faith and religion: far from a Catholic approach to “thinking
with the Church”, each person believes he or she has a right to pick and
choose, maintaining external social bonds but without an integral,
interior conversion to the law of Christ. Consequently, rather than being
transformed and renewed in mind, Christians are easily tempted to conform
themselves to the spirit of this age (cf. Rom 12:3). We have seen this
emerge in an acute way in the scandal given by Catholics who promote an
alleged right to abortion.
On a deeper level, secularism challenges the Church to reaffirm and to
pursue more actively her mission in and to the world. As the Council made
clear, the lay faithful have a particular responsibility in this regard.
What is needed, I am convinced, is a greater sense of the intrinsic
relationship between the Gospel and the natural law on the one hand, and,
on the other, the pursuit of authentic human good, as embodied in civil
law and in personal moral decisions. In a society that rightly values
personal liberty, the Church needs to promote at every level of her
teaching - in catechesis, preaching, seminary and university instruction -
an apologetics aimed at affirming the truth of Christian revelation, the
harmony of faith and reason, and a sound understanding of freedom, seen in
positive terms as a liberation both from the limitations of sin and for an
authentic and fulfilling life. In a word, the Gospel has to be preached
and taught as an integral way of life, offering an attractive and true
answer, intellectually and practically, to real human problems. The
“dictatorship of relativism”, in the end, is nothing less than a threat to
genuine human freedom, which only matures in generosity and fidelity to
the truth.
Much more, of course, could be said on this subject: let me conclude,
though, by saying that I believe that the Church in America, at this point
in her history, is faced with the challenge of recapturing the Catholic
vision of reality and presenting it, in an engaging and imaginative way,
to a society which markets any number of recipes for human fulfillment. I
think in particular of our need to speak to the hearts of young people,
who, despite their constant exposure to messages contrary to the Gospel,
continue to thirst for authenticity, goodness and truth. Much remains to
be done, particularly on the level of preaching and catechesis in parishes
and schools, if the new evangelization is to bear fruit for the renewal of
ecclesial life in America.
2. The Holy Father is asked about “a certain quiet attrition” by which
Catholics are abandoning the practice of the faith, sometimes by an
explicit decision, but often by distancing themselves quietly and
gradually from attendance at Mass and identification with the Church.
Certainly, much of this has to do with the passing away of a religious
culture, sometimes disparagingly referred to as a “ghetto”, which
reinforced participation and identification with the Church. As I just
mentioned, one of the great challenges facing the Church in this country
is that of cultivating a Catholic identity which is based not so much on
externals as on a way of thinking and acting grounded in the Gospel and
enriched by the Church’s living tradition.
The issue clearly involves factors such as religious individualism and
scandal. Let us go to the heart of the matter: faith cannot survive unless
it is nourished, unless it is “formed by charity” (cf. Gal 5:6). Do people
today find it difficult to encounter God in our Churches? Has our
preaching lost its salt? Might it be that many people have forgotten, or
never really learned, how to pray in and with the Church?
Here I am not speaking of people who leave the Church in search of
subjective religious “experiences”; this is a pastoral issue which must be
addressed on its own terms. I think we are speaking about people who have
fallen by the wayside without consciously having rejected their faith in
Christ, but, for whatever reason, have not drawn life from the liturgy,
the sacraments, preaching. Yet Christian faith, as we know, is essentially
ecclesial, and without a living bond to the community, the individual’s
faith will never grow to maturity. Indeed, to return to the question I
just discussed, the result can be a quiet apostasy.
So let me make two brief observations on the problem of “attrition”, which
I hope will stimulate further reflection.
First, as you know, it is becoming more and more difficult, in our Western
societies, to speak in a meaningful way of “salvation”. Yet salvation -
deliverance from the reality of evil, and the gift of new life and freedom
in Christ - is at the heart of the Gospel. We need to discover, as I have
suggested, new and engaging ways of proclaiming this message and awakening
a thirst for the fulfillment which only Christ can bring. It is in the
Church’s liturgy, and above all in the sacrament of the Eucharist, that
these realities are most powerfully expressed and lived in the life of
believers; perhaps we still have much to do in realizing the Council’s
vision of the liturgy as the exercise of the common priesthood and the
impetus for a fruitful apostolate in the world.
Second, we need to acknowledge with concern the almost complete eclipse of
an eschatological sense in many of our traditionally Christian societies.
As you know, I have pointed to this problem in the Encyclical Spe Salvi.
Suffice it to say that faith and hope are not limited to this world: as
theological virtues, they unite us with the Lord and draw us toward the
fulfillment not only of our personal destiny but also that of all
creation. Faith and hope are the inspiration and basis of our efforts to
prepare for the coming of the Kingdom of God. In Christianity, there can
be no room for purely private religion: Christ is the Savior of the world,
and, as members of his Body and sharers in his prophetic, priestly and
royal munera, we cannot separate our love for him from our commitment to
the building up of the Church and the extension of his Kingdom. To the
extent that religion becomes a purely private affair, it loses its very
soul.
Let me conclude by stating the obvious. The fields are still ripe for
harvesting (cf. Jn 4:35); God continues to give the growth (cf. 1 Cor
3:6). We can and must believe, with the late Pope John Paul II, that God
is preparing a new springtime for Christianity (cf. Redemptoris Missio,
86). What is needed above all, at this time in the history of the Church
in America, is a renewal of that apostolic zeal which inspires her
shepherds actively to seek out the lost, to bind up those who have been
wounded, and to bring strength to those who are languishing (cf. Ez
34:16). And this, as I have said, calls for new ways of thinking based on
a sound diagnosis of today’s challenges and a commitment to unity in the
service of the Church’s mission to the present generation.
3. The Holy Father is asked to comment on the decline in vocations despite
the growing numbers of the Catholic population, and on the reasons for
hope offered by the personal qualities and the thirst for holiness which
characterize the candidates who do come forward.
Let us be quite frank: the ability to cultivate vocations to the
priesthood and the religious life is a sure sign of the health of a local
Church. There is no room for complacency in this regard. God continues to
call young people; it is up to all of us to to encourage a generous and
free response to that call. On the other hand, none of us can take this
grace for granted.
In the Gospel, Jesus tells us to pray that the Lord of the harvest will
send workers. He even admits that the workers are few in comparison with
the abundance of the harvest (cf. Mt 9:37-38). Strange to say, I often
think that prayer - the unum necessarium - is the one aspect of vocations
work which we tend to forget or to undervalue!
Nor am I speaking only of prayer for vocations. Prayer itself, born in
Catholic families, nurtured by programs of Christian formation,
strengthened by the grace of the sacraments, is the first means by which
we come to know the Lord’s will for our lives. To the extent that we teach
young people to pray, and to pray well, we will be cooperating with God’s
call. Programs, plans and projects have their place; but the discernment
of a vocation is above all the fruit of an intimate dialogue between the
Lord and his disciples. Young people, if they know how to pray, can be
trusted to know what to do with God’s call.
It has been noted that there is a growing thirst for holiness in many
young people today, and that, although fewer in number, those who come
forward show great idealism and much promise. It is important to listen to
them, to understand their experiences, and to encourage them to help their
peers to see the need for committed priests and religious, as well as the
beauty of a life of sacrificial service to the Lord and his Church. To my
mind, much is demanded of vocation directors and formators: candidates
today, as much as ever, need to be given a sound intellectual and human
formation which will enable them not only to respond to the real questions
and needs of their contemporaries, but also to mature in their own
conversion and to persevere in life-long commitment to their vocation. As
Bishops, you are conscious of the sacrifice demanded when you are asked to
release one of your finest priests for seminary work. I urge you to
respond with generosity, for the good of the whole Church.
Finally, I think you know from experience that most of your brother
priests are happy in their vocation. What I said in my address about the
importance of unity and cooperation within the presbyterate applies here
too. There is a need for all of us to move beyond sterile divisions,
disagreements and preconceptions, and to listen together to the voice of
the Spirit who is guiding the Church into a future of hope. Each of us
knows how important priestly fraternity has been in our lives. That
fraternity is not only a precious possession, but also an immense resource
for the renewal of the priesthood and the raising up of new vocations. I
would close by encouraging you to foster opportunities for ever greater
dialogue and fraternal encounter among your priests, and especially the
younger priests. I am convinced that this will bear great fruit for their
own enrichment, for the increase of their love for the priesthood and the
Church, and for the effectiveness of their apostolate.
Dear Brother Bishops. with these few observations, I once more encourage
all of you in your ministry to the faithful entrusted to your pastoral
care, and I commend you to the loving intercession of Mary Immaculate,
Mother of the Church.
* * *
Before leaving, I would like to pause to acknowledge the immense suffering
endured by the people of God in the Archdiocese of New Orleans as a result
of Hurricane Katrina, as well as their courage in the challenging work of
rebuilding. I would like to present Archbishop Alfred Hughes with a
chalice, which I hope will be accepted as a sign of my prayerful
solidarity with the faithful of the Archdiocese, and my personal gratitude
for the tireless devotion which he and Archbishops Philip Hannan and
Francis Schulte showed toward the flock entrusted to their care. |