The Bishop Writes

(From the April 27, 2000 edition of the Inland Register)

As the church advances into a new millennium, the Gospel of Mark provides an orientation for our diocesan vision statement at the beginning of this new century. The words by which Jesus inaugurated his own mission resonate to the theme of Jubilee: “This is the time of fulfillment. The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent and believe in the Gospel” (Mark 1:15). But the depth of the Gospel only comes to light through the encounter with the mystery of the cross. Heed especially the centurion’s confession of faith who beholds the crucified Lord and proclaims: “Truly this man was the Son of God!” (Mark 15:39).

As the Catholic community of Eastern Washington crosses the threshold of the third millennium, we embrace the challenge of the Gospel to new and more faithful living. While greater intensity in commitment to the Gospel is a characteristic of every pastoral undertaking, I propose areas of particular emphasis in light of consultation with the people of God and recommendations of consultative bodies in our Diocese. These areas concern the Gospel proclaimed to family; the Gospel proclaimed to the Churches; and the Gospel proclaimed to the global village.

The nature of this vision statement is not to lay out a blueprint for pastoral action. There will be a few directives about pastoral concerns. Some are immediate and some are long- range, but for the most part, I hope to sow seeds. Further reflection upon this statement by pastors, educators, pastoral ministers, parents and others with a stake in the Church’s mission will help to nurture some of these seeds into a fruitful harvest. The invitation to believe the good news and to confess Jesus Christ as the Son of God must always take root in our relationships, the structures of society and the activities of daily living.

By this time many Catholics of our diocese have viewed the beautiful Jubilee Icon of the Blessed Trinity executed by Brother Claude Lane. The icon reveals that what is fundamental to the mystery of the Trinity is also fundamental to ourselves. The mystery of God cannot be conceived apart from the relationship of persons and the relationship of family. As I have the opportunity to interact pastorally with the families of the diocese I am deeply moved by the love and commitment I see. As we honor the Holy Trinity in this Jubilee year, I would ask that we honor these fundamental relationships, and honor the effort of each spouse, each parent and each child to live the committed love that makes these family relationships so life-giving.

To honor the relationships of family is not to deny that they are also wounded by the misuse of our freedom. We know this all too well. But the good news to the family is always the good news of redemption, healing and liberation from sin. The ministry of the Church is good news for families. Husband and wife, parent and child are relationships that require real presence. How interesting it is that terminology from our theological tradition should remind us that the daily, mundane contact and interaction within the home constitutes an essential dimension of community living and family life. These relationships can be joyful and life-giving, frustrating and challenging, meaningful and boring, but they are real. Families cannot exist and the bonds of love that constitute family life cannot be fostered apart from this daily interaction. The Church cannot exist apart from these lived relationships. Please be aware that I speak of “family” in its broadest context — some are single-parent families, some are childless families, some are extended or even multiple families. Wherever we find the security and peace to center our life, the spirit of God dwells with us as family. These are some special concerns about families:

Family Prayer: In the midst of the busyness and demands of life, what role can prayer play in the life of a family? While we talk a great deal about the importance of prayer and exhort families to pray, we may have done little or nothing to help families cultivate a spirit and practice of prayer. I would invite families in this Jubilee year to foster the practice of family table prayer. Families looking for a way to pray in our time might invest in the excellent volume Catholic Household Blessings and Prayers that was developed by the Bishops’ Committee on the Liturgy. In many instances families may find their own resource for prayer or use the basic prayers of our Catholic tradition such as The Lord’s Prayer, the Hail Mary and the Glory to the Father. No matter how difficult or awkward it may seem, families need to pray and children need to experience prayer as a constitutive element of family life.

The dominating emotions of a competitive society: In our ultra-competitive economy, some fight to stay on top and others feel trampled upon. It is easy to see how this view of life can create a habitual disposition of anger. This is not the righteous anger that energizes us to rise up against evil, but the rage that drives us into depression if repressed, or to violence when out of control. At times this anger comes to expression within the family. We have a name for it: domestic violence. What are the mysterious forces at work that have led to outbreaks of sociopathic behavior in children and youth that we used to think would only appear in adults?

Consumerism: There is nothing fundamentally wrong with our efforts to share in the material benefits of our society, but materialism is a gross misuse of creation. Rather than focusing on the wisdom of the Gospel, we prefer the wisdom of Wall Street. We judge the worth of things and even of persons according to their monetary value.

The tyranny of technology: Another influence upon family solidarity closely connected with consumerism is what I call the tyranny of technology. As it happens, many of the consumer products acquired by families are also the products of technology, especially systems and instruments by which we gain instant access to vast amounts of information and to persons, be they across the street or across the country. The fact that such technology determines the course of the modern economy should give us a clue that it can also determine the course of family life. The World Wide Web is aptly named, not only because of its power to connect multitudes of people, but also because of its power to entrap them in an illusion.

Positive Evangelization: Parents feel tremendous pressure to provide for the security of their homes and the futures of their children. Children feel tremendous pressure to conform to their peer group and find acceptance. Without the resources of our faith tradition, these pressures cannot be properly evaluated and, when necessary, resisted. Parents who are attentive to the faith formation of their children are well aware that many of the Church’s programs foster and even demand intense parental participation in the religious instruction of their children. I hope that many regard this as a blessing and a benefit. I hope that more will come to see that these programs can foster relationships of parent and child and draw family members closer together in ways that promote understanding and reconciliation.

The new millennium is a time for us to recommit ourselves to the missions of evangelization and formation within the Church. The Church strives to provide formation for all, not just for children. I wish to commend all those who have worked in the ministries of evangelization. Faith formation is not accomplished by a quick fix. Just when we feel empowered to face today, another day dawns with new challenges and new disappointments. It is not helpful to mourn the passing of a day when religion and life seemed more compatible. There never has been a golden age. Living the Gospel means looking to the future with hope. Today is the first moment of tomorrow.

I purposely speak of ecclesial communities in the plural to intensify our sense of the richness and diversity of the one Church of Christ. In our Catholic tradition, we speak of the church as universal, but also of “particular churches,” or the diocesan church, which is led by a bishop. Most of our personal experience is the life of our parish church. The churches in theirs various manifestations are diverse as the members of the Body of Christ are diverse. Pope John Paul has reminded us in this Jubilee year to work for the unity of the Body of Christ. We hold a deep respect for the ministry of unity entrusted to our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II. Our respect for the Petrine office is not rooted in an historical person, but in a ministry of service given to the servant of the servants of God. For me your Bishop, the Holy Father is a brother bishop. He strengthens me and all my brothers in the College of Bishops to build up the unity of the Church of Christ.

Parish Unity and Diversity: Each parish has its history, traditions and identity. But each parish must also honor the bonds of communion whereby the unity of the Church as diocese and as the universal Church is manifested. Our sacramental celebrations and especially the Mass “contribute in the highest degree to the establishment, strengthening and manifestation of ecclesial communion” (canon 840). I urge pastors and parish liturgy committees to regularly review the General Instruction on the Roman Missal and other liturgical texts to verify that the worship patterns of their parishes adequately respect the sacraments as symbols of unity. It also happens that some members of the assembly at times show more concern for manifesting their personal piety than for sharing in the prayer and ritual action of the community. Passivity in the responses and singing, reading one’s own devotional literature, and exaggerated gestures or postures, especially in the communion procession, violate the principle of communion and set a bad example for our young people about “doing my own thing.” Our celebration becomes a demonstration of individualism and not of community.

Women and men are called to service of the parish community. The varieties of service are manifold. Inclusion of both men and women in ecclesial ministry should be evident in all areas of the Church such as in the liturgical assembly, consultative boards, pastoral care and social action. The young should be included in mission and ministry. Clericalism excludes the faithful from sharing in their rightful place in the life of the Church. Communities with multi-cultural populations need to ask the hard questions about openness and cultural expression. I am impressed with the adult educational program in the southern region of our diocese directed by area pastors. I am pleased that planning is now underway in the Spokane region for an extended course on the “Fundamentals of the Faith.” I urge local pastors to challenge themselves and parishioners to move beyond parochialism so that we might better utilize our resources, especially our human resources.

The Unity of the Diocese: Each diocese constitutes a church, a portion of the people of God entrusted for pastoral care to its bishop. As your Bishop I have called you this year to a diocesan celebration of the year of Jubilee. This gathering on Pentecost Sunday, June 11 at the Spokane Arena, will be a privileged occasion for us to proclaim and intensify ecclesial communion as a diocese. Extensive preparations have been going on for months. I urge pastors and all the faithful to share in this moment. Cardinal Szoka, the president of Vatican City State, will represent our Holy Father.

The Pentecost liturgy will be a remarkable gathering of faith communities. The spirit of Jubilee can become all the more intense if celebrations of reconciliation precede it. Earlier this year I prepared a pastoral letter on Reconciliation. I ask that it be given careful attention. If there are relationships in your family which are estranged, they need to be made right. Parishes sometimes have long term issues of estrangement. Pastoral leaders, pastors, parish and institutional staffs need to address the issues of alienation in the workplace, which are part of the life and concrete witness of the Church. I urge parish councils to spend some time during this year asking what pain and alienation exist in the parish, and attempt to discern actions that might bring about real Jubilee.

Our Diocese is blessed with the presence of an outstanding Catholic institution of higher learning, Gonzaga University. I am proud of the collaboration in mission and ministry that the Gonzaga University community has demonstrated. I will work with the university to enhance that collaborative effort. I am thankful for the expertise that university personnel have provided to Diocesan projects. Integration of Gonzaga University into the life of the local Catholic community involves St. Aloysius Parish in which the university is sited and the role that this historic faith community can play as a “Jesuit university parish.”

The vitality of our diocese and our parish churches depends upon the practice of stewardship. By the sacrifice of our time, our talent and our treasure we give life to the Gospel in our communities. Without this stewardship, our witness is a noisy gong. I commend the generous support of the Church’s mission which we see within our parishes, our schools and our social services network. We must ask ourselves whether we have given a first and a full portion to the Lord for the works of the Gospel. I thank all who have cooperated in the four collections program of our Diocese in its first year of implementation. I ask for universal support of this effort to extend our stewardship beyond parish borders.

Ecumenism: I also speak of the good news proclaimed to the churches because ecclesial communities not in full communion with the Catholic Church participate to some degree in the one Church of Christ. Through the prophetic work of the Second Vatican Council, the door of ecumenical dialogue has been opened wide. At the present time, we refrain from destructive exclusionary language that assigns “truth” to one ecclesial tradition and “error” to the others. As your Bishop, I have dedicated the last three years as the representative of the American Bishops to the Methodist-Catholic dialogue. I have been asked and will continue for another three years. These dialogues have been difficult, yet very fruitful. You may be aware of the theological accord that has been reached by the Catholic and Lutheran Churches concerning the doctrine of justification. The direction and eventual outcome of these ecumenical dialogues are uncertain. They are the work of the Spirit, and thus not simply under the control of the human instruments who carry out this work. We listen to the Spirit and listen to one another for the voice of the Spirit. I ask your prayer for me as I am involved in this important work.

In our diocese, I have immediate concern that we support local ecumenical efforts. In many communities there are organized ecumenical activities. I encourage participation by the faithful and by pastors. A Catholic woman now chairs the Spokane Council of Ecumenical Ministries and a woman Religious serves as co-director. The bishops of our state are active and concerned with the work of the Washington Association of Churches. It is evident to me that authentic ecclesial life requires local faith communities to participate in this ecumenical dialogue. The sin of individualism, whereby one fractures the cohesiveness of common life through an attitude of arrogance and superiority, can also afflict a parochial community. Just as a parish cannot be “Catholic” and estrange itself from the diocesan community, so the Catholic Church cannot fail to acknowledge the inherent dignity of other ecclesial traditions.

Finally, the extension of the ecumenical dialogue is to be found in the inter-religious dialogues, especially with the great monotheistic traditions of Judaism and Islam. This dialogue cannot be a duel to establish superiority and rightness. In the Catholic dialogue with other Christian traditions, there may be a sense of dominance because of numerical superiority. This same feeling can affect Christians in inter-religious dialogue with Jews or Muslims, at least in the United States where Christians form the vast majority. This is why it is all the more important that we pay heed to the historic sins of Christians that the Holy Father has articulated time and again. We will then enter into dialogue with humility rather than arrogance, and seek ways of collaborating, not just points of doctrine upon which to challenge one another. The work of ecumenical dialogue is the work of the Spirit who blows where he will. But the clear indication of God’s spirit is that we purposefully heed the good news for this new century as it is proclaimed to the Churches.

The Gospel is given for the salvation of the world in the here and now. That salvation is experienced in the ministry of Jesus when “the blind recover their sight, cripples walk, lepers are cured, the deaf hear, dead men are raised to life and the poor have the good news preached to them” (Mt. 11:4ff). Individualism, parochialism, nationalism — these spirits which isolate and insulate have no place in Gospel living.

Our Catholic understanding of the role played by religion in political life has little to do with meaningless slogans such as “the church should stay out of politics.” The American religious spirit tends to equate the Christian politician with someone who announces that “Jesus is my personal Lord and Savior.” It is my hope and prayer that our Catholic community will grow in its understanding, and embrace a broader, more carefully delineated appreciation of the Gospel addressed to the global village. I urge you to acquaint yourself with the seven principles of Catholic Social thought, which the Bishops of our country have enunciated. It is an immediate concern for me that we name and commit ourselves to these seven principles, particularly in a year that will be highly charged with a presidential campaign. As a Catholic community, we hold these principles by which we judge the platforms of the candidates:

Our Principles:
1. The Life and Dignity of the Human Person: “Our belief in the sanctity of human life and the inherent dignity of the human person is the foundation of all the principles of our social teaching.”
2. Call to Family, Community, Participation: “The family is the central social institution that must be supported and strengthened, not undermined.”
3. Rights and Responsibilities: “The Catholic tradition teaches that human dignity can be protected and a healthy community can be achieved only if human rights are protected and responsibilities are met.”
4. Option for the Poor and the Vulnerable: “A basic moral test is how our most vulnerable members are faring.”
5. Dignity of Work and Rights of Workers: “Work is more than a way to make a living; it is a form of continuing participation in God’s creation.”
6. Solidarity: “We are one human family, whatever our national, racial, ethnic, economic and ideological differences.”
7. Care for God’s Creation: “We are called to protect people and the planet, living our faith in relationship with all of God’s creation.”

In Service of the Dignity of Life: On the long term, we must continue to be committed to our mission of social service to the poor and the vulnerable. This commitment must be both corporate such as the support of institutions such as our seven Catholic hospitals, Morning Star Boys Ranch, the House of Charity and St. Margaret’s Shelter and the housing complexes scattered throughout the diocese, but also very personal. We are concerned both about conscience and public policy. As an attempt is made to reduce the rhetoric about pro-life issues in our country, we must intensify a renewal of conscience formation in our personal and communal efforts to end abortion, euthanasia and capital punishment as pieces of the popular presentation of public policy.

In recent years, the expanding population in our penal system has become a piece of the scandal of the American way of life. Prisons are an expensive answer to the problems of poverty, educational failure, family disorder and racism. “I was in prison, and you visited me” (cf. Mt 25:36) is a work of mercy that calls for a more resolute commitment. While struggling for a more humane understanding of punishment in our judicial system, there is a pressing need to minister to these men and women in a way that leads them to hopeful lives outside of prison.

In Service of Justice: The global nature of community can never escape our attention. We know the privileged place we occupy because of the economic, military and political dominance of our nation. We must not kid ourselves that this is God-given. I urge parishes and school ministries to educate all about the global responsibility which we must embrace, especially the reduction of the debt of the poorest nations, liberating their economies so that they can share in the abundance of this world.

In Service of Creation: For the past year, I have chaired an effort by the Bishops of the Northwest to prepare a pastoral reflection on the Columbia River watershed. I must honestly share with you that this project has been a challenging learning experience for me. This great river is a common thread uniting diverse geographic areas, peoples, communities and industries. For this reason, it is imperative that the river be valued in light of the common good. Any proposal about the management of the river will only evoke protest, accusations and resistance unless a fundamental vision of the common good nourishes our spirit.

It is fitting that water is a primary symbol for the Holy Spirit: the power of God to unite, sustain life and cleanse; but also the power to overwhelm and destroy. One might even say that like the Spirit, the Columbia flows where it will. We can cooperate with its grace and receive it as a fountain of life; we can pridefully attempt to control it, and face the unintended consequences of our arrogance. As we begin the new century, we ride the tide of history, which has a magnificent power like the Columbia River. In faith we know that the Spirit prevails. The centurion who beheld the crucified Christ and proclaimed him as the Son of God provides the keynote for this epoch that we begin. Did he have any idea that the Crucified One was now more alive, more present, more powerful than Jesus of Nazareth had ever been? We suppose that our theological sophistication has taken us far beyond the centurion. But does it? We who have been cleansed and nourished by the water and blood from the side of Christ still only scratch the surface of the mystery. In the end, our response can be only a humble “Amen. Come, Lord Jesus” (Rev. 22:20).

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