April
2008
A
Shepherd’s Care
May Pope Benedict inspire us with ‘a new springtime’
My brothers and sisters in Christ,
In the Liturgy of the Word his past Sunday, April 13, we listened to
a reading from an early sermon of Peter from the Acts of the Apostles:
Then Peter stood up with the Eleven, raised his voice, and proclaimed: “...
know for certain that God has made both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom
you crucified. ... Repent and be baptized, every one of you, in the name
of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive
the gift of the Holy Spirit. For the promise is made to you and to your
children and to all those far off, whomever the Lord our God will call.” (2:14a,
36-41)
Those fiery words of Saint Peter help us realize the significance of
what Jesus had done much earlier at Caesarea Philippi:
He asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man
is?” They replied, “Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah,
still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But
who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter said in reply, “you
are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” Jesus said to him
in reply, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah. For flesh and blood
has not revealed this to you, but my heavenly Father. And so I say to
you, you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church, and the
gates of the netherworld shall not prevail against it. I will give you
the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth shall be
bound in heaven; and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” (Matthew
16: 13-19)
With Jesus’ words to Peter ringing in our ears, it is our joy in
these days to welcome to our country the successor of the fisherman Peter,
our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. As Bishop of Rome and Vicar of Christ,
he is the “visible source and foundation of the unity both of the
bishops and of the whole company of the faithful.” (Lumen Gentium
# 23)
The theme of the Holy Father’s visit to us is “Christ, Our
Hope.” His latest encyclical as Holy Father in 2007 was on Christian
hope:
“
... the Gospel is not merely a communication of things that can be known — it
is one that makes things happen and is life-changing. The dark door of
time, of the future, has been thrown open. The one who has hope lives
differently; the one who hopes has been granted the gift of a new life.” (Spe
Salvi, # 2) Since his arrival Tuesday, the Holy Father has been in Washington,
D.C., the nation’s capitol. He met with President Bush, gathered
with and addressed the bishops of the United States, spoke to educators
from all the dioceses and Catholic colleges and universities of our country
and dialogued with religious leaders of other faiths. In New York, Pope
Benedict will speak to the General Assembly of the United Nations, meet
and pray with young people, priests, religious and seminarians, pray
with the Jewish community, and visit Ground Zero. In both cities huge
open-air celebrations of the Eucharist will afford thousands the opportunity
to gather with our Holy Father around the Table of God’s Word and
the Table of the Holy Eucharist.
However we are able to connect with the many events of his visit here,
the pastoral presence and teaching of Pope Benedict XVI to our country
is a tremendous gift and grace for all of us. May his time with us and
his words inspire in us a “new youthfulness, a new springtime” for
our Diocese of Saint Cloud and for the Church throughout the United States!
+John F. Kinney
Bishop of Saint Cloud
March 2008
A
Shepherd’s Care
Leave the gloomy tomb of sin, live in Christ
During
this Lent we have been praying with the Church to God: “....we
are joyful in your Word, your Son Jesus Christ, who reconciles us to
you.” (Fourth Sunday Opening Prayer) Would that these are not just
words you and I say during the Liturgy but faith convictions deep within
our hearts.
Jesus seeks to fill us with joy and reconciliation. The Sunday Gospels
this Lent have helped us realize the joy Jesus offers to us. Imagine
the joy Peter, James and John must have felt seeing Jesus shining, glorified
and transfigured on the mountaintop. Grasp the wonderment of the Samaritan
woman as she encountered Jesus who quenched her thirst at the well. Plumb
the depths of the healing of the blind man as Jesus mudded his eyes and
gave him for the first time sight and light. Fathom the feelings of relief
of Martha and Mary as Jesus gave life to the dead Lazarus.
Jesus gives joy, wonderment, healing and forgiving reconciliation in
our lives as well. The Paschal Mystery enables us to live a new life
in Christ. The death and resurrection of Jesus and the outpouring of
the Holy Spirit give us the opportunity to become a new creation through
living the Gospel and the sacraments in the Church. We thank Christ for
new life in the waters of Baptism, for the Spirit’s opening of
our eyes in Confirmation to witness to Christ our light and for allowing
us glimpses of the glory of the risen Christ at the Sunday Eucharist.
Life in Christ allows us to leave our gloomy, dismal tombs of sin and
death. What the people in the Sunday Gospels experienced in the distant
past, you and I are able to live day in and day out in our faith life
in the Church.
This Easter offers us the great opportunity again to pledge “yes” to
the Risen Christ in living our baptismal promises, promises the catechumens
make the first time this Easter Vigil. We welcome them and the Candidates
entering Full Communion and we rejoice with them.
The Lenten Collect quoted at the beginning of this column ends with the
words: “Let us hasten toward Easter with the eagerness of faith
and love.”
I pray we are excited, enthused and filled with joy as we hurry to Easter.
I hope we are always thrilled to share in the new life of Jesus Christ.
What a joy to join with those first disciples in proclaiming, “We
have seen the Lord.”
Bishop Alphonse Sowada joins me in wishing you the peace of the Risen
Christ this Easter.
+John F. Kinney
Bishop of Saint Cloud
February
5, 2008
A
Shepherd’s Care
My Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
With Ash Wednesday we begin the season of Lent. Ashes from last year’s
burnt palms are placed on our foreheads with the words, “Turn
away from sin and be faithful to the Gospel.” Those words echo
what Jesus proclaimed at the very beginning of his public ministry, “Repent
and believe in the Gospel.” (Mark 1:15)
Lent is rather like an annual retreat to help us prepare for the coming
great feast, the Easter Triduum. During Lent Christ touches us individually.
Jesus asks us to change, to repent and transform our lives more deeply
to live his Gospel.
Turning away from sin is a challenge for us. It is difficult to admit
that we are not fully living the Gospel of Jesus as we promised at
Baptism. But Lent is not about discouragement or despair. Lent is always
about God’s generous mercy!
Fortunately, in the Church we do not have to face our sins and failures
alone. Lent is about the community seeking repentance. The entire Church
is called to prayer, fasting and almsgiving during these days. As a
community we live according to the Gospel and so together we strive
to be more faithful to Christ.
During Lent throughout our diocese, we are so encouraged as many of
our sisters and brothers in the faith attend daily Mass in their parish
communities. On Fridays, many of the faithful make the Stations of
the Cross, walking in the footsteps of Jesus. Remembering the passion
and death of Jesus, together on the Fridays of Lent we abstain from
meat and, when Good Friday comes, we spend this sacred day in fasting.
Throughout this season we have many opportunities to experience the
mercy and forgiveness of God in the sacrament of Penance.
Of course, the highlights of Lent are the Sunday Liturgies when we
come together as a community of faith. Here we rediscover the mercy
of God in the Liturgy of the Word and the celebration of the Eucharist.
Here we strive to become more merciful with the Risen Christ in the
Liturgy.
At the Sunday Liturgy during Lent we also pray for and welcome the
catechumens and the candidates for full communion who are entering
the body of Christ, the Church, at the coming Easter.
This Lent, Pope Benedict XVI urges us to reflect on almsgiving. “Lent
invites us to ‘train ourselves’ spiritually also through
the practice of almsgiving, in order to grow in charity and recognize
in the poor Christ Himself. ... In giving also, we offer something
material, a sign of the greater gift that we impart to others through
the announcement and witness of Christ. ...” (Benedict XVI, 2008
Lenten Message, # 6).
May this season of Lent help us to be more like Christ!
+John F. Kinney
Bishop of Saint Cloud
December
2007
A
Shepherd's Care,
By Bishop John F. Kinney
Preparing for Christmas the Advent way
These days we commence a new liturgical year of grace with the season of Advent.
With the Church we begin a cycle of liturgy and prayerful reflection to help
us again realize more fully the powerful saving measures God is taking with us,
especially the gift of Jesus Christ among us.
Humanly speaking, we are often slow to catch on. Thus it takes most of us many
Advents, multiple Christmases, a host of seasons of Lent, Easter and Pentecost
in our lives to comprehend how great is God's constant,
loving initiative to save us. Jesus has come to let us experience how God loves
us and to invite us into the communion of God's life, a life full of love with
the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit! But how many Advents do we have?
Thankfully, the Church liturgical year keeps returning annually to help us plunge
more deeply into the unfolding reality of God's presence among us and the Lord's
constant love for us! Thus this coming year we again reflect on Jesus Christ
among us and how we are to respond to God's gift of grace and salvation in our
lives. This year the Gospel of St. Matthew will help us open our hearts more
fully to Jesus and God's life.
For us, Advent really has a double meaning! Even while we are being bombarded
to spend December decorating, spending and shopping, the Church season of Advent
helps us prepare for the Christmas feast in a different
way, by rekindling in us a sense of the watching and waiting as our ancestors
did for the Messiah's first coming into our world.
The Advent season also urges us to be ready and waiting for Jesus' Second Coming
at the end of time!
"We do not preach only one coming of Christ, but a second
as well, much more glorious than the first. The first coming was marked
by patience, the second will bring the crown of a divine kingdom. ...
At the first coming he was wrapped in swaddling clothes in a manger.
At his second coming he will be clothed in light. ... In the first
coming he endured the cross; ... in the second coming he will be in
glory. ...”
St. Cyril of Jerusalem, Catechetical Instruction, The Liturgy of the Hours, Advent,
page 142
I am fairly uncomfortable thinking about the Second Coming of Christ in my own
life! Perhaps the same is true for you. Thus, as hard as it may be, this Advent
can help us learn to wait patiently, stay alert, watch
and be ready for Christ. We do not know when Christ will come but we want to
be ready for the Lord! Advent helps us be ready and eager!
In the closing verses of the Book of Revelation, the sacred author records the
Lord Jesus saying: "Yes, I am coming soon!" Then
the Scriptures conclude with the words: "Amen! Come, Lord Jesus." (22:
20) May those same words be our daily refrain and prayer throughout this Advent
season: "Amen! Come, Lord Jesus."
A blessed Advent to you.
+John F. Kinney
Bishop of the Diocese of Saint Cloud
October
2007
My dear friends in Christ,
The Strategic Pastoral Plan for the Diocese of Saint Cloud "to 2010 and
Beyond" was truly a milestone in the history of our diocese and in
the life of the church
here in central Minnesota. In this plan that was promulgated in the year
2000, you were all invited to respond to some exciting challenges
and opportunities that the church has been facing since the changes that
followed the Second Vatican Council. And you responded most willingly.
As I said when we initiated that strategic plan, nothing is written in
stone. And these past seven years have proven that statement to be correct.
Our strategic plan has truly been a work in progress that seems to experience
constant change. You may recall that two years ago 15 parishes in the
St. Cloud metro area were involved in a process of planning for pastoral
ministry in their parishes. This process involved two lay people and
the pastor from each of those parishes. They ultimately gave me a proposal
that is now being implemented in the St. Cloud metro area. Despite the
challenges associated with change,
things seem to be positively moving forward. I share this
with you today, because it will ultimately involve all of you throughout
the Diocese of Saint Cloud.
A similar planning process is now being done with 11 parishes in the
Albany area and with the five parishes in Sherburne County plus the Princeton
parish. I look forward to the response from the dedicated lay people
who are involved in these two planning processes. The challenge of these
two planning groups is to make recommendations as to how their parishes
can be served with fewer priests. This is not an easy task. At this time,
no decisions have been made as to how the involved parishes will be served.
The planning group is intent upon gathering the information from each
of the parishes and to make a faith-filled and just recommendation
to me.
These groups need your prayers and support. It is never easy to deal
with change. You are certainly aware of the feelings of grief and loss
connected with drastic changes to a way of
life. But sometimes changes need to occur for the good of all. This just
may be such a time. By having fewer priests who will be available to
serve parishes in the Diocese of Saint Cloud, we all need to look at
a new way of being church.
I am hopeful that many deacons and lay ecclesial leaders will be able
to join the priests and serve in new and exciting ways as ministers to
our parishes. This is a combined effort that is, in the words of the
ongoing planning groups, "Revisioning Church" for the Diocese
of Saint Cloud.
The members of our faith communities have given much for the good of our
diocese. I am aware of the sense of loss, and frustration, experienced
by the people in some of our parishes, and I am thankful
for the generosity of spirit with which they have blessed the Diocese
of Saint Cloud.
I ask all of you to please keep our priests, our dedicated parish ministers,
those involved in planning for their parishes, all of the faithful, and
me, in your prayers. God bless you.
With kind personal regards, I remain,
Sincerely yours in Christ,
+ John F. Kinney,
Bishop of the Diocese of St. Cloud
GRATEFUL TO GOD, WE SHARE OUR GIFTS.
January 25, 2007
Brothers
and Sisters in Christ,
The theme for our 31st Annual Diocesan Appeal is “Grateful to God,
we share our gifts.” When we understand that all we have
has been given to us as a gift, gratitude to God and sharing with
others is our natural response.
In years past, over 145,000 friends, neighbors and family members in
the 16 counties of our Diocese have benefited from the Annual Diocesan
Appeal ministries. Your gifts to the Appeal have funded the pastoral
care services that are provided for all of our parishes.
Our youth are a most valuable resource in every parish. Through the
Annual Appeal we are providing new tools to reach out to these young
people and to find the best ways to guide and transmit our faith from
each generation to the next.
Electronic media are a fundamental part of the culture in which
we live. The technology of computers — including e-mail, Web sites
and multimedia presentations — is recognized within the Annual
Appeal and utilized to promote the Gospel and our faith in Jesus
Christ for our Youth and Adult Faith Formation.
As well, your financial gifts to the Annual Diocesan Appeal help make
it possible to produce the TV mass from our Pastoral Center that reaches
countless homebound people each week, enabling them to continue their
journey in faith.
The Annual Appeal ministries serve us in ways that a parish may not
be able to provide, as a humble extension of the work of Jesus Christ
in our world today.
We are all called to do our part to leave this world better than we
found it. As good stewards, we are called to receive gratefully and
share lovingly.
A proportionate gift to the Annual Diocesan Appeal will allow us to
show our appreciation to God for what we have first been given. One
percent of your annual income gifted over the coming year will continue
this sharing of time, talent and treasure. All gifts that you give
prayerfully will help to make a difference.
Thank you in advance for your generosity in providing the financial
resources to make our diocesan efforts and ministries supporting our
lives possible.
I am grateful to your for your sacrifice and for everything you do
for Jesus Christ and the Church.
As I invite you to make your commitment to our Annual Diocesan Appeal
today, allow me to also express my most sincere appreciation for your
past financial support.
+ John F. Kinney
Bishop of Saint Cloud
© 2008 Diocese of Saint
Cloud. All rights reserved.
Read
Bishop Kinney's pastoral letters:
