We welcome Archbishop Dennis Schnurr as the 10th Ordinary of the Archdiocese of Cincinnati. His welcome message:
Monday, December 21, 2009
Thursday, December 17, 2009
Bit of a party this weekend....
For those outside of Cincinnati who may be unawares, Archbishop Daniel Pilarczyk, Archbishop of Cincinnati, celebrates 50 years of priesthood this coming Sunday with a Mass of Thanksgiving at the Cathedral of St. Peter in Chains in Cincinnati.
He is the prelate who ordained me to the priesthood and appointed me to serve him as Director of Vocations for the Archdiocese, both of which make me extremely grateful to him!
The Catholic Telegraph Photography Project posts a note from his ordination to the priesthood, which is frankly, amazing! Archbishop was ordained a priest in Rome while studying at the Urbanum, the Pontifical Mission University.
As Rick Barr notes at the previous link, The Catholic Telegraph's page has extensive information.
Finally, for those unable to score a ticket for Sunday's Mass of Thanksgiving, according to Matt Swaim's Twitter feed, Sacred Heart Radio will be audiocasting over the air and online.
Pray for safe travel that I might make it back in time from Iowa to attend!
Saturday, December 12, 2009
IHM Crusaders vs. Mount St. Mary's Minor Prophets
IHM, parish school near Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Cincinnati, hosted the seminarians to take on their 8th grade boys in a basketball game. A vocation plug was included at halftime.
Thursday, December 10, 2009
The Call of Parents
My next article for the Telegraph runs this week...
As we once again journey through the Advent season, at least part of me always wonders what was going through Mary’s mind during that journey. The somewhat haunting refrain of a popular carol asks: ‘Mary did you know that your baby boy would someday walk on water?” “That this child that you delivered will soon deliver you?” While we can never truly know the thoughts of our Blessed Mother, it certainly invites some speculation during the run up to Christmas.
Perhaps the easiest thing to surmise is that her conversation with the Archangel Gabriel was running over and over in her thoughts. From the moment of her conception, she had been prepared to be the Mother of God, and now it was about to happen. She would be responsible to bring Jesus up, to teach Him to pray, and to form Him to be able to accept the mission that had been prepared for Him from the foundations of the world. It is a wonder she had any sleep at all!
Mary and Joseph’s role in raising the child Jesus to fulfill His mandate is something that is shared by all parents. The final blessing of the Rite of Baptism bears this out. In the prayer over the father, they are reminded that the parents “are the first teachers of their child in the ways of faith. May they be, also, the best of teachers, bearing witness to the faith in all that they say and do.”
The Church takes this commissioning of parents very seriously and counts on parents to be the best of teachers, going so far as to call the home the ‘domestic church.’ It is in the home that children are taught to pray, to love and serve God, to overcome difficulty, and, perhaps most importantly, where they are formed to be Christian disciples in this world. It is this call to discipleship where each child, as he or she grows into adolescence and young adulthood, should begin to realize that God has called him or her to do something special, something unique. The mission of parents is to enable their children to accept this God given mission with all their heart, mind and soul.
Despite this commissioning that was received at their child’s Baptism, in my work as Director of Vocations, I sometime run afoul of parents. I will talk with a young man interested in the priesthood or a young woman interested in religious life, and their response is tragic: “Father, I feel called to this, but my parents will not allow it.”
I often wonder what goes into this denial. Perhaps it is a desire for grandchildren on the part of the parents; perhaps it is fear that their son or daughter will be lonely in ministry; perhaps there is a fear of ‘what happens if he does not like the seminary?’ I have a feeling that it is a combination of all three, and truly driven out of love for their child.
To this last, I respond that as much as they love their child (who is now a young adult), God loves him or her even more and if He has placed this on their heart, God will give them the strength and courage to be able to respond. God does not set someone up for failure, but rather gives them the gifts that they need to succeed, just as He gave Mary and Joseph the gifts they needed to be worthy parents of Jesus.
During this Advent season, I invite parents to pray for their children, but not just in a generic way. Rather, pray specifically for two things: help in discerning the unique gift and talent that God has given to each of your children, and how is He asking me to nurture and develop those gifts, so that when this child leaves the home to enter the world, they will do so with the confidence that comes from being a convicted child of God.
Forming our children with these two questions in mind will ultimately lead them to follow wherever God might be leading them in the Church and in the world.
For information on how to share the Faith with your children, see www.cincinnativocations.org
As we once again journey through the Advent season, at least part of me always wonders what was going through Mary’s mind during that journey. The somewhat haunting refrain of a popular carol asks: ‘Mary did you know that your baby boy would someday walk on water?” “That this child that you delivered will soon deliver you?” While we can never truly know the thoughts of our Blessed Mother, it certainly invites some speculation during the run up to Christmas.
Perhaps the easiest thing to surmise is that her conversation with the Archangel Gabriel was running over and over in her thoughts. From the moment of her conception, she had been prepared to be the Mother of God, and now it was about to happen. She would be responsible to bring Jesus up, to teach Him to pray, and to form Him to be able to accept the mission that had been prepared for Him from the foundations of the world. It is a wonder she had any sleep at all!
Mary and Joseph’s role in raising the child Jesus to fulfill His mandate is something that is shared by all parents. The final blessing of the Rite of Baptism bears this out. In the prayer over the father, they are reminded that the parents “are the first teachers of their child in the ways of faith. May they be, also, the best of teachers, bearing witness to the faith in all that they say and do.”
The Church takes this commissioning of parents very seriously and counts on parents to be the best of teachers, going so far as to call the home the ‘domestic church.’ It is in the home that children are taught to pray, to love and serve God, to overcome difficulty, and, perhaps most importantly, where they are formed to be Christian disciples in this world. It is this call to discipleship where each child, as he or she grows into adolescence and young adulthood, should begin to realize that God has called him or her to do something special, something unique. The mission of parents is to enable their children to accept this God given mission with all their heart, mind and soul.
Despite this commissioning that was received at their child’s Baptism, in my work as Director of Vocations, I sometime run afoul of parents. I will talk with a young man interested in the priesthood or a young woman interested in religious life, and their response is tragic: “Father, I feel called to this, but my parents will not allow it.”
I often wonder what goes into this denial. Perhaps it is a desire for grandchildren on the part of the parents; perhaps it is fear that their son or daughter will be lonely in ministry; perhaps there is a fear of ‘what happens if he does not like the seminary?’ I have a feeling that it is a combination of all three, and truly driven out of love for their child.
To this last, I respond that as much as they love their child (who is now a young adult), God loves him or her even more and if He has placed this on their heart, God will give them the strength and courage to be able to respond. God does not set someone up for failure, but rather gives them the gifts that they need to succeed, just as He gave Mary and Joseph the gifts they needed to be worthy parents of Jesus.
During this Advent season, I invite parents to pray for their children, but not just in a generic way. Rather, pray specifically for two things: help in discerning the unique gift and talent that God has given to each of your children, and how is He asking me to nurture and develop those gifts, so that when this child leaves the home to enter the world, they will do so with the confidence that comes from being a convicted child of God.
Forming our children with these two questions in mind will ultimately lead them to follow wherever God might be leading them in the Church and in the world.
For information on how to share the Faith with your children, see www.cincinnativocations.org
Monday, December 7, 2009
Early Bird Alert!
Tomorrow, I will be on the Son Rise Morning Show (740 AM) at 6:30 AM for their annual Advent pledge drive. I hope they don't expect me to be coherent.
Monday, November 30, 2009
Begin with the End in Mind
(Some of my thoughts for yesterday's homily.)
The beginning of the Church Year with the First Sunday of Advent is, I think, rather jarring. Based on the increasing volume of Christmas music from the secular culture and the fact that the Christmas shopping season is in full bloom, we Catholic likely expect to begin hearing about the impending birth of Jesus during Advent: those familiar stories of Mary visiting Elizabeth, Joseph and the dreams of the Angels, etc.
Rather, we get a rather grim story of Jesus describing the end of time, yikes! Instead of looking back to where we have come from, we look towards where we are going. As with any good term paper, we begin with the end in mind.
By doing so, the Church gently (or not so gently, really) asks each of us: 'Where are you going?' If you were to give an account of your life today, would there be enough evidence to 'convict' you of being a follower of Christ? We often think of it in other terms: is there evidence to send us to Hell? I think the other view-point is much more striking and more urgent.
So what are we to make of such a striking beginning to the year? What is the 'end' that we begin with? Simply: salvation. The Code of Canon Law makes this very clear: the highest law in the Church is the salvation of souls. That is why the Church exists.
She does not exist to be a social justice organization. She does not exist to provide education for our children. She does not exist to be a pro-life messanger. She exists to save souls. All these other things are guided by this principal. All the rules and regulations in the Church, all that she teaches and proclaims is guided by this maxim, all that she does should be viewed through this lens: Salvation of Souls.
As we journey through Advent, where does your pilgramige of life lead you?
The beginning of the Church Year with the First Sunday of Advent is, I think, rather jarring. Based on the increasing volume of Christmas music from the secular culture and the fact that the Christmas shopping season is in full bloom, we Catholic likely expect to begin hearing about the impending birth of Jesus during Advent: those familiar stories of Mary visiting Elizabeth, Joseph and the dreams of the Angels, etc.
Rather, we get a rather grim story of Jesus describing the end of time, yikes! Instead of looking back to where we have come from, we look towards where we are going. As with any good term paper, we begin with the end in mind.
By doing so, the Church gently (or not so gently, really) asks each of us: 'Where are you going?' If you were to give an account of your life today, would there be enough evidence to 'convict' you of being a follower of Christ? We often think of it in other terms: is there evidence to send us to Hell? I think the other view-point is much more striking and more urgent.
So what are we to make of such a striking beginning to the year? What is the 'end' that we begin with? Simply: salvation. The Code of Canon Law makes this very clear: the highest law in the Church is the salvation of souls. That is why the Church exists.
She does not exist to be a social justice organization. She does not exist to provide education for our children. She does not exist to be a pro-life messanger. She exists to save souls. All these other things are guided by this principal. All the rules and regulations in the Church, all that she teaches and proclaims is guided by this maxim, all that she does should be viewed through this lens: Salvation of Souls.
As we journey through Advent, where does your pilgramige of life lead you?
Tuesday, November 24, 2009
The Spirit in the Life of a Priest
Join host Brian Patrick and I tomorrow morning as we continue our discussion of Pope John Paul II's 'Letters to Priests.' This week, we'll tackle the 1990 Letter which anticipates the 1990 Synod of Bishops on ongoing formation and training of priests, which resulted in Pastores Dabo Vobis and focuses on the role of the Spirit in the life and ministry of Priests.
Monday, November 23, 2009
Vocation Week Highlights Priesthood
If you were wondering why its been terribly quiet around here, maybe this Press Release sent out this morning from the Archdiocese of Cincinnati will help answer:
For the third year in a row, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati Vocation Office has produced educational resources to be used by all Catholic grade schools, high schools, home school groups, parishes and family homes for the upcoming Vocation Awareness Week, January 10-16, 2010.
The materials for this year’s packet follow the theme “You are a priest forever,” from Psalm 110, and focus on the various aspects of the priesthood, including its origin, its importance, the role of the laity in relation to it and the various Catholic teachings surrounding its implementation and practice.
Additionally, “one of the goals in creating these materials is to encourage and help the average Catholic to grow in appreciation for the priests of the Archdiocese and the world,” says Wayne Topp, Associate Vocation Director. “It really is an all-inclusive program that has tackled as many aspects of the Catholic priesthood that we thought possible in one week’s worth of lesson plans.”
As in previous years, the office has produced lesson plans to cover just about every parish need, including pre-school, primary grades, intermediate grades, junior high and high school lesson plans, as well as young adult and adult faith formation discussion guides, a family faith formation document, youth ministry plans, a collection of prayers for priests, and tons of additional web-based resources. What is unique about this program compared to any other program that can be found on the web is the depth of catechesis and the way in which the information is presented to the teacher.
“Teachers, catechists, group leaders and youth ministers can easily print out the lesson plan and implement it as is or they can easily adapt it to fit their groups needs,” says Topp, who was in charge of coordinating this year’s efforts. Fr. Kyle Schnippel, Director of Vocations for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, is very satisfied with this year’s product as well. “We really put a lot of time and energy into making this program the best it could possibly be and we are proud of our results,” he says. He also mentions that while the focus of these materials is on the priesthood and the Year for Priests, the materials are not meant to be exclusively “for the boys.”
“By increasing the awareness among all Catholics of the nature of the priesthood and the sacrifice of following God’s will into the ministerial priesthood,” he says, “we also increase the awareness of the need to discern our own vocation and the absolute necessity in supporting one another as we courageously follow God’s will, especially into the priesthood and religious life.”
Both Fr. Schnippel and Mr. Topp encourage the wide use and distribution of these materials in parishes and schools so that all may come to a deeper appreciation for the priesthood in this Year for Priests. To access these materials, visit the Vocation Office website at http://cincinnativocations.org/vaw.shtml and click on Vocation Awareness Week. If you do not have internet access and would like any of the materials for this year, call 513-421-3131 x2860.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati is the 26th largest Catholic diocese in the country, with almost 500,000 Catholics, and has the eighth largest network of Catholic schools in terms of enrollment. The 19-county territory includes 218 parishes and 113 Catholic primary and secondary schools.
For the third year in a row, the Archdiocese of Cincinnati Vocation Office has produced educational resources to be used by all Catholic grade schools, high schools, home school groups, parishes and family homes for the upcoming Vocation Awareness Week, January 10-16, 2010.
The materials for this year’s packet follow the theme “You are a priest forever,” from Psalm 110, and focus on the various aspects of the priesthood, including its origin, its importance, the role of the laity in relation to it and the various Catholic teachings surrounding its implementation and practice.
Additionally, “one of the goals in creating these materials is to encourage and help the average Catholic to grow in appreciation for the priests of the Archdiocese and the world,” says Wayne Topp, Associate Vocation Director. “It really is an all-inclusive program that has tackled as many aspects of the Catholic priesthood that we thought possible in one week’s worth of lesson plans.”
As in previous years, the office has produced lesson plans to cover just about every parish need, including pre-school, primary grades, intermediate grades, junior high and high school lesson plans, as well as young adult and adult faith formation discussion guides, a family faith formation document, youth ministry plans, a collection of prayers for priests, and tons of additional web-based resources. What is unique about this program compared to any other program that can be found on the web is the depth of catechesis and the way in which the information is presented to the teacher.
“Teachers, catechists, group leaders and youth ministers can easily print out the lesson plan and implement it as is or they can easily adapt it to fit their groups needs,” says Topp, who was in charge of coordinating this year’s efforts. Fr. Kyle Schnippel, Director of Vocations for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, is very satisfied with this year’s product as well. “We really put a lot of time and energy into making this program the best it could possibly be and we are proud of our results,” he says. He also mentions that while the focus of these materials is on the priesthood and the Year for Priests, the materials are not meant to be exclusively “for the boys.”
“By increasing the awareness among all Catholics of the nature of the priesthood and the sacrifice of following God’s will into the ministerial priesthood,” he says, “we also increase the awareness of the need to discern our own vocation and the absolute necessity in supporting one another as we courageously follow God’s will, especially into the priesthood and religious life.”
Both Fr. Schnippel and Mr. Topp encourage the wide use and distribution of these materials in parishes and schools so that all may come to a deeper appreciation for the priesthood in this Year for Priests. To access these materials, visit the Vocation Office website at http://cincinnativocations.org/vaw.shtml and click on Vocation Awareness Week. If you do not have internet access and would like any of the materials for this year, call 513-421-3131 x2860.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Cincinnati is the 26th largest Catholic diocese in the country, with almost 500,000 Catholics, and has the eighth largest network of Catholic schools in terms of enrollment. The 19-county territory includes 218 parishes and 113 Catholic primary and secondary schools.
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Monday, November 16, 2009
Should Women be Ordained Catholic Priests? (video report)
Fox's local station, Channel 19 in Cincinnati, did a video report that aired last night during the 10:00 pm news on Women's Ordination in the Church. I was interviewed for the report, which runs to three minutes in length:
My quibble: she asks 'Where is it in the Bible?' Remember, we hold that Jesus is the Revelation of God in the fullness and that His Revelation is expressed both in written form in the Scriptures, but also in living form in Tradition. And it is quite apparent from both, taken together, that this is something that cannot change.
My quibble: she asks 'Where is it in the Bible?' Remember, we hold that Jesus is the Revelation of God in the fullness and that His Revelation is expressed both in written form in the Scriptures, but also in living form in Tradition. And it is quite apparent from both, taken together, that this is something that cannot change.
All in all, though, I am happy with the report. The truth was conveyed.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Check the news tomorrow
Tomorrow (Sunday) evening, 10 PM news on Cincinnati's Fox Channel 19, I am interviewed for a feature on women's ordination in the Catholic Church. I thought the interview went well, but you never know how these things will be broken up.
Friday, November 13, 2009
A few updates from the Vocation Office
First, I haven't given an update on the last Andrew Dinner that we had Wednesday evening at St. Andrew's. We had 38 (!) young men attend the dinner, all at various levels of interest in the seminary (but with some interest nonetheless!)
That puts us well over 100 (mostly) high school men who have attended the 4 Andrew Dinners that we held around the diocese this fall. While I had secretly hoped to achieve that number, I wasn't sure it was possible. Thanks to the priests who brought the men from their parishes to the respective dinners, without their support, it would not be possible!
Also, the Vocation Views for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati are now published on the Vocation Office website: www.cincinnativocations.org Many parishes use these in their weekly bulletins, check to see if your parish includes them!
I think that's it for now, I'm off the interweb for the weekend, so behave yourselves!
That puts us well over 100 (mostly) high school men who have attended the 4 Andrew Dinners that we held around the diocese this fall. While I had secretly hoped to achieve that number, I wasn't sure it was possible. Thanks to the priests who brought the men from their parishes to the respective dinners, without their support, it would not be possible!
Also, the Vocation Views for the Archdiocese of Cincinnati are now published on the Vocation Office website: www.cincinnativocations.org Many parishes use these in their weekly bulletins, check to see if your parish includes them!
I think that's it for now, I'm off the interweb for the weekend, so behave yourselves!
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Petrine Authority
My latest appears in this week's Catholic Telegraph, (as if I had already given you enough to read today!):
Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a conference sponsored by the Coming Home Network focused on the issue of papal authority in the Church: how it developed and what it means for the Church today. The main focus of ministry for the Coming Home Network is to assist former Protestant clergy in ‘coming home’ to the Catholic Church. With a membership of well over a thousand, Marcus Grodi and his team have been very successful.
With a clientele such as this, it is easy to see why the issue of Petrine Authority passed down through the Papacy is of vital importance. As Protestant clergy, many of their membership have had to struggle with this issue: did the commissioning of Peter by Jesus in Matthew 16 as the Rock upon whom Jesus would build the Church continue after Peter’s death, was it handed on to his successors?
For many of our separated brothers and sisters, Peter’s authority died with him. But for us, as Catholics, we believe that this authority is not connected just with Peter the man, but also with the office that he inaugurated: the Papacy.
We seem to take it for granted that Peter is the leader of the Twelve, but we look back through two thousand years of history where this principal has long since been established. But looking into the Scriptures, we never see his authority challenged, he is always clearly in charge, at least after the Resurrection.
Some modern scholars, especially in Protestant circles, argue that this is because those areas where Peter was challenged were whitewashed out of the Scriptures. The argument follows that as the Papacy became established, the popes had the Scriptures redacted to remove any objectionable aspects. If so, why did they keep the immediate follow-up to the Commissioning of Peter where Jesus calls him Satan? If the popes had the ability to cleanse the Scriptures, certainly they would have gotten rid of Matthew 16:23!
The fruits of modern biblical scholarship do not support this thesis, either. Critical editions of the Scriptures outline all the various versions that have come down to us through the ages. The oldest fragments of writings of the New Testament date from the middle part of the Second Century, and these ancient sources corroborate very well with the Scriptures as we have received them today. Simply, there is no evidence to support the various claims.
Rather, we can take it on faith that Peter assumed the leadership of the nascent Christian community right from the start. We have no record otherwise. But the interesting question that drove the conversation at the Conference was: “How did Peter assume this authority so quickly, and without challenge?”
To find this answer, we return to the passage in Matthew (16:13-20) where Jesus gives Peter the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. When we think of keys, it is easy to think just of the small ring of keys that we keep in our pocket, keys to the house, the car and the office. But this was not so in the time of Jesus. The key to the Temple was massive, a three foot long beam with a few prongs on the end to reach through the door of the Temple and unlock the gates. It was carried on the shoulder of the one who had possession, and he served in the name of the king or High Priest, and shared in the authority by virtue of the office he had.
As the Disciples heard Jesus give Peter the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, this was the image that they conjured, very clearly having Peter take on the authority of leadership by virtue of his office and in the name of Christ. These Keys are then passed down throughout the generations, even to Pope Benedict.
We are then able to trust that God has not left us orphans, but has provided an office by which we can know for sure that He is still with us. Let us rejoice in the Lord that we have been given so great a gift as the Papacy and Magisterium to safeguard and transmit the deposit of faith over these last 2000 years.
Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a conference sponsored by the Coming Home Network focused on the issue of papal authority in the Church: how it developed and what it means for the Church today. The main focus of ministry for the Coming Home Network is to assist former Protestant clergy in ‘coming home’ to the Catholic Church. With a membership of well over a thousand, Marcus Grodi and his team have been very successful.
With a clientele such as this, it is easy to see why the issue of Petrine Authority passed down through the Papacy is of vital importance. As Protestant clergy, many of their membership have had to struggle with this issue: did the commissioning of Peter by Jesus in Matthew 16 as the Rock upon whom Jesus would build the Church continue after Peter’s death, was it handed on to his successors?
For many of our separated brothers and sisters, Peter’s authority died with him. But for us, as Catholics, we believe that this authority is not connected just with Peter the man, but also with the office that he inaugurated: the Papacy.
We seem to take it for granted that Peter is the leader of the Twelve, but we look back through two thousand years of history where this principal has long since been established. But looking into the Scriptures, we never see his authority challenged, he is always clearly in charge, at least after the Resurrection.
Some modern scholars, especially in Protestant circles, argue that this is because those areas where Peter was challenged were whitewashed out of the Scriptures. The argument follows that as the Papacy became established, the popes had the Scriptures redacted to remove any objectionable aspects. If so, why did they keep the immediate follow-up to the Commissioning of Peter where Jesus calls him Satan? If the popes had the ability to cleanse the Scriptures, certainly they would have gotten rid of Matthew 16:23!
The fruits of modern biblical scholarship do not support this thesis, either. Critical editions of the Scriptures outline all the various versions that have come down to us through the ages. The oldest fragments of writings of the New Testament date from the middle part of the Second Century, and these ancient sources corroborate very well with the Scriptures as we have received them today. Simply, there is no evidence to support the various claims.
Rather, we can take it on faith that Peter assumed the leadership of the nascent Christian community right from the start. We have no record otherwise. But the interesting question that drove the conversation at the Conference was: “How did Peter assume this authority so quickly, and without challenge?”
To find this answer, we return to the passage in Matthew (16:13-20) where Jesus gives Peter the keys to the Kingdom of Heaven. When we think of keys, it is easy to think just of the small ring of keys that we keep in our pocket, keys to the house, the car and the office. But this was not so in the time of Jesus. The key to the Temple was massive, a three foot long beam with a few prongs on the end to reach through the door of the Temple and unlock the gates. It was carried on the shoulder of the one who had possession, and he served in the name of the king or High Priest, and shared in the authority by virtue of the office he had.
As the Disciples heard Jesus give Peter the Keys to the Kingdom of Heaven, this was the image that they conjured, very clearly having Peter take on the authority of leadership by virtue of his office and in the name of Christ. These Keys are then passed down throughout the generations, even to Pope Benedict.
We are then able to trust that God has not left us orphans, but has provided an office by which we can know for sure that He is still with us. Let us rejoice in the Lord that we have been given so great a gift as the Papacy and Magisterium to safeguard and transmit the deposit of faith over these last 2000 years.
Get Ready for some Explosions
Bishop Olmstead, rector of the Josephinum during my time there as an undergrad, pens another extraordinary article for the Year for Priests in his diocesan paper:
Conclusion:
Get ready for explosions
The history of the Church is a history of martyrs. The 20th century saw more martyrs than any previous ones. Rather than stifling her growth, fierce persecution has had the opposite effect. It has made the faith grow stronger. This is certainly true in Mexico, through the faithful witness of Blessed Miguel Pro and his many companion-martyrs.
Should we expect, in our day, not to face opposition for the sake of the Gospel? Should we priests expect to be treated with honor in the public square, or should we rather expect to share not only in Christ’s priesthood but also in his mission as victim? We would do well to remember the words of the Maryknoll missionary to China, Bishop James Edward Walsh, who wrote: “Christianity is not a private way of salvation and a guide to a pious life; it is a way of world salvation and a philosophy of total life. This makes it a sort of dynamite. So when you send missioners out to preach it, it is well to get ready for some explosions.”
Thanks to New Advent
Conclusion:
Get ready for explosions
The history of the Church is a history of martyrs. The 20th century saw more martyrs than any previous ones. Rather than stifling her growth, fierce persecution has had the opposite effect. It has made the faith grow stronger. This is certainly true in Mexico, through the faithful witness of Blessed Miguel Pro and his many companion-martyrs.
Should we expect, in our day, not to face opposition for the sake of the Gospel? Should we priests expect to be treated with honor in the public square, or should we rather expect to share not only in Christ’s priesthood but also in his mission as victim? We would do well to remember the words of the Maryknoll missionary to China, Bishop James Edward Walsh, who wrote: “Christianity is not a private way of salvation and a guide to a pious life; it is a way of world salvation and a philosophy of total life. This makes it a sort of dynamite. So when you send missioners out to preach it, it is well to get ready for some explosions.”
Thanks to New Advent
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