Salt Lake City, Utah, Apr 27, 2017 / 23:08 pm
The Bishop of Salt Lake city has urged Utah's Catholics to be steeped in Catholic identity and to sow the Gospel's seed within the community, leaving their comfort zone behind.
"Our Church needs more witnesses who can manifest the presence of God in our world," Bishop Oscar Solis wrote in his April 21 pastoral letter A Springtime of the New Evangelization.
"It begins in our own conversion through personal encounter with Christ in our life. The love of God we experience compels us to go and share the joy of the Gospel and the beauty of our faith with others."
Bishop Solis was installed as Bishop of Salt Lake City on March 7, and he is the first Philippines-born man to become a bishop in the United States.
Comparing the newness of spring to Christ's Resurrection, the bishops challenged his diocese to spiritual rebirth and renewed commitment during the Easter season.
"The resurrection of Christ from the dead brings about new beginnings, offering an opportunity to see and experience things with our minds and hearts renewed."
"Society today mocks our efforts to uphold the dignity of life," said the bishop, acknowledging the "daunting task" ahead.
"I do not know, exactly, where this path will lead us," he confessed, but said that "the mission of the Church today remains the same – to bring people closer to God in order to help them encounter Christ and rediscover the presence of God in their lives."
Bishop Oscar Solis included an outline of priorities for the diocese to focus on, listing faith formation, Catholic identity, religious vocations, social justice, and ecumenism as necessary for the spiritual growth of the Salt Lake City diocese.
"For seeds of evangelization to grow and bear fruit, they must be planted and take root in the good soil of our parishes. Parishioners must be given the opportunity to receive the necessary formation to know, live and share their Christian faith," he said.
Because "the present culture poses a serious challenge to the practice of our beliefs ... it is necessary for every Catholic to learn more about the essential teachings of Christ and our Church," he said. "Catechetical formation of our young children and teenagers is so important in this regard. It should bring about transformation of hearts and minds, so that they may fully live and share their faith confidently with great ardor, joy and enthusiasm."
He explained that "we find our Catholic identity in the celebration of the Holy Mass and other Sacraments," and these "channels of God's graces" lead to "nourishment, forgiveness and other spiritual gifts." He said then there must be a renewed call "for vibrant and uplifting Sunday liturgical celebrations and other forms of worship."
"The scarcity of priests and religious is a serious concern," he reflected, encouraging everyone to "generate greater enthusiasm in promoting vocations to the priesthood and religious life in order to attend adequately to the spiritual needs of the people. Let us cultivate vocations within the family and in schools accompanied by constant prayers of petition, invitation and witness of our life so that more men and women may be inspired to pursue this path of life."
He said that "beyond knowing Christ and learning about God's commandments and the teachings of the Church," we must establish "a right personal relationship with God and with one another."
"Justice and charity are the other important components of our mission of evangelization. Love for our neighbors and little ones reveals our love for God. Justice sets the right relationship among people that allows us to see in others, in the poor, the unemployed, the addicts, the sick, the least in our society, the undocumented and the refugees, the very face of Christ."
Turning to ecumenism and interreligious dialogue, Bishop Solis encouraged a fostesring of "dialogue and encounter," saying that "Courage and fidelity to our mission come along with mutual respect, understanding and harmony among diverse people and leaders of different faith denominations. Commitment to ecumenism, dialogue and unity is our big contribution to the world and humanity."
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The bishop identified the hatred within the world occurring between differences in "race or cultural traditions, religion or politics, gender and color of skin." As an antidote, he proposed "dialogue tempered with charity that allows us to recognize" the dignity of life in refugees, unborn babies, the poor, and the suffering.
Bishop Oscar Solis emphasized that the Church's very purpose is "to proclaim the Gospel by the way we believe, love and serve one another,"
"Therefore, we must not make the mistake of trying to hoard the fullness of God's goodness within the walls of our Church. But be missionaries of mercy with compassionate hearts and the ability to heal wounds, to warm the hearts of others and be a brother or sister to one another."