When we recite the Creed every Sunday, we publicly indicate that we believe in one “holy, catholic and apostolic” church.
Holy, because it is born and nourished from the holiness of Christ, catholic, because it is universal — that is what the word “catholic” means in Greek; and apostolic, because it is built on the apostolic succession.
In fact, the bishops, through God’s plan, are the successors to the apostles, the disciples personally chosen by the Lord Jesus himself.
St. Paul insisted on that central doctrine for the church in his various letters, but especially in the last epistles which are called the “pastoral letters,” because they were sent to the ones who were the pastors of the church of that time and close collaborators with St. Paul: two to Timothy and one to Titus.
Timothy was the first bishop of Ephesus (part of Turkey now); Titus was a bishop of the Mediterranean island of Crete.
In these letters, the Apostle of the Gentiles, whose Jubilee Year Pope Benedict XVI will close this month, he reminds his two disciples that they are successors of the apostles, and that they have to especially take care of this gift received from God for the good of all the faithful.
In fact, St. Paul warns Timothy: “Do not neglect the gift you have, which was conferred on you through the prophetic word with the imposition of hands of the presbyterate (priesthood).” (1 Tm 4:14)
In the same letter, Paul goes on to describe some of the characteristics of a bishop: he must be “temperate,” “decent,” “hospitable,” “able to teach.” (cf. 1 Tm 3:2)
It is in this spirit that we North American bishops who make up the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) meet as brothers, successors to the apostles, this week in San Antonio.
So our archdiocese has the blessing to host my brother bishops who serve the church with our apostolic ministry. We do not meet as “employees,” nor as “administrators.” In the spirit of St. Paul, we meet as brothers and as pastors of the people of God, who want to celebrate the faith, repeating the words of the Psalm: “How good it is, how pleasant, where the brethren dwell as one!” (Ps 133)
At our annual spring meeting we want to put into practice what Pope Benedict XVI said recently, explaining St. Paul’s pastoral letters: “A special personal characteristic (of bishops), is ‘fatherhood.’ In fact, the bishop is considered the father of the Christian community.” (General Audience of Jan. 28, 2009)
May we go home from this meeting renewed in our common purpose. May we meet the challenges that await us with the fatherly tenderness that St. Paul had. (Gal 4:19) May we have his courage — to sacrifice and fight the good fight, to keep the faith, and to finish the race. (cf. 2 Tm 4:7)
In these days of the spring meeting, I want to exhort the faithful of the archdiocese with the same words with which Pope Benedict concluded his general audience dedicated to St. Paul’s pastoral letters: “Let us pray that the pastors of the church will have increasingly paternal feelings, that are both tender and firm, in the formation of the house of God, of the community, of the church.”
And let us pray to God through the intercession of St. Jean-Baptiste-Marie Vianney, the holy Curé D’Ars, the patron saint of this year dedicated to the holiness of the priests, that we inspire the faithful to be seekers of the truth.