February 11, 2003
Dear Friends in Christ,
It was just nine years ago, February 8th, 1994, actually, that I had the good fortune to attend my first Shepherd's Night celebration. And looking over what I said that night, I found this comment:
"Over the next ten years, we expect growth in the Catholic population of Georgia to swell considerably, and with it, the absolute necessity of having enough priests to serve these Faithful. I know thatÉ we will continue to trust in God, and I know too, that we will always count on the SerransÉto serve the Church by fostering vocationsÉin every way possible."
Well, the Church has grown, and the Serrans have faithfully continued to carry out their commitment to the work of vocations. In these nine years, the strength of our vocations program has increased, and much of this success is attributable, both to the programs you sponsor, and more importantly, to the personal involvement that you have shown for our seminarians, and for those in the early stages of discernment.
That is one side of Serra. The other is seen in the strong bonds of cooperation, friendship, and caring that you exhibit for our priests. You know, seminarians, to the very moment of ordination, have all the excitement of the future to strengthen their hearts, and to inspire their imaginations. But priests, from their first week - from their first day of service, must confront immediately the real and never-ending problems of people, and the Byzantine complexities of leading the Church. I don't mean to suggest that the priests of this Archdiocese in any way lack zeal for their work, or that they harbor pessimism about the future of the Church. But I do mean to say, that the work of the priest is a daily challenge - a challenge to keep faith, to do good, and always, to put his own considerations last, in the list of those he must face each day. It helps beyond measure to have friends to share this blessed burden - and it helps also, to know that the Serrans are always there, always ready to help, and always ready to point out to others, what we owe our priests, and how fortunate we are, here in Georgia, to have such good priests.
I would opine, that at no time in our Church's past - and here I am especially speaking of the Catholic Church in America - at no time in our past has the support of the Serrans, and of all our people for their priests been so important. It is bad enough, that in the past year, the Catholic priesthood has been compelled to stand up to the worst barrage of negative criticism ever leveled against it by the general public. But even worse is the fact that so many of our Faithful, understandably or not, have been infected with a level of skepticism about priests in general, that is totally wrong, totally inaccurate.
We have been spared the worst here in Atlanta - even though there have been problems in the past - we have been spared the worst, because without exception, the men who serve this Archdiocese are devoted, and united as closely as possible to the character of the One they serve first, our Lord. But it would be disingenuous to say that we are above suffering the "slings and arrows of outrageous fortune" - priests feel what the people feel - and their opportunities for feeling it are magnified greatly, because both in the Sacraments, and in personal daily life, priests are a focus for the feelings, the opinions and the judgements of all the Church's faithful.
That is why, beyond the social value, beyond the chance to meet and greet and pass the time with friends - occasions such as the Shepherd's Night, and especially Shepherd's Night, are so important. They give the bishop a chance to say what he feels about his men, his priests - they give the bishop a chance to say how much he is thankful to those who help his priests. And I do not mean to speak out of a sense of possessiveness by saying my men and my priests - I mean to speak out of a sense of affection and gratitude, for those who have done so much for me during my time as Archbishop of Atlanta.
But more important still, Shepherd's Night is a public, visible, and annually celebrated main event in the life of our Church - and it is, next to the Chrism Mass, the most important occasion for us to bear witness to the entire society where we live, our appreciation for the men who have given their lives over to the ideals of Jesus Christ, and to serving the needs of His Church, His people.
That is what we are here for - that is what we are doing tonight. And I say in closing - thanks be to the Serra Club for making this possible, and thanks be to God, for giving the Church in Atlanta and North Georgia, the finest priests to be found on the face of the earth.
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