Under the entry about Marquette’s Bishop Alex Sample and the flack he is taking for acting like a Catholic bishop, a reader made a comment that struck home.
If WDTPRSers can move polls, surely we can support bishops who know how to bish.
May I make a suggestion?
Perhaps you might take a few minutes to:
- think of some really good thing that your local bishop has done (if the diocese has no bishop some other bishop or priest)
- use some search engine to look up the complete name and address of he bishop, the diocesan chancery
- write a short note to that bishop to thank him, and say that you will pray or fast for him, mentioning what you will do.
Even if you are not all that positive about your bishop, there are surely good things he has done.
If you want to share something of what you wrote, I am sure the other readers would be edified.
Please do this?
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As a further suggestion: Enclose the note in a Mass card for the bishop
Spot on, Father Z.
As an aside: Bishops need to hear from their “flock”…constantly. Sometimes they can be “insulated” from the ordinary faithful by the whole “chancery-thing” where they only have contact with those who might have agendas that are not, let us say, “faithful to the Holy Father and the Church”. This is just my opinion. When Bishops who are good and sincere men are trying to do their mission, the voice of the faithful (in the correct usage of that term) makes a considerable impact.
Excellent idea! We bought “Year of the Priest” cards from the Conception Abbey Printery House for just such an occasion. Being a bishop must truly be trying at times and though I can’t find anything specific published recently that our bishop has done, we wanted to thank him for his service. So with that in mind, this is what our family wrote in the card:
“Dear Bishop Brom,
We wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for your service as shepherd of the San Diego Diocese. You have been a beacon of Christ’s light and an example of faithful service in Christ to our family. May God bless you as you continue to guide your flock.
You will be in our continued prayers.”
I wrote a brief letter to His Excellency John Nienstedt, Archbishop of St. Paul-Minneapolis, a few months ago saying he had my full support and he was in my prayers.
His Excellency took time out of his busy schedule to write back. He said he relied upon and appreciated both.
Even if you don’t get a response. It matters. Think of the morale boost you may provide!
Father,
Sent an email thanking Bishop Sample for his actions in regards to Bishop Gumbleton and received an kind response from his secretary the next day.
I sent an email to Bishop Sample and received a very kind response in return.
I do write my Archbishop (Chaput) several times a year to comment on some good work or speech of his. There are many to choose from! I also send him a Mass card on his birthday and so forth.
It is also important to do this for our parish priests!!!
I have, in a former diocese, had to write my bishop about certain abuses and so on. These things were not well received at all and never acted up on either. I rather gave up on that. Sometimes one should make a superior enlightened to a situation and once having done that, one has done their duty.
What a great idea! I shall have to do this.
Hmmmmm.
What the world needs now is a web page entitled “How to contact a Catholic?”
With a list of Bishops, prominent priests, nuns, theologians, Academics, Lay Writers, Apologists, Orthodox, Evangelists, Protestants, Jews, etc.
You are right, Father. People don’t just need complaints. They also need acknowledgment when they are on the right path.
I might be able to do something like that. Of course, it will take some time. I’ve been keeping track of episcopal appointments for five or ten years.
Is a blog the right place to do that?
Yesterday, I sent Bishop Sample a thank you note, particularly thanking him for acting appropriately under the responsibility that Christ had given him – with respect to both Notre Dame and Bp. Gumbleton.
I also enclosed a promise of prayers and a check for the support of his diocese.
A couple of years ago, I read an article about one of my “hero” bishops. Even though I’m far away and not in his flock, I sent an email thanking him for what he stood for and what he had done. I actually received a response from him personally. God bless these holy men who support the true teachings of our glorious Faith (and are not supported by their brothers)!
Where do y’all find Bishop Sample’s email address? I can only find the mailing address and phone number on the diocese website.
Go to the website for diocese of Marquette.
http://www.dioceseofmarquette.org/dept2.asp?dept=31&which=32
Near the top of this page. “Click to Email”
My local bishop is Abp. Chaput; where do I even begin to list his accomplishments?
My local bishop is Cardinal Pell, so I think I’d have the same problem as the commenter above me!
I agree that this is a worthy action. We must thank those who speak out as Catholics in particular. Unfortunately, there are those here who find this difficult to do based on currrent circumstances. I frequently find myself praying for our local bishop-usually that we will change his mind, but nontheless praying for him.
I only wish I had anything to commend my bishop for. I try to remember to pray for him, but I cannot find any reason for complementing him.
I think it’s a great idea!
Like JaneC I find it hard to think of something specific to say – I live in the diocese of Rochester, NY – but I can always tell Bishop Clark that I understand he has a hard job and I’m praying for him.
+Sample just said a wonderful OF Mass and gave a great testimony of his vocation at our Marian Peace Conference today. Marquette is incredibly lucky to have such a devoted shepherd. Also in attendance was Francis Beckwith, recent revert to Catholicism and former president of the Evangelical Theology Society. Turns out the both men went to school together, and hadn’t seen each other since graduation. Both men beamed when their picture was taken. Their mutual admiration could not be suppressed. What a great conference!(As usual!)
Bishop Campbell (Columbus, OH) recently had a mass for pastoral musicians emphasizing the importance of CHANT in our liturgies, and removing theologically unsound hymns from our liturgies. I’ll be sending him a letter and mass card regarding these. On a side note I am looking forward (I hope it’s worth it) to the USCCB’s “approved song list” (I don’t know the official project name) whenever that makes it out.
I emailed the communications office of the Archdiocese of St Paul/Mpls hoping it gets passed along to +Neinstedt. Thanked him for a recent column in the Catholic Spirit on health care reform, for his leadership (another bishop who knows how to bish) and assured him of my prayers.
(Can’t you just hear the world – “Just quit bishing!”) Yep, they need to know they are prayed for. We all need that.
Sent today to my ABp:
Your Grace,
I have read recently of the Holy Father’s ‘Marshall Plan’ to reinvigorate Catholic identity through what John Allen calls a program of ‘affirmative orthodoxy’. I note as well that since your arrival you have taken your duties as our shepherd very seriously, and have embraced the Year of the Priest, shown great leadership on Catholic ‘deal breakers’ like abortion and euthanasia, and paid special attention to our Archdiocese’s youth.
I am also aware that Bishops who take strong stands in defence of the faith are often ridiculed and persecuted for speaking truthfully about issues that are important to all people. Certainly, that has been the case with many of your colleagues in the United States of late.
I simply wanted to write and say “thank you” for what you have done, and what you will do to reinvigorate Catholic identity, and with it vocations and advocacy on behalf of the most vulnerable in our society – the old, the sick, the dying and the unborn. I would earnestly encourage to continue embracing the Holy Father’s plan, and his affirmative orthodoxy.
You are in this imperfect man’s prayers.