From Archbishop Donoghue

Mass for children
Prayer and Good Works
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Dear Young Friends in Christ,

You know, any day that I get to leave the office and go out and visit one of the schools is a treat for me. That’s one reason why I am glad we already have so many good schools, and that now we are even building more.

And this is a special day - because I don’t get to come as often as I would like, but it does give us a chance to see and hear one another, and to become friends in a special way - and it is a special way - you know that I am way too old to be your friend in the way, say that your classmates, or your brother or sister might be your friend. But I think we have a different way to be friends - one that is just as good in its own way, even though it might not involve the regular ways people are friends- like calling each other up on the telephone, or going out to eat or see a movie. These things are fine, and I hope you do them a lot - but the friendship I’m talking about is quite a bit different. Instead of talking to each other, it has praying for each other - and instead of pal-ing around some of the time, it has working together all of the time, as its main business.

And this is the way it is - the Holy Father, Pope John Paul made me a bishop, and he sent me here to take care of the Church in North Georgia. Now that is all very well and good - you can’t have a better recommendation for a job than the fact that the Pope sent you. But you also can’t have enough help if you have been sent to do that job, and if you really want to be a good bishop. That is why I need you to pray for me every day - even if it’s just a little prayer - they all add up, and they all make an impression of God, and He, in turn, and I believe this truly, will do what you ask Him to - He will send me the help I need to do the job of being bishop. Now I can’t think of a better way to be someone’s friend - especially if you’re not with them every day - than to think about them, and to ask God to help them - and that’s what praying really is.

And the other way I mentioned, is working together. Now you might think - How can we work together? I’m here in school every day, and when I’m not in school, then Mom or Dad probably has something for me to do, and anyway - I’m just a kid - how can I work together with a bishop?

Well - you may not be able to see it, but every time you learn something good here in school, in your class-work - every time you do a good deed, like helping someone who needs help, or like not making fun of someone, because you think they are weird or stupid - every time, you do something good, something like our Lord would have done, then you are helping me to do my work, which is to remind everybody about those same things - to act like our Lord - to be good and kind and gentle to other people, and not to think that we are the most important person and that the world should revolve around the way we want to be, or the things we want to do. And just as truly as I believe that God answers your prayers when you ask Him to help me or anybody else, I also believe that when you do good things, and fulfill your duties as students, He might be a little happier with me, and the work I am trying to do. And if you are able to impress God to the extent that He blesses somebody else because you have asked Him to, well then, I can’t think of a better and truer way to be friends.

Now, that is the way I want to be friends with you, and I hope you will feel the same way about me, And besides, it’s a good deal all around. And best of all, it is the way Jesus wants us to treat each other. And so, believe me when I say that I am certainly enjoying being here with you today, and that I look forward to the next time I can visit - and that in the meantime, we will both work - you and me - on making things better for the people around us - not just the people we like, but everybody. Because everybody has a right to have friends, and if we don’t see that they do have friends, then who will?

God bless you all, and don’t forget to pray for me.

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