Saturday, November 23, 2013
Greetings in the Love of The Lord from Indianapolis!
Praised be
Jesus Christ! Now and forever. Amen.
As a
newly-ordained priest back in 1971 in my first pastoral assignment to St.
Sebastian Parish in the North Hills of the Diocese of Pittsburgh, I was
assigned to be the priest in charge of CYO (which stands for Catholic Youth
Organization). I have to admit that at
first, I was a bit intimidated; however, that assignment set me on a path of
particular love for, appreciation of, and commitment to the "young
Church" that has been an important part of my ministry as a priest, and
now as a bishop.
Forty plus
years later, I find myself here at the NCYC Conference in Indianapolis in the
midst of close to 25,000 young people and adult chaperones/youth moderators
from all over the country who have sacrificed a lot to come here for three days to
focus on and celebrate who we are as Catholics and beloved Children of
God. Among those nearly 25,000 were
close to 90 young people and adults from the Diocese of Kalamazoo. I was so thrilled to see all these smiling, enthused, faith-filled young people
from our Local Church in our Diocese, and to watch them become completely
involved in the excitement and energy that fills the huge spaces of the Indiana
Convention Center and the Lucas Oil Stadium.
In addition to that, I was so pleased to find myself joined with a large
number of other bishops as well as hundreds of priests, deacons, religious
women and men, and committed adults, both married and single, who also
sacrificed a lot to be here because they share that same passion and commitment
to the Young Church.
As I
mentioned, the main experience I saw over these three days is that of LIFE----fully
alive young people who are still growing into the people God has called them to
be, and all that comes from that: noise,
constant movement, excitement, playfulness, joy, exploration, and most
especially, "wonder and awe" in the face of new discoveries of
themselves, of the Catholic Faith, and their relationship with our Loving
God. These same young people who love to
dress in funny hats, toss the beach balls down the hallways, and eat incredible
amounts of junk food, are the same kids who are falling more deeply in love
with the God Who loves them, coming to a deeper understanding of what it means
to be members of the Body of Christ and
the Catholic Church, and who fall to their knees in silent reverence in the
Presence of the Blessed Sacrament during the Eucharistic Prayer of the Mass or
during the Eucharistic Adoration at the Holy Hours.
This morning,
the final day of this great gathering, the entire delegation from our Diocese
came together to celebrate Mass and to share breakfast before everyone began
the grueling schedule of this last day.
This gathering, as well as the coordination of all the details and
arrangements to get everyone safely here, and back to Kalamazoo, has gone so
well thanks to Mr. Tim McNamara, the Associate Director for Youth and Young
Adult Ministry, and Ms. Lisa Irwin, the former Director and currently Associate
Director for the Sanctity of Human Life.
I am very grateful to them, and all who worked with them, to make this
experience for these young people of our Diocese a reality. For me, our celebration of the Holy Mass this
morning, joined by Father Chris Ankley who concelebrated the Mass with me, was
a beautiful expression of our relationship as Bishop, priests and members of
the Faithful, united together in our strong Catholic Faith. We should all be very encouraged that the
Young Church is alive and well, both here in our Diocese of Kalamazoo, and
throughout the Church in the United States.
Faithfully
yours in Christ,
+ Bishop Paul
J. Bradley
S
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