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994 The Message -- for Catholics of Southwestern Indiana
00p's Forum
Committed obedience
are filled with
rJesus the High Priest.
the faith ex-
baptismal commit-
strengthened by the
priests have gener-
resPonded to the call of Jesus
"ng personal am-
priests are called to serve.
of that faithful
Le hallmark of our
are an inspiration.
has made a com-
te serve the Lord in the
defined bound-
expressed a willingness to em-
:who live within those boundaries and to
Although it does not exclude oth-
boundaries of our diocese, it does
Those boundaries are the 12
that form our diocese; they encompass the
within. Its name is the Catholic Die-
Priests are exemplary.
has stepped before the ordain-
and, with his hands in those of the
ed obedience to the person of
of his diocese and to all of his succes-
that entails! What an example it
is the same leap into the unknown
as they enter the other sacra-
COmmunity, that of marriage!
priests are generous.
ever shrinking numbers and greater de-
upon the time and energy of our
in awe of their spirit of generosity.
ByBISHOP
GERALD A.
GETTELFINGER
They have literally given their
lives in service to you, the faithful.-
No other members of our Church
makes such a commitment of life
to the people of our diocese.
Our priests are humble
human beings.
When called to serve the dio-
cese, the Church, through the
bishop of the time, did not look at
- the limitations of the man stand-
ing before it, but rather the gifts of
self he has to share. Uppermost
was his human gift of the ability to
say "yes" or "no" to the call. With
such a will, our priests, each of
them, have submitted all of their human gifts --
and human limitations -- to the scrutiny of the
world.
The humble submission of a priest to the call
of Jesus to perfection is sometimes forgotten by
overly zealous faithful who expect a god, not a
human being for their priest. Jesus called broken
men to the challenge of perfection. He did not call
perfect men to serve.
The priest is called to serve, not to be a
medicine man to solve all parish problems; he who
knows his own suffering is to be a man of compas-
sion; he is commissioned to celebrate the joy of the
community and his own!
As our priests give themselves in service, so
we must graciously accept each of them with his
strengths and his weaknesses. Their submission
to Jesus is a public statement of their honesty.
Their poverty is that of Jesus being stripped of the
garments of self-respect. We must affirm the
strengths of our priests. We must supplement
them in their weaknesses.
Our priests are poor in spirit.
Last Sunday, many of our parishes heard of
changes affecting priests and parishes in our dio-
cese. As I approached the individual priest either
personally or through a member of the Clergy Per-
sonnel Board, the spirit of poverty in each one's
response was no less than inspirational.
The committed obedience a priest gives at or-
dination demands a spirit of poverty that no other
member of the faithful is asked to give. It is true,
diocesan priests do not give up the right of owner-
ship as do members of religious communities. The
poverty that a diocesan priest is called to is that of
a spirit of detachment, a spirit of generosity.
The motivation for a priest to give up the at-
tachment to persons or place in a given parish in
our diocese is, in most cases, driven by faith and
obedience. There is no other motive offered. The
new position calls for work which is, for the most
part, more demanding than that of the previous
assignment with no increase in benefits. There is
no decrease in the work load, that of the new
place is typically greater for one reason or an-
other. In most cases it would be easier, more com-
fortable for a priest to stay where he is than to
make a move with all its pain of separation and
distress of being in a "foreign land," and, harder
yet as one gets older of "starting over."
I am most proud of our priests and grateful to
each of them. Those who have gone before. Those
who are retired. Those who still sweat in the heat
of the day.
I ask you to affirm and support our priests.
Be grateful to God for them. Pray with me for
them! Appreciate them, not only for what they do,
but especially for the persons they are!
Communications day promoted People magazine ad
ISON
Service
)N (CNS) --
read People
9 Issue,
t peo-
of the classic
.name, Ramon Ro-
of the
Cam-
readers of
feel lucky to
in a CCC
$30,000 to
place an ad touting World
Communications Day, May 15,
in half of the issues of the May
9 People rolling off the presses.
The CCC also placed the ad
in the May 15 issue of Our
Sunday Visitor, a national
Catholic weekly newspaper.
Titled "What Goes In Must
Come Out," the ad takes Pope
John Paul Irs World Commu-
nications Day message and
"capsulizes it in such a way
that families would have an
easy time remembering what
he said," according to Ro-
driguez.
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Rodriguez said the ad for
People was placed in only half
of the issues to save money. He
added that the magazines fea-
turing the ad will appear
throughout the country.
"You could pick up a copy at
the checkout and get it, and I
could pick up a copy at the
checkout and not get it," Ro-
driguez said.
The advertising push came
in part because both World
Communications Day and the
CCC collection will happen the
same day -- May 15.
While the CCC collection al-
ways takes place on the third
Sunday in May, World Com-
munications Day floats be-
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cause it is designated for the
Sunday between Ascension
Thursday and Pentecost. This
year, that date is May 15.
Rodriguez said that in future
years, the U.S. observance of
World Communications Day
will be on the third Sunday in
May to coincide with the collec-
tion. "It's difficult to ask dioce-
ses to celebrate something
twice in one month," he said.
With the People ad, "we
want to put people in touch
with the fact that the Vatican
issues such things as World
Communications Day" mes-
sages, Rodriguez said.
It offers six" guidelines for
good TV viewing:
"Communicate with your
children about what they're
watching. Use TV programs as
a springboard for family dis-
cussions.
"Control the amount of
time your children spend
watching TV. Set reasonable
limits without using TV as a
reward or punishment.
I JASPER } "Create learning opportu-
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nities to complement the TV
programs your family
watches," by, for example,
helping children find a locale
mentioned on TV with the aid
of a nearby globe or atlas.
"Critique what you see on
TV. Teach your children to an-
alyze the messages they re-
ceive from commercials, news
and entertainment program-
ming.
"Choose the programs
your family will watch in ad-
vance. 'Channel surfing' is no
way to find good family enter-
tainment.
-- "Call or write television
stations and networks to tell
them what you like or dislike.
Becoming an active consumer
is a good way to influence pro-
gramming."
The ad marks the first time
in Rodriguez's five years at the
CCC that the campaign has
ventured into secular waters to
promote World Communica-
tions Day. But the ads are not
the only route the CCC is tak-
ing to increase awareness.
A kit for diocesan communi.
cations directors includes the
pope's World Communications
Day message, educational and
theological perspectives on
mass communication, media
tips including I0 tips for TV
viewing in the home, and a let-
ter from Bishop Raymond J.
Boland of Kansas City-St.
Joseph, Me., chairman of the
U.S. Catholic Conference Com-
munications Committee.
Rodriguez said the CCC col-
lection has registered the
largest increase of any na-
tional collection over the past
two years. Last year's collec-
tion, split roughly evenly be-
tween the CCC and dioceses,
hrought in $3,048,806 to the
CCC.
