Bishop reflects on meeting

By RENEE WEBB, Globe editor
Nov. 23, 2006

Bishop R. Walker Nickless attended his third bishops' meeting earlier this month in Baltimore.

"We met in Baltimore for the first time in several years and the reason was for the 200th anniversary of the dedication of the Basilica of the Assumption which was the first cathedral for the first bishop in the United States," he noted. "Baltimore holds a place of pride in the church in the United States because it was the first original diocese. It was significant that we were back in Baltimore to meet as a group of bishops because when our country was beginning they also met in Baltimore."

He pointed out that the famous Baltimore Catechism came from a plenary meeting of the bishops who met there.

The bishop noted that on Sunday afternoon he attended a special gathering for all of the bishops who had been named in the last year. He compared it to the gathering in Rome that he attended earlier this year for new bishops.

"Three bishops explained their experiences of the bishops' meeting and how overwhelming it can be if you are new bishop to walk into these meetings for the first time. They encouraged us not to be afraid, to participate, to speak up and to volunteer rather than wait to be asked for different committees that we might be interested in," said Bishop Nickless.

He appreciated the fact that the bishops took the time to welcome the new bishops, answer questions and offer words of encouragement.

The rededication Mass at the basilica was held that evening.

"It's a beautiful, beautiful church that has been totally redone and restored to its original," said Bishop Nickless. "It's one of the most famous buildings in Baltimore."

Cardinal Stafford from the Vatican, a native of Baltimore, was the main celebrant. He had previously served as bishop in Denver.

Bishop Nickless mentioned that he felt much more comfortable at this meeting than the first two. He attended the first bishops' meeting about a year ago, after he was named bishop of Sioux City but it was prior to his episcopal ordination. The second meeting was last June in Los Angeles.

"I had a better feel for how it works this time," he noted. "When you first go, you don't know where to sit, the mechanics of everything and how the days flow."

The bishop explained that bishops can choose where to sit, but then you have to stay there for the entire meeting. He has discovered that it's nice to sit next to someone he knows just in case he had any questions. Bishop Nickless sat by his seminary classmate Bishop Thomas Olmsted of Phoenix.

One of the things that was somewhat difficult for Bishop Nickless to get use to was having the media present for the first two days of the meeting.

"They had these huge banks of lights and made the room so bright. There were all kinds of TV cameras and photographers," said the bishop.

Among the various topics of importance at the meeting was the restructuring of the bishops' conference to cut down the number of committees and reduce the number of positions to save money.

He mentioned they have tried to work on restructuring for the last 30 years, but this year they were able to agree upon a change.

"Now we have a plan set in place to begin in 2008 with restructuring the whole conference," said Bishop Nickless, who was elected the representative for Region IX which consists of the states of Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska. In this position, he will coordinate the regional meetings.

In addition to the restructuring, the bishop pointed out that they addressed three documents that he believes are very timely - the guidelines for ministry to persons with a homosexual inclination, the document relating to worthiness to receive Christ in the Eucharist and the document on marriage and contraception.

Married Love and the Gift of Life, written in a question-and-answer form and to be distributed as a brochure or pamphlet, encourages married couples who use artificial contraception to return to church teaching and learn how natural family planning can benefit their relationship.

"Our society is having a hard time understanding, in this day and age, what marriage is all about," said Bishop Nickless. "This gave the bishops an opportunity to make a pamphlet first of all expressing the church's teaching on what our understanding of marriage is - a committed relationship between a man and woman for life - and what that involves, the responsibilities for married love."

Among the couple's responsibilities, noted the bishop, are the unity and love that the spouses show for each other and an openness to having children.

"This pamphlet will be a great help to couple's preparing for marriage and priests, deacons and seminarians as they help couples understand what marriage is all about," He said. "It offers a clear statement on the church's teaching regarding contraception."

Bishop Nickless pointed out that the 26-page document on the pastoral care of persons with homosexual inclinations was written for bishops in order that they may understand the importance of outreach to people with same-sex attraction.

"Each person deserves the dignity and respect of a son or daughter of God. We start in a very positive way, not condemning, not judging but stating clearly what the purpose of sexuality is for - for family and the unity of a man and woman. Any kind of sexual activity outside of marriage has never been appropriate and the church has always taught that," he said.

The statement is titled Ministry to Persons with Homosexual Inclination: Guidelines for Pastoral Care. The document summarizes the theological and moral basis for ministry to persons with a homosexual inclination.

"We put this whole issue in the context of the meaning of human sexuality and at the same time, we realize there are persons with same-sex attraction or inclination. We as church have to be ministers to help them live with the difficult burdens they carry," said the bishop. "This helps us evaluate the programs for outreach to homosexual persons."

The document states that the inclination toward homosexual acts is disordered since it is an inclination toward sexual acts that do not accord with the natural purpose of sexuality, but simply experiencing a homosexual inclination is not itself a sin. It further states "that saying a person has a particular inclination that is disordered is not to say that the person as a whole is disordered."

The third document of significance that was reviewed and approved was titled Happy Are Those Who Are Called to His Supper: On Preparing to Receive Christ Worthily in the Eucharist.

"Pope John Paul II emphasized, in his encyclical on the Eucharist, that the Eucharist is at the heart of the church," said Bishop Nickless. "This is an aid to help all Catholics participate more worthily in receiving holy Communion. We believe that Jesus is truly present in Holy Communion and that we become one with the sacrifice of Christ on Calvary and at the same time one with our brothers and sisters baptized into the body of Christ. It is very significant and important event in our lives as Catholics to show our solidarity with one another in what we believe and to receive the Lord into our hearts."

While the Eucharist has always been central to the Catholic faith, the bishop believes that the controversy in the last election cycle two years ago relating to the reception of Communion by Catholic politicians who disagreed with fundamental beliefs of the church initiated the formation of this document.

"Some bishops were denying holy Communion to these politicians in their dioceses and others weren't," said Bishop Nickless. "It was an attempt to try to bring some clarity to the issue, but ultimately each bishop has to make his own decision for his own pastoral needs in his diocese."

At the same time, he stressed, the bishops wanted to broaden the document's scope to the reception of Communion by all Catholics and not put the focus merely on politicians.

"We've become a little lax or casual about receiving holy Communion," he said. "If we are in the state of a mortal sin, we need to go to confession before we receive Communion. We need to fast for an hour before from food and drink. We need to prepare by prayer, reflection and appropriate dress."

The bishop said that people who live together, people who are not in marriages sanctioned by the church and people who commit serious sin should not receive Communion.

"This was an attempt to guide the people and help them form their conscience as to if they are worthy to receive the sacrament," he said. "Everyone needs to be worthy to receive Communion and we can't pick on one group or another."

Prior to the meeting, he mentioned that he was sent pages and pages of documentation to review. On several occasions, the bishop said he shared some of the information with his chancery staff in order to get their input.

He mentioned that "bishops are never afraid to speak so all of these issues were discussed thoroughly up one side and down the other - from all different points of view."

The bishop mentioned that he did not speak at this meeting because others already addressed most of the things he would have said.

Along with important discussions relating to doctrine issues, liturgy issues, financial issues and ongoing committing to the protection of young people, there was time for prayer and reflection.

"Lots of things happen in these four days, they are pretty packed," said Bishop Nickless.

So where does the bishop go from here?

"My role as bishop is to make sure that the priests have the necessary information to pass these documents on to their people," he said.

Articles in The Globe, he noted, is his major way for him to communicate decisions made at the bishops meeting.

"One of the things that Catholics need to do more of is learn more about our faith - what we believe and what we teach as church," he said. "These documents are practical, helpful way to help people understand what we believe about certain basic issue like marriage, homosexual inclination, receiving holy Communion worthily, the war in Iraq and the Vatican's directives on the liturgy. We talked about all of those things and now we have to share that information."