Blessings from Rome

Hi everbody. I’m so happy to be able to greet you from Rome. We had a safe and uneventful trip over, which is the best way to travel

I had the opportunity already this mornign to offer Mass. Today’s the anniversary of my installation as the archbishop of Detroit, and while I would have been happy to celebrate it at home, offering Mass here in Rome for all of you  was a great blessing. Rome is always a homecoming for all of us. Because it’s the place of St. Peter, the place of St. Paul — the place we all belong because of our communion with the Catholic Church and especially  with the Holy Father the pope

So please continue to keep me in your prayers. I mean this afternoon to visit some of the tombs of the other holy men and women who have lived in Rome, and I hope to be able to visit the tomb of St. Philip Neri.

God bless all of you and I hope you have a great Sunday.

A bountiful bouquet for the Holy Father’s intentions

It’s difficult, and somewhat unimportant, to quantify with precision just how many prayers have been added to the Spiritual Bouquet for the intentions of our Holy Father. Nevertheless, those of you following along this important pilgrimage may find it encouraging. To date, we have had nearly 100 pledges of prayers and good works dedicated to Pope Benedict XVI’s intentions through this blog and to the call-in number at the Archdiocese of Detroit. More than 130 Masses have been pledged for the pope’s intentions, and literally thousands of Rosaries (more than 3,000 were pledged by the Children’s Rosary Army). More than 100 hours will be spent in front of the Blessed Sacrament in Adoration. Hundreds of other prayers, novenas and other devotionals also have been and will be prayed for the Holy Father’s intentions.

Schools and youth ministries have also pledged acts of kindness and volunteer works, along with daily prayers for the pope’s intentions. Students at St. Paul on the Lake, for example, pray daily and have even made a Rosary book of intentions. And Sacred Heart Youth Ministry is dedicating their service to the needy in the inner city through the Peanut butter and Jelly mobile soup kitchen ministry.

It is our hope as a local Church that our bouquet is full and beautiful before God, and is a show to him and to the Holy Father our love and care for our Catholic Church.

His grace is sufficient for us

In the church of Santa Maria del Popolo stands a striking portrait of St Paul’s encounter with the risen Jesus on the road to Damascus:

http://www.artbible.info/art/large/426.html

St Paul lies in the foreground with his arms outstretched toward the light emanating from above, presumably from Jesus. Dominating the frame, however, is the figure of a horse from which, we infer, Paul fell when Christ appeared and spoke to him the words, “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting me?”

One of my colleagues at the seminary delights in contending that there was no horse; and, indeed, none is mentioned in either of the accounts in the Acts of the Apostles. Though perhaps absent from the historical scene, the horse serves other purposes in the painting. In the Psalms the horse is a symbol of strength, especially in battle (Ps 33:17); and in a prayer for the king, the psalmist declares Israel’s trust in the power of the Lord, “Some rely on chariots, others on horses, but we on the name of the Lord our God.”

Early Reports to Rome

The oldest report to Rome from the Archdiocese of Detroit (then the Diocese of Detroit) is from 1877. The copy retained in the Archives is six pages long, written in beautiful script, and entirely in Latin. The pages were sewn together with a soft cover; the original would have been presented to Pope Pius IX.

As time went on, the reports grew longer, and by 1895 they were typewritten.  It was not until John Cardinal Dearden sent the Quinquennial Report to Rome in 1974 that the Holy See received news about the Archdiocese of Detroit in English.

Preparing for a trip of faith

Dear Brothers and Sisters of the Archdiocese of Detroit,

With less than a week to go before leaving for Rome for my first visit “Ad Limina,” I want to share my excitement and hopes for this very special moment in the life of the Archdiocese.  As the Archbishop has written, such a visit takes place every five years…and actually it has been almost seven years since the last such visit.

The Ad Limina is an opportunity for us to take stock of the life of this local Church as we make a report to the Holy Father and the Roman Congregations on what has happened over these past years.  It is not so much just taking stock of the activity of the Holy Spirit here, but focusing our energies on the tasks that lie ahead, and noting—for ourselves, I think, and not just for those with whom we share these insights—the trends in Catholic life here.  So, we examine our life not just in the statistics and trends that emerge from the reports, but also mark a way forward.

My hope is that our time for prayer together at the tombs of Peter and Paul, and at the other basilicas of Rome, will help us place our lives and ministry as bishops in a wider, deeper context—which is the context of faith.  Each time I have been to Rome (and there have been only four or five times), I am always surprised at the new hope I receive.  Seeing the crowds of people from all over the world, and getting to meet some of these folks personally, reinforces for me the hope that the Lord is truly leading His Church.  As diverse as we are, we are one family!  Hearing what is happening in Asia and Africa or parts of Europe or Latin America helps me understand how the same trends, the same challenges, are ours here in Detroit.  Better still, our “one Lord, one faith, one Baptism” energizes us to understand and face those challenges.  At the end of the day, we are brothers and sisters facing them with the power of the Spirit—who sometimes moves in surprising ways!