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.

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.

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.”

What the artist portrays, then, is the complete upheaval Paul experienced through meeting the risen Lord Jesus. He was knocked off of his prideful perch of reliance on what he would later call “a righteousness of my own based upon the law” (Phil 3:9) and offered a new foundation for his life: faith in Jesus Christ. Thus, from his new lowliness the soon-to-be apostle reaches out to the only strength he will rely on for the rest of his life: “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2Cor 12:9)

As we travel to Rome in the next few days, we will hold these words in our hearts and pray for the on-going conversion necessary in the life of every Christian to reject self-reliance and self-sufficiency and to walk in the only authentic confidence available: “I can do all things in Him who strengthens me.” (Phil 4:13)

The painting from Santa Maria del Popolo

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.

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!

Last September, Bishop Byrnes and Bishop Cepeda and I were in Rome  for “Bishops’ School,” as we called it, along with 114 other bishops ordained within the previous year, representing 33 different countries.  Twelve of our brother bishops represented the Oriental Churches.  We celebrated Mass at the Tomb of Peter, visited the Sistine Chapel in small groups, without the usual crowds.  One morning we visited the Holy Father at Castel Gandolfo, his summer residence, and met him briefly, to greet him personally and shake his hand.  I remember telling him my name and saying I was from Detroit, and saying that I brought him all our prayers and best wishes.  He looked me directly in the eye, smiling, and said, “…and I give you all my blessings!”  As we explored the grounds afterwards, we were a bit like school kids on a picnic, posing in small groups for pictures and laughing.

This time, we will visit several of the Vatican dicasteries, or commissions, with some matters to present.  Chief among them, for me, will be our visit to the Congregation for the Saints, where we will—as Bishops from Michigan and Ohio—present our request for the Beatification of Fr. Solanus Casey, Capuchin, and ask that Bishop Frederick Baraga, the “Snowshoe Priest” of northern Michigan and the Upper Peninsula, be declared Venerable.  Presenting your prayers and works of charity in a “Spiritual Bouquet” to the Holy Father will most certainly be another highlight.  Pope Benedict, in the context of our visit, is not someone I see as a “boss,” but as a spiritual father and wise older brother.  Prayer is the best kind of link to him and to his ministry to the worldwide Church for all of us representing the Church in Detroit.

Along with Bishop Frank Reiss, I will be staying for the week or so in Rome at the residence of Archbishop Joe Tobin, a friend and fellow former pastor of Most Holy Redeemer Parish.  We will undoubtedly share Detroit stories!  I will be able to repay the loan of some Euro he got for me from a Vatican Bank ATM to pay for my cab to the airport last time…!

Naturally, I go as a brother with the Bishops of Michigan and Ohio, and look forward to getting to know all of them better.  I expect time for some prayer, some serious discussion…and, some laughter over a meal or two.  During these days in Rome, I will be thinking of folks from home, my family and the various parish families where I have served.  I promise that I will take my prayers for you as I walk the footsteps of the Apostles and Martyrs of Rome.

More later!

+Bishop Don Hanchon

Coming at the start of an election year, Pope Benedict’s words were clearly relevant to American politics, a connection he made explicit by mentioning threats to “that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion.”

The pope said that many of the visiting bishops had told him of “concerted efforts” against the “right of conscientious objection … to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices” — an apparent reference to proposals by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, opposed by the U.S. bishops, that all private health insurance plans cover surgical sterilization procedures and artificial birth control.

In response to such threats, Pope Benedict said, the Church requires an “engaged, articulate and well-formed Catholic laity” with the courage and critical skills to articulate the “Christian vision of man and society.” He said that the education of Catholic laypeople is essential to the “new evangelization,” an initiative that he has made a priority of his pontificate.

Certainly the Archdiocese of Detroit has some of its own experience in the new evangelization, an idea pushed hard by Pope John Paul II and taken to heart at Detroit’s seminary, which has a program focused on the topic. That may well come up when our bishops visit with His Holiness.

From his office in the chancery in downtown Detroit, Archbishop Vigneron records a brief YouTube video to the faithful using an iPad tablet, held by Jeremy Adragna from the archdiocese's digital media office.

Click here for a YouTube message from Archbishop Vigneron

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

In a little more than a week, along with the other bishops of Michigan and Ohio, I will be on my way for our “Ad limina” Visit – the pilgrimage to Rome required of all diocesan bishops at least every five years.  The official days for our visit are 1-6 February.  This trip, while it has several distinct components, is basically a pilgrimage to strengthen the bonds of our unity with our Holy Father the Pope.

Let me make a brief remark about each of the components and then go on to reflect with you on the meaning of this pilgrimage, because the significance of its meaning is the reason I am writing this letter.

The visit has three principal elements.  First, we bishops go to pray at the tombs of the Apostles Peter and Paul; in fact, we will offer there the Holy Eucharist, the sacrifice by which Christ established and maintains the communion that binds us together in his Mystical Body.  Second, we will meet with heads of Vatican offices – what are often thought of as the “cabinet departments” which assist Pope Benedict in his governance of the Church universal – in order to discuss matters of mutual concern for advancing the good of the People of God.  And third, we will have an audience with the Holy Father to hear what is on his mind and in his heart as our Chief Shepherd – Peter-for-us-today.

As I mentioned above, the whole point of this pilgrimage is to reaffirm and strengthen our communion with the Pope, the Bishop of Rome. And this communion concerns not just me as a bishop, but you as members of the local Church entrusted to my care.  Your communion in life and faith with your bishop, and my communion with the Pope mean that you and I share the same life of grace as does Pope Benedict. That’s important because he is the successor of St. Peter as Christ’s Vicar.  To be in union with Pope Benedict is to be in union with Peter.  To be in this communion is our guarantee that what you and I believe is what Peter and Paul and the other Apostles knew and confessed about Jesus.  Our communion with the Bishop of Rome, the leader of the local Church where St. Peter and St. Paul were martyred for the faith, is a sort of “seal of authentication” that we belong to the one same community – that the Apostles are truly our fathers, and through our fellowship with them we have full fellowship  with the Lord Jesus who appointed them his ambassadors.

As you follow along on this “virtual pilgrimage,” I will have more to share with you here, but for now I want to affirm that in going to Rome as the pastor of our community, I bring all of you with me in spirit.  I will assure the Holy Father of your deep love and loyalty. I ask that you accompany me with your thoughts and prayers – especially your prayers: prayers for His Holiness, prayers for his clergy and people in his Diocese of Rome, prayers for the Archdiocese of Detroit, prayers for the whole Catholic Church throughout the world.

Sincerely yours in Christ,

The Most Rev. Allen H. Vigneron

Archbishop of Detroit

Chancellor Michael Trueman and Archivist Heidi Christein display the Quinquennial Report and several of the documents that have been sent with it to the Vatican.

As Chancellor of the Archdiocese of Detroit, Michael Trueman had the hefty responsibility of assembling the Quinquennial Report for February’s ad limina visit between Pope Benedict and Detroit’s bishops. Recently, Joe Kohn, the Archdiocese of Detroit’s public relations director, asked Mr. Trueman a few questions about the report:

As the Chancellor, what is your role in the archdiocese? And what are your responsibilities in regards to the Quinquennial Report?

Though the role of chancellor has taken on different tasks in many different dioceses, fundamentally the role of the chancellor is to be the archbishop’s notary, his secretary, and his archivist. So, when I go about my work, those are the things I have my first attention to.

Being the archivist in title, and notary, and even secretary, it would fall upon the chancellor traditionally to prepare the Quinquennial Report for the archbishop — for his review and agreement with and approval of, so that it can be sent to the Holy See in advance of his visit.

What is the Quinquennial Report? What goes into it?

The content is defined by the Holy See. The Congregation for Bishops give the direction as to what is to be reported on, and that takes shape in 22 chapters.

The first couple of chapters are heavily statistically oriented, it situates our leadership, our tribunal activities, our central services structure. It moves from there into more thematic focus of catechetics, Catholic education, evangelization of culture, social justice – these sorts of things. In each of those chapters, the Holy See – the Congregation of Bishops – gives directions as to on what topics are to be covered. For instance on the chapter on Catholic education, we covered our seminaries, our Catholic colleges, and our Catholic schools – both high school and elementary.

Because those are the topics the Holy See asked you to cover.

Right.

Really the Quinquennial is a snapshot of what’s been happening in that period of time — and for us that’s from Jan. 1, 2004 through and including Dec. 31, 2010. So we’re already a year behind. The Archbishop and the auxiliary bishops will be visiting in February, and won’t be talking about all the things that have been happening in the last year.

How long have bishops been doing ad limina visits?

For a very long time. According to our notes, the modern period of ad limina visits began in 1911. So it was standardized in the early 1900s. But the tradition’s beginning dates back to 1585.

Does the pope actually read the Quinquennial Report?

I don’t think it’s humanly possible for the pope to read every Queinquennial Report – but he is definitely presented the reports and I wouldn’t rule out the possibility that he reads portions thereof. There’s no question about that in my mind.

He’s got offices in the Vatican that surely would review portions of the report, according to their competency. For instance, the Congregation for Clergy would be interested in reading the chapter on Clergy Life and Ministry; the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life is going to be interested in reading the chapter on Institutes of Consecrated Life.

There’s a response that comes from the Holy See after the ad limina visit, and there are observations about the report.

We’ve obviously seen such responses to our prior ad limina visits — what do these responses typically entail?

They’re not marching orders. They’re just observations and suggestions. The spirit of it is not punitive, it’s not disciplinary. It’s really, ‘Thank you, we know that was a heck of a lot of work, and when you do it next time, it would help us to know more about this or about that.’

In the bishops’ visit with the Holy Father, he will share his own observations about the Church here in Michigan and Ohio based on the content of the Quinquennial Reports from those dioceses.

How much work goes into assembling the Quinquennial Report?

There’s the physical time you spend at a desk and computer composing it, there’s the time you spend collecting the information, and then there’s just the anxiety time of wanting to get it together. And it would be wrong to say that it was just (Archdiocesan Archivist) Heidi Christein and I that put it together, because we relied heavily upon the departmental staff to gather tremendous amounts of detail and data.

So it’s a tremendous amount of work. It’s hard to quantify just how many hours went into it. But it’s a 150 page document, of some pretty thick stuff. There’s not a whole lot of fluff – it’s pretty efficient in what it’s reporting on. And I’m sure we missed some events. There were some that, deliberately, we couldn’t put anything in – the renovation of one of our churches, or the opening of a new parish hall for example. Those are major events in the life of a parish, but we just can’t put it in the Quinquennial Report.

Is this report public? Can a Catholic go and read it?

The rule that we apply for public research of our information is that we wouldn’t open these Quinquennial Reports for public research until the ordinary who issued it has passes away.

Internally, the leadership and staff of the archdiocese use those documents as a snapshot of history.

How might you say the Quinquennial Report relates to your average Catholic?

They’re mentioned in one form or another in the report in that they’re either counted as a Catholic within the archdiocese of Detroit, or they’re counted as a catechist or lector or Eucharistic minister, or part of an event that was reported, the installation Mass of Archbishop Vigneron to the funeral Mass of Bishop Schoenherr.

The report is principally a means of dialogue between Pope Benedict and Archbishop Vigneron about Christ’s Church here in Detroit. It’s a tool of communication for the two of them. It’s not a report for a performance evaluation. It’s a snapshot of our life – our successes and challenges – sharing this with the pastor of the universal Church as a sign of our communion with him. That’s kind of the spirit of what’s happening.

I have learned, along with many of you, that the ad limina visit refers primarily to the pilgrimage to the tombs of Ss. Peter and Paul.

While I look forward to meeting with the Holy Father and the interviews with many of the Vatican offices, the Masses at St Peter’s and St Paul Outside the Walls most capture my imagination. My thoughts return, for instance, to the last time I visited the tomb of the Apostle Paul. It was an afternoon in late May 2003, the day before the defense of my doctoral dissertation. I had compared and contrasted two passages (Phil 3:7-11 and 2Cor 4:7-15) in which St Paul portrays the dynamic of dying and rising in the everyday life of the Christian.

I came to pray for his help to represent the truth of the Gospel boldly the next day. I guess I figured that he had plenty of experience in the matter of “defense,” having stood before the Sanhedrin, the Roman governors Felix and Festus, King Agrippa, and even the magistrates of Rome. In that light, a couple of professors would be no problem at all. I was not disappointed.

I am eager, therefore, to returning to his tomb to seek his help anew in the proclamation and defense of the Gospel.

But the principal pastor of the Archdiocese of Detroit – and of each one of its parish churches – is Archbishop Allen Vigneron. He’s been our pastor since January 2009, when he assumed the role from now archbishop-emeritus, Cardinal Adam Maida. In turn, the archbishop has four auxiliary bishops – Bishop Francis Reiss, Bishop Donald Hanchon, Bishop Michael Byrnes and Bishop Arturo Cepeda.

Most people reading this blog likely know of the bishops. Some know the bishops personally – they do visit parishes within the archdiocese quite regularly, oftentimes to administer the sacrament of Confirmation, and simply to pay weekend visits. Others know of them.

Since we’ll be hearing from the bishops today and in the coming days, it might be good to get to know them just a little bit — or receive a brief re-introduction, as the case may be — first.

Archbishop Vigneron is the first Archbishop of Detroit that’s actually from the Detroit area. He grew up in Anchorville at Immaculate Conception Parish. He was named an auxiliary bishop himself by Cardinal Maida and served as rector of Sacred Heart Major Seminary before going off to become the Bishop of Oakland, Calif. You can read his biography and a whole lot of articles about him here.

Bishop Francis Reiss is our longest-serving auxiliary bishop, and until last May was actually our only auxiliary bishop under the retirement age. He’s from Detroit, having grown up in the city at St. Stephen’s Parish. Prior to becoming a bishop in 2003, he had had a variety of assignments in parishes, campus ministry, canon law and education, including being director of the Archdiocese of Detroit’s education department. He’s the only bishop representing Detroit on this year’s ad limina pilgrimage that also represented Detroit on the ad limina visit of 2004. Read his biography here.

Bishop Donald Hanchon, who grew up in Wayne at St. Mary’s Parish, is best known for his inner city ministry and ministry with Hispanics. The pastor of St. Joseph in Erie, St. Gabriel in Detroit, and Holy Redeemer Parish in Detroit, he was named a bishop last year. Prior to being named a bishop, Bishop Hanchon had already been helping Archbishop Vigneron administer pastoral care to a region within the archdiocese. He was made a bishop in May 2011. Read more about him here.

Bishop Michael Byrnes had been serving as vice rector of Sacred Heart Major Seminary when he was named an auxiliary bishop along with Bishop Hanchon last year. He’d grown up in St. Mary’s of Redford Parish in Detroit and later attended Detroit Catholic Central High School. Bishop Byrnes was a late vocation in comparison to the other bishops. He was ordained a priest in 1996, though he’d long been inspired by his great uncle Fr. Remy McCoy to go into a life of ministry. A scholar of Scripture, Bishop Byrnes was instrumental in the spiritual formation of many of our priests who have come out of the seminary in the past few years… and some who have yet to be ordained, as well. Learn more about Bishop Byrnes here.

Finally, Bishop Arturo Cepeda came to us from the Archdiocese of San Antonio. At his ordination on May 5 of last year, he became the youngest bishop in the United States. He also become the first Mexican-born bishop in Michigan (and for the many who haven’t forgotten our Bishop Daniel Flores, currently of Brownsville, Texas, Bishop Flores was born in Texas to Mexican parents). Bishop Cepeda was vice rector of Assumption Seminary in San Antonio when he was named a bishop here. He’s also very much a media-familiar priest – he hosted a bilingual Catholic talk show in San Antonio, and you can see him on the Archdiocese of Detroit’s YouTube channel, as well. Read more about Bishop Cepeda here.

Stay tuned. You’ll be hearing from the bishops themselves next…