We have joined our fellow Catholics throughout the Diocese of La Crosse in the
2014-2015 Diocesan Annual Appeal. The Appeal is the major source of funding for the ministries, programs, and services of our Diocese. Some people grumble about the Diocesan Appeal and refuse to take part: ?The Diocese is not getting any of my money! Why should I give my hard-earned money to the Diocese anyway?!? Why indeed!!!! Think about it this way. Do you want priests to take care of your spiritual needs?
How do you think Deacon Billy Dodge and Elmwood?s own Levi Schmitt are paying for years of study for the priesthood? Wishful thinking? IOUs? Not hardly. It costs cold hard cash to educate a priest. And lots of it.
Guess who is helping Deacon Dodge and Levi pay for their seminary training? That?s right, those who give money to the Diocesan Annual Appeal. Funding of the education of the young men studying to be priests for our Diocese comes chiefly from monies raised through the Diocesan Annual Appeal. Have you assisted at the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass this week? Has a priest absolved you of your sins recently? Have you received the Anointing of the Sick at the hands of a priest? Do you wish to continue to have access to these and all the Sacraments in the future, access that only comes through the ministry of the priest? Well, then,
justice demands that you do your part to pay for the training of the priests who so generously serve you now and will serve you in the future!
Pray for Bishop Callahan and for the success of this year?s Appeal. Also, I encourage you to give prayerful consideration to your own financial gift. Please return your pledge card at your earliest convenience. Besides payment by check, note that you do have the option to have an automatic withdrawal made from your checking account or you may use your credit card. With your generosity, we can meet and even surpass our target.
As always, one hundred percent of any funds beyond our goal are returned to us at our parishes for our own needs right here!
Recently, someone asked: ?
Who is a person to call if somebody needs the last rites before death? if the Pastor is gone? This question surfaces a number of very important issues that will take several weeks to answer. So here goes part one!
The first thing to note is the context in which pastoral care of souls is exercised in our day and age. Every once in a while people will make a comment to me that assumes that the priest sits in the parish house (rectory) all day long just waiting for them to phone or stop by to conduct business. In other words, such people think that the priest is like a full-time fire and rescue professional in a city. Basically, such fire and rescue professionals remain at the station with their equipment 24/7 waiting to be called to an emergency. In fact,
the priest of today is more like the volunteer fire and rescue personnel in our rural communities. These dedicated volunteers are out and about busied with many and varied responsibilities pertaining to their family, their work, and the community. In the midst of this busyness these volunteers make themselves available should an emergency arise. However, sometimes volunteers are not able to respond to a particular call because their other responsibilities have taken them out of the area or other duties must take precedence (such as caring for their sick baby!). Yet there are other volunteers in the area who
are able to respond to the emergency. Pastors today ? just like the priests who served our area from afar in the late 19
th and early 20
th century ? spend lots of time moving between the communities they serve. Not only that, but extra-parochial responsibilities require the priests to be away from their parishes traveling to places far beyond the parishes given to their care. A priest in our day and age is literally a moving target! But the more things change, the more they remain the same.
So as pastoral emergencies arise today the solution is the same as it always has been at every time and in every place ? another priest of the area steps in for the Pastor who is unable to minister to those in urgent need in his parishes. In fact, almost weekly I am contacted by area parishes or hospitals or nursing homes or families to assist in an emergency because their Pastor is unavailable. That is the life of a diocesan priest. We are ordained not for the service of one specific parish or even grouping of parishes. A diocesan priest is ordained into the body of priests ? the presbyterate ? to serve the faithful of the Diocese of La Crosse under the direction of the Bishop. So whenever and whatever the need of any of the faithful, as part of that presbyterate, we priests serve God?s people. We all pitch in to meet the pastoral needs of the faithful of our beloved Diocese. Stay tuned for part two next week!
Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, have mercy on us! Saint Luke, pray for us!
Very Rev. Kevin C. Louis, STL