Column
by
Archbishop John G. Vlazny
|
Archbishop's
Column by Archbishop John G. Vlazny |
We must continue ministry, a manifestation
of God’s glory
2/7/03
It’s that time of the year again. Your
archbishop writes to you this week
as a “beggar for Christ.” I must confess
that as a younger priest I found
it difficult to ask for help. Independence
and self-sufficiency seem so
important when a person is young. But
the experience of 41 years of
priesthood has helped me come to understand
that solidarity and
interdependence are much greater values
for the truly Christian life.
Life’s most worthwhile goal, eternal salvation,
is achievable only with
help — God’s help. Accepting help from
others on the journey keeps us
humble enough to accept help from God
as well, especially at journey’s end.
This month I turn to you good people of
the Archdiocese of Portland and
ask you to make a generous contribution
to the Archbishop’s Catholic
Appeal 2003. While you are deciding how
generous you will be in responding
to my call for help, I urge you to ponder
the invitation of St. Paul in
his letter to the Corinthians, a message
we will hear on the weekend of
Feb. 15–16, “Whatever you do, do everything
for the glory of God.”
The ministries and charities that you and
I support through our Annual
Catholic Appeal are truly a manifestation
of the glory of God at work in
the world through us, His Catholic family.
I personally have no hesitation
whatsoever in supporting the mission of
this archdiocese. We are indeed
the Body of Christ. When I am among you
as your pastor I truly do feel the
presence of Jesus Himself. Ours is a church
you can fall in love with. In
so many ways heaven and earth come together
in our church. We are saints
and sinners. We are the “net cast into
the sea” by the Lord Himself.
Through us Jesus hopes to make a great
catch on judgment day.
This past year has been a very difficult
one for all of us. Hidden wounds
in the Body of Christ have been discovered.
They need healing. Those who
are fearful of our challenging Gospel
message hope that this is an
opportunity to marginalize our ministries
and mute our message.
Forgiveness needs to be extended on the
part of all of us to those who
have let us down and those who have turned
against us.
More than ever, I am convinced that our
Catholic Church has a special
mission both to the world in general and
to these United States in
particular. God has blessed us with a
unique capacity to bring diverse
people together. I had a marvelous experience
with the young people of our
archdiocese last summer in Toronto during
World Youth Day. The celebration
of the Eucharist with the Holy Father,
Pope John Paul II, transcended
barriers that outside the family of faith
still seem rather
insurmountable. As the Holy Father himself
said during the Mass, only
Jesus is able to fulfill the needs and
dreams of people everywhere.
One of the great gifts of Catholic teachers
and preachers is that we have
the inner strength to tell the truth.
We have no need to be “politically
correct.” We live in a nation that unfortunately
tends to favor separating
religion from life. Religion is to be
kept in a neat box, removed from
some private place for about an hour each
week, but quietly contained the
rest of the time lest it have some impact
upon the affairs of people’s
daily lives. The ministries we support
through our Catholic Appeal each
year counteract that privacy code. Ours
is a “holiness code” which has
love for its bottom line — love of God
and love of neighbor.
In making your contribution to the Annual
Catholic Appeal, you help your
archbishop and all those who collaborate
with him in church service to do
many things for the glory of God. There
are so many ministries and
services essential to our evangelizing
mission that are simply too
extensive for any one parish to handle
on its own. It is the task of the
archbishop to invite his people to collaborate
in the support of many
widespread and essential ministries such
as Catholic schools, health and
retirement care of priests, ethnic outreach,
vocations, clergy continuing
education, campus ministries, youth and
young adults, the aging, marriage
and family life, our Disciples in Mission
program and many others.
These ministries and apostolates will simply
languish and die if you and I
fail to support them. The Annual Archbishop’s
Catholic Appeal generates
approximately one third of the dollars
that are needed each year for us to
be faithful to our mission. These monies
are not put in the bank and saved
for a rainy day. They are used immediately
and exclusively for the
purposes outlined in the appeal resources.
Because of the troubles the
church has experienced this past year,
some of our sisters and brothers
have expressed some reluctance to make
a donation this time. I for one
plan to increase my own donation. I ask
you to do the same. The total
appeal goal for this year is up 5 percent
from last year. We are obviously
hoping to do better than that.
This year we are trying to focus the appeal
very clearly and directly on
two weekends this month. Feb. 8—9 will
be announcement weekend, a time to
alert our parishioners that they will
be asked to make a pledge of support
on the following weekend. Parish priests
and deacons will encourage
everyone to make a sacrifice in this year’s
appeal “For the Glory of God.”
Feb. 15–16 will be commitment weekend,
a time to ask people for their
financial support. There will be an in-pew
solicitation of pledges, and I
ask you to come to church that Sunday
ready to respond.
During these past five years of service
as your archbishop, I have learned
that the people of the Catholic Church
in western Oregon are a mighty fine
group. We are becoming more comfortable
identifying ourselves as
“disciples in mission.” The mission, of
course, is to evangelize the world
around us, to proclaim the love of God
in word and deed and to build up
His kingdom of justice, mercy, love and
peace wherever we go. To do that
work “for the glory of God” as effectively
as we can in the year before us
I invite your support of the Archbishop’s
Catholic Appeal 2003. I am most
grateful to all of you whose past goodness
and generosity help us as a
church to make a difference in western
Oregon and beyond. I welcome with
joyful anticipation the many others who
will join your ranks through this
year’s appeal “For the Glory of God.”