Hot off the press…

Nice to see our Detroit news outlets give a little ink to the bishops’ pilgrimage. WWJ had a chat with Archbishop Vigneron, and the following is currently on the Detroit Free Press website:

 

More Michigan Holy Men

It wasn’t a special day only for the bishops. A group of priests and seminarians from Michigan pose for a photo here, courtesy of Fr. Charlie Fox (who is the third one in from the left). The men accompanied the bishops to the Vatican. Included in the picture are Archdiocese of Detroit seminarians Bryan Shackett and James Grua, as well as Msgr. Daniel Gallagher, who use to teach at Sacred Heart Major Seminary.

Also, please know that Fr. Charlie has been kind enough to welcome blog visitors to his personal Facebook page. He’s been posting there throughout the Ad limina pilgrimage, and has some interesting insights and a great photo gallery. He’s got a lot of “likes” already, and you may like his posts, too.

Shaking Hands with the Vicar of Christ

Archbishop Vigneron shakes hands with Pope Benedict XVI in one of the photos captured by the Vatican newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano. See the rest of the post for photos of all the bishops with the Pope.

From the Quinquennial Report: Economic Crisis

Earlier today, Archbishop Vigneron indicated that he had spoken with the Holy Father in regards to the difficult economic realities of southeast Michigan — and said Pope Benedict was sympathetic to these realities. Even in the life of the Church, the economy is important. When it is down, the need is always greater. Through the Quinquennial Report, we recall the Church taking bold action with Cardinal Adam Maida leading the way with his pastoral letter, Christ Our Hope, written shortly before Archbishop Vigneron was named our chief shepherd in January 2009:

“When the economic crisis struck in 2008, the effects of poverty and unemployment in the metropolitan Detroit area, which had already had a substantial impact, began to significantly impact the middle class. Thus increased pressure was placed on those organizations which already provided assistance to people suffering from unemployment, foreclosures, homelessness and other effects of poverty. It became apparent the Church would need to play an important role in responding to the needs of the people. The collaboration of the Church in the Archdiocese of Detroit with many organizations and associations were crucial in our efforts to promote the dignity of every human person. On December 7, 2008, Cardinal Maida issued a pastoral letter on the economy entitled, Christ Our Hope.”

The report continues

Smiles!

This pose is taken with each group of bishops on their Ad limina visit, and provided by the Vatican’s newspaper, L’Osservatore Romano. From left: Auxiliary Bishop Jose Arturo Cepeda of Detroit; Auxiliary Bishop Donald F. Hanchon of Detroit; Bishop Joseph R. Cistone of Saginaw; Bishop Earl A. Boyea of Lansing; Bishop Walter A. Hurley of Grand Rapids; Archbishop Allen H. Vigneron of Detroit; Pope Benedict XVI; Bishop Bernard A. Hebda of Gaylord; Bishop Paul J. Bradley of Kalamazoo; Bishop Alexander K. Sample of Marquette; Auxiliary Bishop Francis R. Reiss of Detroit; and Auxiliary Bishop Michael J. Byrnes of Detroit.

My Friday batch of photos

 

Bishop Don Hanchon took this photo of me, but I have plenty of my own to share, so keep reading…

A day to remember

It’s Friday afternoon and it’s snowing in Rome and the city is paralyzed.  And we are enjoying a snow day here at Archbishop Tobin’s apartment. I have posted some photos that I took this evening.  There were so many highlights to this day on Friday.

We began morning Mass at the alter over the body of Blessed John Paul II, Bishop Blair from Toledo presided. And it is St. Blase Day so he blessed our throats.

Surrounded as we are by a cloud witnesses — John Paul the II among them, and of course Peter and Paul, whose tombs we visited over the last several days — the message that keeps coming through is that the relationship with Jesus that is the basis for our faith and ministry — for us as Catholics, but especially as shepherds and Bishops — might lead to death.  It’s a sobering thought. But yet I just feel so stirred by the liturgy that we celebrated together.

I’m getting to know the Michigan and Ohio Bishops much better. They really are such fine brothers.

This morning at the altar of John Paul, I had promised before leaving Detroit

Snow Missing from Detroit this year Falls in Rome

So uncommon is weather like this in Rome that, with the several inches that accumulated over lunchime, most of our afternoon meetings were cancelled. I felt like I was back home on a “Snow Emergency Day.”

Friday’s Excitement: Mass at JPII’s Altar, Feast of St. Blase, Audience with Pope Benedict…

Lots of excitement felt by all of us today: Mass at the Altar of Blessed John Paul II in St. Peter’s at 7:15am. Bishop Leonard Blair of Toledo (“the Toledo in Ohio” he clarified to one of the Curial prefects the other day, distinguishing it from the famous Spanish city).

It was the Feast of St. Blase, so Bp. Blair blessed our throats–a timely sacramental as it turns out: during our morning meeting at the Cong. for Education, the drizzle changed to light flakes of snow. By the time our Audience with the Pope ended shortly
After 1:00pm, it was snowing heavily–a very rare occurrence here in Rome.

Here are Bishop Bernard Hebda of Gaylord and Bishop Frank Reiss after the Papal Audience. There are several more photos on this post, so keep reading! 

A word on freedom

On Thursday morning before our mid-day meal, Archbishop Vigneron, accompanied by Bp. Byrnes, Bp. Blair, Bp. Cistone, Bp. Sample and myself went inside the Apostolic Palace to meet with Abp. Dominique Mamberti (charged with the Vatican’s Relations with States) to ask for his counsel in addressing the serious matter of freedom of conscience for Catholics and other people of faith in light of the proposed policy of the U. S. Dept. of Health and Human Services requiring the inclusion of “reproductive services” (including contraceptive and abortion-related ones) in all plans for universal Health Care. I hope the impact of this on all Americans, and on our witness before the people of the world, has gotten wide press coverage, because it deserves to!

Abp. Mamberti spoke with admiration for the United States’ reputation worldwide for supporting freedom of religion and conscience…and for the weight of U. S. policy in world opinion and world politics. The Vatican’s diplomacy does not see matters such as this in terms of political parties, because the impact of such a proposed policy are

A Light-filled Meeting with the Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI

Good afternoon everybody. It’s early in the afternoon here on Friday in Rome. It’s actually a snowy day — something that only happens once every few years in the City of Rome.

We’ve just come back from the audience with the Holy Father, all of us bishops from Michigan. It was a wonderful experience. We talked about really all the themes that are important in the pastoral life of the Catholic Church in our diocese. The Holy Father was very sympathetic when we told him about the economic troubles of our region. He assured us of his prayers.

We spent a good bit of time talking about the liturgy. The Holy Father encouraged all of us to do whatever we can to be sure that your experience of the liturgy is an experience of the Church as she exists in every age.

Throughout all of his remarks, and also a theme in our conversation with him, was the New Evangelization, which gives us all great hope for the future – especially the evangelization of families.

And through it all, the Holy Father expressed his support for all of us, his prayers for us bishops and our people. We assured him of your prayers. And the meeting was filled with the sort of Light that comes from faith in Jesus Christ.

So, again, thanks to all of you for your communion in prayer, and be assured of what a blessing it is that we belong to the Church, and that Peter continues to be our leader in the person of Benedict XVI.

Praised be Jesus Christ, now and forever!

Looking to Blessed John Paul II for Moral Courage

Good morning everybody, happy feast of St. Blase. In a few hours I’ll be with the other bishops of Michigan and we’ll have our audience with the Holy Father. When that’s done I will have a report to make to you about that, to tell you how that went.

But already this morning what I’d like to mention to you is that we bishops of Ohio and Michigan had the chance this morning to offer the holy sacrifice of the Mass at the altar built over the tomb of Blessed John Paul II . And my particular prayer this morning was that I would, and all of us would be, like Blessed John Paul really courageous shepherds of the Church in the face of the challenges that confront all of us, not just bishops but the whole people of God today. Not least are the threats to our own religious liberty.

Pope John Paul was a great advocate of the dignity of the human person, and the right of the Church to speak the truth. In the face of the administration’s edict demanding that we violate our consciences — and in fact violate the moral law — so that we should have to pay for abortifications, unjust sterilizations, and contraception, we all need courage. And I prayed at Mass this morning for the intercession of Blessed John Paul so that all of us would have the courage to stand up for the truth. Not just because it’s our right and we need to be vindicated — but because we’re patriotic and our country needs our voice, our witness to the truth for us to survive as a free and just nation.

So please keep praying for me. You’re all in my prayers, and I look forward to writing later today after our audience with the Pope.

Continuing Our Spiritual Bouquet

Those who have been following along for a while know that, upon meeting with the Holy Father in just a few hours, Archbishop Vigneron and his fellow Detroit bishops will be presenting Pope Benedict XVI with a Spiritual Bouquet from the faithful of the Archdiocese of Detroit.

While a spiritual bouquet in itself is something intangible, the pope will be given a document that lists many of the prayer and service offerings that you have communicated through this blog since early in January. Hundreds of Masses, thousands of Rosaries, hundreds of hours in front of the Blessed Sacrament, countless daily prayers, outreach to the needy, anonymous good deeds for neighbors, prayers and songs from school children, and time of blessed reflection from avowed religious — just to name some of what our spiritual bouquet is. It has grown greatly this week, and hopefully will continue to grow as our bishops continue their journey, and even as they return home next week.

Perhaps some in the Archdiocese of Detroit are

Meeting the Pope, remembering a friend, and a brief note on Christmas decorations

We are scheduled for our meeting with the Holy Father at 10:30 on Friday morning.

Bishop Kevin Britt (1944-2004)

As I am preparing for the visit, I am very much aware that Bishop Kevin Britt — one of our former auxiliaries And former Bishop of Grand Rapids — is no longer with us. He died just one week after he returned from Rome at our last Ad limina visit in 2004.  He was in my prayers at Mass this Morning.

Each of us will have an opportunity to share with the Holy Father something about our Ministry.  I will share my experiences with the Muslim/Catholic Dialogue.

Also, I wish to share with those who keep their Christmas decorations up until Feb. 2, that the creche in St. Peter’s Square is still up.

You are in my prayers.

Ten More Thursday photos…

This evening at St. Peter’s, there was a Solemn Vespers with Pope Benedict. Our host in Rome, for Bishop Reiss and myself, is Archbishop Joseph Tobin — Detroit native, former pastor of Most Holy Redeemer, and “Redemptorist Extraordinaire.” He now is the Secretary of the Vatican Congregation for Religious and Consecrated Life. He’s pictured here with a Trappist monk and member of his staff. Archbishop Tobin is the one on the left. They had just come from