POSTED Jan. 23 Archbishop Gustavo: Church Must Not Just Be A House, But A Home For All Rome (CNS)—The Catholic Church is not simply the house of God but a place that can be called "home sweet home" for all of God's children, Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller of San Antonio said.
"To be here in (the Basilica of) St. Mary Major, to be here in Rome, to be with our Holy Father and to be with one another is to be at home sweet home," the archbishop said in his homily Jan. 23 during an early morning Mass at the Rome basilica.
Archbishop Garcia-Siller was the principal celebrant and homilist at the Mass with the bishops of Texas, Arkansas, Oklahoma and the Ordinariate of St. Peter. The bishops were making their visits
ad limina apostolorum—to the threshold of the apostles—to report on the status of their dioceses.
Delivering his homily in both English and Spanish, Archbishop Garcia-Siller said that bishops must want that same feeling of home for "the people of God whom we serve, especially the most vulnerable."
"Our people need a house and, above all, a home," he said in Spanish. "May they find both in the Blessed Mother and in the communion that reigns among us."
In his homily, the archbishop reflected on the day's first reading from the First Book of Samuel, which recalled King Saul's jealousy toward David and his plot to kill him.
Archbishop Garcia-Siller said the reading offered a reflection on the importance of unity and "an example of the dangers of rivalry and mistrust" not only among Christians, but among bishops as well.
Saul's envy toward David, he added, "is a lesson for all of us."
"Our communion is not simply a personal matter or preference. Our faithfulness to the Holy Father is not something to be taken for granted. Rather this communion is our obligation for the good of the faith," the archbishop said. "Let there be no rivalries among us."
Instead, Archbishop Garcia-Siller said, among bishops there should be "hope, communion, love and brotherly peace. Always."
"Yes! Communion among us is a witness to the action of the Holy Spirit. We are friends of Jesus. There is no need to be jealous or to have rivalries among us," he said.
POSTED Jan. 21 Archbishop Coakley: Bishops' Visit To Rome Renews Sense Of Unity, Mission Rome (CNS)—A pilgrimage to the apostles' tombs in Rome helps bishops renew their sense of unity as well as rededicate themselves to being missionaries bringing the Gospel to the world, said Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City.
"That's what we are here to celebrate and acknowledge today—our communion with Peter and our mission
ad gentes to the nations, to the ends of the earth," Archbishop Coakley said in his homily during Mass at the Basilica of St. Paul Outside the Walls Jan. 21.
The archbishop was the principal celebrant and homilist at the Mass with bishops from Arkansas, Oklahoma and Texas. The bishops were in Rome as part of their visits
ad limina apostolorum—to the threshold of the apostles—to pray and also to report on the status of their dioceses in meetings with the pope and Vatican officials.
After praying at the tomb of St. Peter Jan. 20 and then gathered the next day at the tomb of St. Paul, Archbishop Coakley said the complementary nature of the two saints reminded him of the complementarity of centripetal and centrifugal forces.
Similar to the way a centripetal force pulls an orbiting body toward the center, "St. Peter represents that center of unity for the church. Communion with Peter draws us to that center of life that ensures our unity and communion with one another and with the Lord," he said.
And similar to the way a centrifugal force pushes an orbiting body away from the center, one can see "the mission of St. Paul, who went out beyond the Jewish world, sent to the nations, to the ends of the earth, to proclaim the Gospel, to bear witness to Jesus Christ," he said.
"The Church needs both," he said. "We need Peter. We need Paul. We need all that they represent."
Reflecting on the day's first reading from the First Book of Samuel (16:1-13), the archbishop looked at the "mysterious" way God chose, from among Jesse's sons, the leader to succeed Saul.
The sons that impressed Samuel were rejected by God, who told Samuel that humanity only sees and judges from appearances, but the Lord "looks into the heart," according to the reading.
In fact, God chose the youngest son, David, a shepherd and "not the obvious choice," the archbishop said.
St. Paul, too, was not an obvious choice; he persecuted Christians, and yet, God blinded him before enlightening him, "choosing him, giving him a new name and a new mission," he said.
St. Paul found that "God chooses the weak to make them strong," said Archbishop Coakley.
Reflecting on this, he said, "we cannot help but recall the way in which the Lord chose us and indicated His choice of each of us. It can probably be said that we were not all the obvious choice."
"God chooses us not because we are worthy of having been chosen, but God has chosen us so that His power might be made perfect, might be made manifest in our weakness," he said.
"These days we are certainly very much aware of the weakness of the Church's ministers, bishops, Her priests, all of God's people. We are weak, but God makes us strong through Faith, through the power of His spirit." The bishops' pilgrimage to Rome and the Vatican is a way "to renew our commitment to the call that each one of us has received."
"This is the source of our strength, in our weakness we are strong when we trust in the Lord and recommit ourselves to the apostolic mission we have received together as successors of the apostles," he said.
POSTED Jan. 20: Pope Urges Bishops To Teach Discernment, Including On Political Issues Vatican City (CNS)—Sometimes the political choices people face can seem like a choice between supporting a "snake" or supporting a "dragon," but Pope Francis told a group of U.S. bishops their job is to step back from partisan politics and help their faithful discern based on values, said Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston.
Meeting the bishops of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas Jan. 20, Pope Francis mentioned how, in an election, "you sometimes seem to be caught, you know, are you going to vote in one sense for a snake or you going to vote for a dragon?" Cardinal DiNardo said.
The pope's advice to the bishops was "teach your people discernment by you stepping back from the sheer politics of it" and focus on the values at stake, Cardinal DiNardo told Catholic News Service. "If you try to step back and say, 'but here are the major moral issues that we face,' that's what is most important."
The region's 26 bishops, including auxiliaries and retired bishops, spent about two-and-a-half hours talking with Pope Francis in English and Spanish. The pope responded in Italian so his aide could translate the responses into English.
The topics were wide-ranging and included the clerical sexual abuse crisis, migration, the challenges of a media-permeated culture and forming Christian consciences, especially in a time of deep political divisions.
Bishop Daniel E. Flores of Brownsville, one of four Texas dioceses on the border with Mexico, said all of those issues were important, but for him the key was listening to the pope and being listened to him by him.
Citing the "whole host of issues" they discussed with Pope Francis, Bishop Edward J. Burns of Dallas said, "I am really looking forward to sitting, digesting, reflecting and praying over the conversation we had this morning with the successor of St. Peter."
"It was exciting. It was exhilarating," he said.
Pope Francis is attentive to and knows the pastoral challenges posed by modern social media and their pervasive presence in many people's lives, said Bishop Flores, a daily Twitter user. But the pope has "a calmness about how we address that," mainly by remaining true to the identity as pastors, proclaiming the Gospel and encouraging people to act according to it.
Bishop Flores said all the bishops realize they must learn "how to be a pastor in a media world where you keep justice and charity and a steady focus on the Gospel."
The
ad limina visits are "very important for deepening our sense of personal communion" with the pope, the successor of Peter, he said. "It's not just the office, it's the affection for your father spiritually that we need to cultivate, because it is part of the gift that is the communion of the Church."
"The narrative" that Pope Francis and many of the U.S. bishops "are on different pages," he said, is "overblown."
Sometimes that impression may arise when a bishop reacts to a news or social media report about something the pope has said. "It is our responsibility to hear him in his own words and to resist the temptation that sometimes hits across the spectrum of the Church to jump to a conclusion because of some line that was quoted here or there."
Even in the fast-paced world of social media, "we can afford to be judicious and thoughtful," he said. "It's part of our intellectual responsibility."
Cardinal DiNardo said the pope and the bishops recognize the value and importance of media. However, he said, some on social media "may represent only a small number of people, but they make a lot of noise, and we try to sift through that," both in what is said about the pope and what is said about the Church and bishops.
Bishop Flores said he was surprised by how much Pope Francis knew about the life and witness of Blessed Stanley Rother, the Oklahoma native martyred in Guatemala in 1981. After his name appeared on a death list, Blessed Rother went back to Oklahoma, but refused to stay.
"It was very moving to hear the Holy Father, the successor of Peter, recount to us a story we all know so well," the bishop said. It showed the pope's awareness of "that missionary spirit and how it is alive in the United States."
"He talked about the importance of pastors who accompany their people," Bishop Flores said. "I found that encouraging, because they are the unsung heroes who accompany their people, day in and day out."
Pope Francis also encouraged the bishops to be pastors, in a real sense, spending time with their faithful "not just at confirmations and on the big feast days," he said. The pope said, "The people have a nose for the deep reality of the Church, and that is that where the bishop is, there is the Church."
The pope's words were "profoundly pastoral, profoundly theological and ecclesial—a sense of church”—as well as obviously flowing from a deep spirituality, Bishop Flores said.
On migration, Bishop Flores said the pope was clearly knowledgeable about and grateful for the decades of work the Catholic Church in the United States has done to welcome migrants and refugees and was encouraging of what the bishops are doing now, especially to speak of "the dignity of the immigrant and the just treatment" of them.
Cardinal DiNardo said the conversation also touched on the fact that "some people think when you deal with those issues that's not Church teaching, you know, that's politics."
Pope Francis, he said, encouraged the bishops to spend time reflecting on and sharing with their people the difference between "politics as ideology and Catholic social teaching, which stresses the human person and how we are always called to be at their behest."
"We need to be voices for the immigrants" who do not have a voice, "pushed as they are by many different sides," the cardinal said. The question of migration policy is complicated, but Christians must come down on the side of "the poor and those who are in need. The immigrants, at one point he mentioned, they really represent to us the face of Christ suffering. The suffering Jesus."
Bishop Burns was among the Texas bishops who voiced their opposition to Gov. Greg Abbott's Jan. 10 announcement that the state would no longer resettle refugees.
The Church as a mother takes care of people in need, he said. "And while every country has a right to protect its border, every person has a right to a better life."
What really is needed, he said, is immigration reform. "It's taking all too long."
POSTED Jan. 20
Region X Bishops Begin Ad Limina Visit With Mass, Profession Of Faith Vatican City (CNS)—Accompanied by priests and seminarians from their dioceses, the bishops of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas knelt before the tomb of St. Peter after chanting the Creed in Latin.
The profession of faith Jan. 20 was a formal, obligatory part of their visit
ad limina apostolorum—to the threshold of the apostles—but also a response to the Gospel reading they had just heard in which Jesus asks Peter, "Who do you say that I am?"
Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston was the principal celebrant and homilist at the early morning Mass in the grotto of St. Peter's Basilica on the first day of their
ad limina visit. Later in the morning, they were scheduled to meet with Pope Francis and then begin making the rounds of the offices of the Roman Curia to discuss the status of their dioceses.
At the Mass, the cardinal noted how the current St. Peter's Basilica and the church built by Constantine that preceded it were "grand buildings built over the simplest of tombs" in honor of "a martyr, a witness of Jesus Christ."
The New Testament is filled with stories of St. Peter—he appears in all four Gospels, in the writings of St. Paul and has two epistles himself, the cardinal said. His call by the Lord is recounted in all the Gospels, as is the fact that Jesus changed his name from Simon to Peter.
"In his devotion to Jesus," he said, "we see from the beginning he is the leader and the one principally who speaks for the others," as the disciples and apostles follow Jesus from Galilee to his death and resurrection in Jerusalem.
Jesus asks every disciple, especially the bishops, for the same profession of Faith, Cardinal DiNardo said.
Peter "frequently opens his mouth to put his foot in it," he said. "But, in is case, he did not."
Peter often wobbles in his Faith, but in the end, when Jesus asks, "Do you love me?" he responds wholeheartedly, he said, and Peter receives the commission, "Feed my sheep."
"What is true for Peter is true for all of us, first of all as disciples and then as shepherds of our local churches," the cardinal said.
"We come here with the longings and the prayers of all our people in Texas and Oklahoma and Arkansas, and they are praying for us," he said. "But we come here also not with the burden, but the joy of knowing Christ, son of the living God, and we come here knowing that the most important way that is given to us day by day is in our adhesion to the See of Peter."