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"A Shepherds Care"
From Bishop Kinney's Desk
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Grateful to God, we share our gifts... 1-25-07
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 finan-
cial support.
May we live with Christ and in Christ - 12-21-06
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Recently, someone gave me a little book, “What It Means To Be Christian,” three sermons on Advent preached in 1965 by the then Reverend Joseph Ratzinger to a group of Catholic college students.
In it, the future pope reminisced that we were taught the Advent wreath was a visual reminder of the thousands of centuries of human history before Christ, living and waiting in darkness without redemption “until finally Christ, the Light of the World, came and freed the world from its unredeemed darkness. ...” (p. 15) We think about the world as it was before Christ and we long to experience the messianic peace the prophet Zephaniah announced: “The Lord has ... turned away your enemies. ... you have no further misfortune to fear.” (Zephaniah 3:15) How we yearn for the peace-filled kingdom where (the wolf shall live with the lamb, the leopard shall lie down with the kid. ...” (Isaiah 11:6)
We are living in “the years of salvation.” Yet wars still persist; evil still seems to prosper; the poor are still poor. We think of the continuing wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Middle East, the lingering threats of nuclear build-ups, the ongoing genocide in Darfur, and the inequality between northern and southern hemispheres. We struggle to comprehend the daily suffering of millions, mired in poverty and disease, scrounging to find food for the day, clean water to drink, and/or meaningful work to support their families.
Close to home, we see disruption in the lives of our neighbors and their families as news spreads of families separated and torn apart elsewhere by the immigration raids on meat packing plants on Dec. 12, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe. On that day, a special day of celebration for our Mexican brothers and sisters, Catholic people of all nationalities gathered in parish churches here to celebrate the gift that God has given to us in Mary, the Mother of God, and her appearance to Juan Diego at the hill of Tepeyac. But beneath the surface of this year’s fiesta and eucharistic celebration were very tangible fears and tragic stories. For the sake of justice and rights, the rule of law and law enforcement must be respected, but it is incredible that such a raid was scheduled on the very feast day of Our Lady of Guadalupe!
So, is Christ powerless in the face of all this suffering and fear? Far from it! John the Baptist proclaimed: “One mightier than I is coming. ... He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. His winnowing fan is in his hand to clear his threshing floor and to gather the wheat into his barn.” (Luke 3:16-17)
Christ is the Light of the World. He came and freed our world from unredeemed darkness. Any slowness of our transformation in Christ is not due to any lack in the power of Christ. Becoming more like Christ does take a lifetime, many Advents and many Christmases!
The future Holy Father continued: “The borderline between ‘before Christ’ and ‘after Christ’ does not run through historical time, ... it runs through our own hearts. Insofar as we are living on a basis of selfishness, of egoism, then even today we are ‘before Christ.’ But in this time of Advent, let us ask the Lord to grant that we may live less and less ‘before Christ,’ and certainly not ‘after Christ,’ but truly with Christ and in Christ.” (p. 40)
May you and your loved ones live “with Christ and in Christ.” May you have a blessed feast of the Nativity of the Lord, a joyous Christmas and Epiphany season and a new year of peace, 2007.
=John F. Kinney
Bishop of Saint Cloud
Sacrifices strengthen Catholic school system - 06'
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
John Dewey once said, “Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself.” Each fall as we begin a new school year, we are reminded of the importance of education to society and most importantly to our Church. We are blessed in the Diocese of Saint Cloud to have quality Catholic schools that strive to teach not only the academics but to infuse faith formation throughout every aspect of the day. Thirty-two elementary schools, John XXIII and Cathedral High School and St. John’s Preparatory School provide an opportunity for students to learn about their faith while learning about the various subject areas. We have two Catholic colleges in our midst, the College of St. Benedict and St. John’s University, which continue the lifelong learning journey for students. Benedictine Catholic values permeate the academic rigor of each of these schools of higher learning.
Parents make great sacrifices to send their children to Catholic schools. Our Catholic parishes commit a great amount of financial resources to Catholic schools as part of their mission to educate the young people and to carry out the mission of the Catholic Church to spread the Good News of Jesus Christ.
The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops published a statement last year titled, “Renewing Our Commitment to Catholic Elementary & Secondary Schools in the Third Millennium.” This statement recognizes the challenges facing Catholic schools today.
• Today we are a more diverse Church. Catholic schools and parishes must address the new wave of immigrants and look at ways to make our schools available, accessible and affordable.
• Laymen and women who are truly committed to the education of the young people staff most of our Catholic schools. We, as a Church, must look for ways to offer salaries and benefits that are just and continue to offer faith formation programs for those who are serving our schools as teachers and leaders so that our Catholic identity is strong and evident. Days such as our Diocesan Ministry Day are ways to help form teachers and leaders in their Catholic faith.
• We, as a Church, need to address the financial concerns facing Catholic schools today. This financial burden cannot rest exclusively on parishes or parents. We need to call all the Catholic faithful to true stewardship so that the needs of Catholic schools and parishes can be met.
“Renewing Our Commitment” identifies the need for advocacy. It is important for us to work with our legislators in finding ways to help families have real school choice. The Bishops of Minnesota wrote a statement titled, “Every Parent, Every Child.” In this statement we acknowledge that we are blessed in the State of Minnesota to have wonderful public schools. However, many families are looking for ways to choose a Catholic school for their children. Often because of location or economic means, this option is not a choice.
We urge lawmakers to look for ways to provide access to Catholic schools for families who value this education. The Bishops wrote, “We do not call on government to provide all things for all people, but we do assert that government should establish conditions that provide equity and equal access to opportunity. By empowering families with true educational choice, government can help provide this access. Through real educational choice, families are strengthened to make choices that benefit both the individual and society.”
Thank you to the many families who make many sacrifices to send their children to Catholic schools and thanks to the parishes throughout our diocese that support Catholic schools. You are educating children for life!
END
In the midst of suffering and an uneasy peace,
12 Sudanese bishops, and one from Minnesota, dialogue and pray in solidarity
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
The twelve other members of our St. Cloud delegation to the Diocese of Homa Bay, Kenya are on the plane heading back home. It was a most successful and spirited pilgrimage but I sensed all were eager to get back to Minnesota!
Now it is time for Father Bill Vos, a priest of our Diocese, Deacon Peter VanderWeyst, a fourth-year theologian, and I to undertake the second part of our journey, a watershed visit to Juba, Sudan, to experience the work of Catholic Relief Services in that war-torn land and an invitation to greet the bishops of Sudan gathered for their first meeting together in their own country since the strife began twenty-five years ago.
For many of us, what we know of Sudan is the tragedy in Darfur, but the country of Sudan, the largest country in Africa, one quarter of the size of the United States, is now almost two years into a Comprehensive Peace Agreement between the Government of Sudan and the Sudan Peoples’ Liberation Movement. At the end of the next four years, a referendum vote will decide whether the country of Sudan remains one or whether Southern Sudan splits from the North. There are nine Catholic dioceses in the entire country.
Our approach to the Juba airport landing strip takes us over the Nile River and lush green landscape near the Delta. I strain to see roads, tarmac or dirt, leading out of Juba out into the countryside from above but there are none in sight. Overland travel is most difficult; roads are all but impassible, land mines still cover much of the terrain.
Once off the plane, the first immediate sensations for me are the stifling blast of heat that all but takes my breath away and then the sight of camouflaged uniformed soldiers everywhere, heavily armed, seemingly ready for action. If not beforehand, now we are very conscious that simultaneously peace talks are also happening as we arrive in Juba, highly publicized talks between the Lord’s Resistance Army and the Government of Uganda. Stories of the atrocities, the rape, pillage and militarizing of Ugandan children in this conflict shock and stun us. Swaggering armed soldiers and Land Rovers are everywhere we look.
We could not be here without visiting and praying at the grave of the recently deceased John Garang, Vice President of Sudan, representative of Southern Sudan, who died in a helicopter crash three weeks after his inauguration. The memorial to Vice President Garang, not far from the airport, is guarded by slouching barefoot military soldiers.
I suppose some years ago, Juba was a quiet little provincial town on the Nile River. Now, it is swollen, expensive and swarming with hundreds of thousands of people, refugees, non-governmental organization workers, military, peace talk negotiators, the Sudan Episcopal Conference, and the three of us!
My own experience, when the Conference of Bishops meets here in the United States, is that three hundred plus bishops and many other participants all but take over a large urban hotel/conference center facility for the course of a week. Not so for the Episcopal Conference of Sudan! The twelve bishops along with their few staff people convene their meeting in a 20-by-20-foot room within the guarded compound of Catholic Relief Services. In all there are 35 or 40 people.
I am grateful for the security forces manning the Catholic Relief Services gates. For security reasons I am billeted within the CRS compound while my two compatriots stay in a tented hostel at the outskirts of Juba. This is the closest to a hotel that is available for them! As I wrestle at the CRS compound with a non-compliant mosquito netting and a sporadically functioning toilet, I begin to envy the upscale tents of my compatriots!
It was into this gathering of the Sudan Episcopal Conference that the three of us are welcomed on the second morning of our visit. Some of the bishops I had met before, others are new acquaintances for me. As we enter into the room I am filled with much personal emotion, the joy of being with brother bishops, also the dramatic realization at how much the church in the Sudan has suffered for these past many years. I feel as if I am in the midst of living martyrs and confessors of the faith. Many of their bishops, priests, religious and faithful have suffered and died for the faith during these past twenty-five years. They are still very much struggling to rebuild the church, their parishes, their schools, their dioceses. It is a long road to peace for them and they are far from their goal.
Father Mathew Haumann, a long term Mill Hill missioner to the Sudan who died two months ago, wrote: War-torn Sudan has had, in its forty years of independence, hardly any years of peace. War crimes and human rights violations continue. More than three-quarters of the people of south Sudan have become displaced within their own country, or are refugees in neighboring countries. Almost the entire infrastructure in the south has been destroyed. It is beyond the imagination to understand….there is hardly a shop left, no petrol station that works, no proper education system, no money economy. Still, the people survive....
(Haumann, The Long Road to Peace, p. 137)
In the faces and voices of the Bishops of Sudan and the stories of the heroic lives of the Christian people we witness their deep faith in Christ. We need to continue to give them our prayers and our support. Our Mission Office of the Diocese sent school supplies and children’s clothing from mission groups with us. We also brought with us Mass stipends to be offered by the priests. For many of them, it is all they have to live on. Some of our parishes have also provided generous monetary support to the Diocese of Torit and to the Southern Sudan Bishops Conference Office. For all of these gifts, I am grateful and hope this sharing continues.
Of all the acmes, I have to say the high point of these days for me is in the morning as we gather together in a simple nearby chapel to celebrate the Word of God and the Liturgy of the Eucharist. On day one, they ask me to be the principal celebrant of the Eucharist. What a sense of the universality of the Church as we pray the Eucharistic Prayer together! Scrunched together because of the tiny space, we know that Jesus Christ is everything for us. There, at Mass, we truly become the one Body of Christ. It is Christ who gives all of us unity and peace.
Over and again during these days, the bishops thank us for our prayers, for our solidarity and for the continued outpouring of our support. I come away from Juba with a deep sense of our common treasure in faith, our poverty compared with their richness, our communion in the Church, and our solidarity as the family of God.
END
A reflection on light’s triumph over dark anti-Semitism
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
It was a cold, dismal day in 1969 when, as a young priest, I first walked through the gates of Dachau Concentration Camp outside of Munich, Germany. No one spoke; no sounds were made as our group walked through the buildings that twenty five years before had housed the barracks and crematoria of the Holocaust. This was a place of horror; our quiet was the silence in a cemetery, a huge burial place; the place of the Shoah!
That visit was only four years after the bishops of the world had approved a dramatic, watershed document of the Second Vatican Council. It was named for its first words in Latin, Nostra Aetate, or in English “In this age of ours.” This was a revolutionary document in the Church because it repudiated 2000 years of Christian anti-Semitism and began to emphasize, not what separates Jews and Christians, but what we share in common: the Hebrew Scriptures, the patriarchs and matriarchs, the prophets, psalmists, the covenant, and the promises of the one God, our messianic hope. (Cfr. Hubbard, Jewish-Christian Relations: Future Directions, Origins, p. 761)
Nostra Aetate opened the doors and windows in the Church; it was also the forerunner for the many writings, teachings and concrete actions of Pope John Paul II to bring Jews and Catholics into solidarity. Who can forget the remarkable picture of the aged, diminished pope, cane in hand, walking up to the Western Wall, the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem, to place his written prayer petition into the crevice.
In his first meeting with world Jewish leaders last year, Pope Benedict XVI said: “At the beginning of my pontificate, I wish to assure you that the Church remains firmly committed....to implementing this decisive teaching of Nostra Aetate.” In the next days, our Holy Father will visit Auschwitz Concentration Camp in Poland to pray for those who died during the Shoah.
Today, in this very important moment and ceremony here in our Diocese of St. Cloud, we have blessed new disks of the Luminous Mysteries of the rosary on the exterior of our Cathedral, disks to replace the original “broken crosses” of the 1920’s which had taken on a much darker meaning because of the Nazi era and the offensive symbol of the Swastika.
Here, in our local church, as we replace these symbols on our Cathedral, we are committed to encourage and further mutual understanding, appreciation and respect for one another as Christians and Jews. Thus the symbols and the very language we use must always show the respect, the reverence and the welcome we intend for all people.
Jesus was a descendent of David, the Virgin Mary, Joseph, Simon Peter the Apostles, Paul; all belonged to the Jewish people. The Jews are our beloved brothers and sisters. Indeed, in a very real sense they are “our elder brothers and sisters” in the faith!
We pray that our repentance for our past sins of prejudice and discrimination that resulted in the tragedies of the Shoah, will lead to a new relationship with the Jewish people. We seek to build a new future here in which there will be no anti-Semitism among Christians. Rather we seek a shared mutual respect between Christians and Jews as befits those who adore the one Creator and Lord and have Abraham as our common father in faith.
As I conclude, I wish to make the words of John Paul II the sentiments of all of us gathered here:
“We would risk causing the victims of the most atrocious deaths (in the Holocaust) to die again if we do not have an ardent desire for justice, if we do not commit ourselves to ensure that evil does not prevail over good as it did for millions of children of the Jewish people....Humanity cannot permit all that to happen again.” (John Paul II, Anniversary of the Shoah, April 7, 1994)
Three days, one great liturgy of death and resurrection
I am writing this column in the midst of Holy Week. It is the most graced week of the Church year! Last Thursday, people from all parts of our diocese gathered together to pray and worship God as the oils were blessed and consecrated for the coming year’s celebration of the sacraments. In the midst of the liturgy, it seemed as though God’s very love and life became tangible in the glistening of the Chrism and the other oils of sacramental anointing. Those blessed oils flow into our lives from the very death and resurrection of Christ.
The Palm Sunday liturgy has been celebrated in our parishes. In the liturgy our hearts moved from the excitement of the Procession of Palms recalling Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem to the very solemn and somber reading of the Passion Narrative from the Gospel of Saint Mark. At that moment we were called to grasp once more that the greatest gift of God’s generous love for us is Jesus and his passion and death on the cross. We could not escape questioning our own serious resolve as Jesus’ disciples when we pondered how Peter and Judas wavered as disciples. Peter responded with conversion; Judas gave up hope!
Palm Sunday, my thoughts and prayers were with the immigrants to our country and the many demonstrators as they prayed and marched from Cathedral to Capitol in St. Paul in favor of legislation that would welcome, not penalize, peoples who have come to our country to better their lives. My ancestors, perhaps yours also, came to our borders for the very same reasons. I pray for welcoming legislation on this issue.
Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday of Holy Week usually seem normal as we go about the usual schedules in our lives and in our regular routines. But once Holy Thursday comes, everything begins to change.
As we begin the Thursday Evening Mass of the Lord’s Supper it is as if the next three days coalesce together into one sacred Liturgy and one action of the Body of Christ. The Evening Mass begins at sunset on Holy Thursday; the Celebration of the Lord’s Passion is during the afternoon hours on Good Friday; the quiet waiting then begins in vigil and prayer through Holy Saturday; at sunset Saturday the celebration of the Easter Vigil commences when we joyfully receive new Christians into the Body of Christ; the celebration continues throughout Sunday, it is all one great liturgy of the death and resurrection of the Lord! Those three days become one day of salvation in our lives! Finally, as sun sets Easter evening, the Church prays Evening Prayer and the Triduum concludes.
We celebrate Christ in this great feast, Christ who once died for us but who now lives in glory for ever. The risen Christ continues to break forth in our lives! Christ always gives us hope, strength, and eternal life.
It is my prayer that these days will be for all of us a true celebration of our new life in Christ and our gratitude that the very first gift of the Risen Christ to us is the Holy Spirit.
A blessed Easter to all of you.
You can define marriage and defend dignity of all
March 30, 2006
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
With the letters to the editors, numerous news stories, paid advertisements, and rallies, plus personal correspondence to me, I am hesitant to wade once more into the raging waters about the Marriage Amendment. What concerns me about the debate on the editorial pages is to wonder if there is dialogue going on in the midst of all the words? I get the impression many are talking past one another rather than to one another. Yet, as pastor of the Diocese, I still have two concerns before me.
I firmly believe we need to protect, defend and strengthen the covenant of marriage as the union of one man and one woman. Marriage is about the future of our human society and the common good of society. Set in a framework of the mutual love of spouses, marriage is about the procreation and nurturing of future generations of human beings. God’s design, I believe, is that we are brought forth and reared in that setting of love.
My second concern is that many people are interpreting this insistence on the definition of marriage as a personal attack against homosexual persons or against those whom they love. That is not my intent. I want to speak clearly of my belief in and my defense of the dignity and respect due to each and every person. I believe each person is made in the image and likeness of God. There are no exceptions to this belief. Thus, I insist on the right to adequate food, housing, basic health care, education, employment opportunities, personal freedom, and the other rights of conscience for each and every person. These rights also need to be addressed, protected, defended and strengthened. This, too, is about the common good.
There has been much pain expressed in the letters I have received on this issue. Between the lines, I read of the prejudice, discrimination and downright hate that exist against homosexual persons in our society. It saddens me to think of the evident suffering that surrounds the lives of so many people.
On the Second Sunday of Lent, we saw the Lord Jesus brilliantly transfigured on the mountain before Peter, James and John. The voice from the luminous cloud announced: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.” (Mark 9:7) It was a needed glimpse of the glory before the journey to Jerusalem and the pain and scandalous suffering of Jesus on the cross.
How to “Listen to him” in the midst of the sufferings in our lives or the lives of those whom we love dearly? How to embrace the death of Jesus, the Son of God, as the greatest act of love ever given, when our own pain is so unbearable?
Perhaps we need to ask: “Christ, what do you want to say to us in our hurts, our scars, and our brokenness as human beings?” During the coming Holy Week, perhaps we should be more quiet so that Christ would speak a word to us, a word of invitation to move us through our hurts and scars, a word that can transform our brokenness into joy and give a glimpse of the glory of the resurrection.
Our loving God extends an invitation to us these days: “This is my beloved Son. Listen to him.”
Defending marriage is a matter of ‘elemental truth’
February 9, 2006
With my fellow Minnesota bishops, I have asked our parishes in the Diocese of St. Cloud to conduct a postcard campaign on the weekend of February 11/12 to forward the cause of the Minnesota Marriage Amendment. I believe it is important, as faithful citizens and for the common good, to urge our state senators to allow the people of Minnesota to vote on this amendment to the state constitution in November. This amendment would affirm that marriage can exist only between one man and one woman. This fundamental truth must be protected and preserved to ensure that marriage remains the basis of society. Defending marriage as it has always been understood recognizes the exceptional and necessary contribution marriage makes to the common good.
Marriage witnesses to the physical, psychological and spiritual complementarity of men and women. Their enduring mutual commitment of life and love plays an irreplaceable social role. Research consistently shows that no alternative secures the same benefits as the traditional marriage and family structure. Marriage expands the commitment to love through the natural potential of the spouses to become parents – to beget new life through their love. This responsibility requires an increasingly unselfish response that models self-giving generation to generation.
This very lofty view of marriage may not always be the experience of all in our society. Social institutions like marriage, as long history attests, endure to validate and foster patterns of behavior that serve the common good. When marriage – as an institution or for an individual couple – suffers a time of crisis, it is most helpful to strengthen what is weak rather than undermine it further. My brother bishops and I believe that redefining marriage itself would further fray the already fragile social fabric.
As Pope Benedict XVI said of this issue, “It is not a question of specific norms of Catholic morals but of elementary truths that concern our common humanity: respecting them is essential for the good of the person and of society.” (Address to the Members of the Administration of Rome and Lazio, Pope Benedict XVI, 12 January 2006)
Some may worry that human rights will be denied because of this amendment, such as housing, employment, inheritance, healthcare access, etc. Others would say we are indeed discriminating against persons with same-sex attractions. However, the sole motivation for this amendment is to protect the definition of marriage. By upholding traditional marriage, we are not denying basic rights. In fact, such rights do not depend on marriage, but are already secured under a variety of laws and statutes.
The Church strives to show unconditional love to all human persons as well as to proclaim uncompromising truth. Part of our responsibility as faithful citizens is to treat each person with the respect and dignity they deserve as children of God. While this issue will generate strong feelings, any form of discrimination or hostility toward persons with same-sex attractions is wrong.
I ask you to prayerfully support this campaign, to sign and mail the postcard this weekend to your Minnesota State Senator and to continue encouraging them to place the Marriage Amendment on the November ballot.
February 2, 2006
Let us share and ensure that all lives are enriched
Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
This year we celebrate the 30th anniversary of the Annual Diocesan Appeal. As we look back, we can imagine what characterized life in our diocese back in 1976. How things have changed. Some ministries that existed then remain strong today. Others have undergone change to meet our ever changing world and Church. The responsibility to share our gifts in support of diocesan ministries that benefit parishes is as critical today as it was 30 years ago, perhaps even more so.
Our theme this year is “Possess Lightly: Share your Gifts,” and it is a challenge to us to give serious thought to what we can do to strengthen the body of Christ in our diocese. Together, we will be able to provide the financial support for the many ministries and services needed in our diocese.
As Catholics, we are to follow faithfully, observing and practicing our faith when we come together to worship our God in union with one another. We are to live responsibly, caring for ourselves, our families, our loved ones and the world in which we live. We are to share generously, acknowledging that all that we have comes from our God and that we have a responsibility to share our gifts with one another.
We ask ourselves, “What have I done to ensure that ministries of the Church, beyond my own parish, are being provided for in our diocese at large?” Answering that question will give us an idea of how we, as a diocese, are looking out for one another.
As I think back on the last 10 years of my being your bishop, I thank God and I marvel at the goodness of all of you who have enriched the lives of other people throughout our diocese by your generosity, not only to your parish, but to our diocese. I thank God for your bountiful gifts.
My vision for the future of the Annual Diocesan Appeal is that we will continue the strong support of the ministries that strengthen the faith of our diocesan family. What will it take to achieve that vision? Well, it will take a commitment from each and every one of us. I know that is a tall order, but I also know that we are all capable of doing our part, whatever we deem that to be. Every gift is important.
I began my remarks by challenging each one of us to give serious thought to what we can do to strengthen our faith communities, and I want to close with an invitation for each and every one of you to join me in making a gift, this year, to the Annual Diocesan Appeal — a gift that is proportionate to your income so that we may meet the many needs of our brothers and sisters throughout our diocese. Together, we can ensure that the lives of all of us are enriched by Possessing Lightly and Sharing our Gifts for the benefit of others.
The Diocese of St. Cloud is not just a postmark address; it is not just a resource center for parishes; it is not just a geographical territory. The diocese is a living, breathing member of the universal church of the body of Christ. You and I make that possible. We do need each other to proclaim the presence of Jesus Christ in our world each and every day, to join hands with Christ to be Christ’s heart of mercy, voice of hope and hands of justice.
My Sisters and Brothers, let us work together. Let us make a difference. I thank you for your support, and may God bless you and your family this year in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
December 1, 2005
Keep patient watch
This week we enter into a new liturgical year of grace with the beginning of Advent. I am saddened each year at this time that, with the ever escalating consumerism all around us, the Advent season of waiting and watching is all but lost. Christmas decorations are up by Thanksgiving. How do we stay alert for the coming of Christ this Advent when so much emphasis is put on shopping, even if it is for gifts? How do we practice “patient waiting” like our ancestors in faith did when commercials and ads are daily bombarding us with “getting it all right now”!
Our great focus this Advent is the reality that Christ is returning again, now in glory. All of creation has been renewed and restored in Christ. Thus we proclaim constantly, Christ has died! Christ is risen! Christ will come again! Compared to the majestic glory of the Risen Christ coming at the end times, our tinsel strands and twinkling little lights seem very artificial and temporary. It is Christ who gives joy in our lives and hope for now and for the future.
Can I suggest that we hold off decorating our homes with Christmas decorations until after Dec. 17? That is when the Church turns its attention more directly to the coming celebration of the Christmas feast. Until then, let us content ourselves with a simple Advent wreath and watch for Christ.
I cannot let these days go by without expressing thanks and glory to God for the gift of the Holy Spirit poured out on the Church in the Second Vatican Council. The final document of the Council, Gaudium et Spes, was approved by the bishops of the world on Dec. 7, 1965, and the Council was officially closed the next day, Dec. 8, the feast of the Immaculate Conception. What a gift to us is this great manifestation of the Holy Spirit.
The Second Vatican Council has reminded us that the Church in every age, including our own, has the great duty and responsibility “of reading the signs of the times and interpreting them in light of the Gospel”. It is the task of the Church founded by Christ to answer the recurring questions men and women of every age ask: “What is the meaning of this present life and of the life to come, and how are they related?”
In this Council, the Holy Spirit has awakened in all men and women the gift of lively hope (See # 93). Gaudium et Spes, joy and hope, is how the Council ended forty five years ago. Joy and hope in Jesus Christ is how we are to live our lives in this day and age!
Disaster calls us to generous response
September 9, 2005
It has been several months since I have written a column for you. The election of Pope Benedict XVI afforded me my last opportunity to write in the spring. Now, with the fall season of the year upon us, it seems a good time for me to resume these occasional messages.
First, I must thank all of you for your constant prayers for me during these months. So many of you have written or verbally assured me of your prayers for my health during this time, and I am very happy to report that the combination of prayer, good medical treatment and therapy have helped me turn a very important corner in my physical well-being. At least for the time being, I am able to set aside walking supports and move on my own confidently. The physical condition is still with me, but I am feeling so much better than I was several months ago. I thank all of you for your continued prayer and support.
Turning to current events in our country, as you know, I have often written in the past of the plight of the world's poor. Often I have visited refugee camps in distant lands. The images of the suffering people in the coastal areas of our own country in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina have mirrored for me dramatically many of the scenes I have witnessed elsewhere. Often in the past I have asked for your generous help to alleviate the misery of the world's poor. Now I plead for your great, generous spirit to assist the people of our own southern coast.
During September, our parishes will be taking a special collection for all the affected areas in the South. Funds will be immediately sent through our diocese to Catholic Charities USA to assist in the recovery efforts. Catholic Charities nationally as well as in local dioceses is well equipped and poised to resond. I urge all of us to assist in this massive need.
In addition, some of the evacuees from the devastated areas will be housed here in our diocese during the next weeks. I would ask our communities, Catholic, ecumenical and civic, to provide whatever is possible to make these brothers and sisters a bit more comfortable and at home in our midst.
I was especially moved to hear of an 11-year-old girl in one of our parishes, celebrating her birthday this week, who called her friends back to ask them to make donatons to the relief effort rather than bring gifts to her party.
If images and pictures are not enough, Jesus' vivid description of the judgment scene is all the incentive any of us need to respond! "Come, you blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the beginning of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me drink. I was a stranger and you took me in, naked and you clothed me, I was sick and you visited me, I was in prison and you came to me."
(Matthew 25:35-36)
Thank you for your generous and early response.
+ John F. Kinney
Bishop of Saint Cloud
© 2005 Diocese of Saint Cloud. All rights reserved.
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Bishop Kinney's homily for April 20 noon Mass at the Cathedral of St. Mary for Pope Benedict XVI
April 20, 2005
"Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?" This question of Jesus in the Gospel was woven throughout Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger's moving homily at the funeral Mass of Pope John Paul II. Perhaps this same Gospel passage was read yesterday at the conclusion of the Conclave when the Holy Spirit selected Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger as our new Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. "Simon, son of John, do you love me more than these?"
With the Church all over the world, we are filled with joy at the selection of our new pope. Just as Jesus formed St. Peter and the other apostles into a unique apostolic collegium, a "college", so the successor of Peter, the Holy Father, and the bishops, successors of the apostles spread over the world, are so related with and to one another in a bond of unity, charity and peace. The Lord gave a new name to Simon; he named him Peter, the "rock" of the Church. Jesus gave to Peter the keys of binding and loosing, and established him as shepherd of the whole flock. Thus, Pope Benedict XVI, Bishop of Rome and Pastor of the Universal Church, is at once the visible source and foundation of unity both of the bishops and of the whole company of the faithful of the Church.
At Mass earlier today in the Sistine Chapel, our new Holy Father sai: "I turn to everyone with simplicity and affection, to assure them that the church wants to continue to build an open and sincere dialogue with them, in the search of the true good of man [humanity] and society... . I want to forcefully affirm the strong desire to continue in the task of implementing the Second Vatican Council."
We thank God for our new Holy Father and we pray for him strength, grace and peace so that he can be "the rock on which everyone can lean with assurance."
Today, the Risen Christ turns to us and again asks: "Do you love me more than these?" With full hearts we respond: "Yes, Lord, you know everything, you know that we love you." Jesus says to us, "Feed my sheep."
+ John F. Kinney
Bishop of Saint Cloud
© 2005 Diocese of Saint Cloud. All rights reserved.
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Bishop Kinney's statement on the election of Pope Benedict XVI
April 19, 2005
Dear Friends in Christ,
"Give thanks to the Lord, for God is good, God's love is everlasting." (Ps. 118:1) Today, along with the Universal Church and our entire world, the people of the Diocese of St. Cloud and I give thanks to God for the election of our new Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI. May the Holy Spirit bless and strengthen him for his mission as the successor of Peter.
Tuesday morning, at eleven o'clock our time, we learned the new pope had been elected. Jorge Cardinal Medina Estevez, the senior cardinal deacon, appeared at the balcony window of St. Peter's Basilica to intone to the waiting world "Habemus Papam! We have a pope ... ." He continued: "His Eminence, Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger."
This is an amazing moment of grace in the life of the Church! After commending Pope John Paul II to God, the whole world has watched the process of electing a new Holy Father, culminating in our Holy Father's selection by the Holy Spirit.
Over my years as bishop, especially during Ad Limina visits in Rome, I have on several occasions had opportunities to meet with Cardinal Ratzinger. He is truly a man of Christ, a priest and bishop who has devoted his entire life to the service of the Church.
I am thankful to God and filled with personal feelings of joy as we begin a new moment in union with our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI.
I want to add words of gratitude to all of the people of our diocese who have been praying for a new Holy Father. Also, I am deeply grateful for the splendid coverage by our friends in the media these past weeks.
+ John F. Kinney
Bishop of Saint Cloud
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Mass for Pope John Paul II at the Cathedral of St. Mary, St. Cloud
Homily (based on Luke 24)
April 8, 2005
On this day of the Mass of Christian Burial for our beloved Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, we affirm our hope in Jesus Christ, died and now risen from the dead. We do believe in the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins and in life everlasting. We pray our dear Pope sees God now face to face, and will be with God, the Risen Christ, and the saints forever.
Here, in our Cathedral, we do not celebrate this Eucharist alone or separate from the rest of the Church. This is our praise, thanksgiving, sacrifice and meal of the people of God gathered here. But we are also united to all other communities that celebrate the Eucharist all over the world. Thus, though distanced by miles and time changes, we celebrate this Eucharist with the millions gathered in Rome for the Holy Father’s funeral earlier this day. In the Eucharist, the Church does become present as the one, holy, catholic, and apostolic Church!
This fellowship also reaches beyond this world and even beyond this life, linking the living with the dead. We believe in the communion of saints! Thus we reach into the great fellowship of Mary and the saints and into the very heavenly liturgy at this moment. This very Eucharist and the Church of all ages and all places come together. The Eucharist is truly a “sign of unity and a bond of love.” (Sacrosanctum Concilium # 4)
So we cannot be sad. Although we feel a great personal loss, Pope John Paul has gone home. He belongs there. So do we! We commend him to God because he served us well and loved us!
On Easter Sunday he could not speak, but these are the words of Pope John Paul’s last Urbi et Orbi blessing, to Rome and to the world.
Stay with us, Lord!
With these words, the disciples on the road to
Emmaus invited the mysterious Wayfarer
to stay with them, as the sun was setting
on that first day of the week
when the incredible had occurred.
According to his promise, Christ had risen:
Nevertheless, the words spoken by the Wayfarer
along the road made their hearts burn within them.
So they said to him: “Stay with us”.
Seated around the supper table,
they recognized him in the “breaking of bread,”
and suddenly he vanished.
There remained in front of them the broken bread.
There echoed in their hearts the
gentle sound of his words.
Dear brothers and sisters,
the Word and the Bread of the Eucharist,
the mystery and the gift of Easter,
remain down the centuries as a constant memorial
of the Passion, Death and Resurrection of Christ! . . .
together with all Christians throughout the world,
we too repeat those words:
Jesus, crucified and risen, stay with us!
Stay with us, faithful friend and
sure support for humanity
on its journey through history!
Living Word of the Father,
give hope and trust to all who are searching
for the true meaning of their lives.
Bread of eternal life, nourish those who hunger
for truth, freedom, justice and peace.
Stay with us, Living Word of the Father,
and teach us words and deeds of peace:
peace for our world consecrated by your Blood
and drenched in the blood of so many innocent victims:
peace for the countries of the
Middle East and Africa,
where so much blood continues to be shed;
peace for all of humanity,
still threatened by fratricidal wars.
Stay with us, Bread of eternal life,
broken and distributed to those at table;
give also to us the strength to show
generous solidarity
towards the multitudes who are even today
suffering and dying from poverty and hunger,
decimated by fatal epidemics
or devastated by immense natural disasters.
By the power of your Resurrection,
may they too become sharers in new life.
We, the men and women of the
third millennium,
we too need you, Risen Lord!
Stay with us now and until the end of time.
Grant that the material progress of peoples
may never obscure the spiritual values
which are the soul of their civilization.
Sustain us, we pray, on our journey.
In you do we believe, in you do we hope,
for you have the words of eternal life.
Mane nobiscum, Domine! Alleluia!
Joannes Paulus II
(L’Osservatore Romano, March 30, 2005)
Thank you, loving God, for giving us Pope John Paul II. Take him close to your heart. May he rest in peace. Amen.
+ John F. Kinney
Bishop of the Diocese of Saint Cloud
© 2005 Diocese of Saint Cloud. All rights reserved.
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Bishop Kinney's homily for the 10:30 a.m. Mass, April 3, 2005, at the Cathedral of St. Mary
April 3, 2005
"Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, his love is everlasting." The Church sings this song to God today, this second Sunday of Easter, a day we bask in God's Divine Mercy. We know God is doing everything possible to love us, to save us. The greatest act of God's love has been to send us His Son, Jesus, to bring us abundant life, to free us from the chains of sin and death. The death and resurrection of Christ is God's greatest act of love possible.
Today, we know the Risen Christ is in our midst as we assemble here. As in the Gospel, Christ gives us peace and breathes on us, and the entire Church, the gift of the Holy Spirit for the forgiveness of sins and new life. With the disciples of the Gospel, today from our hearts we proclaim, "We have seen the Lord." In the Eucharist, we join the Risen Christ in the great sacrifice and prayer to the Father and the sacred meal of the Body and Blood of the Lord. Christ stays with us! We pray in faith" "My Lord and my God!"
Today, with tears and with sadness in our hearts, we sing, "Give thanks to the Lord forhe is good, for his love is everlasting." Our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, has died and has gone home to God. We feel a great sadness in the parting and the loss. We sing, because God has given this wonderful pope to us for twenty seven years. As a "holy father" to us, John Paul led us with faith, blessed us lovingly, encouraged us to be holy, taught us the truth of God's love and the dignity of each and every human being, challenged us to love and care for the poor and the weak. He visited us and almost every place in our world. He always prayed with us and for us. He showed us how to live and, in these last months and days, he has showed us how to die.
I believe in everything Pope John Paul II did, whether he was addressing moral issues about life, social concerns, political and economic systems, or teaching us the truth of doctrine, his deepest desire was always for the well being of humanity, for us individually and for the whole human race. He believed in us, in humanity. He believed we want what is good and just. He believed that we are capable of eliminating what is evil, what is sinful, what is unjust, what is oppressive. He believed people are capable of choosing goodness, for themselves, for their families, their countries and the global community. He personally faced and lived through the evil of Nazism and Communism. He knew, first hand, man's inhumanity to man. But he also knew and believed in the redemptive power of Jesus Christ. He knew that we can do better. So he became a roving ambassador of hope, an apostle, an evangelist, a missionary to the whole world. He asked us to be the same. "Duc in altum!" He urged. "Cast your nets out into the deep!"
Even as we mourn the loss of Pope John Paul, we profess our faith in the resurrection and eternal life. We rejoice with our John Paul II that his earthly suffering has ended. In one of his poems, he wrote, "Sliding into death I unveil the awaiting, my eyes fixed on one place, the resurrection." We pray he now sees God, the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, face-to-face.
"Give thanks to the Lord for he is good, his love is everlasting."
+ John F. Kinney,
Bishop of the Diocese of St. Cloud
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Bishop Kinney's statement on the occasion of the death of Pope John Paul II:
April 2, 2005
The death of Pope John Paul II is a loss that will be felt in a very deep and personal way by every Catholic. This pope was visible to us and opened his heart to us more than any previous pontiff. Part of this can be attributed to technological advances in communications and travel that enabled him to reach out to the faithful in ways unavailable to his predecessors. But much of it must be attributed to his personal style. He was pastoral by nature. He was happiest when he was among the people -- blessing, encouraging and teaching them, and praying with and for them.
Those born after his election to the papacy in October 1978, and even those born during the few years before then, have never known any other Holy Father. Many of these young people, including hundreds from the Diocese of St. Cloud, had the opportunity to see and hear him in person because of his presence at World Youth Days, one of which was held in Denver. Many other Catholics of the Diocese of St. Cloud had the opportunity to travel to Iowa in 1979 when the pope offered Mass at the Living History Farms near Des Moines. No doubt, because of his extensive travels, this pope was seen in person by more Catholics than any previous pope. These pastoral visits contributed to the great affection that Catholics had for him.
Most of my own years as a bishop have coincided with John Paul’s years as pope. Karol Wojtyla was elected to the See of Peter just two years after Pope Paul VI named me as an auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul-Minneapolis. It was Pope John Paul II who, in 1982, appointed me bishop of the Diocese of Bismarck and, in 1995, as bishop of the Diocese of St. Cloud.
Five times during my episcopacy and John Paul’s papacy, I met with him at the Vatican as part of my ad limina visits which are required of each bishop every five years. I was impressed by his energy and athleticism during my earlier visits, and I admired his serenity and grace in my most recent visit, which was just this past December when he was already struggling with illness. I admired his willingness to keep in the public eye even as he aged. He was willing to be old and frail before the whole Church and the whole world. For most of us, that is not easy.
The death of Pope John Paul II is a loss not just for Catholics. For the past 27 years, he has been the world’s most prominent and consistent spokesperson for the dignity of every human being. In retrospect, it seems to me there was a single theme underlying his entire papacy. Whether he was addressing moral issues, social concerns, political and economic systems, or doctrinal matters, his deepest desire was for the wellbeing of humanity, as individuals and as a whole. He believed humankind capable of eliminating war, oppression, and poverty. He believed people capable of choosing goodness, for themselves, their families, their countries, and the global community. This is remarkable given his firsthand experience of the evils of Nazism and communism. He witnessed man’s inhumanity to man and rather than despair he became an ambassador of hope. This can only be explained by his firm belief in the redemptive power of Jesus Christ.
But even as we mourn the loss of Pope John Paul II, we rejoice with him that his earthly suffering has ended and he has met face-to-face the God he served so well.
+ John F. Kinney,
Bishop of the Diocese of St. Cloud
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Bishop Kinney offers prayers for Terri Schiavo and ailing Pope John Paul II
March 31, 2005
ST. CLOUD -- St. Cloud Bishop John F. Kinney today offered prayers for "the repose of the soul" of Terri Schindler-Schiavo, the brain damaged Florida woman who died earlier today, 12 days after her estranged husband ordered her feeding tube removed. Bishop Kinney prayed that "she will be at peace before the face of God," and prayed for Schiavo's family.
Bishop Kinney also offered prayers for the health of Pope John Paul II. Vatican officials reported today that the pope is fighting an infection and high fever.
"Withholding water and nutrition ended her life," said Bishop Kinney about Schiavo's death. "We must uphold the dignity and sanctity of human life, even in grave suffering. It is not all about our decisions around the quality of life, it is about the sanctity of life at all stages, from conception to natural death."
The Catholic Church teaches that food and water are ordinary means of care. Bishop Kinney noted that withholding food and water in Schiavo's case constituted "euthanasia by omission."
"People in the last stages of life have much to teach us and unique gifts to share," said Bishop Kinney. "It is not ours to decide when a human life is no longer worth continuing."
Bishop Kinney pointed to the example being set by Pope John Paul II. "The Holy Father has given us a powerful and poignant example of how to live in the midst of personal suffering and diminishment," he said. "The pope is giving witness to the dignity and sanctity of human life which he has championed his entire papacy."
© 2005 Diocese of Saint Cloud. All rights reserved.
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Experience the death and resurrection of Christ
March 24, 2005
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:
Beginning at sundown on Holy Thursday, the Church commences the Paschal Triduum. It is the heart of the entire liturgical year. The Second Vatican Council taught us:
Christ the Lord achieved his task of redeeming humanity and giving perfect glory to God, principally by the paschal mystery of his blessed passion, resurrection from the dead and glorious ascension, whereby “dying, he destroyed our death and rising, he restored our life.” (Sacrosanctum Concilium, 5)
A later document, “The General Norms for the Liturgical Year and Calendar,” emphasized:
“Therefore, the Easter Triduum of the passion and resurrection of Christ is the culmination of the entire liturgical year.”
Throughout our diocese and over the entire world this week, Christian people assemble together in parish communities. In the liturgy of these sacred three days, we pray and ponder as a community of believers, recalling the remarkable events of our salvation, how God is doing everything possible to save humankind.
The Thursday evening liturgy focuses on the Scriptures, the washing of the feet in humble service, and the sacrificial supper of the Eucharist of the Lord.
On Friday, usually during the hours when tradition indicates Jesus hung on the cross, the Church comes together again, very quietly, to hear Scripture readings and the sacred proclamation of the passion from St. John’s Gospel, to pray for the needs of the world and the Church, to reverence the holy cross on which hung our Savior, and to receive the body of Christ in communion.
Friday and Saturday are meant to be days when we free ourselves, as much as possible, from all other concerns in our lives. Free from work, free from food, free from noise and distractions, these are days when we are meant to be silent.
It is a relief to be quiet. As we ponder the death and resurrection of the Lord, there is not much else we really need to say to one another until the Easter Vigil. This Saturday is a “Blessed Sabbath.”
The Easter Vigil is called the “mother of all vigils.” We keep watch through the night, celebrating the resurrection of Christ in the sacraments.
The catechumens are baptized and other candidates, already baptized, are received into full communion with the Church. God lavishly pours forth the Holy Spirit on these Christians in confirmation.
We join with the entire Church in renewing our baptismal promises. Then, as one Body of Christ, we celebrate the Eucharist, proclaiming that “Christ has died, Christ is Risen, Christ will come again.”
The Vatican II renewal of the liturgy for Holy Week has truly enriched the entire Church. This is my favorite week of the Church year. I believe my life along with yours is being transformed a little more each year during Holy Week.
Truly celebrating the Paschal Triduum, in liturgy and in our own silence, helps us remember what Christ has called us to be in our lives.
If you have not had the opportunity to participate in the Easter Triduum liturgies lately, I invite you to come to a parish church near you. You will experience the death and resurrection of Christ. These liturgies will change your lives.
May you be filled with the joyful hope Christ gives us throughout this Easter season.
+ John F. Kinney
Bishop of the Diocese of St. Cloud
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Some are fasting and abstaining this Lent, not by choice
March 17, 2005
As Lent began five weeks ago, we heard the piercing words of Isaiah the prophet:
Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bond of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house,
when you see the naked, to cover them,
and not to hide yourself from your own kin? (58:6-7)
Last week, the bishops of Minnesota gathered to hear testimony from people of our state who have been severely impacted by the budget cuts imposed for the past two years. To read statistical reports about those of our neighbors who are suffering because of fiscal cuts is one thing; to see the faces of real people in suffering is quite another.
Sheila spoke to us of how she copes with her medical bills and co-payments after her MinnesotaCare health insurance coverage for low-income workers was reduced. An estimated 38,000 individuals lost health care coverage as a result of changes in income eligibility criteria for MinnesotaCare.
David spoke of his struggle to find affordable housing after catastrophic illness rendered him physically disabled, homeless and unemployed. He struggles to survive on $400 per month. Meanwhile, there are proposals to cut nearly 20 percent of state funding for housing-related programs this year.
Judith shared her husband's and her experience as parents of a disabled child. Previously available grants to assist parents of disabled children in caring for their children at home have been cut, in some cases significantly, while fees for services for these children have been raised substantially.
A former priest-chaplain at a state correctional institution, terminated from his position because of budget cuts, shared how pastoral care for the incarcerated is now severely limited, impacting the human and spiritual well-being of the inmates.
There are countless other stories of real people facing real challenges.
Recently, the bishops of Minnesota wrote a pastoral statement, “Sharing Our Blessings and Our Burdens.” For the benefit of so many people living “on the edge,” we bishops encouraged consideration of a just and equitable increase in taxes for the common good of all the people of Minnesota.
Our ancestors were willing to invest taxes that built the roads, that fostered education, that brought beauty and convenience to our lives. I believe we should be willing to consider an equitable tax increase that will appropriately fund the many programs that assist our people in need. To quote the bishops: “Because human needs require it and other resources are not available to meet these needs, we believe that it is right and proper to raise income taxes justly and equitably.”
These days, we are embracing our Lenten practices of fasting, abstinence and mortification voluntarily as a suitable preparation for Easter. Many of our neighbors have no choice but to fast and abstain and be mortified by the conditions in which they live. I believe Isaiah the prophet is speaking to us this Lent.
* * *
I cannot let this column conclude without expressing my appreciation to some members of our diocesan staff who are leaving the employment of the diocese. I want to thank Sister Nancy Bauer OSB, the vice chancellor; Sister Catherine Kallhoff SSND, the director of Catholic Education Ministries; and Mr. Joe Towalski, the editor of the St. Cloud Visitor. They have served our diocese with great distinction and devotion. I will miss them. On your behalf, and personally, I thank them and pray that God’s blessings will be with them as they accept new responsibilities.
+ John F. Kinney
Bishop of the Diocese of St. Cloud
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Building up the body of Christ in our diocese
February 3, 2005
Dear brothers and sisters in Christ:
During this Year of the Eucharist, the theme of our Annual Diocesan Appeal is “One Bread, One Body.” In his document on the Eucharist, “Stay With Us, Lord,” Pope John Paul II reminds us that “it is the one eucharistic bread which makes us one body. ... In the mystery of the Eucharist, Jesus builds up the church as a communion.” My recent ad limina visit with the Holy Father in Rome was a time to reaffirm our communion with the universal Church.
As members of the one body of Christ, we share together the hope of the Gospel. We are also united in service and love for one another as we reach out and share what God has given us. I witnessed this generosity in your response to the victims of the South Asia tsunami, and I thank you for your efforts to help them.
There are different needs right here in central Minnesota. Now in its 29th year, our Annual Diocesan Appeal has a strong tradition of providing ministries that assist parishes and reach out to all people of the diocese: children and teens, couples, single people, community elders and families.
You may have already received benefits from one or more of these vital ministries. Our Vocations Office, for example, assists people in their discernment to the priesthood, diaconate or religious life. The diocesan Planning Office assists parishes in preparing for the future. The Multicultural Ministries Office helps parishes to welcome people of all cultural backgrounds.
Your financial gift to the Annual Diocesan Appeal also helps fund the Office of Marriage and Family, which provides marriage preparation and enrichment opportunities to help people plan for and sustain their vocation of married life.
Every parish also has ill and elderly people unable to attend church for Sunday Mass. A financial gift to the Annual Appeal helps make it possible to locally produce a TV Mass each week that reaches many who are homebound.
These Annual Appeal ministries extend the work of Jesus Christ in our world today in ways that a parish on its own cannot. To support these works, I ask you to join me in making a financial gift to the Annual Diocesan Appeal that is proportionate to your income so that we may meet the many needs of our brothers and sisters, “all members of the body of Christ,” throughout the 16 counties of our diocese.
Your generosity provides the support necessary for these ministries to continue and grow. I pray your circumstances will enable you to make a financial commitment to support these ministries as part of your stewardship of God's gifts for 2005. A more detailed brochure and pledge card will be mailed to you by “Commitment Weekend,” Feb. 5-6.
+ John F. Kinney
Bishop of the Diocese of Saint Cloud
© 2005 Diocese of Saint Cloud. All rights reserved.