Bishops' Schedules: Bishop Robert C. Morlino Thursday, April 20, 2006 5:00 p.m. -- Preside and preach at Celebration of the Eucharist, Red Mass, St. Patrick Church, Madison Saturday, April 22, 2006 4:00 p.m. -- Concelebrate and Preach at Celebration of the Eucharist, Knights of Columbus-Wisconsin State Convention, Kalahari Resort, Wisconsin Dells Sunday, April 23, 2006 6:00 p.m. -- Preach at Catechetical Dinner, Bishop O'Connor Pastoral Center, Madison Tuesday, April 25, 2006 10:00 a.m. -- Open Wisconsin Senate with Prayer, Wisconsin State Capitol, Madison 7:00 p.m. -- Preside and Preach at Sacrament of Confirmation, St. Augustine Parish, Footville, and St. Paul Parish, Evansville, at Footville Wednesday, April 26, 2006 7:00 p.m. -- Preside and Preach at Sacrament of Confirmation, Holy Rosary Parish, Darlington, and St. Joseph Parish, Argyle, at Darlington Bishop William H. Bullock Saturday, April 22, 2006 5:00 p.m. -- Preside and Preach at Sacrament of Confirmation, St. Albert the Great Parish, Sun Prairie Sunday, April 23, 2006 1:00 p.m. -- Preside and Preach at Sacrament of Confirmation, St. Patrick Parish, Cottage Grove Monday, April 24, 2006 12:00 p.m. -- Preside and Preach a Celebration of the Eucharist, Bishop O'Connor Catholic Pastoral Center, Madison Wednesday, April 26, 2006 7:00 p.m. -- Preside and Preach at Sacrament of Confirmation, St. Victor Parish, Monroe Bishop George O. Wirz Saturday, April 22, 2006 5:00 p.m. -- Preside and Preach at Sacrament of Confirmation, St. John the Baptist Parish, Muscoda Sunday, April 23, 2006 10:15 a.m. -- Preside and Preach at Sacrament of Confirmation, Immaculate Heart of Mary Parish, Monona Tuesday, April 25, 2006 12:00 p.m. -- Preside and Preach at Celebration of the Eucharist, Bishop O'Connor Catholic Pastoral Center, Madison

Priesthood: Responsibilities of priests and lay faithful

		Under the Gospel Book + Bishop Robert C. Morlino

Following is an edited text of Bishop Robert C. Morlino's homily at the Chrism Mass celebrated on April 11 at St. Maria Goretti Church, Madison.

Not surprisingly I have three points tonight. The first point I want to address to my brother priests on this special celebration of our ordained priesthood where the Church asks you to renew your priestly commitment. And the second point will be addressed to God's beloved, faithful people, who are also called to the priesthood of all believers. You are called to be priests to the world. And then the third point is a kind of a wrap-up.

Forever His: Priesthood of all believers

Just yesterday I received a letter from a seminarian and we have the best seminarians that there are, we really do, but it was not from one of them. Any one of them could have written it; it was a great letter. Never in my life did I ever receive a letter from anyone that was signed before his name, "Forever His." Meaning, of course, forever Christ's. When we think about the ordained priesthood and we think about the priesthood of all believers, which are so different as they differ in kind not only in degree, but we can sum both of them up in those words, forever His.

That's exactly who we are and I was thrilled that that seminarian does not have an identity crisis, he knows exactly who he is, he is who we are, forever His. I just want to reflect on that, first with regard to the priests and our ordained ministries as brothers, and so for the first part I'm going to talk to my brother priests and you can overhear and then in the second part I'll talk to you about our common priesthood.

We have two lines in the scriptures that help us to understand, "forever His," two lines at least. The first one is from the second reading, "Every eye will see him, even of those who pierced him." And the second line from the first reading is, "All nations will look to us and they will acknowledge us as blessed." All nations will look to us, our communion in Christ in the Catholic Church. All nations will look to us and they will call us blessed. It doesn't seem like that's the way it is at the moment, but that's where the Lord wants us to be and He'll bring us there.

Can't separate the Church from Christ

Every eye will see Him, even of those who pierced Him. Now Pope Benedict has been spending a lot of time recently at his Wednesday audiences retelling the teaching of the Catholic Church, the truth, that we can never separate the Church from Jesus Christ, there can never be any wedge between Jesus Christ and His body the Church. The Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ is the soul of His Church. So when we say, "every eye will see Him, see Jesus Christ, even of those who pierced Him," we're saying that every eye will see that the Church is the one true body of Christ, even the eyes of those who seek to pierce the Church.

Sometimes, as priests we're human, when our flesh is scratched, it bleeds, we're tempted to think that maybe Christ and His Church are not absolutely one. We're tempted to have doubts about the Church. We're hurt by things that happen in the Church and we say that Jesus wouldn't want it this way. How could this happen in the Church; Jesus wouldn't want it this way? We're tempted to ask that question, but we can't ask that question. Every eye will see Him present in His Church, even the eyes of those who pierced him. That's the promise of the Lord for the end of history. Not only will they see Jesus Christ in His glorified, risen body as the truth but every eye will see our Church as the truth, in the end, even of those who pierced Him.

Tonight we celebrate our responsibility, your responsibility my brother priests and mine, to lead us to that point, where every eye will see Him, Jesus, present in the Church, present in our ministry, even of those who pierced him. And you're called upon, brother priests, to renew your promises with me tonight, to teach, to govern, and to sanctify.

Sometimes, even our people want us to doubt the truth of the teaching of the Church; it's the way our culture is, they want us to doubt it. But in the end, every eye will see Him present in the Church, even of those who pierced Him. So when you and I teach, we don't doubt the teaching of the Church. We're a pillar of strength for our people who, in a culture which is very secular, are tempted to doubt the teaching of the Church. We're a pillar of faith by the grace of our Holy Orders, that's what do, we teach as pillars of faith knowing that there is no separation between what the Church teaches and what Christ teaches.

Office of building unity

We govern and the governing office of the Church is not an authoritarian office, it's an office of building unity. That's what governance means, we're supposed to build unity. But unity means a communion of minds and a communion of hearts. So how do we build unity? Unworthy though Pope Benedict is, and unworthy though I am, to build unity is to build unity with Pope Benedict and with me. Our faith is that simple. Do I wish that I were in this position, did I plot from all eternity to be in this position? Of course I didn't. But I accept my responsibility and to build unity is to build unity with Pope Benedict and with me, and sometimes we're tempted not to do that; sometimes we're tempted to go along with some of our people who for whatever reason don't want to do that.

These are not easy times in the Church, I know that. But there can be no divide between the body of the Christ the Church and Jesus himself. So to build unity in the Church is to build visible unity with the Holy Father and with me. That's how we get to the point, where every eye will see Him, even of those who pierced Him.

Celebrate liturgy with sincere devotion

The third thing that we're called upon, as brother priests, is to sanctify. You're going to make a renewal of your promise later to celebrate the liturgy with sincere devotion; that's all about sanctifying. And what does that mean, with sincere devotion? That means, minimally, as I've said before, that with Pope Benedict and with me, you and I give the people of God the liturgy of the Church to which they have a right. We give them what's in the book. If sometimes some of them want something else, then we give them an explanation why that's not a good idea. We explain it with a smile and with love.

Our sanctifying office is oriented toward that day, when every eye will see Him, in the Church and in His risen body, even of those who pierced Him. So we teach, we govern, and we sanctify so that the people of God become holy in truth and in love. When the people of God become holy in truth and in love, then all the nations will see us, as the first reading says, and they will acknowledge us as blessed. Until we become totally one in the body of Christ, as brother priests, teaching, governing, and sanctifying, all the nations won't see us as blessed, they'll see us as something else. That's the first point.

Mission of laity: build a just society

As you and I teach together, brother priests, as we teach our beloved people here, whose representatives are here tonight, what do we teach? What does the Second Vatican Council call us to teach the people of God? The people of God have a mission in the Church; it's the core of Vatican II, a mission to bring about a just society and a just state, that is, justice in the world.

What did Pope Benedict just say in the encyclical, Deus Caritas Est, so clear that I can't believe how clear he is? Justice in the civil society and in the state is the accomplishment of politics, not of the Church. A just society is the accomplishment, the achievement of politics, not of the Church. He then goes on to say, direct action in the cause of justice is the special contribution of the lay faithful, you.

So, when you help us out by teaching religion in religious education classes or in the schools, when you help us out by assisting us to distribute communion, when you assist us by ushering, singing in the choir (Dr. Gorman, it's always overwhelming when we have the help of the Diocesan Choir to pray, it's always magnificent), when you help us out inside the Church, we need that help and we really appreciate it. But we're going to be recognized as the body of Christ, every eye will see Him, even of those who pierced Him, when as lay people, you get into the political sphere and you vote responsibly, according to a Catholic conscience, not what-ever conscience. When you vote responsibly and when some of you get involved seeking elected or appointed office. That is the pinnacle of the lay mission in the Church, the greatest thing you can do as lay people is enter into the political process to bring about a just state and just society.

When we have to get together, for example, to protect marriage, we're not against any individual, we're not against any group. But when we get together to protect marriage, that's the lay mission of the church. There's no other head-trip that needs to be engaged in that regard.

The teaching of the Church is clear, what lay mission is clear, there's nothing to argue about, we march together, we do the lay mission of the Church, that's your priesthood. My brother priests and I are called to teach, to govern, and to sanctify, and you are called to direct action to contribute to a just society, to a just state through politics, that's your priesthood. So, we got our priesthood, that's the first point, and you got yours, that's the second. And yours has everything to do with politics, with responsible voting and activism in the political process as elected or appointed officials. That's how the Kingdom of God, the Kingdom of Justice gets built. The priestly people of God, build a just world through responsible participation in the political process. You have your priesthood and we have ours.

Pray for gift of joy

The last point, tonight my brother priests are called upon by the Church to renew their priestly promises, in just a few moments. The first promise is interesting. It's a promise joyfully to carry out your ministry, as if you and I could summon up enough willpower to be joyful all the time. We can't. But that promise is not a promise to be joyful, come heck or high water, by our willpower, but it is a promise to pray for the gift of joy. Joy is a gift and it's a foundational gift to the priesthood.

There are a lot of problems in the priesthood; we all know that, there are a lot of challenges, a lot of struggles but the priesthood is meant to be characterized by that gift of joy. The gift of joy is part of the grace of Orders, dear brothers, and if you demand the grace you received when the hands were laid upon you, you will have joy.

Celebrate with devotion

The second promise, I referred to before, has to do with celebrating the liturgy with sincere devotion. If you promise to celebrate the liturgy with sincere devotion, I've got to be honest, you promise to follow the book, because the book is the beginning of sincere devotion. Pope Benedict, in the last two documents of the Church, wants us to give people the liturgical rites of the Church to which they have a right. If we're going to stand up and promise to do that today, then let's stand up and promise to do it. People want that, people deserve that and you don't want anything but what's for their best.

You should all be thrilled that these priests think that way about you, that's all they want, to love you, through the Word, the sacraments, and through charity. They don't want anything else, not one, except what's for your good.

As we continue our prayer tonight, we see the oils, one of the ways the priests love you, through the sacraments. Be thankful to God through the depth of your heart for every one of these priests and pray that there will be a wonderful army of young people who will follow them. As we begin to ask our priests to renew their priestly commitment, why don't you join with me in expressing your support for that renewal and expressing your love for them?

(Clapping)

I don't think there is any doubt that you're appreciated.

Praise be Jesus Christ!