Dear Friends,
On Thursday of this past week we entered into a Year of Faith, which I marked with a beautiful evening of prayer, gathered together with representatives from throughout the diocese. The reflection I offered to those present was really intended for all in the diocese and so I share it with you here:
We are beginning the Year of Faith in the Catholic Church during October, the month traditionally dedicated to the Rosary.
Pope Benedict XVI formally entrusted the world Synod of Bishops and the Year of Faith to Mary during an October 4 visit to the Shrine of Our Lady of Loreto in Italy.
It is interesting to recall that another pope visited this same Marian shrine 50 years ago. Blessed John XXIII visited Loreto to entrust the Second Vatican Council to Mary’s care in 1962.
Those of us who are “cradle Catholics” — baptized as babies, raised in Catholic homes, educated in Catholic schools — may wonder why we should participate in the Year of Faith declared by Pope Benedict XVI.
We’re already believers, so this Year of Faith must be for other people, right?
Wrong!
In announcing the Year of Faith, the Holy Father said it is a “summons to an authentic and renewed conversion to the Lord, the One Savior of the world” (Porta Fidei, 6). In other words, the Year of Faith is an opportunity for all Catholics — even cradle Catholics — to experience a new conversion. It’s an opportunity to turn back to Jesus and enter into a deeper relationship with him.
The pope has described this conversion as opening the “door of faith.” This door was originally opened at our Baptism, but many of us weren’t aware of what was happening at that time.
During the Year of Faith we’re called to open it again, walk through it, and rediscover and renew our relationship with Christ and his Church.
To the editor:
During the Year of Faith we recall the Second Vatican Council. I respect the priests who persevered, held things together, and helped to implement the council. Many of these outstanding priests have died. We remember them each year at the Priests Assembly. Others are retired while some are still in active ministry.
The years after the council were challenging, yet graced times. However, priestly and religious vocations gradually decreased. Since 2000 in our diocese, ordinations have increased. In my opinion this happened because the Holy Spirit helped more Catholics to see and respond to the truth that “vocations are everyone’s business.”
Mother Church Rejoices! With his typically optimistic words, Pope John XXIII convened the Second Vatican Council on October 11, 1962. Today, we share that same joy as we commemorate the Fiftieth Anniversary of the Council that Pope John frequently referred to as “a new Pentecost.”
The first document issued by the Council was the Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. It was one of only four Constitutions (which are of the highest rank of Church teachings) issued by the Council. The goals of the entire Council are laid out in the first paragraph: to increase the vigor of people’s Christian life, to adapt those things which may be changed to the needs of our own times, to promote Christian unity, and to help all people come to know Christ in the Church.
Pope Benedict has declared a Year of Faith from October 11, 2012, to November 24, 2013, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Second Vatican Council.
MADISON — Last October, Pope Benedict XVI released his apostolic letter Porta Fidei (“The Door of Faith”) announcing a Year of Faith to begin for the Universal Church on October 11, 2012, and concluding on the Feast of Christ the King, November 24, 2013.
After almost two years of preparation, parishes in the Diocese of Madison are ready for the launch of the new Roman Missal on the first Sunday of Advent, Nov. 27.
Bishop George O. Wirz was in love — with the priesthood. When he celebrated his 25th anniversary as a priest in 1977, he told his parishioners at St. Bernard Parish in Madison, where he was the pastor, “The romance of the priesthood has never left me. I’m still in love.”
If I had asked him that question before he died, I’m sure he would have said the same thing. In fact, I did talk with him the week before he died. Since 2010 marked his 50th anniversary of being named a Monsignor and the 45th anniversary of the closing of the Second Vatican Council, we discussed setting up an interview to talk about those occasions.
In his usual humble way, Bishop Wirz said we should wait until after the holidays, when things slowed down. Although we weren’t able to meet for that interview, I know from previous conversations what he might have said.
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| This column is the bishop’s communication with the faithful of the Diocese of Madison. Any wider circulation reaches beyond the intention of the bishop. |
Dear Friends,
We are approaching, hard as it is to believe, the First Sunday of Advent 2010. On the First Sunday of Advent 2011 we shall begin to use the new translations of our liturgical prayers at all of our Masses throughout the diocese and throughout our country. The new translations are in fact translations into English, though they sound differently than the translations to which we have become accustomed since the Second Vatican Council. In the translations presently at use, certain Latin words are left untranslated, and certain sentences or parts of sentences are more a “paraphrase” than a formal translation.
The new translation is a formal translation from the Latin to the English. No Latin words are omitted in the translation and the rich biblical allusions in the original Latin are all restored. For example, when the priest elevates the host just before Communion the congregation will say, “Lord I am not worthy that you should enter under my roof.” In this we are reminded of and echo the part of the Centurion in the familiar Gospel passage (Mt 8:8), a reminder which is lost when we simply say, “Lord I am not worthy to receive you.”
