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Archbishop of Portland Calls for Mission Renewal in Pastoral Letter
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In Short: Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, Oregon, released a pastoral letter calling for a renewed focus on Catholic education and personal holiness among clergy.
Archbishop Alexander Sample of Portland, Oregon, released a pastoral letter titled 'Go therefore and make disciples of all nations,' calling for a renewed focus on Catholic education and personal holiness among clergy.
In the letter, Archbishop Sample pointed to a 'watershed moment' in the Church, particularly in western Oregon, noting an increase in people joining the Church despite the state's reputation as secular.
He emphasized the importance of priests being 'saints' and 'fervent' to inspire the faithful, quoting Trappist abbot Jean-Baptiste Chautard: 'If the priest is a saint, the people will be fervent; if the priest is fervent, the people will be pious; if the priest is pious, the people will at least be decent; if the priest is only decent, the people will be godless.'
Archbishop Sample also highlighted the need for regular confession among priests, stating, 'The best confessors are first the best penitents.' He urged priests to embrace unity and genuine love for one another, despite past hurts and differences.
The archbishop stressed the importance of Catholic education, which aims to form hearts and minds to know, love, and serve God. He criticized secularism, conflict, and critical theories that prioritize social activism over faith and reason.
Archbishop Sample recommended devotion to St. Thérèse of Lisieux, describing her as his 'big sister in the faith' and a special intercessor for archdiocesan priests.
He directed priests to celebrate daily Eucharist and to reflect their inner devotion to the Mass in their outer performance of its rites.
Archbishop Sample concluded by urging the faithful to support, assist, and encourage priests, and to forgive them when they make mistakes.
The 37-page pastoral letter is available on the archdiocese’s website in English, Spanish, and Vietnamese.
What's still developing
- That task first requires being both “very clear and focused on what that mission is in the first place” and “renewed in our own discipleship,” he said.
- “We must together contemplate once again the Face of Christ,” said Archbishop Sample, referencing his episcopal motto, “Vultum Christi Contemplari” (“To Contemplate the Face of Christ”).
- Such a renewal “will be ineffective if it does not start with” priests, the archbishop said.
- Among those are secularism, which elevates human reason over “the necessary integration of faith and reason in education” and which “has served as a breeding ground for relativism and the denial of truth,” he said.
- Such thought “must be challenged and replaced with a Christian anthropology,” Archbishop Sample said.
- While ensuring academic excellence, Catholic schools must “stay focused on what ultimately matters most: bringing the young people entrusted to our care to encounter Jesus Christ and to be transformed by him through their spiritual, religious, intellectual, and human formation,” said the archbishop.
- Pragmatism and utilitarianism have led to education being valued only in terms of “useful outcomes” such as “college and career,” the archbishop added.
Sources
- OSV Newslink