Columns 2022

I  was in High School when I first saw the “Radio City Christ­mas Spectacular.” It has been many years since I last saw the show, but I believe that the “Living Nativity,” with live animals and the retelling of the story of Jesus’ birth, continues to be one of the show’s highlights. I still remember being awestruck by the beauty of the “Living Nativity.” I also remember, during the Living Nativity, hearing for the first time the poem One Solitary Life.

For the past six weeks, I have been thinking about sharing my experience with “The Bible in a Year.” From late October through November, when I was driving through the different parts of our diocese, I was struck by the beauty of the “fall colors.” Even after a summer that was very dry, the leaves on the trees changed colors, as they do each year, and we are able to see some spectacular versions of the “Beauty of Creation.” I recall an experience when I first arrived in the diocese and Father Stephen Prisk was serving as the bishop’s secretary and Master of Ceremonies. For my first year in the diocese, Father Prisk did most of the driving when I visited parishes. I remember him saying, at some point early on, as we headed out to visit a parish, “You’re going to spend a lot of time on Route 80.”

Each year, in the beautiful Season of Advent, the Church invites us to focus and reflect upon the two great “Advent Figures”: St. John the Baptist, who prepared the way of the Lord, and Mary, our Blessed Mother, who journeyed with Joseph to Bethlehem, where her Son, the Messiah, would be born. In the Gospel on the second and third Sundays of Advent, we hear of John the Baptist, as we heard him this past Sunday, encouraging and inviting us to repentance because the kingdom of God is at hand and “… the one who is coming after me is mightier than I…” Mt 3:11

In the two-plus years that I have been writing this weekly column, I believe that there have been times when, indirectly, I asked for or encouraged “feedback” from you (Dear Readers). I believe that now may be a good time to request that feedback more directly. So, I will begin with two questions: 1. How many of you listen to Bishop Robert Barron’s Word on Fire Podcast? (more about that in a moment) and 2. As we consider Bishop Barron’s “strategies for growth,” do you have a practical suggestion or strategy that could help us “evangelize” (grow the Church)?

This past week, from Nov. 14–17, the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) held their semi-annual “General Assembly” in Baltimore, Md. The “fall meeting” is always in Baltimore, and the June meeting is held in a different part of the country each year. This year’s General Assembly was my third “in-person” meeting. The first two meetings I “attended” in November 2020 and June 2021 were held “virtually” on Zoom because of the COVID-19 pandemic.