What a joy and privilege it is for me to serve the Catholic
Church in the Archdiocese of New Orleans. Your warm welcome,
cooperative spirit, vitality of faith and commitment to the mission
of the Church have touched me deeply. Thank you for greeting
me in this way.
In this presentation, I propose to make general comments about
the archdiocese. They are intended to invite your suggestions
and stimulate your reflection as we initiate this effort in strategic
planning for the archdiocese. Please help in refining and
enhancing these impressions as we move forward to develop concrete
goals and objectives for the next three to five years.
I
General Reflections
on the Experience of the First Year
Most of you are aware that I have visited every parish in the
archdiocese, each of the Catholic high schools and a number of
the pastoral and social efforts in place throughout the archdiocese.
They have certainly provided an opportunity for me to come to
know and to develop an initial bond with the good people of the
archdiocese. Because the parish visits have primarily consisted
simply of celebrating Mass and a reception, they have not provided
the opportunity for an in-depth understanding of the parish life
and ministry. But I am convinced from my experience that
each parish has its own personality. That personality seems
to be shaped by its history, the composition of parish membership
and the quality of leadership offered by the pastor. I wish
that my brother priests could appreciate as I do the significant
ways in which they impact the life and vitality of our parishes.
Catholic Life 2000 was a significant archdiocesan-wide planning
effort focused on our parishes. It has provided us with
a blueprint as we continue to make decisions about the vitality
of parishes and the best missioning of priests. An annual
updating of this in each Deanery will allow us to continue to
benefit by the wisdom and work reflected in the final report.
The New Orleans Archdiocese has a unique history. Unlike
so many other dioceses throughout the United States, Catholics
came and established the culture which emerged after interaction
with the Native Americans. Catholics were involved in the
explicit evangelization of the American Indian. The Catholic
faith and way of life has always been evident in the public square.
Many cultural practices and traditions can be traced to the early
Catholic missionaries and settlers.
The vitality of Black Catholicism has struck me powerfully.
Black Catholics have deep roots in faith. They have internalized
their Catholic faith in a truly remarkable way. Their worship
engages body, soul and spirit. They have also contributed
many significant leaders to the wider community.
Undoubtedly, the greatest pastoral challenge I have personally
encountered and we as a Church have had to face during this past
year has been the revelations about clergy sexual misconduct with
minors and the inadequacies of the handling of these incidents
by some bishops or Church officials. It has been important
for us not to be afraid to name this abuse of minors as sin and
crime. We have had to call the perpetrators to account and
repentance. We have also tried to offer help to victims
and to families. We are trying to do all that we can to
introduce policies and practices that truly protect our young
people. As I have done publicly in the past, I again apologize
in my own name and in the name of the Church for all the harm
that has been done. I hope that you find reassuring that
the archdiocese has a new revised policy in place which takes
seriously any allegations made about clergy sexual misconduct
with minors. Our policy spells out the concrete ways in
which we will respond to those who have been harmed and also respect
the rights of the accused. Obviously, we are committed to
fulfill completely all that civil law requires of us. In
the pastoral letter which I wrote to the people of the archdiocese
in May, I chose the title: For Those Who Love God, All Things
Turn to Good. I believe that it is very important that
we approach the darkness of scandal with Easter faith and hope.
Where there is sin, grace abounds the more. It is ours now
to cooperate with God's grace.
The present needs of the poor in the archdiocese have had a
strong impact upon me. I rejoice in the way in which the
Catholic Church has been reaching out to offer food to the hungry,
clothing to those who have little to cover their bodies, shelter
for the homeless, companionship and pastoral care for those who
are sick or in prison. This outreach has been uninterrupted
since the arrival and first efforts of the Ursuline Sisters in
1727.
II
Pastoral Challenges
Education
Few in our community will hesitate to identify the most pressing
need in our community to be education. We need a strong
commitment to Catholic school education.
The
time has come for us to be innovative about offering quality education
to our young people. This is the moment to press forward
with parental choice in education. Catholic schools have
consistently made a remarkable contribution in the education and
formation, not only of young Catholics but also others who wish
to benefit by the academic quality and religious formation offered
in our schools. As we offer ourselves as partners in this
effort, we also embrace the challenge of assuring the quality
of our Catholic schools and the fulfillment of their mission.
In our own age there is a particular challenge to assure that
those in high school are receiving a quality Catholic religious
education. This is particularly true of those who are not
enrolled in our Catholic schools. I have asked our Office
of Religious Education and Office of Youth Ministry to work together
in assuring that each parish offers an effective and holistic
adolescent catechesis to our high school young people attending
public schools.
Because a generation of young adults has not had the same opportunity
that other adults have had in the past, we need to expand
efforts similar to the Theology on Tap outreach to assist young
adults to know, love and practice their faith and exercise the
role as good parents of the faith for their children.
In this connection, we need to do everything we can to help
prepare couples appropriately for marriage and to strengthen both
marriage and family life.
Liturgy
Although practice varies from parish to parish, in general the
archdiocese has followed effectively the direction that the Church
has given to us since the Second Vatican Council in the reform
of our liturgical rites. The challenge that still lies before
us is to appreciate the interior mysteries that are celebrated
in these rites. As members of the Latin Catholic Church,
we use the term sacrament. Members of the Eastern Churches
refer to these same realities as mysteries. We continue
to experience a need to celebrate these sacramental mysteries
in such a way that awe, reverence and interior participation are
encouraged within the entire congregation. We also need
to recognize that there are significant numbers of young adults
who are no longer regular participants in the Sunday Eucharist.
This poses a very significant pastoral challenge. Similarly,
the engagement of young adults in their sacramental preparation
for marriage and the sacramental preparation of their children
should call forth from within priests extraordinary effort and
pastoral care.
Outreach
to the Needy
The historical outreach to the needy in this archdiocese is
truly extraordinary. The needs are great, the resources
limited. It will be important for us to assess the needs
as accurately as possible, to examine our own present efforts,
and then to propose initiatives that respect our resources and
capabilities but enable us to do the most good with what God has
given to us. In this regard, I consider the recent combination
of Catholic Charities with the Social Apostolate to provide a
firm foundation for these efforts.
Many have not yet become acquainted with the social teaching
of the Church. It will be important to help the faithful
to understand it and to live it not only as it touches individuals
in need, but also impacts social structures.
The Encouragement
of Priests
From the beginning of my episcopal ministry in this archdiocese
I have tried to express in word and deed that pastoral care and
fraternal outreach to my brother priests is my very first priority.
Our priests have suffered greatly during the last year and a half.
Sadness and shame have touched us to the core. Yet you know
as well as I the truly remarkable priestly life and ministry offered
by countless numbers of priests, past and present, in service
to this archdiocese. The most important antidote to scandal
is holiness of life. How important it is going to be for
us to continue to offer quality continuing educational and formational
programs to assist our priests in rising to the level of virtue
God calls us to live.
It is going to be important to give focused and persistent attention
to the encouragement and cultivation of vocations to the priesthood.
The present climate makes it even more important to extend personal
invitations to those who seem like potentially good candidates
and to encourage those who are exploring the call.
It will also be incumbent upon us to find the best way to offer
assistance to priests so that they may still exercise the overall
responsibility of pastoring but focus in an ever more fruitful
way on those areas of priestly ministry that are unique to them
alone. This will mean the special preparation of deacons,
religious and lay people who may be able to relieve pastors of
some administrative details in our parishes.
The restoration of the permanent diaconate has been a great
grace in this archdiocese. We will need to expand this area
of ministerial service so that this gift can continue to bear
fruit.
Religious now serve in a wide variety of ministries and services.
One of our challenges will be to assist them in attracting new
vocations in service to the Church.
Finances
The wonderful spiritual, educational, pastoral and social efforts
of the archdiocese require significant funding. A number
of the institutions that have been serving for years are now in
need of significant capital funding for projects. A weak
economy and a diminished return on investments have also impacted
the financing of our pastoral efforts. We have been operating
on a deficit budget for a few years.
In September 2001 Archbishop Schulte, with my concurrence, appointed
a committee to study stewardship and development in the archdiocese.
They were to review the present sources of revenue and the ways
in which we secure funds, explore new ways to access funds in
a more pastoral and efficient manner, and propose concrete methods
to improve stewardship and development at the archdiocesan and
parochial levels. The task force has recommended that we
approach this in a truly spiritual way with prayer as the foundation
of our efforts. They have urged the formation of a committee
to review the formula for "parish share" assessments,
the archdiocesan second collections, and the possibility
of an annual appeal. They rightly recognize the importance
of organizing and developing a multi-level stewardship education
program. Obviously, these multiple efforts will demand appropriate
personnel.
III
Evangelization
It seems to me that underlying each of these pastoral challenges
is the issue of evangelization. We need a renewed sense
of what it truly means to be Catholic. We need together
to live our lives in such a way that they would not make sense
except for our faith.
The spirit of evangelization will enliven our Catholic schools.
For Catholic schools, school spirit is not secular. It is
a lively embrace of our Catholic identity and mission. This
will also enable us to have an impact on the wider community as
we bring that spirit to those who come to us. Once religious
education is experienced by our adolescents and young adults as
a significant moment in their evangelization, they too will be encouraged
to evangelize others. Some will be attracted to a religious
vocation.
The evangelizing spirit will enliven our liturgies. Engaging
homilies will touch the heart. The prayerful, dignified celebration
of the sacraments will touch people interiorly.
When evangelization motivates our outreach to the needy, we not
only respond to bodily needs, but we are able to touch the soul
as well. Many will be drawn to the faith by the experience
of social outreach truly enlivened by the kind of evangelizing love
that marked the life of Mother Teresa of Calcutta.
There is nothing that will renew the priesthood more than enkindling
the fire of an evangelizing mind and heart by stirring the grace
of ordination. This will inspire the faithful. It will
inspire priests themselves. It will also attract those whom
God may be calling.
I am convinced that we will not have to be concerned about finances
if we are able to break open the message of stewardship in a way
that is truly in keeping with the Gospel message. Those who
take their faith seriously are the most generous supporters of the
Church.
May I then identify the enkindling of the evangelizing spirit
as an overarching concern for the Archdiocese of New Orleans.
IV
Concluding Invitation
I present these reflections, not as a definitive report, but as
a stimulus for reflection in the archdiocese. Now is the time
to establish priorities for the next five years. I need to
hear from you so that together we can develop goals and strategies
for realizing them.
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