Feeling more and more at home

August 23, 2007

Dear sisters and brothers in Christ,

END OF SUMMER

The beginning of school for all practical purposes signals the end of summer. A new academic year begins and new programs and plans are put into place. Hopefully all of you have enjoyed a summer break and are now ready for a return to "life as normal."

I have just returned from a two week summer vacation. Despite the large amount of mail waiting for me when I returned, it was good to be away and it is great to be back. Not too long ago someone asked me, "How can you be a Catholic, let alone a Catholic priest and bishop, and yet have never been to the campus of the University of Notre Dame?" Well, now, I don't have to worry about offending anyone by my response to that strange question. I have been to Notre Dame. I traveled with a priest friend of mine to his hometown of Ft. Wayne, Indiana. We were also going to visit Chicago and South Bend, Indiana is on the way. Our time spent in Ft. Wayne was restful. We spent time at the beautiful Cathedral of Immaculate Conception in Ft. Wayne. I had a chance to speak briefly with Bishop John D'Arcy of Ft. Wayne and wish him luck as he looked forward to celebrating a Eucharistic Congress marking the 150th Anniversary of the founding of his diocese the weekend of August 18 at the Notre Dame. I enjoyed my visit to Notre Dame Campus. One of the first things I did was have my picture taken in front of "Touchdown Jesus." Followers of Notre Dame Football know what I mean and for those who don't, there is a huge mural on the side of a building depicting Christ the King. A special part of my visit was a holy hour spent at the beautiful Basilica of the Sacred Heart and praying a rosary at the Grotto. As I toured the other buildings on campus, a young student noticed the tee-shirt I was wearing. It was advertising "Sioux City, Iowa." Bridget Cullen a student at Notre Dame, saw me and identified herself as being from St. Mary's Parish in Storm Lake and I introduced myself as her bishop. It was nice to meet a fellow Iowan on the Indiana campus.

I also spent time in Detroit as well as Chicago. I am feeling more and more at home in the great Midwest of our country. My visit to the campus of Notre Dame is a good reminder for me to pray for all of our students on college campuses. Whether at Briar Cliff, the other colleges or universities here in Iowa or other places, these young people are the future leaders of our church. May God protect them as they grow is wisdom, age and grace.

A NEW ACADEMIC YEAR...GROWTH IN A YEAR OF FAITH

We also pray for the young children of our Diocese as they recommence their studies to grow in faith and reason and for all their parents and teachers as well. The liturgical calendar is well suited to mark a new academic year at this time. August 27 is the feast of Saint Monica, whose maternal dedication to prayer and holy living brought about the conversion of her son, Augustine, who became a great bishop, preacher, saint, and doctor of the Church. May her example and intercession inspire us to the same commitment to prayer for our children. September 3 is the feast of Pope Saint Gregory the Great, patron of teachers; may his example and intercession strengthen our minds and our hearts to know and love our Lord Jesus Christ. September 8 is the feast of the Nativity of Mary; may she who loved her son Jesus with human perfection help us by her example and intercession to love our own children with Christ-like love and devotion, and to be better examples of holy living for them.

Taking your example from these and other saintly parents, those of you who are parents should strive not only to teach your children our holy Catholic faith, but also to live exemplary lives of holiness and prayer for them. You are the first teachers of your children, and the ones who most profoundly form their minds, hearts, and consciences. If your example is sound, they will be better prepared to recognize and resist the temptations of sin in the world, now and throughout their lives.

"Parents should regard as their proper mission the task of transmitting human life and educating those to whom it has been transmitted. They should realize that they are thereby cooperators with the love of God the Creator, and are, so to speak, the interpreters of that love." (Gaudium et Spes, 50). At the deepest level, all education is education for love. Whatever is being taught, should tend to reveal the love for us which is God's act of bringing each of us into existence and maintaining us in existence from moment to moment. All education is about love, divine love and our response to it in faith and hope.

In our modern world, parents have many choices to make in fulfilling their responsibilities for their children. Catholic schools strive to make the moral and faith dimensions of education explicit in all the subjects taught. At times public schools may tend to reduce or ignore those dimensions, but offer a "free" education in functional truth. Parish religious education programs can aid parents of public school children in sharing the faith. Home schooling offers great flexibility in curriculum and scheduling, and the best integration of education and family. All of these choices offer pros and cons, and parents must choose, within the general guidelines of the moral teaching of the Church, what is best suited for their family's particular circumstances.

Regardless of what kind of education parents choose for their children, they retain their primary responsibility to educate. Only part of this responsibility can be delegated. Parents cannot simply send their children off to school and expect that this fully acquits their responsibilities. Parents must talk to their children about what happens in school, and know what their homework involves. Parents must take their children to Mass each week, and to Confession and Holy Hours. Families must pray together. Families must form their faith together, by the shared practice and study of it. From these faith-filled homes will come the virtuous, faithful, upright men and women who will lead the Church and shape the secular world, who will be able to accept with joy their vocations as ordained and religious, as husbands and wives, as parents and teachers.

As the Bishop of this Diocese, I have the responsibility to teach, sanctify and govern all the souls within my care. But in some sense, all my teaching is remedial. I cannot do better than parents for their children in teaching the faith. Parents who live the life of Christ deeply, who accept and follow the truth of Christ in His Catholic Church, teach everything and more that I can and must teach always. In my teaching, then, I exhort you to know and love ever more deeply the truth that is Jesus Christ, risen for us, so that your faith will shine for your children.

With heartfelt gratitude, I thank all the parents of our Diocese, who labor to love their children in Christ, to teach them to love Christ every day. Likewise, I thank all the Catholic teachers and catechists, the principals of schools and Directors of Religious Education in parishes, who assist them in their parental duty. God is truly good and generous, and we have so many resources here to build our domestic churches into holy and prayerful engines to transform our little corner of the world. May we always be grateful for His abundant love, and not squander His bounty as the prodigal son. May we bear with one another in our failings, and lift each other up by the power of our baptismal grace in our Lord Jesus Christ. We are one body in Him, and with one heart and one love let us live and teach His truth every day.

May Saint Monica, Saint Gregory, and Mary the Holy Mother of God and all the saints in the heavenly choir pray for us, that our families will grow in faith and holiness each day. May God our most gracious Father, Jesus Christ our Lord, and the Holy Spirit bless us with wisdom and health to love and serve Him gratefully. May He watch over and protect us from all evil, especially in our homes and schools. May He fill us with all the good things of His creation. And may we ever praise Him, in union with the angels and saints and the whole Church: Glory to God!

Bronco football will soon be here again. I hope I've inspired other Iowans to cheer for them!

Your brother in Christ,

Most Reverend R. Walker Nickless
Bishop of Sioux City