This summer, hundreds of youth in our diocese are participating in Love Begins Here, the annual opportunity for missionary service right here in our own parishes and communities.
A combination of worship, prayer, formation, and practical charity towards others, Love Begins Here has been deeply impactful on the spiritual growth and vocational maturation of our young people.
Many thanks to Lindsay Finn and Meghan Bonham for their organization and leadership, as well as to the many leaders and volunteers who make it all possible.
Totus Tuus is a week-long experience for children, focusing on prayer, especially the Rosary, fun and learning more about the faith.
This year, an increasing number of parishes participated; I was blessed to be part of it, offering a faith reflection to the parents and older teens in each parish.
Totus Tuus also has been transformational, helping our children to understand the central pieces of our Catholic faith through the prism of the Rosary Mysteries.
Many thanks to our generous seminarians and young women who have sacrificed their summer to offer this wonderful opportunity.
Summer camp at Camp Gray resumed this year, as hundreds of youth get to experience the beauty of God’s nature, learn about Jesus and have a lot of fun along the way.
Jeff Hoeben, Tim Chaptman, and their committed staff offer a unique opportunity for a young person to find God in the sacraments, the Scriptures, communion with others, and in creation.
Camp Gray is a model Catholic camp, looked to around the country as an example of how to manage such a camp and offer quality programming.
Many thanks to Jeff, Tim, the staff, and the parents who serve and support the camp so effectively and generously.
A group of young men, under the tutelage of Fr. Greg Ihm and Fr. Luke Syse, have spent the summer at the rectory at St. Joseph Parish in East Bristol, living in community, praying and deepening their faith, working hard at gardening and summer employment, all the while discerning what God is calling them to do with their lives.
In speaking with the participants, I have been inspired by the impact this experience has had on their awareness of God and the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives.
Remarkable activity
I share these examples of remarkable activity occurring in our diocese these summer months.
We can so easily focus on the bad news, all the things wrong in the world, the difficulties in our country and Church, and yet, so much good is happening right now.
I am consistently inspired by the hundreds of young people across our diocese who, despite the many negative influences in our culture, love Jesus, want the fullness of our Catholic Faith, and seek to generously put their lives at the service of God and the salvation of their neighbor.
These events and individuals seldom get any attention or press coverage, yet they are the ones God is raising up as leaders for our Church, not only in the future, but right here and now.
For all of them, I give thanks and praise to God.
These examples point to the fact that we need to experience the living reality of the Church, not just think about Her; we need to act out the faith, not just talk about it; we need the experience of Christian community, the natural give and take of disciples seeking to embrace and incarnate the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
If our faith simply remains a beautiful idea, mere emotion, a Christian veneer spread over political principles, it will never come alive or lead us to Christ.
The Lord calls us to turn ourselves inside out, to share the Gospel in word and deed.
This power of Christian witness becomes palpable when we see a community of believers, whether it be a whole parish, a staff, a prayer group, a religious house, a summer youth experience, or a family, live out the faith so joyously and generously that others are drawn in, even magnetized, to the love and truth of Christ.
This dynamic explains the extraordinary evangelizing power of the early Church.
Giving thanks
I praise and thank God for our diocese, our priests, deacons, Religious, consecrated virgins, lay ecclesial ministers, and the lay faithful, who live out the Catholic faith in extraordinary ways. These days, it is so easy to lose heart, to give in to discouragement, to focus on the negative, to become cynical and sad.
Think about this: God has willed you to be alive right here and right now, in 21st century America in all of its complexity, to live out the path of sanctity which He has called you to embrace!
Through our Go Make Disciples evangelizing initiative, I want to remind every single Catholic in our diocese, including myself, that the Lord wants us to proclaim the Gospel from the housetops and make our love for Jesus seen, known, and felt in a world that is suffering without His light.
I thank each of you who will read this column for all that you do to let that radiant light shine forth!