Below is a sampling of previously published Along the Way columns by Bishop Matthew Clark. The entire collection can be found at www.catholiccourier.com (click "Commentary" tab) Copyright © Rochester Catholic Press Association, Inc. They may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed, including but not limited to such means as framing or any other digital copying or distribution method, in whole or in part without the publisher's consent. Upholding life among many ministries supported by Appeal Health care reform crucial to Catholics What We Believe About the Sacrament of Marriage State of the Diocese, Part 1 "Diocese may change, but not mission" State of the Diocese, Part II "Our Spirit is indeed alive" Navigating rough economic waters Ecumenical, interfaith work abounds Archbishop's installation was enthusiastically welcomed Lent is a good time to count our blessings Resolve to deepen our Christian lives Vocations outlook encouraging Easter, papal visit boost our spiritual lives Like John, see and believe! Remember to 'think thanks' Celebrating God's Gift to Us Article: "The Pastoral Exercise of Authority" Navigating Rough Economic Waters (published 6-3-09) In navigating the storms of our times, such as the worrisome economic crisis affecting our nation, we, like every good sailor in a tempest, need a reliable compass that will enable us to find our way. In the current economic realities, I find such value, and think you will, too, in "A Catholic Framework for Economic Life" -- a listing of 10 key principles to help Catholics reflect on the values that should shape our participation in and understanding of economic life. The principles were written by the bishops of the United States based on the Catechism of the Catholic Church, papal encyclicals, the pastoral letter "Economic Justice for All," and other statements of the U.S. Catholic bishops. I include the preamble and 10 principles here in their entirety because I believe they express the church’s moral convictions about economic issues. I truly hope they will stimulate discussion in our parishes, at our dinner tables and wherever people of faith congregate. "As followers of Jesus Christ and participants in a powerful economy, Catholics in the United States are called to work for greater economic justice in the face of persistent poverty, growing income-gaps, and increasing discussion of economic issues in the United States and around the world. We urge Catholics to use the following ethical framework for economic life as principles for reflection, criteria for judgment and directions for action. These principles are drawn directly from Catholic teaching on economic life. "1. The economy exists for the person, not the person for the economy. "2. All economic life should be shaped by moral principles. Economic choices and institutions must be judged by how they protect or undermine the life and dignity of the human person, support the family and serve the common good. "3. A fundamental moral measure of any economy is how the poor and vulnerable are faring. "4. All people have a right to life and to secure the basic necessities of life, such as food, clothing, shelter, education, health care, safe environment, and economic security. "5. All people have the right to economic initiative, to productive work, to just wages and benefits, to decent working conditions as well as to organize and join unions or other associations. "6. All people, to the extent they are able, have a corresponding duty to work, a responsibility to provide for the needs of their families and an obligation to contribute to the broader society. "7. In economic life, free markets have both clear advantages and limits; government has essential responsibilities and limitations; voluntary groups have irreplaceable roles, but cannot substitute for the proper working of the market and the just policies of the state. "8. Society has a moral obligation, including governmental action where necessary, to assure opportunity, meet basic human needs, and pursue justice in economic life. "9. Workers, owners, managers, stockholders and consumers are moral agents in economic life. By our choices, initiative, creativity and investment, we enhance or diminish economic opportunity, community life and social justice. "10. The global economy has moral dimensions and human consequences. Decisions on investment, trade, aid and development should protect human life and promote human rights, especially for those most in need wherever they might live on this globe." These principals, which are clear and to the point, also call us to ask certain questions of the society and government we each have a hand in shaping, and in the economic system we build and maintain. For example, do we truly know who the poor and vulnerable are in our midst, and do we do all that we can as a society and as individuals to help them? How do we individually and as a community of faith strengthen and support families devastated by sudden unemployment? Yes, there are programs, but are we doing enough? As "workers, owners, managers, stockholders, and consumers" are we contributing to the goal of improving the economy for the benefit of all through our decisions, creativity and participation? Are we providing ideas, encouragement and support -- or alternatives -- to government officials trying to unravel this thorny problem? In his encyclical Centesimus Annus, (issued on the hundredth anniversary of Pope Leo XIII’s groundbreaking encyclical Rerum Novarum on capital and labor), Pope John Paul II said the Catholic tradition calls for a "society of work, enterprise and participation" that "is not directed against the market, but demands that the market be appropriately controlled by the forces of society and by the state to assure that the basic needs of the whole society are satisfied." All of economic life should recognize the fact that we all are God’s children and members of one human family, called to exercise a clear priority for "the least among us." If you would like further resources on this subject and materials to share with others in your circle, the Campaign for Human Development of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops has established a special Web site to enhance your knowledge. The Web address is www.usccb.org/jphd/economiclife I continue to pray that the hardships will ease and that we will lick this crisis as a nation, and I especially ask God to uphold and comfort those most affected and most vulnerable. Peace to all. Diocese's interfaith, ecumenical work abounds (Publication Date: 05-06-2009) A few days ago, on May 2, we celebrated the sixth anniversary of the Muslim-Catholic Agreement of Understanding and Cooperation, which made history for its uniqueness when it was signed in 2003 and remains a model internationally. The event was planned not only to honor the signing but, like earlier successful joint programs before it, to bring Catholics and Muslims together to continue fruitful dialogue and learn more about all aspects of our faiths, Scriptures and common community concerns. Not only has the agreement sparked honest, open and highly informative discussions of our differences and our similarities, but has resulted in community action, as well: This winter, for example, Muslims and Catholics together collected coats and donated them to St. Joseph's House of Hospitality in Rochester. I am grateful for the tireless work of the Muslim-Catholic Alliance, a joint committee of Catholics and Muslims who have moved us from words on paper to real action to nurture relationships. The anniversary also has inspired me to update you on some of the ongoing work we are doing in our diocese not only with our Muslim friends, but in many areas of interfaith and ecumenical relations, which I think you will agree is so vitally important in our increasingly diverse society. One only has to read world history or, sadly, note current events to understand how religious strife has adversely affected our world and can tear people apart to this very day. That is why I am so encouraged by events such as this anniversary celebration. Having attended many of these programs, I am always struck by the marvelous scene before me: that people of two faiths, which sadly have been no strangers to long-ago historic tensions and ongoing issues, can so openly and honestly discuss in peace, friendship and mutual respect the similarities and differences between them and look constructively for ways they can make our community a better place. Catholics and Muslims in our community are saying yes to peace and tolerance and yes to opening the lines of communication. Similarly, I was moved very much by the hospitality and welcome shown me recently when I was invited by Rabbi Laurence Kotok to speak at Friday-evening services at Temple B’rith Kodesh in Brighton. This talk came somewhat in the midst of the widely covered controversy over the Vatican’s reinstatement of a bishop with intolerable and unacceptable views on the Holocaust. Because of the groundwork by the late Father Joseph Brennan and so many others, our two local communities were able to communicate, and did, quickly and with trust and understanding when the news about Bishop Richard Williamson broke and caused so much of an uproar. A statement we issued reconfirming our love for the Jewish people and restating the inscrutable evil of the Holocaust was greeted magnanimously. In my remarks to the temple congregation, I spoke of one of my proudest moments, the day I was privileged to sign, with the Board of Rabbis, the celebrated Rochester Agreement in 1996. Like the subsequent Muslim-Catholic Agreement of Understanding, it was unique and historic. After expressing my own sense of sorrow over the tumult and the pope’s own regret for any pain caused, I told the Temple B’rith Kodesh congregation that night, "I now renew my pledge made in the Rochester Agreement of Understanding that we will work for solidarity and mutual defense within our two local communities and continue the bettering of interfaith relations." That a Roman Catholic bishop is invited to a Jewish house of worship to address the congregation at Sabbath services is still relatively rare in our world. I am personally delighted I have been asked several times, but I am more delighted that our relationship is such that I can go without hesitation and be received so warmly even in troubling times such as the Bishop Williamson event. This speaks well of the Jewish people’s warmth and commitment to this cause of mutual respect, just as it does to the importance of forging bonds that are immeasurably valuable and calming when troubles arise. Thus the Rochester Agreement continues to bear fruit. Besides two interfaith journeys to Israel and to the Vatican in past years, we continue to work to form friendships and understanding among our respective clergy with regular meetings, and to create a link between and educational opportunities for Catholic and Jewish young people in schools. This summer, the Brennan-Goldman Institute at St. Bernard’s School of Theology and Ministry -- formed to honor the work of Father Brennan and Isobel Goldman of the Jewish Community Federation -- will host the internationally recognized Bettina and Erwin Pearl Bearing Witness Institute, a special summer institute for Catholic educators and parish faith-formation and youth ministers. It is presented by the Anti-Defamation League in conjunction with the Museum of Jewish Heritage and our diocese. We also regularly take part in public services with people of many faiths, such as the prayer service for elected officials we held at the cathedral on the eve of president’s inauguration, an interfaith Prayer for Peace on the sixth anniversary of the Iraq War, and an ecumenical Way of the Cross on Good Friday with leaders of many Christian denominations. We have held and are planning more events with other Christian faith communities and with Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Sikh, Baha’i, traditional Chinese and Native American communities. I am grateful to Deacon John Brasley, our diocesan coordinator of ecumenical and interreligious affairs, for our ongoing involvement and planning in these areas, and to all those in our diocese who serve voluntarily on many interfaith and ecumenical committees to spur on this crucial work. We would very much welcome your participation in these events, so please watch for announcements and come if you can. This work is so important to our richly diverse community. Peace to all.   Archbishop's installation was enthusiastically welcomed (Publication Date:  04-16-2009)   "HEAVEN SENT!" That was the headline on the front of Wednesday’s New York Post, which featured a full-page candid shot of New York’s new archbishop, Timothy Michael Dolan. That enthusiastic banner captured the mood and tenor I experienced in the assembly at the Mass of Installation for Archbishop Dolan at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. It certainly caught the spirit of Tim Dolan, who brought to the occasion his usual high quotients of spirit, humor and thoughtfulness. Tim is an expansive, warm and extroverted man who takes delight in being with people; and, when in their company, he has the knack of speaking to their minds and hearts in very engaging ways. His development of the Gospel reading about the travelers on the road to Emmaus led him to some important Easter reflections. He recalled the many signs of Easter life present in the archdiocese yesterday and today. He spoke of the stream of immigrants who entered this country through that great city, of how the church served them, schooled them and helped them become a part of their new nation. He cited the extraordinary generosity of New Yorkers during the horror of Sept. 11, 2001, and its aftermath. Also included in his comments were references to how the church in New York has been committed to honoring life at all of its stages, especially the life of the most vulnerable. The archbishop did not ignore the Good Friday aspect of the Easter mystery. He spoke of the lingering pain and work yet to be done in the outcome of the scandal of the sexual abuse of the young. He acknowledged tensions and polarity that exist within our community, and recognized the painful divisions yet remaining in the Christian family. All of this he did while expressing powerfully his belief in the Risen Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit working within us and among us. He invited all New Yorkers to walk the road together, to proclaim the Good News by word and deed. As you might expect, such an event draws people from all parts of the country. There were about 160 cardinals, archbishops and bishops present. People came from Tim’s native St. Louis and from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee where he served before coming to New York. There were many representatives from the ecumenical and interfaith community. Absent, though saluted fondly by the archbishop, were the members of the Jewish community who were celebrating Passover. Public officials were very much in evidence. From my place, I could see New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg, Gov. David Paterson, Senators Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand, former mayors of New York Ed Koch and Rudy Guiliani. I am sure there were many others whom I did not see or could not recognize from a distance. I know that one of my lasting memories of the day will be the brief moment I had with Tim when the bishops of the dioceses of the state were invited to greet him personally. In the moment, I remembered the associations I had with him more than 30 years ago when I was on the staff, and he was a seminarian, at the North American College in Rome. Little did I imagine then that we would meet in the circumstances that brought us together at St. Patrick’s on Wednesday. Please pray for Timothy Dolan and the lay faithful, religious and clergy of the great Archdiocese of New York -- that the journey they began together on Wednesday will be blessed every step of the way. Peace to all. Lent is a good time to count our blessings (Publication Date:  03-04-2009)   I do hope that this Lenten season is a time of comfort and peace for you as you journey to an even closer relationship with the Lord. As we approach Easter in but a few short weeks, we will visibly see the resurrection of the earth from this harsh winter, and I pray that we will likewise see the renewal of our hearts and minds through prayer, worship and self-sacrifice. Lent is a good time in which to count our blessings and to thank God for those who make our lives and work special. In this spirit, I want to thank you for your continued support of our ministries and keep you informed of some initiatives aimed at improving the lives of all in our community of believers. As I travel from one end of our beautiful diocese to the other, I am always struck by the depth of people’s faith and their willingness and desire to take part in the ongoing works of love in their parishes and in the diocese as a whole. For example, thousands of people have taken part in our Spirit Alive! renewal, whether on their own, via our special www.rochesterspiritalive.org Web site or in parish-based efforts. In this second season of our renewal, I am hearing wonderful reports of how women, men and children brought thousands of Bibles to our churches throughout the diocese for our Blessing of the Bibles weekend. I am witnessing active participation in our Project Mark initiative and have heard people speak of how rewarding it is indeed to plunge ourselves into Mark’s lucid and inspiring Gospel. How marvelous it is for so many of us to be reading the same book on a more personal level even as we proclaim it simultaneously in our churches, reflecting on the questions our parishes are putting in their bulletins or taking part in a Bible study group. If you recall some of the early communications around spiritual renewal, you know that our goal is to encourage opportunities for prayer, faith sharing, spiritual reading, reflection, celebration of liturgy, reading, studying and praying Scripture, growing in knowledge of what we as Catholics believe, and growing in understanding of the demands of baptism and discipleship. It is my fondest hope that Spirit Alive! will lead all of us to a more full, active and conscious engagement in Eucharist and our faith family. When we complete our final season of Spirit Alive! next year, I pray all of us who’ve taken part will have experienced a deepening of our personal relationship with Jesus Christ, our knowledge and understanding of the Word, and our commitment to discipleship and stewardship. To that latter commitment -- the practice of good stewardship and the sharing of our time, talent and treasure -- I report with great pleasure and pride that thousands of you have taken part this year in our annual Catholic Ministries Appeal. Thank you so much for your most excellent generosity in what has been a very difficult year for many people financially. I cannot tell you how grateful I am that in the worst economic climate in several decades we now stand at 90 percent of our $5.39 million goal in the Catholic Ministries Appeal. Your gift is helping us fund so many of the programs, projects and initiatives that not only help people in need but our parishes and ministries to people of every situation and circumstance: the aged, the infirm, families, our youth, married and engaged couples, our priests and deacons. I report with much excitement that 26 parishes have already met or exceeded their goal, another 21 are between 90 to 100 percent goal, and yet another 27 are between 80 to 90 percent. Our average gift is up $10 from last year, from $137 to $147 this year. We still have some weeks to go until the campaign ends on May 31, so, if you are willing and able, please join the many thousands of people who are helping their parishes meet their goals and contributing to the chief fund by which we provide so many vital ministries. I am further encouraged by the wonderful things happening at our Catholic schools. In this year of transition after the very difficult closings last year, I have seen firsthand the incredible commitment of our parents and principals, teachers and staff -- and our children -- to keep the spirit of our schools moving forward in hope. We have had a very good response to our extensive television, radio and print advertising campaign and the good work of committees at the schools to get the word out about what an incredible value a Catholic education is. As a result and as of this writing, we are pacing considerably ahead of last year in registration. Meanwhile, 10 of our schools have received the prestigious accreditation of the Middle States Commission on Elementary Schools, and more are working toward receiving that distinction soon. This made Catholic Schools Week all the sweeter and gives me much encouragement. These are but a few of the good things happening -- because of you! Thank you for all you do for your parish and the diocese. Peace to all.    Resolve to deepen our Christian lives (Publication Date:  01-06-2009)   Happy New Year! May 2009 be a year of continued blessings and many new opportunities to love and serve God, our families, friends and neighbors. I am especially grateful for all the beautiful notes and cards you have sent me during my recovery from knee-replacement surgery. They have cheered me tremendously. I am anxious to resume a full schedule, and await the doctor’s approval.   The new year always sparks a time of making resolutions, and I am sure that you, like me, have made a list of things you’d like to either start or stop doing in 2009. I thought it might be both interesting and challenging to offer a new set of resolutions for you to consider and possibly adopt, resolutions that we might make together as a community of believers in the Diocese of Rochester.   I got the idea for a group set of resolutions from The Mark Project, the Spirit Alive! initiative that asks the question, “What if every Catholic in our diocese read the same book?” (in this particular project the Gospel of Mark.) Using that wonderful premise, I wonder what would happen if every Catholic in our diocese agreed to a set of resolutions designed to deepen our Christian lives, enrich our parishes, and help each other and our larger community?   In that spirit, please let me offer the following resolutions for your prayer and participation:   Let us resolve as one body in Christ to make a real effort to become better Christians in word and deed in 2009. By this I mean that we get more involved in the daily life of our parishes; that we go about our daily work and family life in a conscious imitation of Christ; and that we seek to learn more about our faith so that we can experience a deeper knowledge of God and the fruits of that knowledge.   This would include regular Mass attendance — every Sunday. Let us come to church not just out of a desire to fulfill this obligation of our Catholic faith but with a voracious hunger to worship the Lord in joyful community. For some, this might mean making a stronger effort to plunge into the Scriptures on our own, to attend a Bible study, to read good books and good Web sites about Christian life and practice.   For still others, this might mean a concerted effort to keep the spirit of the Sunday Mass in our hearts beyond the drive home from church. It will mean that we go to work each Monday as kinder, more compassionate supervisors or more cooperative, positive employees; that we ask God for the strength to leave our stress at the workplace as best we can and go home each day to nurture a warm and loving family life in the image of the Holy Family.   Let us resolve to practice good stewardship as Jesus asked us, to share our time, talent and treasure in every meaning of those words. For some, this would mean looking for and accepting opportunities to volunteer in our community, at our schools, at nonprofits, in our parishes. What a difference we might make if each of us and all of us together made a daily practice of asking people, “How can I help?” more than we ever have. What would happen if all of us truly pondered the material ways God has blessed us and chose to sacrifice to help not only people we love and know but complete strangers? What if each of us made a point of not letting a single day in 2009 go by without helping someone in need?   Let us resolve as a diocese to answer our president-elect’s call to become more involved, more active and more knowledgeable as Americans, regardless of our political views or how we voted this past November. Let each of us make a point of studying the issues that need attention or that call us to debate, from the economy and energy to defense and human-life issues and myriad others. Let it never be said that we failed out of ignorance. Let us read, study and question and stretch our minds, as citizens of a democracy ought to do.   Finally, let us resolve to pray unceasingly and with greater zeal and fervor than we ever have before. Let us together resolve to beseech God constantly for help and guidance, to ask God’s intervention in the many problems of this world and for all its people in need. Above all, let us always remember in our time with God to say thank you for the many splendors and many blessings bestowed upon us.   Peace to all.     Diocesan vocations outlook is encouraging (Autumn 2008)   As we enter this beautifully refreshing season of autumn, I want to ask you to offer special prayers for several men who are beginning studies at various seminaries in anticipation of ordination to the priesthood. I thought this would be a good time, as well, to update you on our overall efforts to nurture and encourage men who feel a call to the priesthood and ways we are getting the word out about the rewarding life that is a priest’s. Michael Costik, Zachary Enes, Matt Jones, Peter Mottola and David Tedesche (click here) are studying at seminaries throughout the U.S., in Belgium and in Rome. I am just delighted, knowing what I do about these men, that they have successfully completed a year of formal discernment at Becket Hall and now will spend the next several years in priestly formation. Meanwhile, I am sure you know that Edison Tayag was ordained a priest this past June -- not long after Brian Carpenter was ordained a transitional deacon with anticipation of ordination next year. In addition, two more men will begin discernment at Becket Hall this year. While we still have much work to do, this is all so encouraging. I believe we are beginning to see the fruits of all the hard work our vocations team, led by Father Tim Horan with passionate involvement from several of our priests, has done. We are trying many different ways to reach out, which I share with you here in hopes that you will pray for each and all of these important efforts. I asked Carol Dady, our vocations-awareness coordinator, to describe in some detail below a few of these initiatives: "We’re trying to help young people to know more priests and know them better," Carol says. "It’s hard to picture yourself doing, or being, something that you don’t have an adequate understanding of. These days, with declining numbers, it has become more difficult for priests to be present to the people in a personal way. We create opportunities for that to happen for young men of different age groups. Social, prayerful gatherings give them a chance to see priests as real, joyful people not unlike themselves. The gatherings provide a comfortable atmosphere for ''questions unlimited'' regarding priesthood, discernment or anything they wish to ask. We host a number of these events during the year -- with different guest priests in attendance. "For example, 24 Hours with the Lord is a wonderful mini-retreat for men aged 17 to 40, and is offered each year on the evening before the priestly ordination. This year, 13 young men joined Bishop Clark and members of the Vocation Awareness Team for a great evening of conversation, prayer and a meal. Edison (Tayag) and Brian (Carpenter), and some of the Becket Hall men, joined us following ordination rehearsal at the cathedral and we sat under a tree behind St. Margaret Mary’s convent chatting well into the evening. Night prayer and eucharistic adoration, hosted by the Irondequoit Parishes Vocation Committee, concluded the evening. In the morning, we traveled together to attend Edison’s beautiful ordination celebration. "In April, we took a group of eight discerners to NYC to see Pope Benedict XVI. We met up with seminarians, discerners and vocation directors from the eight dioceses of New York state and were part of the seminarian and youth rally at Dunwoodie. Our group really enjoyed getting to know other young men seriously discerning a vocation to priesthood. "We have begun hosting ''Fisher Dinners'' throughout the diocese. To date, we have had four such dinners in Geneva, Hilton and Irondequoit. It’s simple: a couple of priests, a few good men, a delicious meal, prayer and conversation. "We’re trying to keep the language and topic of vocations ‘handy,’ so it can be easily incorporated into other areas of our faith where it naturally fits, such as stewardship, faith formation, youth and young adult ministry, preaching, and even our Spirit Alive! renewal. Discerning our God-given gifts, and how we use them in service to each other and for the glory of God, is essential to our identity as Christians. To that end, we provide all parishes with vocation bulletin announcements that correspond with the Sunday readings throughout the liturgical year." I thank Carol, Father Tim and all those who work so hard at this. These are all marvelous and creative ways of reaching out. Together, these work to build and cultivate a "vocation culture" in our diocese. Other efforts include uploading our inspiring and informative vocations video to a Web site incredibly popular with young people, www.youtube.com, as well as our own diocesan site. In addition, we have a special Web site devoted exclusively to vocations: www.dor.org/vocations. As well, perhaps you have seen the colorful posters we have distributed for use in our faith communities throughout the diocese. These feature local priests talking about the joys of being one. If you are one of those men who may be feeling a tug in your heart and want to know more about the priesthood or ways to discern, please do call Carol Dady at 585-328-3210 or visit www.dor.org/vocations. And for the rest of us, you may be asking, what can we do to help? Well, certainly your constant prayer would be crucial to this effort. Be encouraging when young men think aloud about the priesthood in your presence. If you truly believe a young man you know might be a good candidate, don’t be afraid to suggest it. Many, many priests had someone they knew and trusted simply say, "Have you ever thought about being a priest?" Peace to all. Spring 2008 Easter, renewal, papal visit to boost our spiritual lives Copyright © 2008 Rochester Catholic Press Association, Inc.   Sometimes events just come together perfectly, offering us unique opportunities to grow in our faith and move further on our journeys toward deeper relationships with God. I speak of the confluence of three special times: the Easter season we are in the midst of celebrating, which always stirs our hope and our faith, our new Spirit Alive! spiritual renewal, and the exciting visit of Pope Benedict XVI later this month. Each of these is special; each a boost in its own right to our spiritual lives as Catholics. But together, the synergy -- and potential -- they will create is just marvelous. We chose to begin Spirit Alive! during the Lenten season even before details of the Holy Father’s trip became firm. There is a beautiful rhythm to Lent, which never fails to draw us like a magnet to deeper thoughts of the Lord, to more meaningful sacrifice, to more frequent and even fervent prayer. Just as spring stirs our world outside, Easter stirs us inside. We are cleansed by Lent, and we begin anew at Easter, "washed as white as snow," as one of the old hymns says. What better time, primed as we are, to fill our hearts and minds with the hope of a "spirit alive," a spirit on fire with love for the Lord? I both sense, and am hearing good reports, that the movement of the renewal is building now. Hundreds of people throughout the diocese took part, for example, in our services of reconciliation and hope. Our parish leaders and people are buzzing about the renewal, planning events around the DVD retreat I was privileged to record as a resource for you, and visiting our new Web site, www.rochesterspiritalive.org. We have much more ahead of us, including a special "Catholic Call-in on April 22 from 2 to 8 p.m. to answer any questions you have about your faith. The phone number, appropriately, is 1-888-4-SPIRIT. What I hope for Spirit Alive! is that the unspoken yearning I have heard for "something" to anchor, focus and heal us will be met as the renewal unfolds over the next three years. I pray that it will make us a stronger community of faith and of prayer -- that we will emerge with a deepened awareness of ourselves as sisters and brothers in Christ, and of the abundant presence of Christ in all our lives and in our community. So, too, is my hope for the visit of the Holy Father to Washington, D.C., and New York City April 15-20. My experience with these wonderful moments of presence when previous popes have come has been of not only a tremendous outpouring of support and thanksgiving, but of renewed interest in and spirit for the church -- including our young people, to whom we must continue to reach out. The visits always serve to inspire and teach us, and ignite new souls on fire for God. The Holy Father’s presence, too will remind us of the universality of our church in the world. And Catholicism truly will be in the spotlight. The news media will be in full force, which will help to carry the pope’s message to every nook and cranny of our land. It will be a time ripe for renewal. Pope Benedict has chosen for the theme of his trip, "Christ Our Hope." In the midst of our local renewal efforts and in the dawning of a new Easter season, he could not have chosen better for us. Let us, then, keep the Easter fire burning in our hearts. Let us experience fully the power of Spirit Alive! and the historic visit by our Holy Father to our shores. Let these events generate new excitement about the mission of the church and spark in us a desire to invite others, as Jesus did, to "come and see." Together, let us seize in joy our corporate responsibility to pass on faith to generations that come after us, to be good disciples and good stewards, to answer with shouts of hallelujah the words, "Christ Our Hope."   Like St. John, see and believe! Easter 2008 Copyright © 2008 Rochester Catholic Press Association, Inc. “And he saw and believed.” These four words, from the Gospel of St. John, will be proclaimed on Easter Sunday in all of our churches a few short weeks from now. They are powerful words indeed, for they speak volumes about this defining moment for the young disciple -- and our faith -- as John stared at the hewn rock where the wracked body of Jesus was supposed to be. On that first Easter morning, John saw much more than an empty tomb or the miraculous triumph over death by his beloved teacher -- as stunning and delightful as that was. What John saw was not just the miracle of Jesus’ resurrection, but also what it truly meant: the full flowering of the Lord’s promise for him and for all of humanity. I like to think that, instead of dark and damp, John saw sunlight, a symbol of God’s burning love for us all, pouring into the tomb and brightening every crevice. In this light, John saw that the children of God had been delivered from evil, from death itself, that each and every one of us had been given the gift of invincibility, of hope, of eternal life. And he did not just see it, he believed it. His utter despair at the horrible death of Jesus, in a flash, had disappeared. As we experience this Lent and approach Easter, may I suggest it might be a good practice to imagine ourselves at that empty tomb, like John, and ponder what it means to us as we peer inside? What do we see? What do we believe? Do we see God’s love in our own lives, working little and big miracles every day, guiding us in sometimes subtle and sometimes quite obvious ways? Do we feel God’s presence? In the darker days that surely come, do we believe in faith’s power to roll away the stones that seal us away from true happiness and Christian joy -- all those difficult feelings and experiences that can paralyze us? Do we let these feelings entrap and entomb us in fear and trepidation? Do we trust that God’s plan for us is complete joy? Perhaps we are at some confusing, even frightening, crossroad in our lives; do we let God lead, and do we follow? Are we of such faith that we can give ourselves completely to God, as our Lord did on the Cross, and pray, “into your hands I commend my spirit?” It is not always easy to maintain our faith and hope, is it? We are only human. Perhaps illness has overcome us, or grief at the loss of a loved one. Perhaps someone we know nd love very much is in danger. Thank God, then, for our faith. Can we, even in those times, lean on the magnificent promise of the Empty Tomb for solace, courage and hope? I pray that all of us can and will. You see, to peer into the empty tomb of Jesus Christ on that Easter morning is to peer into a mirror of our own lives, a window to the glorious days of eternity with the Lord and all whom we have held dear. On this Easter, like St. John, see and believe: The Easter miracle was, and is, for you. See and believe: Jesus rose for you. See and believe! God’s promise is for you. See and believe: Jesus lives!

Remember to 'think thanks'

(Catholic Courier publication Date:  November 10, 2007)
 
I would like to address this column to the children in our diocese. Would you grown-ups kindly help the youngest with some of the things I want to say here?

Dear Children:

In a few short weeks, we will all celebrate one of my favorite holidays: Thanksgiving Day. It is one of my favorites because it means I will be with my family and we will sit down together and have a wonderful meal. It is a time for us to be together and to celebrate the ways God has blessed us. I truly hope and pray you will experience this wonderful feeling of being surrounded by the people you love and who love you.

Sometimes we forget what the Thanksgiving holiday is all about. For many children and just as many adults, it has come to mean one or two days off and the start of the Christmas shopping season. For sports fans, it means lots of football on television. There is nothing wrong with either of those things, of course. In fact, both shopping and sports are fun, and Christmas is, well, Christmas!

But may I suggest that it would be good for all of us, adults included, also to take some time in the next few weeks leading up to Thanksgiving -- and certainly on the day itself -- to think a little more about what it means to be thankful and, more importantly, to make a little list in our heads or even on paper about what we have to be thankful for?

It is interesting that the word “thank” came from the same family of words as the word “think.” So it makes a lot of sense to think about being full of thanks and just exactly what we are grateful for.

May I make a little list here to start off your thinking about thanking?

First of all, we should be very thankful that God has put us here in this time and this place. For lots of people, from friends to parents -- and yes, even the sister and brother we sometimes fight with -- our being here is very special indeed. We all forget sometimes that our presence makes other people’s lives more complete. Let me remind you that you bring great happiness to others just by being here!

When we make out our list of things for which we want to say thank you, we must remember God, of course. God is like a fountain for each of us, pouring out love, individual talents and other things to be thankful for. We call these gifts from God blessings.

All of us should ask ourselves, how has God blessed me? What gifts has God given me? Remember this: No one is left out of God’s love. Everyone is blessed in some way.

Now, I know you are thankful for your parents and others who take care of you. Sure, you might get a little bit mad sometimes when they set down rules for you to follow or nag you about doing your homework. (Grown-ups, by the way, sometimes feel the same way about their bosses at work!) It’s natural to want to do what you want when you want to do it, but we all need someone to help guide us. That’s why parents make rules -- so that we know right from wrong. Come to think of it, that’s exactly why God gave us a set of rules we call the Ten Commandments, ways to be good and ways to avoid because they are bad.

Please always remember, if you sometimes forget, that your parents spend much, much more time every day thinking about you and ways they can make your life happy more than anything else. Your parents love you as much as anyone can possibly love.

Here’s another one: I’ll bet you like to go outside. Well, the next time you do, would you just take a moment to stop and look around you? I forget sometimes, too. Sometimes we take “outside” for granted. We see so many big trees and beautiful flowers and lovely sunsets every day that we forget to be thankful for the world God created for all of us.

We forget how amazing the frozen rain we call snow is, how marvelous mountains are, or the way trees can change color and lose their leaves and know when to grow them back. We forget how neat the rain is, and the way it puddles on the ground and makes grass turn bright green overnight, and how it then somehow disappears and goes right back to where it came from.

Be thankful for the stars even as you wonder at them and wish upon them.

Be thankful for the way the bright sun warms your skin, even on the coldest days.

Be thankful for this world God gave us and remember, as someone once said, to stop and smell the flowers. They smell very good indeed.

I could go on and on with all the things we should be thankful for, but I want you to think of some on your own, too.

When we make a habit of making a list of all our blessings, when we see all the things we ought to be thankful for, we discover new things, too. And here is something very nice: Just by making the list and seeing all our wonderful blessings, those little things that bother or anger us just don’t seem as bad anymore.

So happy Thanksgiving and remember: “Think thanks!”

Peace to all.

Ephiphany 2007

Celebrating God's Gift to Us

Essay by Bishop Matthew Clark on 
September 11 Tragedies
(published in September 12, 2001 edition of 
Rochester Democrat & Chronicle)

My heart aches today. Yesterday we experienced hellish acts of violence that without cause or warning destroyed innocent life. Even before we know the precise tally of those killed or injured, this heinous butchery seems overwhelming to me. I can only begin to imagine the pain and grief, of those who lost loved ones in those brutal attacks or who are still uncertain about their fate. I do join my prayers to those of the whole nation for their comfort and healing.

As I pray for the victims of these vile assaults, I yearn also for the apprehension and punishment of all who were in any way responsible for them. They must never be allowed to hurt anyone again. They must be taught that the human family can not and will not tolerate such evil.

In this experience, I am aware that a desire for violent revenge competes for room in my heart with a thirst for justice. I desperately do not want to give in to the former. To do so will make me a captive of violence and one who strengthens the cycle of violence that holds captive so much of our world.

In my opinion, we will be a stronger and more noble nation if we respond to this terror in a way that honors our deepest values of integrity, respect for innocent life and even handed justice. We can not let the pain and anger we experience diminish our capacity to choose wisely the ways in which we will respond to this horrible event. I thank God for a faith that calls me to justice rather than to vengeance. At the same time, I am profoundly aware that I can respond faithfully to that call only if I am rooted in prayer, and am supported by the prayer of the community.

In that spirit, I ask for your prayers and promise to pray for all in the community who are hurt , angry or who search for life and fresh hope in the midst of this darkness.

Peace to all.

http://www.dor.org/bishopclark/columns.htm
Bishop Matthew H. Clark

This article appeared in New Theology Review, August, 1997.

Recently we completed a synod in the Diocese of Rochester. We planned in such a way that pastoral strategies for our future were first suggested by our people and their pastors at parish synods, refined at regional synods and finalized at a diocesan general synod. The movement from grassroots to promulgation and now to implementation has taken a great deal of time and effort but it has been well worth it. The synod experience has unlocked a tremendous storehouse of creativity and energy in our diocese. It did so because it invited our people to reflect on their faith and to identify ways which would help them to understand it, celebrate it, and live it more deeply. Through our synod experience, participants realized in a new way what it means to be called and gifted, to be part of a celebrating, searching community, to be contributors to the vitality and direction of the Church. The experience of the synod also taught me a great deal about the ministry of bishop and challenged me to reflect on the pastoral exercise of authority. I share those reflections here by (1) setting a context, (2) naming some tensions which come with pastoral authority today, and (3) raising some issues and questions for future consideration.

I. THE CONTEXT

Throughout the whole of this century, the Church's magisterium has explored the meaning of authority in the Church. In each instance it has done so in the context of a careful discussion of the intertwining roles and responsibilities of the clergy and the laity. Popes Pius XI and Pius XII, for instance, placed special emphasis on "Catholic Action," which they defined as the cooperation of the laity in the apostolate of the hierarchy. It was in this discussion that the millennium-old clear distinction between the sphere of the clergy and the sphere of the laity began to change. Clearly the popes were including lay people in their understanding of who was charged to carry out the Church's mission and ministry; and not just in the world but, to some degree, in the internal life of the Church itself. The by-product of this change was a new respect on the part of the hierarchy for the lay person who was seen less as one who needed continual supervision and guidance and more as one who was confident and able to contribute to the Church's life and mission.

When Pope John XXIII convoked the Second Vatican Council, many of the bishops who assembled had experienced the powerful energy generated and the remarkable results achieved by the laity involved in Catholic Action and other forms of the lay apostolate. Not surprisingly, then, in debating the original draft schema on the Church, they found that it did not correspond to their experience of the Church because it seemed to rely on an unhelpful understanding of the relationship between clergy and laity.

In drafting a new schema, which would probe the Church as mystery and explore its nature and mission with eyes open to the signs of the times, the bishops developed a more mature theology which took into account three basic elements.

First, the bishops developed a self-understanding of the Church as the People of God. After considerable debate, they reorganized the draft schema so that the Council discussed what is common to the entire People of God-clergy and laity alike-before treating the hierarchical structures of the Church and the roles of the clergy and the laity. In doing so they emphasized that, as a people formed in baptism, there is more which is truly common to all of the people of God than that which divides the ordained from the people they serve.

Second, the Council pointed out that the entire people of God has a responsibility to build up the unity of the Church and carry out its mission. It taught that the baptized "share a true equality with regard to the dignity and to the activity common to all in the building up the body of Christ" (LG 32). Even when there are differences, as between the priesthood of all believers and the ministerial priesthood, the bishops present them as complementary ways in which the mission and ministry are accomplished.

Third, the Council taught that it is Christ alone who is the basis for the common mission. According to the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, baptized as we are into Christ Jesus, all Christians share Christ's ministry and mission as prophets, priests, and kings. In carrying out the ministry of prophet, Christians are called "to expend all their energy for the growth of the Church and its continual sanctification" (LG 33). As priests, they share in Christ's function of offering spiritual worship for the glory of God. And finally, they share Christ's royal mission of delivering creation out of bondage to corruption into the freedom of the glory of the children of God, into "a kingdom of truth and life, a kingdom of holiness and grace, a kingdom of justice, love and peace" (LG 36).

Though in times past the Church may have presented an incomplete theology which seemed to define itself as a hierarchy over against the body of faithful laity, it does so no more. In the Council documents, the bishops clearly recognized that the entire People of God have full rights in the Church: to equality in the hierarchy of grace, to holiness within a particular call, to liberty under the gospel.

It is in this area of freedom where the Council made the greatest strides for it recognized that all men and women, as creatures called to communion with God, have a dignity and freedom which must "be respected as far as possible, and curtailed only when and in so far as necessary" (DH 7). Even more so the Christian faithful, since they possess the very life of the Holy Spirit, must be allowed to enjoy the freedom of God's sons and daughters. Consequently, the Council urged that every opportunity be given to the Christian faithful "so that, according to their abilities and the needs of the times, they may zealously participate in the saving work of the Church" (LG 33).

The Council recognized the laity as having something of value to say to the whole Church. It urged the laity to use their freedom to speak the truth, always directed toward justice and animated by charity. The Council urged pastors to "listen to the laity willingly, to consider their wishes in a fraternal spirit, and to recognize their experience and competence in the different areas of human activity, so that together with them they will be able to read the signs of the times" (P0 9).

The Council recognized the valuable talents and charisms of the laity and acknowledged their importance in advancing the mission and ministry of the Church. So Vatican II urged us pastors to "confidently entrust to the laity duties in the service of the Church, allowing them freedom and room for action. In fact, on suitable occasions, they should invite them to undertake works on their own initiative" (P0 9).

In honesty the bishops admitted that they were not experts on every secular or religious problem that confronted the Church. Consequently, they recognized all the Christian faithful as having the "freedom of inquiry and of thought, and the freedom to express their minds humbly and courageously about those matters in which they enjoy competence" (GS 62).

Even in the area of conscience, the bishops reminded us that "the gospel has a sacred reverence for the dignity of conscience and its freedom of choice" (CS 41). While the Christian faithful ought carefully attend to the doctrine of the Church in the formation of their consciences, they are not passive in this process. Rather as disciples they are "bound by a grave obligation toward Christ the Master ever more adequately to understand the truth received from him, faithfully to proclaim it, and vigorously to defend it, never having recourse to means that are incompatible with the spirit of the Gospel" (DH 14).

This picture which the Second Vatican Council paints of the Christian man and woman come of age-faithful, gifted, articulate and competent-must be kept in mind when talking about authority in the post-conciliar era. The magisterium has once again reminded the Church of the gospel's own understanding of authority as service: "whoever wishes to be first among you must be the servant of all" (Mark 10:44). Consequently, the starting point for any reflection on authority cannot be a medieval notion of bishop or priest as a prince to whom fealty is due. Rather, if authority is truly service, and the Church has described what the Christian faithful are meant to be, then that service must be in support of that ideal. Whatever service is offered to the Christian faithful, then, must be in support of faith, in formation of conscience, in pursuit of holiness; must confirm and order the variety of gifts; must enhance the ways we carry out Christ's mission and ministry.

Most certainly, the Church is not a collection of individuals each pursing holiness on his or her own. It is the People of God, the Body of Christ, a community of faith and love. In service to this community, a bishop must provide for good order while still respecting the freedom and supporting the growth of its individual members. As a true servant, he stands in the midst of a community to give his very self as a symbol of its unity and a guarantee of its peace. He preaches and celebrates the Mysteries as friend among friends. Presiding in love, he helps the community to articulate its faith and reach consensus about its pastoral goals. He proclaims the vision of the whole, not as the lonely prophet but as the one who clothes with words what he sees and hears in the hopes and dreams of the people he serves. When disputes arise, he attempts to help each side to understand the other 's perspective. In serving the gospel while serving the gospel people, the bishop may have to set limits, call questions, ask people to respect necessary boundaries. He does so conscious of the medieval Church axiom: "in necessary things, agreement; in disputed things, freedom; in all things, charity." In every sense, his must be a pastoral exercise of authority.

II. SOME TENSIONS

In reflecting on my office of service in the Church, I can name four pairs of truths which emerge from my pastoral experience of our people in synod and from daily conversations with the holy, gifted, well-educated people of our local church. These truths continually challenge me because they cannot be totally reconciled and must always remain in tension.

a. Teacher/learner. In the midst of a community of believers, whose greatest joys and most vexing problems are known to him intimately, the bishop must faithfully proclaim the gospel of Jesus Christ but in such a way that all can give it a warm welcome. He is the official transmitter of the tradition who "is not above the word of God, but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on, listening to it devoutly, guarding it scrupulously, and explaining it faithfully" (DV 10).

But the bishop is also a hearer of the Word as it is spoken and acted out by the Christian faithful in lives manifestly anointed by the Holy Spirit. For the magisterium recognizes that tradition develops in the Church not just in authoritative teaching but also through the contemplation and study of believers, through their intimate understanding of spiritual things. So the bishop must listen attentively for the Word of God in the words of the strong and noble; but he must also listen carefully to the hungry poor, to the women faithful in ministry, to the marginalized conservatives, to the alienated divorced, to the gay Roman Catholics in order to testify before the Great Church to the faith and practice of his own particular Church.

For some, among both the laity and the hierarchy, this dialogical notion is uncomfortable because it seems to deny a fixed authority which must simply be obeyed. But the Church from the beginning has used open dialogue in meetings, letters and in ecumenical councils to discover its faith and to secure its practice. Our belief is that the Holy Spirit is given to the whole Church and not just to the hierarchy or even one small part of the hierarchy.

Why then do we still act in ways that leave so many of our people feeling that we treat them like children? Why in their eyes do we seem afraid to consult them on matters of faith and pastoral practice? Why can we not trust that the Holy Spirit will bring about a "consensus ecclesiae?" Why can we not openly dialogue about the ministry of women, the meaning of sexuality and the condition of homosexuality, the situation of the divorced and remarried? Why are bishops, who are called vicars of Christ and servants of local churches, so often excluded from processes which lead to pastoral strategies which will deeply affect their own communities?

b. Timeless truth/manner of expression. Pope John XXIII was fond of saying that the substance of the ancient doctrine is one thing but the way in which it is presented is another. So the Church recognizes that a bishop needs to proclaim the timeless truths of the Christian faith "in a manner adapted to the needs of the times" (CD 13). This is not a form of relativism which undercuts the gospel but a recognition that if one is truly a servant of the gospel and the people of God then one must adapt one's speaking to the ears of the hearers, "making that faith clear, bringing forth from the treasury of revelation new things and old" (LG 25).

But if this is our understanding, why is there apparent apprehension about what seems to be legitimate adaptation and diversity? Why can there be only one English translation of the Sacramentary as if the use of English were the same in London, Nairobi, and Chicago? Why cannot the bishops of a national or regional conference be competent to decide on a proper translation of the Catechism or the Lectionarv since it is they who are most familiar with the cultural and linguistic needs of the people they serve? Why cannot an episcopal conference apply the teachings of the gospel to the concrete situation of their own nation or region without the intervention of others who are unfamiliar with that concrete situation? Why is the pastoral magisterium so uneasy about the honest attempts by theologians to explore disputed questions in new ways, with new vocabulary, with new philosophies, in new cultural settings, with new data from the sciences?

c. Local Pastor/Servant of the Great Church. The one, holy, catholic and apostolic Church of Jesus Christ is truly present in the local church. Its bishop is "not to be regarded as vicar of the Roman Pontiff" but, in order to serve those given into his care, is himself a vicar of Christ who, according to Vatican II, has the full authority in his particular church "to moderate everything pertaining to the ordering of worship and the apostolate" (LG 27).

But no Catholic church is a church in isolation; each of its actions affects in some way all the other local churches. For the sake of unity and in service of peace, each bishop individually must have solicitude for the other churches. Even more so, united with all the other bishops in a college which carries on the work of the apostles and in a bond of communion with the bishop of Rome as its president, the bishop acts as full member of "the episcopal order [which] is the subject of supreme and full power over the universal Church" (LG 22). Though he represents his own church, he must also, in collegial unity with the other bishops and the bishop of Rome, "represent the entire Church joined in the bond of peace, love and unity" (LG 23).

It goes without saying that there can be considerable tension between the bishop's local and universal roles since what may be good and uplifting for one local church may be detrimental in some way to the whole. Although the bishop of Rome may limit a bishop's authority in his diocese in a particular way for the sake of the whole People of God, our theology tells us that he does so only as the successor to St. Peter and his ministry on behalf of the Church's unity. It is not uniformity that he seeks since he "presides over the whole assembly of charity and protects legitimate differences" (LG 13).

But in matters which do not affect the unity of the Church, simply its uniformity, why are the local bishop's hands so often tied? How can a local bishop faithfully serve the People of God entrusted to his care when in his and their judgment our insistence on the discipline of priestly celibacy has resulted in a dearth of vocations which may deprive the faithful of the nourishment of the Eucharist? Why cannot competent lay men and women, associated intimately with their pastors in ministry and teaching, be allowed to preach at the Eucharist?

How can the college of bishops under the presidency of the bishop of Rome be said to govern the universal Church when decisions about the content of the deposit of faith are attributed to them without careful and thorough consultation? As true vicars of Christ who represent the Great Church to the local church, how can they be asked credibly to defend among their people policies to which they have not contributed and texts which they have never seen?

d. Sanctifier/One growing in holiness. The Second Vatican Council envisioned the bishop as one who gives an example of holiness to those entrusted to his care through his charity, humility, and simplicity of life and fosters holiness by promoting the entire liturgical life of the Church. The Council particularly pointed out that he must exhort the people to "know and live the paschal mystery more deeply through the Eucharist and thus become a firmly knit body in the solidarity of Christ's love" (CD 15). One of the ironies of liturgical reform was that in being called to face the congregation once again, the presiding bishop was usually confronted with the holiness of the people gathered, the fervor of their prayer, the joy of their celebration, and the generosity of their lives. It was they who by their prayer and their lives exhorted him to holiness.

Implicitly the Council knew that this would happen. It taught in the Constitution on the Liturgy, of course, that Christ was present in the eucharistic species and in the Word preached. But it also taught that he was present both in the presider whom the assembly looked on and in the believing assembly whom the presider beheld. Each was to be Christ to each. In celebrating this source and summit of our lives as Christians, each was to call the other to holiness: for "all the faithful of Christ of whatever rank or status are called to the fullness of the Christian life and to the perfection of charity" (LG 40).

While church architecture in the post-conciliar era has removed the altar rail which symbolically divided the sacred ministers and the sacred space from the people-since now all are recognized members of God's holy people-other barriers remain. Why is it that men and women may publicly read at the sacred liturgy and may devoutly distribute the Eucharistic species as "extraordinary ministers" while men alone can be installed in the official Church ministries of lector and acolyte? Why is the diaconate, called a "source of all goodness" and a "servant of the mysteries of Christ and the Church" (LG 41), reserved to men alone? Why does the magisterium seem to say that all are called to holiness but only men may symbolize that holiness to the community?

While Vatican II understands the Eucharist "as the source of perfecting the Church" (AG 39), it recognizes that to have its full spiritual effect the Christian faithful must take part "knowingly, actively, and fruitfully" (SC 11). But what if the forms and manner of celebration no longer speak to people? Why must the Roman rite with its mixture of ancient forms and medieval customs be the model that must be used to speak to Africans, Asians, and Americans whose symbol systems, cultural presuppositions and aesthetic sensibilities are so vastly different? Must our liturgical rites respect antiquity at the expense of the spiritual needs of the present?

III. SOME ISSUES FOR FURTHER CONSIDERATION

Shortly after Vatican II, Pope Paul VI said: "To be a bishop today is a more demanding, difficult and perhaps, humanly speaking, more thankless and dangerous task than ever before" (AAS 58:69). The Pope well understood that the exercise of pastoral authority places the diocesan bishop in relationship with the Holy See and other local churches as well as with the clergy and people of his own diocese. To exercise pastoral authority honoring all of those relationships can be a most difficult challenge indeed.

Chief among the difficulties is the fact that the Church understands that both the pope and the bishop have real authority in a local Church. Vatican II taught that the pope "by divine institution enjoys full, supreme, immediate, and universal authority over the care of souls" and "a primacy of ordinary power over all the churches" (CD 2). His authority is clearly supreme. But at the same time (and this is a difficult concept to grasp) diocesan bishops are said to "exercise their own authority for the good of their own faithful, and indeed of the whole Church" (LC 22). "This power, which they personally exercise in Christ's name, is proper, ordinary, and immediate" (LG 27).

To have two immediate authorities in a local church makes no sense at all unless, of course, the authority of the bishop is in actuality collapsed into that of the pope. But Vatican II stressed again and again that this is not what it had in mind. It set aside the notion that the bishop receives his power of sanctifying from his ordination but his power of teaching and governing directly from the pope. Rather, through his sacramental ordination, the bishop receives a charism from God which makes him a vicar of Christ and a member of that college which "is the successor to the college of Apostles in teaching authority and pastoral rule" (LG 22). Complementary to this teaching is Vatican II's understanding that the pope's pastoral authority is ideally exercised in the local church only sparingly for the good of the church or the faithful, on behalf of the Church's unity and peace. Therefore, it could teach that "The pastoral office or the habitual and daily care of their sheep is entrusted to [the diocesan bishops] completely" (LG 27). Completely. This is a word and a concept that is yet to be realized.

I would suggest that the proper roles of the pope and the diocesan bishop will never be understood correctly until the church begins to live out more fully the principle of subsidiaritv. In his social teaching Pope Pius XI used the concept of "subsidiarity" to describe how all social bodies exist for the sake of the person, so what individuals are able to do, societies should not assume. Consequently, he taught that it was improper to "transfer to the larger and higher collectivity functions which can be performed and provided for by lesser and subordinate bodies" (Quad ragesimo anno 79). Both Pius XII and Paul VI applied this principle to the Church with the caution that the divinely instituted hierarchical order had to be respected. It is in no way unfaithful to the Church, then, to suggest that the millennium-old centralizing process, by which much of the freedom of the local church to order its own life and worship has devolved to the Holy See, should be reversed. Pope John Paul II acknowledges as much in Ut unum sint when he suggested that papal ministry, always a service on behalf of unity, has "sometimes manifested itself in a very different light." Consequently, he is convinced that he has a particular responsibility "to find a way of exercising the primacy which, while in no way renouncing what is essential to its mission, is nonetheless open to a new situation" (UUS 95). To hold that Christ intended a hierarchical order or a papal primacy does not imply that these will always be understood and lived out in exactly the same way in the life of the Church.

For example, it is only since the mid-nineteenth century that the Holy See has been regularly and directly naming bishops to vacant Latin rite sees. While no one wishes to return to the situation that preceded it in which the civil governments of Catholic countries directly involved themselves in episcopal appointments, there is a more ancient way. The time may be opportune to return to an election process which includes the prayerful discernment of the local clergy and laity in a manner that was hallowed in the ancient church by the selection of such great and saintly bishops as the former slave Callistus at Rome, the catechumen Ambrose at Milan, and the layman Hilarv at Poitiers, France. As was usually the practice in those days, such a selection of the local church could be submitted to the bishops of the province for approval and to the bishop of Rome for final confirmation, since no Catholic Church ever stands in independent isolation.

I do not argue that such a public, inclusive process will necessarily yield better or wiser choices of bishops than the current process but only that the principle of subsidiarity demands it. I cannot promise that politics would not enter into such a process, only that the politics which will inevitably be part of any such process would then be subject to moderation by public scrutiny. I do not suggest a process which undercuts the Holy See, only a process that properly honors the holy people of God by involving the whole local church in open corporate discernment, a vast improvement over the present process of secret individual consultations. This recommendation is an important one, for this change alone would put into practice in a most significant matter what the Second Vatican Council taught about the responsibility of the entire people of God for the mission of the Church.

Of course, the principle of subsidiarity does not absolve the bishop from the obligation of hierarchical communion. A situation must never exist in which a bishop and his local church stand alone against the Great Church: "It is the duty of all bishops to promote and safeguard the unity of faith and the discipline common to the whole Church, [and] to instruct the faithful in love for the whole Mystica I Body of Christ" (LG 23).

Furthermore, it would be unfair to infer that the burden for the implementation of the principle of subsidiarity in the Church rests solely with the bishop of Rome. Each diocesan bishop must also ensure that subsidiarity is a principle at work in his own local church. He must give his clergy and laity a wide measure of freedom to discover the best ways of accomplishing the ministry and carrying out the mission. His curia must be seen as serving the real pastoral needs of the various faith communities.

In the same way that the Council documents describe an overlapping authority of bishop and pope in the local church, they also describe an overlapping of authority of bishop and pastor in the parish. Vatican II tells us that priests are "dependent on the bishops in the exercise of their power" (LG 28) and vet they are co-workers with him who "participate in and exercise with the bishop the one priesthood of Christ" (CD 28). The overlapping of authorities once again is solved on the one hand by subsidiarity (where the bishop interferes in the daily ministry only when absolutely necessary for the greater good) and on the other hand by hierarchical communion (where the bishop is joined to his priests who in turn are joined to each other "by a bond of charity, prayer and every kind of cooperation" [PC 8]).

IV. SOME CONCLUSIONS

Ideally, then, the local bishop should stand as a symbol for the Great Church of the fundamental principles of subsidiarity and collegiality.

The diocesan bishop must create in his local church an ecclesial environment which not only allows but encourages an openness to the discussion of questions alive in the church, even when such discussions touch on sensitive issues. And he must invite the Great Church to do the same.

He must encourage the faithful people of God to share their faith experience as well as their questions, concerns, and doubts courageously, knowing that they will be heard and respected. And he must invite the Great Church to do the same.

He must show patience with those theologians whose unusual methods or tentative findings seem at first to be at odds with received faith. In a careful, peaceful, open dialogue they should explore their mutual concerns while working in charity for understanding or resolution. And he must invite the Great Church to do the same.

With a deep respect for truth, he should dialogue with the members of the academic community in search of those fruits of scholarly research which illuminate revelation or facilitate pastoral practice. However, he must never ignore those findings which challenge the Church's understanding of discipline concerning even the most sensitive of issues. And he must invite the Great Church to do the same.

He must conduct the life of the local church in openness, "walking always in the light," eschewing all forms of secrecy, manipulation or coercion. And he must invite the Great Church to do the same.

He must do all in his power "to form men and women who will be lovers of true freedom-men and women, in other words, who will come to decisions on their own judgement and in the light of truth, govern their activities with a sense of responsibility, and strive after what is true and right, willing always to join with others in cooperative effort" (DH 8). And he must urge the Great Church to do the same.

He must at all times and in all places exercise his authority as service on behalf of God's holy people. And in the name of the gospel. He must insist that the Great Church do the same.

Thirty-five years ago today, December 19, 1962, at Christ the King Church in Rome, Italy, I was among 68 seminarians from the North American College ordained to the Roman Catholic priesthood by the Rector of our seminary, Archbishop Martin J. O’Connor.

When I remember the day I am grateful for the men with whom I was ordained. When I remember the years between then and now I am grateful for the men and women who have challenged me to growth and supported me in the process. And, in all of it, I am grateful to God for the privileged opportunities I have had to observe the goodness of God manifest in the people among whom I have served.

Since people often ask me questions about my vocation and since the media have given much attention to priesthood in recent years, I thought some readers might be interested in these anniversary memories and reflections:

The first session of Vatican Council II took place in Rome in the same month that we were ordained. It was an exciting time. We knew that the Church and ministerial priesthood would experience much change in the years ahead. We knew we would have to change, too. The call to change has been more than I think we had expected. For me the process of change is often exciting, rarely easy. It can be difficult when people resist change, downright painful when they think you are up to mischief. But it brings immense joy when it leads to fresh insight, new freedom in people. The challenge has made the years exciting ones.

Ninety-six of us began our theological studies together in September, 1959. Sixty-eight of us were ordained. Of that number 32 remain in active ministry. All were gifted men of good faith who wanted to serve the Church in ordained ministry. Why did so many leave in those years? And what was the difference between those who left and those who did not? I honestly do not know. But thinking about those good friends and the several directions they have taken leaves me with much respect for all of them. And I wonder how many, if given the opportunity, would return to active priestly ministry. I often think it would be healthy for the Church to consider the possibility of welcoming them back to ministry whether they are married or not.

The greatest joy I have experienced in priesthood is the range of relationships with people it has made possible. I believe I have tried hard to relate constructively and respectfully with people over the years. Such a range of possibilities exists for me because of my public ministry, especially as bishop. Every day is a blessing because every day somehow is spent with the good people of the Rochester Diocese.

Among my most rewarding experiences all those which have challenged me to a new understanding of familiar things, or to explore new issues. For example, the way we think about and behave towards women in our Church, the issue of intellectual freedom and theological exploration in a credal Church and our understanding of and dispositions towards gay and lesbian persons. These three have generated more discussion and correspondence than any other issues in which I have been involved. You learn a lot when you read your mail carefully!

Would I do it again? Very definitely. Priesthood is an exciting, rich and challenging vocation. I cannot think of anything I would rather do, especially in this era of the church’s life. In the short run, I have concerns about a centralizing, new conservatism which does not appeal to me. That may be nothing more than an expression of my own bias. Time and further experience will shed light on that. In the longer run, I am excited about the Church and what our faith tradition, at its very best, can offer to persons and communities which search for meaning. I would like to participate in that.

Would I encourage young men to think about priesthood? Very definitely. Ordained priestly ministry is not so clear-cut, neat and ordered as it once was. In fact it can be messy and confusing at times. But, beneath all of the roiling, the controversy and the problems, it offers unparalleled opportunity to offer significant service to others and to make a difference in their lives.

Remembering these 35 years leads me to look forward to the next 35 with great enthusiasm.

Reprinted with the permission of the Democrat and Chronicle.