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The Bishop's Bulletin
February
2010
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This months Bishop's Bulletin is available online. Click to see this months
featured articles. The Bulletin is available in its entirety to download in pdf
format.
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Ministry
Calendar
 Find and add local events
throughout the diocese. Anything from Marriage Encounters to Youth Events.
Parishes, feel free to add your events to the calendar. |
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Bishop's Charity Events
Click here to find more information on this upcoming Charity
Event.
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Bishop's Homily
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Sunday, February 07, 2010
What a privilege it is for me to be here and celebrate the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass with all of you. What a beautiful sight you are in your t-shirts and in your individual persons gifted by God with life. You are among the 5400 students in the 23 Catholic Schools in the diocese of Sioux Falls, Eastern South Dakota.
The theme for this year’s celebration of Catholic Schools Week across the United States is “Dividends for Life.” A dividend is a benefit that keeps on giving, that will last beyond your school years and strengthen you every day of your life.
It is important for you students to recognize the wonderful opportunity you have been given to be part of Catholic Schools. The public schools are essential for our communities and do a wonderful job. Public and Catholic schools are not in competition with one another, except in sports. Rather they complement one another. Yet there is uniqueness to Catholic schools in that prayer, learning about Christ and His Church, and His teachings on values and what it takes to live a virtuous life can be integrated in the entire curriculum.
It is also important to recognize who makes Catholic education possible. It begins with your moms and dads, your families, who do so often at great sacrifice. It includes the teachers, administrators and staff of each of your schools and religious education programs who do so as more than a job, but out of love for you. It includes the volunteers and benefactors who are generous in so many ways. And of course it includes the priests and deacons and religious without whose support our Catholic Schools would not be what they are. Thank you to all who over the years and this year make Catholic education possible.
Some years ago high school students were polled on what the Church was not giving them. The first response was “a high and heroic ideal.” Catholic Schools and religious education programs seek to offer that high and heroic ideal which is the call of Christ to holiness. That is a lifelong quest for which the roots are planted, the values taught in our younger years. Well learned they offer dividends for life, benefits that last beyond schools years and even all the years in this world, into the life to come.
There are important principles which can guide us as all, students and adults, as we seek to grow in holiness. First is that we are all gifted by God the Creator with life out of love and that we are born in his image and therefore called to live up to a high standard. Second is that each person has special personal worth and is uniquely gifted, which we are called to discover, develop and use well for the glory of God. Third is that we have the freedom to make choices and that we are responsible for the choices we make. The choices we make have consequences to us and to others and therefore we need to know right from wrong so we can make morally good choices.
This is where Catholic schools can play an important role. In our schools we can learn what Christ and His Church teaches and why, informing our conscience to discern between right and wrong, good and bad, what brings joy and peace and what brings sadness and division. It is in school that you can develop good habits that will govern and guide those choices. In school you can learn from the example of others. School is a safe environment to learn about and learn from our mistakes. School is a place where you can openly pray for God’s guidance and forgiveness. In school you can develop the discipline to grow in holiness.
It also requires recognizing that there is sin in the world that challenges us, and that we have limitations and human frailties. We need to honestly confront them and compensate for them. To grow in holiness we must recognize that it isn’t just about us, we are part of a greater community. There is an old Peanuts cartoon in which Linus who is reading tells Lucy, it says here that the earth revolves around the sun. The earth revolves around the sun, Lucy marvels; I thought the earth revolves around me. Ultimately we can grow in holiness when we recognize that our lives should revolve around the Son of God.
On your t-shirts are the Cardinal Virtues which if you learn them, can help you grow in holiness. Prudence is the ability to discern what is truly good and what are the appropriate means for achieving it. Justice is the ability to give to God and to others respect and their due. Temperance is the ability to control our passions and live balanced lives. Fortitude is the ability to stay the moral course in tough times and persevere in pursuing what we know to be right.
It really all comes down to love. Not the schmaltzy love our culture offers, here today and gone tomorrow, but the enduring love Christ offers, symbolized by the cross. When you accept that God really does love you, you will respond by seeking to live good moral lives in order to return His love.
Some of you will recall this story. Karen was a mother who had a 3 year old son named Michael. She became pregnant with a girl. She wanted to be sure that Michael would welcome his sister. So she taught him to sing to his sister while she was in the womb, mommy’s tummy. One song was the familiar tune, “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine, you make me happy when skies are gray.” During delivery complications arose, surgery was required, and the baby was placed in intensive care. Karen came home from the hospital alone. Michael begged to see his sister. I want to sing to her, he said. The baby’s condition worsened. The medical personnel sadly said, “There is little hope. Be prepared for the worst.” Michael continued to be vocal, but children were not allowed in the IC unit. Given the prognosis, Karen decided to smuggle Michael in. A nurse noticed and demanded, “Get that kid out of here.” “Not until he sings to his sister,” mom responded. Michael looked as the tiny baby, and then in a three year old voice began to sing. “You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. You make me happy when skies are gray.” The baby’s pulse became more normal. “Keep singing, Michael” mom encouraged. “You never know dear how much I love you. Please don’t take my sunshine away.” The baby’s breathing steadied, like a kittens purr, mom recalled. “The other night dear, as I was sleeping, I dreamed I held you in my arms.” His sister seemed to relax. ‘You are my sunshine, my only sunshine; please don’t take my sunshine away.” Days later little sister was well enough to go home. A national magazine called it a miracle of a brother’s song. Karen, the mom, called it a miracle of God’s love. (Adapted from Father McBride’s College Catechism)
Each of you is a miracle of God’s love. If that is the only thing you learn in school, your days will have been well spent. What a Dividend for Life: knowing that God loves you for who you are, blesses you, is with you throughout the challenges of life, and wants to see you face to face in the world to come. Use your Catholic education to develop the desire and the discipline to love him back.
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Recent Statements & Documents
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2010 Mass for Life Homily
This is the homily given by Bishop Swain at the Mass for Life on January 22, 2010 at St. Joseph Cathedral.
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Online Videos Available
click the link above to view all videos.
Online Audio Programs
click the link above for all audio.
Catholic
Views
- A weekly radio program of timely news and interviews, along with a reflection
of the Sunday scripture readings.
Rosary OnLine
- Pray the rosary for vocations online. |
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Click here to find a list of all the parishes in the diocese along with contact
information and weekend mass times. information and weekend mass times.
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Visit the St. Joseph Cathedral Restoration website.
Visit our Office of Planning for updated information on your parish.
Catholic Family Services is here for you. Click for more information.
Meet the Seminarians, learn about your vocation.
Pledge to Heal, Promise to Protect. The Safe Environment program of the diocese
of Sioux Falls, |
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