WASHINGTON, D.C., APRIL 16, 2008
Here is the text of the address Benedict XVI gave today
to the bishops of the United States at the Basilica of
the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception. At the
end he answers three questions posed to him by the
prelates.
* * *
Dear Brother Bishops,
It gives me great joy to greet you today, at the start
of my visit to this country, and I thank Cardinal George
for the gracious words he has addressed to me on your
behalf. I want to thank all of you, especially the
Officers of the Episcopal Conference, for the hard work
that has gone into the preparation of this visit. My
grateful appreciation goes also to the staff and
volunteers of the National Shrine, who have welcomed us
here this evening. American Catholics are noted for
their loyal devotion to the see of Peter. My pastoral
visit here is an opportunity to strengthen further the
bonds of communion that unite us. We began by
celebrating Evening Prayer in this Basilica dedicated to
the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, a
shrine of special significance to American Catholics,
right in the heart of your capital city. Gathered in
prayer with Mary, Mother of Jesus, we lovingly commend
to our heavenly Father the people of God in every part
of the United States.
For the Catholic communities of Boston, New York,
Philadelphia and Louisville, this is a year of
particular celebration, as it marks the bicentenary of
the establishment of these local Churches as Dioceses. I
join you in giving thanks for the many graces granted to
the Church there during these two centuries. As this
year also marks the bicentenary of the elevation of the
founding see of Baltimore to an Archdiocese, it gives me
an opportunity to recall with admiration and gratitude
the life and ministry of John Carroll, the first Bishop
of Baltimore - a worthy leader of the Catholic community
in your newly independent nation. His tireless efforts
to spread the Gospel in the vast territory under his
care laid the foundations for the ecclesial life of your
country and enabled the Church in America to grow to
maturity. Today the Catholic community you serve is one
of the largest in the world, and one of the most
influential. How important it is, then, to let your
light so shine before your fellow citizens and before
the world, "that they may see your good works and give
glory to your Father who is in heaven" (Mt 5:16).
Many of the people to whom John Carroll and his fellow
Bishops were ministering two centuries ago had travelled
from distant lands. The diversity of their origins is
reflected in the rich variety of ecclesial life in
present-day America. Brother Bishops, I want to
encourage you and your communities to continue to
welcome the immigrants who join your ranks today, to
share their joys and hopes, to support them in their
sorrows and trials, and to help them flourish in their
new home. This, indeed, is what your fellow countrymen
have done for generations. From the beginning, they have
opened their doors to the tired, the poor, the "huddled
masses yearning to breathe free" (cf. Sonnet inscribed
on the Statue of Liberty). These are the people whom
America has made her own.
Of those who came to build a new life here, many were
able to make good use of the resources and opportunities
that they found, and to attain a high level of
prosperity. Indeed, the people of this country are known
for their great vitality and creativity. They are also
known for their generosity. After the attack on the Twin
Towers in September 2001, and again after Hurricane
Katrina in 2005, Americans displayed their readiness to
come to the aid of their brothers and sisters in need.
On the international level, the contribution made by the
people of America to relief and rescue operations after
the tsunami of December 2004 is a further illustration
of this compassion. Let me express my particular
appreciation for the many forms of humanitarian
assistance provided by American Catholics through
Catholic Charities and other agencies. Their generosity
has borne fruit in the care shown to the poor and needy,
and in the energy that has gone into building the
nationwide network of Catholic parishes, hospitals,
schools and universities. All of this gives great cause
for thanksgiving.
America is also a land of great faith. Your people are
remarkable for their religious fervor and they take
pride in belonging to a worshipping community. They have
confidence in God, and they do not hesitate to bring
moral arguments rooted in biblical faith into their
public discourse. Respect for freedom of religion is
deeply ingrained in the American consciousness - a fact
which has contributed to this country's attraction for
generations of immigrants, seeking a home where they can
worship freely in accordance with their beliefs.
In this connection, I happily acknowledge the presence
among you of Bishops from all the venerable Eastern
Churches in communion with the Successor of Peter, whom
I greet with special joy. Dear Brothers, I ask you to
assure your communities of my deep affection and my
continued prayers, both for them and for the many
brothers and sisters who remain in their land of origin.
Your presence here is a reminder of the courageous
witness to Christ of so many members of your
communities, often amid suffering, in their respective
homelands. It is also a great enrichment of the
ecclesial life of America, giving vivid expression to
the Church's catholicity and the variety of her
liturgical and spiritual traditions.
It is in this fertile soil, nourished from so many
different sources, that all of you, Brother Bishops, are
called to sow the seeds of the Gospel today. This leads
me to ask how, in the twenty-first century, a bishop can
best fulfill the call to "make all things new in Christ,
our hope"? How can he lead his people to "an encounter
with the living God", the source of that
life-transforming hope of which the Gospel speaks (cf.
Spe Salvi, 4)? Perhaps he needs to begin by clearing
away some of the barriers to such an encounter. While it
is true that this country is marked by a genuinely
religious spirit, the subtle influence of secularism can
nevertheless color the way people allow their faith to
influence their behavior. Is it consistent to profess
our beliefs in church on Sunday, and then during the
week to promote business practices or medical procedures
contrary to those beliefs? Is it consistent for
practicing Catholics to ignore or exploit the poor and
the marginalized, to promote sexual behavior contrary to
Catholic moral teaching, or to adopt positions that
contradict the right to life of every human being from
conception to natural death? Any tendency to treat
religion as a private matter must be resisted. Only when
their faith permeates every aspect of their lives do
Christians become truly open to the transforming power
of the Gospel.
For an affluent society, a further obstacle to an
encounter with the living God lies in the subtle
influence of materialism, which can all too easily focus
the attention on the hundredfold, which God promises now
in this time, at the expense of the eternal life which
he promises in the age to come (cf. Mk 10:30). People
today need to be reminded of the ultimate purpose of
their lives. They need to recognize that implanted
within them is a deep thirst for God. They need to be
given opportunities to drink from the wells of his
infinite love. It is easy to be entranced by the almost
unlimited possibilities that science and technology
place before us; it is easy to make the mistake of
thinking we can obtain by our own efforts the
fulfillment of our deepest needs. This is an illusion.
Without God, who alone bestows upon us what we by
ourselves cannot attain (cf. Spe Salvi, 31), our lives
are ultimately empty. People need to be constantly
reminded to cultivate a relationship with him who came
that we might have life in abundance (cf. Jn 10:10). The
goal of all our pastoral and catechetical work, the
object of our preaching, and the focus of our
sacramental ministry should be to help people establish
and nurture that living relationship with "Christ Jesus,
our hope" (1 Tim 1:1).
In a society which values personal freedom and autonomy,
it is easy to lose sight of our dependence on others as
well as the responsibilities that we bear towards them.
This emphasis on individualism has even affected the
Church (cf. Spe Salvi, 13-15), giving rise to a form of
piety which sometimes emphasizes our private
relationship with God at the expense of our calling to
be members of a redeemed community. Yet from the
beginning, God saw that "it is not good for man to be
alone" (Gen 2:18). We were created as social beings who
find fulfillment only in love - for God and for our
neighbor. If we are truly to gaze upon him who is the
source of our joy, we need to do so as members of the
people of God (cf. Spe Salvi, 14). If this seems
counter-cultural, that is simply further evidence of the
urgent need for a renewed evangelization of culture.
Here in America, you are blessed with a Catholic laity
of considerable cultural diversity, who place their
wide-ranging gifts at the service of the Church and of
society at large. They look to you to offer them
encouragement, leadership and direction. In an age that
is saturated with information, the importance of
providing sound formation in the faith cannot be
overstated. American Catholics have traditionally placed
a high value on religious education, both in schools and
in the context of adult formation programs. These need
to be maintained and expanded. The many generous men and
women who devote themselves to charitable activity need
to be helped to renew their dedication through a
"formation of the heart": an "encounter with God in
Christ which awakens their love and opens their spirits
to others" (Deus Caritas Est, 31). At a time when
advances in medical science bring new hope to many, they
also give rise to previously unimagined ethical
challenges. This makes it more important than ever to
offer thorough formation in the Church's moral teaching
to Catholics engaged in health care. Wise guidance is
needed in all these apostolates, so that they may bear
abundant fruit; if they are truly to promote the
integral good of the human person, they too need to be
made new in Christ our hope.
As preachers of the Gospel and leaders of the Catholic
community, you are also called to participate in the
exchange of ideas in the public square, helping to shape
cultural attitudes. In a context where free speech is
valued, and where vigorous and honest debate is
encouraged, yours is a respected voice that has much to
offer to the discussion of the pressing social and moral
questions of the day. By ensuring that the Gospel is
clearly heard, you not only form the people of your own
community, but in view of the global reach of mass
communication, you help to spread the message of
Christian hope throughout the world.
Clearly, the Church's influence on public debate takes
place on many different levels. In the United States, as
elsewhere, there is much current and proposed
legislation that gives cause for concern from the point
of view of morality, and the Catholic community, under
your guidance, needs to offer a clear and united witness
on such matters. Even more important, though, is the
gradual opening of the minds and hearts of the wider
community to moral truth. Here much remains to be done.
Crucial in this regard is the role of the lay faithful
to act as a "leaven" in society. Yet it cannot be
assumed that all Catholic citizens think in harmony with
the Church's teaching on today's key ethical questions.
Once again, it falls to you to ensure that the moral
formation provided at every level of ecclesial life
reflects the authentic teaching of the Gospel of life.
In this regard, a matter of deep concern to us all is
the state of the family within society. Indeed, Cardinal
George mentioned earlier that you have included the
strengthening of marriage and family life among the
priorities for your attention over the next few years.
In this year's World Day of Peace Message I spoke of the
essential contribution that healthy family life makes to
peace within and between nations. In the family home we
experience "some of the fundamental elements of peace:
justice and love between brothers and sisters, the role
of authority expressed by parents, loving concern for
the members who are weaker because of youth, sickness or
old age, mutual help in the necessities of life,
readiness to accept others and, if necessary, to forgive
them" (no. 3). The family is also the primary place for
evangelization, for passing on the faith, for helping
young people to appreciate the importance of religious
practice and Sunday observance. How can we not be
dismayed as we observe the sharp decline of the family
as a basic element of Church and society? Divorce and
infidelity have increased, and many young men and women
are choosing to postpone marriage or to forego it
altogether. To some young Catholics, the sacramental
bond of marriage seems scarcely distinguishable from a
civil bond, or even a purely informal and open-ended
arrangement to live with another person. Hence we have
an alarming decrease in the number of Catholic marriages
in the United States together with an increase in
cohabitation, in which the Christ-like mutual
self-giving of spouses, sealed by a public promise to
live out the demands of an indissoluble lifelong
commitment, is simply absent. In such circumstances,
children are denied the secure environment that they
need in order truly to flourish as human beings, and
society is denied the stable building blocks which it
requires if the cohesion and moral focus of the
community are to be maintained.
As my predecessor, Pope John Paul II taught, "The person
principally responsible in the Diocese for the pastoral
care of the family is the Bishop ... he must devote to
it personal interest, care, time, personnel and
resources, but above all personal support for the
families and for all those who … assist him in the
pastoral care of the family" (Familiaris Consortio, 73).
It is your task to proclaim boldly the arguments from
faith and reason in favor of the institution of
marriage, understood as a lifelong commitment between a
man and a woman, open to the transmission of life. This
message should resonate with people today, because it is
essentially an unconditional and unreserved "yes" to
life, a "yes" to love, and a "yes" to the aspirations at
the heart of our common humanity, as we strive to
fulfill our deep yearning for intimacy with others and
with the Lord.
Among the countersigns to the Gospel of life found in
America and elsewhere is one that causes deep shame: the
sexual abuse of minors. Many of you have spoken to me of
the enormous pain that your communities have suffered
when clerics have betrayed their priestly obligations
and duties by such gravely immoral behavior. As you
strive to eliminate this evil wherever it occurs, you
may be assured of the prayerful support of God's people
throughout the world. Rightly, you attach priority to
showing compassion and care to the victims. It is your
God-given responsibility as pastors to bind up the
wounds caused by every breach of trust, to foster
healing, to promote reconciliation and to reach out with
loving concern to those so seriously wronged.
Responding to this situation has not been easy and, as
the President of your Episcopal Conference has
indicated, it was "sometimes very badly handled". Now
that the scale and gravity of the problem is more
clearly understood, you have been able to adopt more
focused remedial and disciplinary measures and to
promote a safe environment that gives greater protection
to young people. While it must be remembered that the
overwhelming majority of clergy and religious in America
do outstanding work in bringing the liberating message
of the Gospel to the people entrusted to their care, it
is vitally important that the vulnerable always be
shielded from those who would cause harm. In this
regard, your efforts to heal and protect are bearing
great fruit not only for those directly under your
pastoral care, but for all of society.
If they are to achieve their full purpose, however, the
policies and programs you have adopted need to be placed
in a wider context. Children deserve to grow up with a
healthy understanding of sexuality and its proper place
in human relationships. They should be spared the
degrading manifestations and the crude manipulation of
sexuality so prevalent today. They have a right to be
educated in authentic moral values rooted in the dignity
of the human person. This brings us back to our
consideration of the centrality of the family and the
need to promote the Gospel of life. What does it mean to
speak of child protection when pornography and violence
can be viewed in so many homes through media widely
available today? We need to reassess urgently the values
underpinning society, so that a sound moral formation
can be offered to young people and adults alike. All
have a part to play in this task - not only parents,
religious leaders, teachers and catechists, but the
media and entertainment industries as well. Indeed,
every member of society can contribute to this moral
renewal and benefit from it. Truly caring about young
people and the future of our civilization means
recognizing our responsibility to promote and live by
the authentic moral values which alone enable the human
person to flourish. It falls to you, as pastors modelled
upon Christ, the Good Shepherd, to proclaim this message
loud and clear, and thus to address the sin of abuse
within the wider context of sexual mores. Moreover, by
acknowledging and confronting the problem when it occurs
in an ecclesial setting, you can give a lead to others,
since this scourge is found not only within your
Dioceses, but in every sector of society. It calls for a
determined, collective response.
Priests, too, need your guidance and closeness during
this difficult time. They have experienced shame over
what has occurred, and there are those who feel they
have lost some of the trust and esteem they once
enjoyed. Not a few are experiencing a closeness to
Christ in his Passion as they struggle to come to terms
with the consequences of the crisis. The Bishop, as
father, brother and friend of his priests, can help them
to draw spiritual fruit from this union with Christ by
making them aware of the Lord's consoling presence in
the midst of their suffering, and by encouraging them to
walk with the Lord along the path of hope (cf. Spe Salvi,
39). As Pope John Paul II observed six years ago, "we
must be confident that this time of trial will bring a
purification of the entire Catholic community", leading
to "a holier priesthood, a holier episcopate and a
holier Church" (Address to the Cardinals of the United
States, 23 April 2002, 4). There are many signs that,
during the intervening period, such purification has
indeed been taking place. Christ's abiding presence in
the midst of our suffering is gradually transforming our
darkness into light: all things are indeed being made
new in Christ Jesus our hope.
At this stage a vital part of your task is to strengthen
relationships with your clergy, especially in those
cases where tension has arisen between priests and their
bishops in the wake of the crisis. It is important that
you continue to show them your concern, to support them,
and to lead by example. In this way you will surely help
them to encounter the living God, and point them towards
the life-transforming hope of which the Gospel speaks.
If you yourselves live in a manner closely configured to
Christ, the Good Shepherd, who laid down his life for
his sheep, you will inspire your brother priests to
rededicate themselves to the service of their flocks
with Christ-like generosity. Indeed a clearer focus upon
the imitation of Christ in holiness of life is exactly
what is needed in order for us to move forward. We need
to rediscover the joy of living a Christ-centred life,
cultivating the virtues, and immersing ourselves in
prayer. When the faithful know that their pastor is a
man who prays and who dedicates his life to serving
them, they respond with warmth and affection which
nourishes and sustains the life of the whole community.
Time spent in prayer is never wasted, however urgent the
duties that press upon us from every side. Adoration of
Christ our Lord in the Blessed Sacrament prolongs and
intensifies the union with him that is established
through the Eucharistic celebration (cf. Sacramentum
Caritatis, 66). Contemplation of the mysteries of the
Rosary releases all their saving power and it conforms,
unites and consecrates us to Jesus Christ (cf. Rosarium
Virginis Mariae, 11, 15). Fidelity to the Liturgy of the
Hours ensures that the whole of our day is sanctified
and it continually reminds us of the need to remain
focused on doing God's work, however many pressures and
distractions may arise from the task at hand. Thus our
devotion helps us to speak and act in persona Christi,
to teach, govern and sanctify the faithful in the name
of Jesus, to bring his reconciliation, his healing and
his love to all his beloved brothers and sisters. This
radical configuration to Christ, the Good Shepherd, lies
at the heart of our pastoral ministry, and if we open
ourselves through prayer to the power of the Spirit, he
will give us the gifts we need to carry out our daunting
task, so that we need never "be anxious how to speak or
what to say" (Mt 10:19).
As I conclude my words to you this evening, I commend
the Church in your country most particularly to the
maternal care and intercession of Mary Immaculate,
Patroness of the United States. May she who carried
within her womb the hope of all the nations intercede
for the people of this country, so that all may be made
new in Jesus Christ her Son. My dear Brother Bishops, I
assure each of you here present of my deep friendship
and my participation in your pastoral concerns. To all
of you, and to your clergy, religious and lay faithful,
I cordially impart my Apostolic Blessing as a pledge of
joy and peace in the Risen Lord.
* * *
1. The Holy Father is asked to give his assessment of
the challenge of increasing secularism in public life
and relativism in intellectual life, and his advice on
how to confront these challenges pastorally and
evangelize more effectively.
I touched upon this theme briefly in my address. It
strikes me as significant that here in America, unlike
many places in Europe, the secular mentality has not
been intrinsically opposed to religion. Within the
context of the separation of Church and State, American
society has always been marked by a fundamental respect
for religion and its public role, and, if polls are to
be believed, the American people are deeply religious.
But it is not enough to count on this traditional
religiosity and go about business as usual, even as its
foundations are being slowly undermined. A serious
commitment to evangelization cannot prescind from a
profound diagnosis of the real challenges the Gospel
encounters in contemporary American culture.
Of course, what is essential is a correct understanding
of the just autonomy of the secular order, an autonomy
which cannot be divorced from God the Creator and his
saving plan (cf. Gaudium et Spes, 36). Perhaps America's
brand of secularism poses a particular problem: it
allows for professing belief in God, and respects the
public role of religion and the Churches, but at the
same time it can subtly reduce religious belief to a
lowest common denominator. Faith becomes a passive
acceptance that certain things "out there" are true, but
without practical relevance for everyday life. The
result is a growing separation of faith from life:
living "as if God did not exist". This is aggravated by
an individualistic and eclectic approach to faith and
religion: far from a Catholic approach to "thinking with
the Church", each person believes he or she has a right
to pick and choose, maintaining external social bonds
but without an integral, interior conversion to the law
of Christ. Consequently, rather than being transformed
and renewed in mind, Christians are easily tempted to
conform themselves to the spirit of this age (cf. Rom
12:3). We have seen this emerge in an acute way in the
scandal given by Catholics who promote an alleged right
to abortion.
On a deeper level, secularism challenges the Church to
reaffirm and to pursue more actively her mission in and
to the world. As the Council made clear, the lay
faithful have a particular responsibility in this
regard. What is needed, I am convinced, is a greater
sense of the intrinsic relationship between the Gospel
and the natural law on the one hand, and, on the other,
the pursuit of authentic human good, as embodied in
civil law and in personal moral decisions. In a society
that rightly values personal liberty, the Church needs
to promote at every level of her teaching - in
catechesis, preaching, seminary and university
instruction - an apologetics aimed at affirming the
truth of Christian revelation, the harmony of faith and
reason, and a sound understanding of freedom, seen in
positive terms as a liberation both from the limitations
of sin and for an authentic and fulfilling life. In a
word, the Gospel has to be preached and taught as an
integral way of life, offering an attractive and true
answer, intellectually and practically, to real human
problems. The "dictatorship of relativism", in the end,
is nothing less than a threat to genuine human freedom,
which only matures in generosity and fidelity to the
truth.
Much more, of course, could be said on this subject: let
me conclude, though, by saying that I believe that the
Church in America, at this point in her history, is
faced with the challenge of recapturing the Catholic
vision of reality and presenting it, in an engaging and
imaginative way, to a society which markets any number
of recipes for human fulfillment. I think in particular
of our need to speak to the hearts of young people, who,
despite their constant exposure to messages contrary to
the Gospel, continue to thirst for authenticity,
goodness and truth. Much remains to be done,
particularly on the level of preaching and catechesis in
parishes and schools, if the new evangelization is to
bear fruit for the renewal of ecclesial life in America.
2. The Holy Father is asked about "a certain quiet
attrition" by which Catholics are abandoning the
practice of the faith, sometimes by an explicit
decision, but often by distancing themselves quietly and
gradually from attendance at Mass and identification
with the Church.
Certainly, much of this has to do with the passing away
of a religious culture, sometimes disparagingly referred
to as a "ghetto", which reinforced participation and
identification with the Church. As I just mentioned, one
of the great challenges facing the Church in this
country is that of cultivating a Catholic identity which
is based not so much on externals as on a way of
thinking and acting grounded in the Gospel and enriched
by the Church's living tradition.
The issue clearly involves factors such as religious
individualism and scandal. Let us go to the heart of the
matter: faith cannot survive unless it is nourished,
unless it is "formed by charity" (cf. Gal 5:6). Do
people today find it difficult to encounter God in our
Churches? Has our preaching lost its salt? Might it be
that many people have forgotten, or never really
learned, how to pray in and with the Church?
Here I am not speaking of people who leave the Church in
search of subjective religious "experiences"; this is a
pastoral issue which must be addressed on its own terms.
I think we are speaking about people who have fallen by
the wayside without consciously having rejected their
faith in Christ, but, for whatever reason, have not
drawn life from the liturgy, the sacraments, preaching.
Yet Christian faith, as we know, is essentially
ecclesial, and without a living bond to the community,
the individual's faith will never grow to maturity.
Indeed, to return to the question I just discussed, the
result can be a quiet apostasy.
So let me make two brief observations on the problem of
"attrition", which I hope will stimulate further
reflection.
First, as you know, it is becoming more and more
difficult, in our Western societies, to speak in a
meaningful way of "salvation". Yet salvation -
deliverance from the reality of evil, and the gift of
new life and freedom in Christ - is at the heart of the
Gospel. We need to discover, as I have suggested, new
and engaging ways of proclaiming this message and
awakening a thirst for the fulfillment which only Christ
can bring. It is in the Church's liturgy, and above all
in the sacrament of the Eucharist, that these realities
are most powerfully expressed and lived in the life of
believers; perhaps we still have much to do in realizing
the Council's vision of the liturgy as the exercise of
the common priesthood and the impetus for a fruitful
apostolate in the world.
Second, we need to acknowledge with concern the almost
complete eclipse of an eschatological sense in many of
our traditionally Christian societies. As you know, I
have pointed to this problem in the Encyclical Spe Salvi.
Suffice it to say that faith and hope are not limited to
this world: as theological virtues, they unite us with
the Lord and draw us toward the fulfillment not only of
our personal destiny but also that of all creation.
Faith and hope are the inspiration and basis of our
efforts to prepare for the coming of the Kingdom of God.
In Christianity, there can be no room for purely private
religion: Christ is the Savior of the world, and, as
members of his Body and sharers in his prophetic,
priestly and royal munera, we cannot separate our love
for him from our commitment to the building up of the
Church and the extension of his Kingdom. To the extent
that religion becomes a purely private affair, it loses
its very soul.
Let me conclude by stating the obvious. The fields are
still ripe for harvesting (cf. Jn 4:35); God continues
to give the growth (cf. 1 Cor 3:6). We can and must
believe, with the late Pope John Paul II, that God is
preparing a new springtime for Christianity (cf.
Redemptoris Missio, 86). What is needed above all, at
this time in the history of the Church in America, is a
renewal of that apostolic zeal which inspires her
shepherds actively to seek out the lost, to bind up
those who have been wounded, and to bring strength to
those who are languishing (cf. Ez 34:16). And this, as I
have said, calls for new ways of thinking based on a
sound diagnosis of today's challenges and a commitment
to unity in the service of the Church's mission to the
present generation.
3. The Holy Father is asked to comment on the decline in
vocations despite the growing numbers of the Catholic
population, and on the reasons for hope offered by the
personal qualities and the thirst for holiness which
characterize the candidates who do come forward.
Let us be quite frank: the ability to cultivate
vocations to the priesthood and the religious life is a
sure sign of the health of a local Church. There is no
room for complacency in this regard. God continues to
call young people; it is up to all of us to to encourage
a generous and free response to that call. On the other
hand, none of us can take this grace for granted.
In the Gospel, Jesus tells us to pray that the Lord of
the harvest will send workers. He even admits that the
workers are few in comparison with the abundance of the
harvest (cf. Mt 9:37-38). Strange to say, I often think
that prayer - the unum necessarium - is the one aspect
of vocations work which we tend to forget or to
undervalue!
Nor am I speaking only of prayer for vocations. Prayer
itself, born in Catholic families, nurtured by programs
of Christian formation, strengthened by the grace of the
sacraments, is the first means by which we come to know
the Lord's will for our lives. To the extent that we
teach young people to pray, and to pray well, we will be
cooperating with God's call. Programs, plans and
projects have their place; but the discernment of a
vocation is above all the fruit of an intimate dialogue
between the Lord and his disciples. Young people, if
they know how to pray, can be trusted to know what to do
with God's call.
It has been noted that there is a growing thirst for
holiness in many young people today, and that, although
fewer in number, those who come forward show great
idealism and much promise. It is important to listen to
them, to understand their experiences, and to encourage
them to help their peers to see the need for committed
priests and religious, as well as the beauty of a life
of sacrificial service to the Lord and his Church. To my
mind, much is demanded of vocation directors and
formators: candidates today, as much as ever, need to be
given a sound intellectual and human formation which
will enable them not only to respond to the real
questions and needs of their contemporaries, but also to
mature in their own conversion and to persevere in
life-long commitment to their vocation. As Bishops, you
are conscious of the sacrifice demanded when you are
asked to release one of your finest priests for seminary
work. I urge you to respond with generosity, for the
good of the whole Church.
Finally, I think you know from experience that most of
your brother priests are happy in their vocation. What I
said in my address about the importance of unity and
cooperation within the presbyterate applies here too.
There is a need for all of us to move beyond sterile
divisions, disagreements and preconceptions, and to
listen together to the voice of the Spirit who is
guiding the Church into a future of hope. Each of us
knows how important priestly fraternity has been in our
lives. That fraternity is not only a precious
possession, but also an immense resource for the renewal
of the priesthood and the raising up of new vocations. I
would close by encouraging you to foster opportunities
for ever greater dialogue and fraternal encounter among
your priests, and especially the younger priests. I am
convinced that this will bear great fruit for their own
enrichment, for the increase of their love for the
priesthood and the Church, and for the effectiveness of
their apostolate.
Dear Brother Bishops. with these few observations, I
once more encourage all of you in your ministry to the
faithful entrusted to your pastoral care, and I commend
you to the loving intercession of Mary Immaculate,
Mother of the Church.
* * *
Before leaving, I would like to pause to acknowledge the
immense suffering endured by the people of God in the
Archdiocese of New Orleans as a result of Hurricane
Katrina, as well as their courage in the challenging
work of rebuilding. I would like to present Archbishop
Alfred Hughes with a chalice, which I hope will be
accepted as a sign of my prayerful solidarity with the
faithful of the Archdiocese, and my personal gratitude
for the tireless devotion which he and Archbishops
Philip Hannan and Francis Schulte showed toward the
flock entrusted to their care.
© Copyright 2008 -- Libreria Editrice Vaticana
Pope Benedict XVI's Address to US
Bishops
"The People of This Country Are Known for Their Great Vitality and Creativity"