A Shepherd

Bishop Wenski with an op-ed in the Orlando Sentinel

Many, of course, will try to read much into their deliberations in these next few days. And too many will unfortunately interpret much of what they see or what they imagine they see through the prism of their own experiences with the world of power politics. But the College of Cardinals is more than just some party caucus. These men are not the power brokers the media sometimes depict them to be. They, of course, are men -- which is to say, they are sinners to one degree or another like the rest of us; but they are men of prayer and men of communion, that is to say, men of the church. The dealings of the conclave -- as they vote to select a new pope to lead the universal church at the beginning of a new millennium -- have little to do with the love of power but much to do with the power of love. They are not a board of directors looking to hire a new CEO of Vatican Inc. They are not looking for a hired man but for a shepherd, a shepherd who has the heart and mind of the Good Shepherd, himself. They are looking for a good shepherd who will lay down his life for the sheep.

His task will be like that of John Paul II and those who preceded him: to tend to and to feed the sheep. He will be entrusted to hand on the gospel in its entirety.

That is the pope's job -- and that is the task of each one of us, really -- the message of the gospel is entrusted to us to share with the world. It is not for us, or for any future pope, to alter it to suit to the changing fashions of the world. And those who speculate that the election of a new pope will bring changes to core church teachings are sure to be disappointed. For, the challenge before the next pope and each one of us who wish to follow Christ faithfully is not to change our faith but to live it and to allow it to change us.

Comments

[Eric Giunta]

Bishop Wenski: Florida's only orthodox bishop. God bless him!

[Rich Leonardi]

Bishop Wenski seems to be able to relate the truths of the Faith to whatever the prevailing current(s) of thought happen to be about a given subject. Good for the people of Orlando.

I especially like how he disputes the notion that the next pope will be a CEO of Vatican, Inc., something I suspect a lot of commentators hope he will be in the wake of the Situation.

[Ed]

Orlando has been lucky in its bishops for a long time. I used to love singing Holy Saturday morning prayer with Bishop Grady (he had already retired, but did this until I think the year before he died). He needed a walker, and it seemed like he took 5 minutes to stand, but what wonderful homilies.

[Tim]

Had the pleasure of singing at Mass just last night when Bishop Wenski confirmed 140 young people at our parish.

His homily was full of encouragement and, refreshingly, challenges to be bold for Christ.

[Glenn Dewar]

“That is the pope's job -- and that is the task of each one of us, really -- the message of the gospel is entrusted to us to share with the world. It is not for us, or for any future pope, to alter it to suit to the changing fashions of the world.”

But isn’t that exactly what is happening? The priorities of Jesus Christ did not revolve around many of the issues at the forefront today.

Here in America, the already filtered message is filtered more. Catholics are led to believe that the Church’s positions on Abortion and Gay-Marriage are mandatory and immovable. However, little is said from the pulpits here in the U.S. to condemn the war in Iraq. Death Penatly? Suddenly it’s okay to be a “Cafeteria Catholic”, as long as it’s the liberal positions you don’t want to place on your tray.

Jesus devoted a huge amount of time to condemning abuse of power and money. Yet the Church has little to say about pollution and corporate crime.

Try to argue about it and suddenly all of the quotes that come back are not from Jesus but from Paul.

When we have to turn away from the words spoken by Jesus Christ to justify our positions – are we not simply following the fads and fashions of the seasons?

Anyone that reads the Bible objectively, looking for its philosophy sees the immediate schism between the Gospels and the Churches. A greater and greater percentage of the people become Atheists every day. We have no one else to blame but ourselves.