I thought you might be interested in how we look for vocations to the priesthood and religious life. There are many approaches, which can be taken to vocation recruitment, but the most important ingredient is a happy priesthood and religious life in the diocese. Priesthood can only seem attractive if the men who serve the young are themselves happy. Happiness and contentment in the priesthood is constitutive for recruiting good candidates for the seminary and for religious life.

In this diocese we have been blessed with a great number of vocations, which will in a few years begin to pay off with more ordinations. For almost thirteen years, Father Len Plazewski pursued anyone who showed even the slightest interest, never taking their name from his Rolodex of candidates until they contracted marriage. Using a variety of methods of contact, our Vocation Directors stay in touch with those who seem to be searching for priesthood. They meet them in their schools, on college campuses, invite them to discernment retreat week-ends, evenings of prayer and discussion throughout the year, and even twice a year take them to the college seminary for a week-end experience.

Once a year we hold something called FOCUS ELEVEN. All of the sixth graders  in our elementary schools are invited to come to one spot for an entire day which focuses on vocations to the priesthood and religious life. Using skits, games, and many other ways to connect with eleven year olds, the matter of a possible religious vocation is brought up. Why eleven year olds, one may ask? Sociologists and child psychologists agree that it is about age eleven when children begin to think about what they want to be with they grow up so the moment is right in the maturing process and we take advantage of it. Eleventh grade is also an important moment when the sixteen or seventeen year old is beginning to think about where to continue their education after high school. We used to bring all the eleventh graders together as well.

Priests, Sisters, Brothers all hold signs of their former occupations. Eleven year olds are challenged to match the job with the right person.

On Thursday, I hosted what are called Project Andrew dinners, after the Apostle who first followed Jesus and then invited his brothers and friends to do likewise. On these occasions, young men in junior year of high school and older, are invited to dinner with the bishop accompanied by their pastors or associate pastors. We don’t do a “hard sell” on these occasions but each priest present and I share our own vocation stories. We offer to receive and answer any questions, which they have and then send them forth with the promise that to the extent they wish, we will stay in touch with them during their discernment experience. This year we will have had four of these dinners and I personally have met about twenty-five or thirty young men who express an interest.

While we have a good number of seminarians (thirty-one at the beginning of the present school year) I also wish to acknowledge that religious communities in the diocese also have sought and received vocations from our young men and women. There are, I think, about an additional six men studying for priesthood in religious communities such as the Jesuits, Salesians, etc.

Finally, when a candidate decides to apply to the diocese, a rigorous assessment process is begun which includes interviews with at least three members of the Diocesan Vocations Admission Board, myself, a full battery of psychological tests and interviews, and recommendations from teachers and friends, including always the vote of the man’s pastor.

Eventually the nomination comes before the full Admissions Board containing lay women and men, religious women, and diocesan priests. So what may have begun with a chicken dinner at the house of the bishop ends with ordination to the priesthood or profession of vows in religious life. At the time of this writing, we have nine men in the application process for the coming year which almost guarantees a total of thirty-five for the seminary next Fall. But I will close with this thought. This is not a numbers game which we are playing but a search for fine candidates for the priesthood. We know that not all we accept will make it to the altar.

Probably one of the more boring moments - "The Bishop's Speech"

A little over 350 children attend each of two days

On the eve of  Thanksgiving Day 2010, I pause to reflect once again on the blessings which the Lord has bestowed on me. First, I am privileged to serve a wonderful Church. We have many if not all of the problems which confront Catholicism in the United States today, but we are also a Church full of hope, for the future to be sure but confident that in the present, however haltingly, we are doing God’s work. Thank you, Lord.

I have terrific priests all of whom are my friends. Yesterday, I finished the second of five in the new round of overnight “pajama parties”, a name given to my listening sessions with our priests which began in 2008 and are now being repeated at their request. We spend an evening, overnight, and morning together in prayer and communal reflection at the Bethany Center. They share their hopes and their fears and we talk about them, hopefully in follow-up to implement those which can indeed be implemented. I think they know that their people do indeed love them, alot more than most are willing to admit, and I told them I did as well. Thank you, Lord.

Mass with the Retired Priests on November 23.

I am thankful for wonderful deacons and religious in the diocese. The deacons are becoming more and more helpful to the priests, probably for two reasons: better formation and the reduction in the number of priests which makes them all the more valuable. Thank you, Lord.

Nothing irritates or nearly angers me than speaking badly about religious sisters and brothers. One would have to be a troglodyte to fail to love these noble women who have given their lives to the Church and have endured a lot because of their fidelity to the Church and t0 their community. The sisters and brothers living and working in the Diocese of St. Petersburg are among the most ardent supporters of our programs for evangelization and religious education and this Church is truly lucky that they have chosen to live and work in our midst. Thank you, Lord.

God’s people in this diocese are like those most every where else but somehow I feel a better connection to them and they to me. They wish and pray for leadership from myself but the overwhelming number of them wish me to serve rather than to rule, to affirm rather than to scold, and to listen more than to be foreclosed to their hopes and aspirations. And, perhaps most importantly, they are patient with me. There are many times when I will fail one or another as they often expect me to manage an individual case of bullying in school, overrule a decision of a building principal who expels a student, etc. A micro-manager I can not and never will be, but a true shepherd I hope I am. Thank you Lord.

I have a wonderful team of colleagues here at the Bishop Larkin Pastoral Center and elsewhere throughout the diocese who help me do my daily work. They are the best. Thank you, Lord.

Now, I must bring this to an end because my whole family is coming this year from around the country for Thanksgiving. I must be off to the supermarket which I know about as well as I would getting around Kabul in Afghanistan. On those few occasions when I darken the passageways of the local PUBLIX, there are always people from the diocese to direct me to where the eggs and milk are. Thank you, Lord.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

+RNL

When my mind is unable to focus on a single thought, it is time to share many scattered and unrelated thoughts with you. So here we go.

Cardinal-designate Donald Wuerl, Archbishop of Washington

Cardinal-designate Raymond Burke, Prefect of the Supreme Tribunal of the Apostolic Signatura

Pope Benedict named new cardinals yesterday including two Americans, Archbishops Raymond Burke, formerly of St. Louis and now in Rome and Donald Wuerl of Washington, D.C. Cardinals came into being in the Church in 1056 when the Emperor of the Holy Roman Emperor was a six year old boy. Until that time, the emperor and other political figures had a significant say in who was to become Pope so the Church taking advantage of a moment when the sovereign was too young to do anything about it established a new rank of prelate, namely cardinals, who would meet as needed to elect a new pope upon the death of his predecessor. The end of the eleventh century was a particularly challenging time for the Church because it did not have good control over its priests and bishops who were too often subject to outside influence and interference. Thus the birth of a group of men whose main task was to elect popes. Over time, the college took on additional meaning and duties and can be and has been called on occasion to advise the Pope on matters of concern to him. Pope Paul VI limited the number of cardinals who could vote in a papal election to 120 members under the age of eighty. Pope John Paul II while never changing that “magic” number did give it some elasticity at times and often, as did Pope Benedict XVI yesterday took into consideration the number of soon-to-reach-the-eighty age limit. Yesterday’s choices marked somewhat a return to a heavier preponderance of archbishops working in the Vatican than in the trenches but little should be made of that in my opinion since there have been a number of changes in administrative offices whose head is usually a Cardinal. In the time of Popes Pius XII and John XXIII, elevation to the cardinalate was not done that often and made significant news when done. Now it seems to happen about every three years and the secular media largely gave the moment a giant yawn except in the U.S. in Pittsburgh and Washington where Archbishop Wuerl once served and now serves. On a personal note, I was elated that Archbishop Wuerl was chosen as I regard him very highly as a churchman of great principal, good mind and a pastoral heart. I think he will serve the Church in the United States very well as a member of that special group of advisors to the Holy Father. Enough said.

If yesterday marked the coming of the “red tide”, today in this diocese we welcome Catholic women from around the state as they gather here for their once every two year statewide meeting of the Florida Council of Catholic Women. I will offer Mass for them tomorrow morning and officially welcome them and on Saturday afternoon, Archbishop Thomas Wenski of Miami will make his first visit to our diocese as our Metropolitan Archbishop to say Mass for the FCCW. Welcome ladies and enjoy your time on Florida’s west and best coast.

Like most of you, I can not wait for November’s elections to end. The bitter acrimony and charges and counter-charges which mark the Florida landscape this year is deafening and downright depressing. Visitors to this state from other countries who make the mistake of turning on the television in their hotel rooms or apartments must wonder about the nature of our form of democracy. Scare tactics rule the discourse and untruths and partial truths are the order of the day. I am early voting again this year so I can shut myself off to all the last minute diatribes and for the first time will have voted purposely without listening to a single debate – what is there to hear other than charges and counter-charges between the candidates and no plan for real recovery and hope. God help us!

Earlier this week I joined thirteen other bishops from the South in a meeting to discuss financing of Catholic education. The meeting was held in a hotel adjacent to the Atlanta airport and was organized and paid for by the University of Notre Dame’s Alliance for Catholic Education program. Our schools throughout the region, except perhaps for Atlanta where the population continues to explode with parents with good annual incomes, are in trouble and the number of students declines either due to demographic shifts, economic reality, better public school options like charter and fundamental schools, etc. The bishops listened to a number of presentations on how we might access more federal and state monies for our own children in our own schools. An outstanding advocate for parental choice in education from Tampa, John Kirtley, spoke of his experience spearheading the corporate income tax credit program (STEP UP, FLORIDA) through the legislative and administrative process and my brother bishops deeply admired his commitment, counsel and concern. Good stuff!

Finally, on Saturday I will celebrate the annual jubilee Mass for religious women and men who pass this year their 25th, 50th, 60, 70th anniversaries of religious profession. The number of jubilarians is in steep decline as the religious age and die. In my first years as bishop, fourteen years ago for example, we acknowledged annually about fifty religious passing significant anniversary dates. This year I think we are half that number and only about eighteen can be present for Mass and lunch. I would do it even if there were only one left because these women and men have given their life and love to the Church unconditionally, and sometimes that has not always been “easy street” for them. Happy Anniversary Sisters, Brother and priests. We still love you!

+RNL

A thoughtful reader of the previous entry reminded me quite appropriately that another distinction between diocesan and religious priests is that the former do not take vows but rather promise obedience at ordination to their bishop and his successor but the latter take vows of obedience and poverty and chastity. Since diocesans promise celibacy as well, the vow of poverty becomes a distinguishing characteristic. There is a distinction without a difference, however, between a promise and a vow. I thank the reader for reminding me of this distinction.

Last week a bishop friend of mine and I had the opportunity to visit the Trappist Monastery of St. Benedict which is located in the community of Snowmass, Colorado, about twenty miles outside of Aspen. I had always heard that the monastery was built in one of the most beautiful spots in the United States and that certainly is the case. The Trappists basically own a valley.

St. Benedict's Monastery, Snowmass, Colorado

There are about twenty monks in the present community who rise early in the morning to pray and retire to bed early in the evening so that they can rise again early in the morning. I sometimes am asked, what is a monastery and what is a cloistered community and what is a contemplative community, so in this blog I will try to tackle all three questions. A monastery is home to a group of men, usually lay brothers and a few priests, who pray the Church’s Liturgy of the Hours at the appropriate times throughout the day and celebrate liturgy daily. When not praying, the monks are usually working with some time built into their lives for rest or reading.

The Snowmass Trappists work a large agricultural field and make and sell jelly to support themselves. If the monks seldom leave the confines of the monastery building itself or the grounds, then they are “cloistered.” There was a time when one or two monks would be chosen by the community and only they could speak to outsiders, the monks could never or very rarely leave the cloister, even to visit their natural families, and they remained silent throughout the day. These extremes of the life have now given way to a little more contact with outsiders and/or visitors and there are fewer and fewer monasteries where absolute silence except for prayer remains the rule. However, even today some monasteries still maintain a relatively strict cloister into which only the members are allowed inside. That seemed the case at Snowmass as there were signs everywhere asking that one not enter the cloister or private confines of the monks.

A "hermitage" at the Trappist Monastery at Snowmass

The Trappists are one expression of monastic life and their monasteries and Abbeys throughout the country often contain retreat quarters for individuals wishing to make a silent retreat. Snowmass also has hermitages (very small one-room houses away from everyone else) if you really want to be alone. The monks provide spiritual direction to the retreatants who are invited to attend the recitation of the Office and Eucharist but the visitors sleep, eat and pray in a different place throughout the day if they choose to do so. It was at the famous Trappist monastery at Gethsemani in Kentucky that Father Thomas Merton lived, prayed and wrote. If you would like to experience what a retreat is like in a Trappist monastic setting, the abbeys at Conyers, Georgia and Mepkin, South Carolina welcome retreatants for private, directed retreats. Food is basic. No one starves.

The Benedictine Monastery of St. Leo Abbey just outside of San Antonio in Pasco county welcomes retreat groups.

So that answers the question of what is a cloister and a monastic community. There is one more iteration which deserves mention here and that is what is a “contemplative” order. Traditionally a “contemplative” order is one whose primary charism is prayer, non-stop prayer allowing the member time to contemplate, for example, on the life and death of the Lord. They often have as their apostolic work praying for others, an obligation they take seriously. Time is spent in the presence of the exposed Blessed Sacrament. These strict communities are dying in the United States but almost every monastic community provides as a part of their daily life periods of prayer and contemplation. So remnants remain today of the contemplative life.

There are priests and brothers who live in monasteries and whose life is spent in work and prayer. Those were the two foundational elements of St. Benedict, ora et labora, in Latin meaning “prayer and work.” I hope this has been somewhat interesting to the reader and if I have not exhausted a possible treatise on religious life, I can assure you I have exhausted my personal knowledge of the topic.

+RNL

1. That I am still alive to celebrate Thanksgiving 2009 with both my brothers still alive, my niece and nephew and their spouses all who were at my side even though I was unaware of it, my friends from everywhere I have lived and worked. Special thanks to Drs. Reilly, Williams, Boulay, Abel and Rizzo, CPICU staff and especially JD and Jim, Therapy persons like Kathy, Jed, my special PT person at St. Anthony whose first name I am unable to remember due to a senior moment  Marcelo, Jennifer, Hermine, Anne Marie, Adela, Kathy B., Ann, Debbie, Beverly, Walter, Lori, Jeri and to Father John Tapp and Father Bob Morris who stood vigil through what had to be one of the longest days and nights of their life. All of you made this Thanksgiving possible and may God bless you all.

2. That thousands of people, most of whom I do not know, have been praying for me since July 27th raising my spirits and helping my recovery.

3. That I have been attended to by the finest surgeon, doctors and nurses and nurses-aids since becoming so sick.

4. That I have a group of priests who have been patient with me, supportive of my enduring the challenges of serious illness and whom I love and think the world of. Now I just need to be more patient with them and perhaps even more supportive in return.

5. That I live in the United States and enjoy so many of the blessings God has bestowed on this nation.

6. That late in life I have been “gifted” with an experience of suffering and uncertainty which I hope as I get stronger I can share with many who also carry the same burdens. Our Gospel is a message of hope.

7. During this time of my long road to recovery that our local Church has been led by Father Bob Morris, our Vicar General, and Elizabeth Deptula, Joan Morgan, Frank Murphy and the wonderful, committed people of our diocesan staff in seeing that the work of the Church continues successfully.

8. Apropos of number 7 above, that I have finally learned that it is not all about me, and that none of us are irreplaceable. It is one of the Lord’s gifts to His Church.

9. That I was baptized into the Catholic faith and am taking more seriously than ever before what it means to be “gathered, nourished and sent”, looking forward to our final convocation in May 2010 and more convinced than ever that the Lord has left me here to proclaim His presence in the sacraments of the Church.

10. This list of things to be thankful for could go on and on but I finish with the thought that I am so gifted to have been planted in this Church of St. Petersburg with its priests, deacons, religious women and men, and active, committed laity for whom faith is more than an obligation but rather a gift. Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Bishop Lynch

Today’s ST. PETERSBURG TIMES has a long article on religious women working in this diocese which I found mostly  endearing. I think the religious women (and men for that matter, though they are not included in the article) know how much I and our priests and deacons and people appreciate their wonderful presence in this diocese. They are gift to us and to this Church. An example of our love for them is nowhere as clearly demonstrated than in the generosity of our people to their annual collection for the “retired religious.” It is the largest collection in this diocese and brings in more money than than any other annual collection including Peter’s Pence, Mission Sunday or the Catholic Relief Services collections.

Their presence in our midst is as I said a “gift” to all of us. Aging, ailing and worn out after a lifetime of service, they do not know the meaning of the word “retirement” and continue to assist in many forms of ministry within the diocese, even if it is on a limited time basis. For most religious, the words “sister, it is time for you to come back to the motherhouse or the nursing home” is akin to capital punishment. Schools in the diocese where they are still present are truly blessed and all one needs to do is ask the parents and students. Having just spent five weeks in St. Anthony Hospital in St. Petersburg I can assure you that the presence of the remaining Allegany Franciscan sisters is palpable in the ethos, the welcome all receive, the care and concern of the staff. Lay employees who are hired are informed by Sister Mary McNally, the Vice-President for Mission that if they are coming simply for a job, go elsewhere but if you are coming for the opportunity to participate in a ministry of healing, then they are in the right place.

I do not know this for sure but have been led to believe that one community at least working in one of our most financially challenged parish schools is working for no salary or compensation of any type, their support being paid by their province. I am embarrassed by that and will address it as soon as I get well. But that is emblematic of the generosity of religious women over the years as well as today.

The article today was somewhat motivated by recent announcements that the Holy See has ordered two “investigations” of religious life in the US. Sisters I have spoken to in this diocese are generally not worried about results of the investigations, as I think they should not be, or specifically the one which is studying religious life in the US today. All of the sisters are living and ministering within the boundaries of constitutions and rules of life approved by the Holy See. They realize that traditional communities who have retained community living in larger convents and which have retained some semblance of a distinctive “habit” are doing better at recruiting vocations than those which do not. While distinctive “charisms” such as teaching, nursing and health care, have given way to broader ministries, we have benefitted in this diocese for the diversity of ministries which they pursue. I suspect that end product of all these investigations will affirm the more traditional forms of religious life and so do the sisters but all will learn to live with whatever.

Anyway, the TIMES reporter did a nice job on the article today but he has only begun to uncover the jewel which is religious life and the presence of holy women (and men) in our five counties.

+RNL

It has not been an easy year for those of us who work at the Bishop Larkin Pastoral Center and our associates in the diocesan family living and working elsewhere throughout the diocese. We have dealt with sickness and the deaths of some loved ones, then there was the long uncertainty surrounding my physical condition and now one of our most beloved colleagues is in critical/serious condition and all our prayers are now directed to our loving God on her behalf.

When I arrived in the diocese in January 1996, Sister Germaine Bevans, OSB was prioress of the Benedictine community of sisters in St. Leo. When her term was up, I asked her to come and serve as Vicar for Religious or my liaison with women and men religious in the diocese. She has served in this capacity for about ten years, winning a place in the hearts of our many religious. Today, if I were a little stronger I would preside and preach at an annual Jubilee Mass for those religious celebrating mjor anniversaries this year – followed by lunch, all arranged by Sister Germaine and her wonderful assistant, Sister Eugene Marie.

Sister is in one of our local hospitals, fighting for her life but resigned in faith to that line we say so often without thinking in the OUR FATHER, “thy will be done.” If one were to ask many people in this diocese who their favorite employee is, Sister Germaine would probably win hands down. She is a deeply spiritual and holy woman. May Mary, the mother of the Redeemer and Saints Benedict and Scholastica intercede for her and may the Lord’s will be done.

+RNL

On Saturday last, the religious women and men of the diocese held their annual “Study Day” as guests of St. Joseph’s Hospital in Tampa. There were about 100 religious present for the presentations and they enjoyed being together. This diocese has always been lucky to have a good number of religious women and men present and serving God’s people. While we are home to only two “motherhouses”, a wonderful number of religious have chosen “retirement” among us and still attempt to help in a variety of ministries. Rocky Creek Retirement Village used to be home to about 100 religious sisters and brothers when I came here but death has taken its toll on the occupants there and there are today only about forty still living at Rocky Creek. They are amazing people, these religious women and men.

At four o’clock on Saturday afternoon I joined the group and together we celebrated with the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany their sesquicentenntial of founding. These same sisters in the thirties came to St. Petersburg and Tampa, purchased failing hospitals and turned them into what we know today as St. Joseph’s in Tampa and St. Anthony in St. Petersburg. Founded by a Franciscan Friar with its first member a young lady from Ireland, the Allegany Franciscans are from upstate New York, near Buffalo. Their mission from their founding was education and hospitals and they were and some still are very good at it.

The Alleganys taught in a number of schools in this diocese and throughout Florida. Additionally, they once owned and operated St. Francis Hospital on Miami Beach and St. Mary’s Hospital in West Palm Beach. I consider our diocese lucky because outside of Allegany, New York, I suspect their second largest concentration of sisters is here in the Bay Area. Great women still doing great work. Amazing grace in our midst.