Bishop Kevin C. Rhoades

  • Unprecedented attack on our religious liberty

    On Friday, January 20th, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced that almost all employers, including Catholic employers, will be forced to offer their employees health coverage that includes sterilization, abortion-inducing drugs, and contraception. Almost all health insurers will be forced to include those “services” in the health policies they write. And almost all individuals will be forced to buy that coverage as a part of their policies.

    This alarming mandate not only negatively impacts the Catholic Church in the United States directly, it also strikes at the fundamental right to religious liberty of all citizens of any faith.

    Our Founding Fathers recognized the innate right to religious liberty when they enshrined this right as our first freedom in the Bill of Rights. The author of the First Amendment, James Madison, wrote: “Conscience is the most sacred of all property.” Thomas Jefferson wrote: “No provision in our Constitution ought to be dearer to man than that which protects the rights of conscience against the enterprises of the civil authority.”

    We as Americans cherish our religious liberty, which includes freedom of conscience. The mandate from HHS is an unprecedented attack on this liberty since it coerces religious institutions and citizens to pay for actions that violate our moral teachings and religious beliefs.

    We cannot and we will not comply with this unjust federal order. We cannot and we will not accept this egregious affront to our religious liberty.

    For institutions and individuals that have on moral grounds not provided these illicit “services” before, HHS extended the deadline for compliance with its mandate to August 1, 2013, in effect, giving us one year to prepare to violate our consciences, which we cannot and will not do. Instead, we need to do all we can in the coming months to correct this terrible wrong. The United States Conference of Catholic Bishops is actively exploring options for litigation and legislative proposals to remedy this injustice.

    The implications of this mandate for the Catholic Church in the United States, including our diocese, our Catholic health care institutions, our Catholic colleges and universities, and our Catholic Charities are grave. This injustice also negatively affects other religious institutions and people of faith who share our moral beliefs on these issues. Many who do not share our beliefs also object to the HHS rules, recognizing that they are a violation of religious freedom and the rights of conscience.

    Some have noted that HHS included a religious exemption in the new mandate. But to be eligible for this exemption, an organization must meet four strict criteria, including the requirement that it both hire and serve primarily people of its own faith. Catholic schools and hospitals would have to eject their non-Catholic employees, students and patients to qualify for the exemption. Catholic Charities and other Catholic social service agencies would have to eject their non-Catholic employees and provide help primarily to Catholics. As some have noted, Jesus and his apostles would not have been “religious enough” for this exemption, since they healed and served people of different faiths.

    In the aftermath of the HHS ruling on January 20th, I and many of my brother bishops have spoken out forcefully against the unjust mandate, against this unconscionable decision of the Obama Administration. On January 20th, Cardinal Roger Mahoney, the retired Archbishop of Los Angeles, wrote:

    “I cannot imagine a more direct and frontal attack on freedom of conscience than this ruling today. This decision must be fought against with all the energies the Catholic community can muster. For me there is no other fundamental issue as important as this one as we enter into the Presidential and Congressional campaigns. Every candidate must be pressed to declare his-her position on all of the fundamental life issues, especially the role of government to determine what conscience decision must be followed: either the person’s own moral and conscience decision, or that dictated/enforced by the Federal government.”

    Indeed, we must focus our energies in the coming months on fighting this unjust mandate and defending our religious liberty. I exhort all, our priests, deacons, religious, and laity to be engaged on this issue. We need to defend our cherished rights and resist violations of our first freedom. We must hold firm and be courageous in this matter. I am indeed grateful for the strong public stance taken by the presidents of the Catholic colleges and universities in our diocese as well as that taken by our Catholic health care leaders. We must be united in our defense of the religious liberty granted us by God and protected in our nation’s Constitution.

    Just a couple days before the announcement of the HHS decision, Pope Benedict XVI, in an ad limina address to Bishops of the United States, spoke about his worry that religious liberty in the United States is being weakened. He called it the “most cherished of American freedoms.” The Holy Father said:

    “Of particular concern are certain attempts being made to limit that most cherished of American freedoms, the freedom of religion. Many of you have pointed out that concerted efforts have been made to deny the right of conscientious objection on the part of Catholic individuals and institutions with regard to cooperation in intrinsically evil practices. Others have spoken to me of a worrying tendency to reduce religious freedom to mere freedom of worship without guarantees of respect for freedom of conscience. Here once more we see the need for an engaged, articulate and well-formed Catholic laity endowed with a strong critical sense vis-à-vis the dominant culture and with the courage to counter a reductive secularism which would delegitimize the Church’s participation in public debate about the issues which are determining the future of American society.”

    As a community of faith, we must commit ourselves to prayer and sacrifice so that truth and justice may prevail and religious liberty may be restored. Without God, we can do nothing. With God, nothing is impossible. I also recommend visiting www.usccb.org/conscience to learn more about this severe assault on religious liberty and how to contact Congress in support of legislation that would reverse the Administration’s decision.

    May the Holy Spirit guide us and strengthen us in this battle!

    Most Reverend Kevin C. Rhoades

    Bishop of Fort Wayne-South Bend

    Posted on February 1, 2012, to:

  • The consecrated life

    Blessed John Paul II wrote: “The consecrated life, deeply rooted in the example and teaching of Christ the Lord, is a gift of God the Father to his Church through the Holy Spirit.”

    This coming week, we give thanks in a special way for the gift of consecrated life as we celebrate the World Day for Consecrated Life. This celebration is attached to the Feast of the Presentation of the Lord on February 2nd. On this day, forty days after Christmas, we remember the presentation of the Child Jesus in the temple. This feast is also called Candlemas Day since it is the day on which candles are blessed symbolizing Christ who is the light of the world. It is an appropriate day to celebrate consecrated life in the Church since consecrated men and women are called to reflect the light of Christ to all people.

    We often speak of those in consecrated life as men and women religious. They are those who are consecrated to God by the vows of chastity, poverty, and obedience. They are religious sisters, brothers, and priests who have answered the Lord’s call to serve him with an undivided heart. Most belong to religious congregations and are active in various apostolates of the Church, according to the charisms of their communities. Some live a cloistered life, devoted to prayer and contemplation.

    Consecrated life is truly a gift to the Church. I think of the religious sisters who taught me through twelve years of Catholic education back home in Lebanon, Pennsylvania. I will be forever grateful for their excellent teaching and especially for their beautiful witness of the faith. One of my favorite sisters, who taught me at Lebanon Catholic High School, recently wrote to me that she has been diagnosed with multiple myeloma. Please remember her in your prayers. She is a beautiful woman of faith who had a very positive influence on my life and my vocation. I am sure that many who are reading this column have had similar experiences of wonderful religious sisters, brothers, and priests who helped them in their lives in a multitude of ways.

    We are very blessed by the large presence of consecrated men and women in our diocese.

    We have over 200 Holy Cross priests and brothers in our diocese, serving at the University of Notre Dame, Holy Cross College, and in parish, health care, and educational ministries. The U.S. Province of the Congregation of Holy Cross (priests and brothers) and the Midwest province of the Brothers of Holy Cross are headquartered here in our diocese. We have nearly 200 Sisters of the Holy Cross in our diocese. The Sisters of the Holy Cross, who sponsor Saint Mary’s College, also have their provincial house here and are active in various apostolates.

    We have over 70 Sisters of Saint Francis of Perpetual Adoration in our diocese. Their provincial motherhouse is in Mishawaka where we are blessed to have a Chapel of Perpetual Adoration of the Blessed Sacrament. The Sisters of Saint Francis sponsor the University of Saint Francis in Fort Wayne and are quite active in health care and educational apostolates. The corporate offices for the Sisters’ health care system, the Franciscan Alliance, is also headquartered in Mishawaka.

    We have over 70 Poor Handmaids of Jesus Christ in our diocese. Their provincial motherhouse is in Donaldson. The Poor Handmaids sponsor Ancilla College and they are also active in health care and social outreach ministries.

    The Missionary Sisters of Our Lady of Victory have their provincial motherhouse in Huntington. We have over 80 “Victory Noll Sisters” who are involved in the mission of catechesis and pastoral renewal. Archbishop John Noll was instrumental in their founding and locating in our diocese.

    Many of the religious sisters, brothers, and priests mentioned above are now retired from active ministry, but not retired from religious life. They continue to bear witness to Christ and to serve the Church through their prayers, sacrifices, and witness of faith.

    In Fort Wayne, we also have two new communities of consecrated men and women, the Franciscan Brothers Minor and the Franciscan Sisters Minor. As new communities, they are not yet “religious institutes,” but are “public associations of the faithful,” according to canon law. The brothers strive to live the original Rule of Saint Francis according to the Capuchin reform. The sisters are discerning a contemplative life according to the Rule of Saint Clare.

    We have many other religious men and women serving or living in our diocese (some as students at our Catholic universities) who belong to congregations that are not headquartered in our diocese. The men belong to the following religious institutes: the Friars Minor Capuchins, the Friars Minor Conventuals, the Missionaries of the Holy Spirit, the Missionaries of the Precious Blood, the Order of Friars Minor, the Priestly Fraternity of Saint Peter, the Society of Divine Word, and the Society of Jesus. The women belong to the following religious institutes: Adrian Dominicans, Congregation of Saint Joseph, Daughters of Divine Charity, Daughters of Mary Mother of Mercy, Dominican Sisters of Peace, Felician Sisters, Franciscan Sisters of the Sacred Heart, Handmaids of the Most Holy Trinity, School Sisters of Notre Dame, Sisters of Notre Dame, Sisters of Providence, Sisters of Saint Agnes, Sisters of St. Francis of Mary Immaculate, and Sisters of Saint Joseph of the Third Order of Saint Francis.

    Let us remember all these men and women religious in a special way in our prayers on February 2nd. They are a blessing to the Church. Let us intensify our prayers for vocations to the consecrated life. We definitely need more religious sisters, brothers, and priests, just as we need more diocesan priests. We need these witnesses of what Pope John Paul called “the radicalism of the Gospel.” Living the evangelical counsels, they are a sign to all of us of our call to follow Christ and to conform our existence to him. They follow Christ in a special way and give their lives in the service of God and his Church. The Church needs men and women who devote themselves totally to God and to others out of love for God.

    We are all called to holiness. Consecrated men and women remind us of this call. They follow a specific path to holiness through their profession of the evangelical counsels. How many saints of the Church were consecrated men and women religious! Just think of some of some of the more recently canonized saints like Holy Cross Brother, Saint Andre Bessette, and Indiana’s own Saint, Mother Theodore Guerin. Later this year, we will see the canonization of another American religious, Mother Marianne Cope, who served the lepers on the island of Molokai, Hawaii. And, of course, there is Blessed Mother Teresa of Calcutta, whom I pray will also soon be canonized. May these saints pray for us and for an increase of vocations to the consecrated life in the Church!

    Posted on January 25, 2012, to:

  • Seminary visits and March for Life

    This weekend I am traveling east for a number of engagements. On Thursday, January 19th, I will be traveling to the Pontifical College Josephinum, one of the seminaries where our diocese sends men for their priestly formation. It is a good opportunity not only to meet with the seminary rector and formation team about the progress of our seminarians, but also to meet individually with the eight young men from our diocese who are studying for the priesthood at the Josephinum, to discuss their spiritual, intellectual, and pastoral formation as well as their ongoing vocational discernment.

    On Friday, I will celebrate the community Mass at the Josephinum. I noticed that the Gospel that day recounts Jesus’ appointment of the twelve apostles. Our Lord sums up the duties of the Twelve in two simple phrases: “to be with him” and “that he might send them forth.” For priests and future priests, these are important words to contemplate. I intend to speak to the seminarians about their call “to be with Jesus,” to live in friendship and communion with him. This is at the very heart of the vocation to the priesthood. Only one who lives in intimate friendship with Christ can truly proclaim him to others.

    What the Church needs most in her priests is that we be men of God, men in friendship with Christ. Only then are we able to be good priests for our people. In my homily, I will encourage the seminarians to see their time in the seminary as like the time the apostles spent with Jesus, learning from him, being with him, before being sent out on mission. For priests and seminarians, indeed for all of us, there are beautiful forms of prayer that nourish our friendship with Jesus and our life in Him: daily Holy Mass, the Liturgy of the Hours, Eucharistic adoration, lectio divina, and the holy rosary.

    I will leave the Josephinum on Friday and drive to Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in my former diocese, to celebrate the Sanctity of Life Mass, a commitment I made quite some time ago, for the Order of Malta. This esteemed order, linked to the Holy See, has been a religious Order since the year 1113, when it was recognized by Pope Paschal II. It continues to follow its original principles — the defense of the Catholic faith and service to those who suffer.

    At the Mass for the Order of Malta, which is also open to all, I will speak about the sanctity of life, offering some reflections on the Genesis story of Cain and Abel. Blessed John Paul II, in his great encyclical The Gospel of Life, wrote about this story of the first murder and said that this page of the Book of Genesis is “a page rewritten daily, with inexorable and degrading frequency, in the book of human history.” It is a page rewritten daily here in the United States of America where there is an average of 42 homicides each day and over 3,000 abortions each day.

    We can learn so much today from the story of Cain and Abel. Human life is sacred. The blood of Abel cried out to God. The blood of the innocent continues to cry out today, the innocent victims of abortion, infanticide, homicide, war, and terrorism. Violence against human life continues in the millions who suffer from hunger and poverty, from human trafficking and drug trafficking, and a vast array of other threats to the dignity of human life.

    When God asked Cain “where is your brother Abel?” Cain tried to cover up his crime with a lie. He said “I do not know. Am I my brother’s keeper?” The answer to that question is “yes, we are.” Whether our brother or sister is a tiny baby in the mother’s womb or a child suffering from malnutrition in Africa, a teenager who has been drawn into a drug addiction or an elderly and lonely person in a nursing home, we are called to recognize each person as our brother or sister. God entrusts us to one another. And God entrusts to us women who have had abortions, women who suffer such deep wounds, psychological and spiritual problems, resulting from the abortion of their babies. We are called to reach out to them with the love and mercy of Jesus.

    After the Mass in Lancaster, I will head to Washington, D.C., for the weekend activities of the annual March for Life. I am looking forward to Mass on Sunday with the hundreds of people, mostly youth, from our diocese who will join me for a 3:00 PM Mass at Saint Matthew’s Cathedral in Washington. Sunday, January 22nd, is the 39th anniversary of the infamous Roe v. Wade decision in which a whole segment of our human family became excluded from the protection of the law and from the recognition that all people are created equal.

    For the past 39 years, pre-born human beings have been unprotected and over 50 million unborn children have been legally killed in our nation. The culture of death prevailed as the Supreme Court committed our nation to an irrational determination of who counts as a human being, according to location, within or outside the womb. The Supreme Court insisted on calling unborn human life “potential human life,” as if passage through the birth canal turns a potential human being into an actual human being! Who of us would say that we were not yet persons when we lived in our mothers’ wombs?

    At our diocesan Mass in Washington, I will reflect on the words of Jesus in this Sunday’s Gospel: “The kingdom of God is at hand. Repent, and believe in the gospel.” Each of us individually is called to continual conversion, which is necessary for growth in holiness. Repentance or conversion is something deeply personal. And it is a life-long task. We all know areas of our life which need reform. We are truly blessed as Catholics with the gift of the sacrament of Reconciliation which makes sacramentally present Jesus’ call to conversion and restores us to God’s grace.

    Conversion also has a social and communal dimension. On the anniversary of Roe v. Wade, we think of the repentance and conversion needed in our nation for the legal killing of so many millions of unborn children. Our country needs a metanoia, a change of mentality, one that recognizes the value and inviolability of human life and that the direct and voluntary killing of an innocent human being is always gravely immoral.

    I look forward to participating again in the March for Life on Monday, January 23rd. Many busloads of people are coming from our diocese to participate. Prior to the March, I will be concelebrating the Youth Mass at the Verizon Center in downtown D.C.

    After the March, I will continue on to Mount Saint Mary’s Seminary in Emmitsburg, Maryland, to visit our nine diocesan seminarians studying there. As at the Josephinum, I will meet with the seminary rector as well as individually with our young men about their growth in priestly formation. I will also have the opportunity to celebrate Holy Mass for the Mount community on Tuesday, January 24th, the Memorial of Saint Francis de Sales, an exemplary priest and bishop.

    I intend to speak to the community at Mount Saint Mary’s about the priestly virtues of Saint Francis de Sales as an example for us today. In his day, Francis’ task was the re-evangelization of the diocese of Geneva after the Protestant Reformation. He was quite successful in reviving Catholicism in the region. Thousands converted to the Catholic faith.

    Our task today is the new evangelization within a culture of increasing secularism and relativism. The Church needs priests to be men of prayer like Saint Francis de Sales, men devoted to the Holy Eucharist, imbued with the spirit of pastoral charity, and intellectually prepared to proclaim and defend the Catholic faith. We need priests, like Saint Francis de Sales, who have a missionary spirit and pastoral zeal for the mission of the new evangelization.

    Please pray for our priests and seminarians, and for Bishop D’Arcy and me. And, especially this weekend, please pray for a new culture of life in our nation and throughout the world. May the Blessed Virgin Mary and Blessed John Paul II intercede for us that we will always be strong in our defense of the sanctity of human life!

    Posted on January 18, 2012, to:

  • Praying for the unity of Christians

    Next week begins the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, an annual observance in which Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants, all of us brothers and sisters in Christ through our common baptism, pray for the restoration of perfect unity among Christians. We pray, in the power of the Holy Spirit, that divisions among Christians will be overcome.

    This Week of Prayer, which begins on January 18th and ends on January 25th (the Feast of the Conversion of Saint Paul), reminds us, as the Second Vatican Council taught, that prayer is “the soul of the ecumenical movement.” It reminds us of the priority of prayer in all our endeavors, including in ecumenical activities since ultimately the full visible communion of all Christians is a gift of God’s grace.

    The Week of Prayer for Christian Unity used to be called the Church Unity Octave when it began in 1908. It was founded by Reverend Paul Wattson, an American Episcopal priest, and Mother Lurana White. These co-founders of the Society of the Atonement, with thirteen lay associates, entered the Catholic Church in 1909. Thereafter, Pope Saint Pius X gave his official blessing to the Octave.

    In 1916, Pope Benedict XV encouraged the observance of the Church Unity Octave throughout the Catholic Church. Now, 96 years later, I wish to encourage the fervent observance of this Week of Prayer for Christian Unity throughout our diocese. Among the Masses and Prayers for Various Needs and Occasions in the Roman Missal are Masses “For the Unity of Christians.” I encourage their use in our parishes during weekday Masses between January 18 and 25. The Week is also a good time for ecumenical prayer services. Excellent materials and resources are available, prepared collaboratively by the Pontifical Council for Promoting Christian Unity and the World Council of Churches.

    Why is ecumenism important? The answer is simple: Jesus Christ wills the unity of his disciples. He prayed “that all may be one” (John 17:21). The Catholic Church’s commitment to this task is, therefore, irrevocable, despite what often seem to be insuperable obstacles in ecumenical endeavors.

    The theme of the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity this year is: “We will all be changed by the Victory of our Lord Jesus Christ” (1 Corinthians 15: 51-58). Christ’s victory over sin and death enables us to persevere with patience in the quest for Christian unity and to look to the future with hope. As Catholic Chair of the International Theological Catholic-Reformed Dialogue, I am involved in an important ecumenical effort, a difficult one to be sure, but one which continues because of our faith in the power of God’s grace and in Christ’s victory.

    One reason for hope is that there is already a unity, though imperfect, among Christians. While we naturally regret our divisions and separations, we should also be keenly aware of the elements of unity we share with our separated brothers. Examples include the gift of the sacrament of Baptism, the Sacred Scriptures, and the common beliefs we profess in the Apostles’ and Nicene Creeds. We should acknowledge this common ground with gratitude, recognizing that there is more that unites us than divides us.

    Last year, during his apostolic visit to Germany, our Holy Father visited the Augustinian convent in Erfurt where Martin Luther studied and was ordained a priest. While there, Pope Benedict spoke to various representatives of German Protestant communities about the unity we share. He said:

    “Our fundamental unity comes from the fact that we believe in God, the Father Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth. And that we confess that he is the triune God — Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. The highest unity is not the solitude of a monad, but rather a unity born of love. We believe in God — the real God. We believe that God spoke to us and became one of us. To bear witness to this living God is our common task at the present time.”

    I was moved by the Holy Father’s deep concern about the secularism of today’s culture, what he called “the withdrawal from God.” All Christians should be concerned about this cultural challenge. Pope Benedict said that “our primary ecumenical service at this hour must be to bear common witness to the presence of the living God and in this way to give the world the answer which it needs.” This means living by God’s word. It means a commitment to love. It means service of others. This is how the Christian faith becomes more credible to others.

    As Catholics, we must know our faith and live it afresh. Genuine ecumenism does not mean that we water down the truths of the faith. Genuine ecumenism happens when we live our faith deeply and with conviction in an increasingly secularized culture.

    May the Holy Spirit inspire us and all Christians to grow in faith, hope, and charity, and to bear faithful witness to the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ and His Victory over sin and death!

    Posted on January 11, 2012, to:

  • The Epiphany of the Lord

    A blessed and happy New Year to all! During these days, the Church continues to celebrate the wonderful season of Christmas. The Christmas season officially ends on the Solemnity of the Baptism of the Lord, which is celebrated this year on Monday, January 9th.

    This Sunday, we celebrate the Solemnity of the Epiphany, the manifestation of Jesus, the Messiah of Israel, the Son of God and Savior of the world, to the Gentiles. We read the story of the Magi who, following the star, came from the east to adore the newborn King of the Jews. The Magi represent all the people of the world and reveal that Jesus has come not only as the Messiah of the Jewish people, but as the Savior of the whole world. As Saint Paul wrote to the Ephesians: “the Gentiles are coheirs… and copartners in the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel.”

    As the Magi came to Bethlehem to worship the child Jesus, it is good to reflect on our calling to be a people of adoration and worship of God. How grateful I am that so many of our Catholic brothers and sisters are returning to the worship of God at Sunday Mass, having been inspired by our on-going Catholics Come Home campaign. Let us continue to pray for this intention: for our non-practicing brothers and sisters to return to the practice of the faith in their spiritual home, the Catholic Church.

    The Catechism of the Catholic Church teaches that the worship of God, adoration and honor given to God, is the first act of “the virtue of religion.” We see in the visit of the Magi, this virtue put into practice, an example for all of us. In a gesture of profound humility and respect, the wise men prostrated themselves before the child Jesus in the arms of His mother. They honored him with the most precious gifts: gold, frankincense and myrrh.

    The Magi are a striking example for us who are called to be a people of adoration in our daily life. We are called to have the attitude of the wise men, humbling recognizing that we are creatures and would not even exist if it were not for God who, in His infinite and merciful love, has given us life. This awareness leads us to praise and exalt our Creator and to humble ourselves before Him. The Catechism teaches that “the worship of the one God sets man free from turning in on himself, from the slavery of sin and the idolatry of the world.”

    The Magi said to King Herod that they had come to Bethlehem to do homage to the newborn king of the Jews. “We have come to worship him,” they declared. This is what we do every time we celebrate the sacred liturgy. We offer the Lord adoration, praise, and thanksgiving. In doing so, we are sanctified. The Lord blesses us with His love and grace.

    In a more secularized society, the duty to worship God is often ignored. Herod’s pride created within him contempt for the Lord. He not only refused to worship Him; he actively sought to destroy him. We may not find this extreme attitude very often today, however, we do see a lot of indifference to God and lukewarmness in the practice of divine worship. Let us pray for a renewed commitment to Sunday Mass among Catholics in our diocese and throughout the world. I also wish to mention the beautiful tradition of adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, a wonderful opportunity to worship the Lord outside of Mass.

    Blessed John Paul II, not long before he died, spoke of the secularized culture in which we live as characterized by a forgetfulness of God and a vain pursuit of human self-sufficiency. Pope Benedict XVI has also spoken of this quite often. It is good to remember the words of the Second Vatican Council: “Without God the Creator, the creature would disappear.”

    At the beginning of this new year, let us be resolved to cultivate the attitude of the Magi. They were indeed wise men because they recognized their need for God. They had a profound respect for their Creator and humbly prostrated themselves before Him. We imitate the Magi by our own fidelity to Holy Mass, by our daily prayer, and by adoration of the most holy Eucharist. Thus we are able to say with the Magi: “We have come to worship Him.” This is not only our duty to God; it is our joy and our peace. The worship of God sanctifies us and sets us free!

    In this new year 2012, may God pour out His blessing upon you and upon our diocese!

    Posted on January 4, 2012, to: