Celebrating 'good report card'

Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan's Herald of Hope columnfrom the July 21, 2005 Catholic Herald now has its permanent link.

He tells of the letter he received from Cardinal Giovanni Battista Re, Prefect of the Congregation for Bishops at the Vatican, in response to our Archbishops report at his recent ad limina visit to Rome. It's more of a syllabus than a report card, which might be of interest to commenters (and lurkers) wondering where they might help.

The cardinal commented on the 160-year history of our archdiocese, particularly noting our rich ethnic diversity, encouraging us to continue our tradition of welcoming and embracing today's immigrants, especially from Asia and Latin. America

This came up after Mass last Sunday, when someone mentioned a program to help refugees from Africa with some of the basics of their new home, starting with how a light switch works.

He praised as well our liturgical life, expressing his appreciation for our implementation of the genuine renewal of the Second Vatican Council, and of our sincere attempts to incorporate the provisions of the General Instruction of the Roman Missal.

If your parish masses vary from the Order of Mass or the GIRM, some gentle but persistent questions might help. If not, it sounds like Archbishop Dolan wants to help resolve the discrepancies.

He took note, too, of our efforts to promote a renewal of the Sacrament of Penance.

Starting with our own regular confessions, I suppose.

Cardinal Re complimented the schools and faith-formation programs of the archdiocese, especially our ongoing resolve to implement a sound curriculum to impart the doctrine of the church, and to see that all our textbooks and catechetical materials were in conformity with the Catechism of the Catholic Church.

Check if your parish uses materials on the Bishops' list. If not, find out what the plan is to switch to them. If there is none, maybe our Archbishop can provide some helpful suggestions on getting the process started.

In light of what's going on in the church, you will not be surprised that the prefect had words of special commendation for our priests.

They're probably squashed at the bottom of the current morale pit, so keep them in your prayers, and maybe take Father to breakfast. (I included in the invitation that I wouldn't bring up any issues unless he wanted to. It was very pleasant, and why not? The problems over the years weren't personal issues.)

And he had high praise for the initiatives of charity and justice in the archdiocese, noting in particular our parish in the Dominican Republic, La Sagrada Familia, our hospitals and homes for our elders, and our outreach to the homeless and hungry.

If it's like ours, your parish is doing more along these lines than you've heard, and might have a place for you to help out. And if you hadn't heard what they're doing, maybe they need help on communication and publicity.

P.S. In case it's not displayed in full in his comment, Dad29 provided this link.