From the Pastor

by Fr. David Halm, C.S.C.  |  08/27/2023  |  Pastor's Letter

My dear friends,

In the early 1960’s the bishops of the universal Church and expert theologians gathered in Rome in what is called the Second Vatican Council. It was an important time of prayer and discernment and resulted in various important documents helping us to better understand the truth of God revealed in Jesus and who we are as His Church. In 1964 they wrote and published the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, called Lumen Gentium (Latin for “The Light of the Nations”). It says that the “divine mission, entrusted by Christ to the apostles, will last until the end of the world, since the Gospel they are to teach is for all time the source of all life for the Church. And for this reason the apostles, appointed as rulers in this society, took care to appoint successors.” (LG 20)

Lumen Gentium, as a constitution, teaches us how we as a Church - the Body of Christ and People of God - are organized. As diverse and messy and many as we are around the world and over the past 2,000 years, that’s not an easy project! We know from Matthew 16 that Jesus founded His Church upon the faith of His “rock”, the apostle Peter. We know that the name Peter comes from the latin word petrus, which means “rock” (fun, unrelated trivia: petro-oleum means “rock oil” or oil from a rock…) So, Jesus Himself founded the Church, and chose one of his closest disciples and apostles to be the foundation Rock. Peter’s faith and discipleship was obviously tested when Jesus was arrested and judged - and we know he denied even knowing Jesus, three times! Yet, after the resurrection Jesus “tripled-down” on Peter, so to speak, by asking whether he loved Jesus and instructing him to feed His sheep. (John 21:15-17)

Lumen Gentium teaches that the Divine Mission we have in the Church - “Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20) is from Jesus and entrusted to the Apostles. Knowing that this would continue until the end of the world, the Apostles chose men to continue the mission, and they chose others, and this continues in our own day in St. Peter’s Successor, Pope Francis, and his brother bishop, our very own Bishop John Dolan. Let us together pray for them, and for Bishop Nevares and Bishop Olmsted, may God bless them and be holy and good shepherds like Jesus!

Fr. David Halm, C.S.C.

Pastor