For the truly mad are those souls devoured with ambition, while the faithful and loyal are called fools. Anthony Esolen
Bishop's Appeal 2018: "Zeal for thy house consumes me." Bishop's Message.
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| Mount Calvary Catholic Church, Baltimore |
The 2018 Bishop’s Appeal
P.O. Box 4301
Houston, Texas 77210
346.247.2208 | giving@ordinariate.net
ordinariate.net/bishops-appeal
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Contact Jenny Faber: 346.247.2208 or giving@ordinariate.net
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Feb. 1, 2018
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
As I refect on the growth of the Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter over last year, I recall the words of Psalm 69: “Zeal for thy house consumes me.”
During the past 12 months, our mission diocese established new communities in Kentucky, Georgia, and Southern California. We launched intensive formation programs for more than 20 candidates studying for the diaconate and priesthood. We received two new seminarians, and I ordained the Ordinariate’s first celibate seminarian a priest. The photo above (
click here for webpage/image link) is from the consecration of Mount Calvary Church in Baltimore — one of two churches consecrated as Catholic churches last year.
We hosted “Discernment Days” for 13 young men considering a call to holy orders. We welcomed women religious into the Ordinariate, when the Dominican Sisters of Mary, Mother of the Eucharist began formal ministries within our diocese. Our priests and deacons gathered for prayer, fraternity, and business during a week-long assembly in Los Angeles.
These examples of seemingly inextinguishable activity give witness to the remarkable zeal of the Ordinariate’s faithful and clergy. Zeal indeed consumes us, as we work hard to strengthen our communities, provide solid formation for our future priests, and bolster the structural and administrative foundation for our diocese to support our Parishes and clergy into the future.
“Zeal for thy house consumes me” is the theme of our 2018 Bishop’s Appeal, through which we can carry forth our enthusiasm for inviting new members into full Catholic communion; for cultivating more vocations to the priesthood and religious life; for growing our Parishes; and for further integrating our Ordinariate into the life of the Catholic Church.
To meet the needs of the Ordinariate today and for generations to come, I invite you to join me in making a gift to the annual Bishop’s Appeal. Support for this mission-critical fund remains the lifeblood of our evangelization to our brothers and sisters who long for the fullness of faith. Your gift will provide for education opportunities for your clergy, communications outreach across the Ordinariate, Chancery support to your Parishes, and my travel to preach and teach the faith.
As we prepare for the holy season of Lent, I thank you for your prayerful consideration of a sacrifcial commitment to this year’s Bishop’s Appeal. With my profound appreciation for your zeal for our pioneering mission, I remain
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Most Rev. Steven J. Lopes
Bishop of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of Saint Peter
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PSALM 37
Keep innocency, and take heed unto the thing that is right : for that shall bring a man peace at the last.
POPE LEO XIV
The right to freedom of expression, freedom of conscience, religious freedom, and even the right to life are being restricted in the name of other so-called new rights, with the result that the very framework of human rights is losing its vitality and creating space for force and oppression. This occurs when each right becomes self-referential, and especially when it becomes disconnected from reality, nature, and truth.
ST AUGUSTINE
The truth is like a lion; you don’t have to defend it. Let it loose; it will defend itself.
SAINT PHILIP NERI
The greatness of our love of God must be tested by the desire we have of suffering for His love.
ANTONIN SCALIA
Knowledge is one thing, virtue is another; good sense is not conscience, refinement is not humility. Liberal Education makes the gentleman. It is well to be a gentleman, it is well to have a cultivated intellect, a delicate taste, a candid, equitable, dispassionate mind, a noble and courteous bearing in the conduct of life. These are the natural qualities of a large knowledge, they are the objects of a university. But they are no guarantee for sanctity of even for conscientiousness; they may attach to the man of the world, to the profligate, to the heartless.
ANONYMOUS
One can be certain that when one is judged by mediocrity, that is, by someone or persons holding to standards beneath the dignity of man, that one will be accused of harassment for merely suggesting that people live up to their potential.
MARCUS AURELIUS
There is but one thing of real value - to cultivate truth and justice, and to live without anger in the midst of lying and unjust men.
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN
Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom.
MARK TWAIN
If you tell the truth, you don't have to remember anything.
ARTHUR SCHOPENHAUER
All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident.
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