We, the Bishops of the Holy Land Coordination, have met in the Holy Land since 1998, to be in solidarity with the local Christian community and share in the pastoral life of the local Church. While the faith we see in the Christians of the Holy Land is an inspiration to all, we have heard repeatedly and have seen ourselves that occupation and insecurity, fear and frustration dominate the life of people across this land. Blaming the other is an abdication of responsibility and a failure of leadership, a leadership that the people so desperately need. We have heard and we make this conviction our own: to be pro-Israeli has to mean being pro-Palestinian. This means being pro-justice for all, whose certain fruit is lasting peace.

We recognize the importance of the resumption of dialogue between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. We echo the words of Pope Benedict to the diplomatic corps on 9 January when he expressed his hope that this dialogue “will be maintained, and that it will lead to lasting peace which guarantees the right of the two peoples to dwell in security in sovereign states and within secure and internationally recognized borders.”
A negotiated agreement is urgently required.

That dialogue is threatened and undermined by extremism and intolerance of the other, the signs of which are only too apparent in the attitudes, judgments and actions of far too many in the world today. This is a concern for both sides and we appeal for tolerance and courageous leadership, able to show forgiveness and humility, to promote peaceful co-existence.

Despite the serious problems we heard and we saw this year, our faith gives us hope and there are signs of hope: the gathering of the Churches for the Synod on the Middle East; the increasing numbers of pilgrims; the inter-religious co-operation and friendship we witnessed in Galilee that offers an example to all; the housing projects of the Latin Patriarchate and the Custody of the Holy Land; the humanitarian efforts of Catholic organisations along with a range of other practical, educational and cultural initiatives to assist the local community—all of which we encourage and support. Above all our hope is nourished by the continuing witness of the Christian communities we met and with whom we celebrated our faith in Gaza, Nablus, Jerusalem and Galilee.

We also recognize the progress being made on negotiations between Israel and the Holy See, with hopes for a resolution soon.
Political leaders of both sides and our own countries need to show courage, resolve and creativity so the simple hopes of the majority for peaceful co-existence are realised. The fidelity to their way of life of Jews, Christians and Muslims should always be such that there is deep-seated openness to all others. May God bless all of the people of the Holy Land.

Signatories to the Holy Land Coordination Communique 2012 are:

Archbishop Patrick Kelly –Archbishop of Liverpool (England and Wales)
Archbishop Riccardo Fontana–Bishop of Arezzo‐Cortona‐Sansepolcro (Italy)
Archbishop Richard Smith–Archbishop of Edmonton (Canada)
Archbishop Joan‐Enric Vives I Sicilia–Bishop of Urgell (Spain)
Bishop Gerald Kicanas–Bishop of Tucson (USA)
Bishop Heinrich Mussinghoff–Bishop of Aachen (Germany)
Bishop Michel Dubost–Bishop of Evry (France)
Bishop Pierre Burcher–Bishop of Reykjavik (Nordic Bishops’ Conference)
Bishop William Kenney–Auxiliary Bishop of Birmingham (England and Wales)

Last week, The Cardinal Newman Society reported that Scranton University is hosting a former Congresswoman and advocate of abortion rights on campus to help train women to run for public office. On Tuesday, The Cardinal Newman Society sent the report to more than 90,000 online members.
Today, the Diocese of Scranton issued a statement saying Bishop Joseph Bambera specifically requested the Jesuit university to withdraw the invitation but they’ve refused.

Bishop Bambera called the college’s decision “dismaying” and “personally disheartening.” He said:
“The gravity of this issue speaks to the heart and substance of who we are as Christians. Because of the incarnation of Christ, every human life has value and worth. As Christians, we must be committed to defending human life at every age and every stage from conception to natural death.”

“Although a forum such as this, designed to support and encourage women to engage in public service, is by its nature good and noble, for a Catholic institution in the Diocese of Scranton to invite a pro-abortion advocate to speak at a University sponsored event is dismaying and personally disheartening to me. And to do so within days of the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., is particularly demoralizing.”

According to the diocesan statment, University officials said that their invitation to Ms. Margolies was not an endorsement of her personal views. But the diocese said that the inclusion of Ms. Margolies in a University sponsored program has created “concern and confusion” among members of the Christian faithful.

The diocese said that the University’s charge as a Catholic institution of higher learning has been “compromised.”

The keynote lecturer for The Ready to Run Campaign Training for Women program on January 28,2012, Marjorie Margolies, served in Congress from 1993 to 1995 and later, acted as director of a PAC committed to electing pro-abortion rights women.
Here is the diocesan statement in its entirety:

The University of Scranton is part of a national network of institutions offering the Ready to Run Program, which is a bi-partisan program sponsored by the Center for American Women and Politics at Rutgers University. The Program at the University of Scranton is being hosted by its Department of Political Science and is scheduled for January 28, 2012.
The keynote speaker for the University of Scranton Program is Marjorie Margolies, who is a former member of the United States House of Representatives. During her two years in office (1993-1995), Ms. Margolies focused on issues affecting women, from abortion to health care. She co-sponsored the Abortion Clinic Access Bill, which sought to make it a federal crime to impede access to abortion clinics; voted in support of an Abortion Counseling Bill, which would have required federal recipients of funds for family planning to provide patients with information about obtaining an abortion; and opposed the “Hyde Amendment”, which prohibited federal funding of abortions.
After leaving Congress, Ms. Margolies served as executive director of the Women’s Campaign Fund, a group dedicated to increasing the number of women in office who support reproductive choices and options from all parties and at all levels of government.
Recognizing that the University of Scranton planned to host a keynote speaker who clearly supports a pro-abortion agenda, the Most Reverend Joseph C. Bambera, Bishop of Scranton, engaged in a dialogue with the University. The Bishop specifically requested that the invitation extended be withdrawn; however, his request was denied.
In response to the University of Scranton’s decision to refuse his personal request, Bishop Bambera expressed his disappointment and concern by offering the following:
“The gravity of this issue speaks to the heart and substance of who we are as Christians. Because of the incarnation of Christ, every human life has value and worth. As Christians, we must be committed to defending human life at every age and every stage from conception to natural death.”
“Although a forum such as this, designed to support and encourage women to engage in public service, is by its nature good and noble, for a Catholic institution in the Diocese of Scranton to invite a pro-abortion advocate to speak at a University sponsored event is dismaying and personally disheartening to me. And to do so within days of the annual March for Life in Washington, D.C., is particularly demoralizing.”
The University’s unwillingness to work with Bishop Bambera in an effort to reach an acceptable resolution to this unfortunate situation is an unsettling turn in the relationship that the Bishop has been pleased to maintain with University officials during his tenure as Bishop of Scranton. In Ex Corde Ecclesiae, the apostolic constitution issued by Blessed Pope John Paul II regarding Catholic colleges and universities, it is noted that: “Bishops have a particular responsibility to promote Catholic Universities, and especially to promote and assist in the preservation and strengthening of their Catholic identity. A Catholic University, as Catholic, informs and carries out its research, teaching and all other activities with Catholic ideals, principles and attitudes.” In attempting to achieve a resolution, University officials noted that their invitation to Ms. Margolies was not an endorsement of her personal views. Despite the University’s lack of endorsement of the personal views of the keynote speaker, as a Jesuit and Catholic university, the inclusion of Ms. Margolies in a University sponsored program has created concern and confusion among members of the Christian faithful. Thereby, in this instance, the University’s charge as a Catholic institution of higher learning to permeate “all university activities” with “Catholic teaching and discipline” has been compromised.
To this point, Bishop Bambera commented further, “The University of Scranton has left me with no other choice but to publicly express my disapproval of the invitation of this speaker and my concern regarding the University’s evolving relationship with me as Bishop of the Diocese of Scranton. Despite this unfortunate situation, I continue to be open to working with University officials to promote, preserve and strengthen the Catholic character of the University of Scranton.”

The National Catholic Register reports that U.S. bishops have reportedly been in dialogue with the presidents of Catholic universities about U.S. implementation of Ex corde Ecclesiae, and are now finalizing a report stating that while John Paul’s document has had a positive effect, there’s still much to be done.

“There seems to be a sense that Ex corde has had a very positive influence in bringing about a consciousness of focusing on the Catholic identity of colleges and universities,” said Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Curry of Los Angeles, who until November was chairman of the U.S. bishops’ Committee on Catholic Education. “It has led to a lot of progress over the last 10 years, and there’s a long way still to go.”

Blessed John Paul II issued Ex corde Ecclesiae in 1990 to clarify the mission of Catholic colleges and universities around the world.

As you might recall, in 2001, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops instituted norms for the U.S. implementation of Ex corde. This past year’s review, which included discussion between bishops and presidents of Catholic colleges, was a 10-year follow-up of this implementation, according to the Register.

A report will be presented to the bishops next month to the USCCB’s president, Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York, and to Bishop Joseph McFadden of Harrisburg, Pa., the chairman of the education committee.

Archbishop Dolan will decide along with the Committee on Catholic Education, what, if any, further actions are warranted.

Cardinal Newman Society President Patrick Reilly told the Register that he believes Ex Corde has had a beneficial effect on Catholic colleges and has improved relationships between the U.S. bishops and Catholic universities. “I’m very optimistic,” he said. “There’s widespread interest in strengthening Catholic identity.”

Reilly said the challenge moving forward will be developing concrete processes to implement Ex corde more effectively with respect to key matters such as whether the majority of trustees and faculty are Catholic and whether what is being taught in theology programs is consistent with Catholic teachings.

The Catholic University of America is held up as an example of a college with a revitalized Catholic identity in the past decade and is included in the latest edition of the Newman Guide to Choosing a Catholic College.

The creation of the ordinariate and the appointment of Father Steenson were publicized in Washington, January 2, by Archbishop Carlo Maria Viganò, apostolic nuncio to the United States.

Similar to a diocese though national in scope, the ordinariate will be based in Houston, Texas, and will include parishes and communities across the United States that will be fully Catholic, while retaining elements of their Anglican heritage and traditions. To date, over 100 clergy have applied to be ordained Catholic for the ordinariate and 1,400 individuals from 22 communities have asked to join the ordinariate.

Jeffrey Steenson was born April 1, 1952 in Camp Rucker, Alabama and was raised on a family farm in Hillsboro, North Dakota. A former Episcopal bishop, he received his theological training at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Illinois and Harvard Divinity School, and a doctor of philosophy degree from Oxford University.

He was ordained an Episcopal priest in 1980 and served as an assistant at a parish in Highfield, Oxford, then as rector of three parishes in the United States. He was an officer for the Episcopal Synod of America, and Canon to the Ordinary for the Episcopal Diocese of the Rio Grande, in Albuquerque, New Mexico. In 2004, Father Steenson was elected bishop of the Diocese of Rio Grande.

He resigned in 2007 and was received into the Catholic Church. Father Steenson was ordained a priest of the Archdiocese of Santa Fe in 2009 under the pastoral provision for married former Anglican clergy. Since that time, he has been the Carl and Lois Davis Professor in Patristic Studies at the University of St. Thomas Center for Faith and Culture in Houston.

Father Steenson is married. He and his wife, Debra, have three adult children and one grandchild.

The website for the new ordinariate is www.usordinariate.org. . . . Interested media should contact Susan Gibbs at (202) 525-9554.

Advent should be a more solemn, reflective and penitential season of preparation. This is a time of watchful waiting for the Lord; a reminder that we are always to be in a state of readiness to welcome Christ’s Second Coming.

This Advent I urge you to make an effort to take some quiet time, perhaps in front of the Blessed Sacrament, to prepare the way of the Lord. When you put Christ at the center of your life you will find that he is the true source of peace, joy and fullness of life.

I wish each of you that peace and joy this Advent and Christmas. And if you have been away from the Church for a while, I invite you to please come home for Christmas. We miss you, and we long to welcome you back.

The attorney who defended the Africans before the U.S. Supreme Court was John Quincy Adams, our nation’s fourth president and son of John Adams, one of the nation’s Founding Fathers.

Accounts of the trial describe that throughout it, Adams kept appealing to a copy of the Declaration of Independence that was hanging on a pillar before the high court justices.

At one point Adams said, “In the Declaration of Independence, the laws of nature are announced and appealed to as identical with the laws of nature’s God—and as the foundation of all obligatory human laws.” Adams argued that if the rights of these African men were not given to them by God, then they could be taken away at the whim of other men or by the government. To deny the principles expressed in our Declaration, he said, “Reduces to brute force all the rights of man. It places all the sacred relations of life at the power of the strongest.”

John Quincy Adams was right.

America today is becoming what I would call an atheocracy—a society that is actively hostile to religious faith and religious believers. And I might add—the faith that our society is most hostile toward is Christianity in general, and Catholicism in particular. I could list many examples to prove my point: new unprecedented federal regulations, state directives and municipal ordinances infringing on the religions liberty of Catholics; the erosion of conscience clauses for Catholic health care workers; Catholic hospitals, schools and universities have been told they must provide insurance that covers services contrary to the goods of love and life—abortion, sterilization and contraception; and the injustices Catholic parents face in funding their children’s education. Many of us recognize that there is a new mentality in America, one that has grave risks for all believers—and puts in jeopardy all faith-based movements for social change and renewal.

As Archbishop Timothy Dolan of New York said recently: “As Catholics we have never asked that others be forced to believe as we do. We serve people because we are Catholic, not because they are. We don’t ask the children we teach, the sick we heal, the homeless we shelter, the hungry we feed for a baptismal certificate or a passport. Nor do we ask for privileged treatment. But in turn we should never be forced to sacrifice our beliefs in order to participate fully as citizens in our common life, especially to our service to the poor, the suffering and the afflicted.”

An atheocracy is a dangerous place—morally and spiritually. Cut off from the religious moorings expressed in the Declaration of Independence, we risk becoming a nation without a soul, a people with no common purpose apart from material pursuits.

We need to restore our sense of government based on theism and natural law.

In the face of an atheocracy, we have to keep pointing our neighbors’ eyes to our Declaration of Independence. We have to keep insisting that the laws of nature’s God are the only sure foundation for our human laws. We have to keep insisting that without God, the sacred relations of life fall prey to brute force, to the power of the strongest.

America’s future depends today, as it always has, on the choices that faithful citizens will make. And that means rediscovering the basic religious and Christian values that are contained in our Declaration of Independence. It means living out our beliefs with what the Declaration calls a “firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence.”

God, not government, is the only sure guarantee of human rights and the blessings of our liberty. We need to live as if we believe that. Only a people who believes these truths to be sacred and self-evident, can build a society worthy of men and women created by God.
Through our witness to our beliefs we can help restore our national soul. Through our witness, we can bring forth a new springtime of hope for the Church, and for humanity, in America.

The site, which was launched by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops’ (USCCB) Subcommittee for the Promotion and Defense of Marriage, also invites visitors to subscribe to the blog. Portions of the site will be translated into Spanish.

“The launch of the Marriage: Unique for a Reason website demonstrates the continued efforts of the bishops to educate the faithful on the unique meaning of marriage as the union of one man and one woman and on marriage’s foundational place for the flourishing of any society,” said Bishop Salvatore Cordileone of Oakland, California, chairman of the Subcommittee. “The website will establish an online presence for the Subcommittee’s work, and will serve as a reliable place where inquiring Catholics and others can find authentic teaching about marriage. I encourage all those working to educate others about marriage’s meaning to take advantage of the site, especially priests, deacons, catechists and teachers.”

The Marriage: Unique for a Reason website is the latest phase in the USCCB’s ongoing catechetical and educational work on marriage. The initiative began in June 2010 with the release of “Made for Each Other,” and continued in June 2011 with the release of “Made for Life.” Future video resources include a Spanish-language video, and videos about marriage and the common good and marriage and religious liberty, due out next year.

Catholic websites are encouraged to include a web banner linking to the new site, which can be found at www.marriageuniqueforareason.org/media-toolkit. Marriage: Unique for a Reason joins the bishops’ initiatives For Your Marriage (foryourmarriage.org) and Por Tu Matrimonio (www.portumatrimonio.org) in providing web resources for the strengthening, promotion, and protection of marriage.

You and I believe with all our heart and soul that Christ and His Church are one.

That truth has been passed on to us from our predecessors, the apostles, especially St. Paul, who learned that equation on the Road to Damascus, who teaches so tenderly that the Church is the bride of Christ, that the Church is the body of Christ, that Christ and His Church are one.

That truth has been defended by bishops before us, sometimes and yet even today, at the cost of “dungeon, fire, and sword.”

That truth — that He, Christ, and she, His Church, are one — moistens our eyes and puts a lump in our throat as we whisper with De Lubac, “For what would I ever know of Him, without her?”

Each year we return to this premier see of John Carroll to gather as brothers in service to Him and to her. We do business, follow the agenda, vote on documents, renew priorities and hear information reports.

But, one thing we can’t help but remember, one lesson we knew before we got off the plane, train, or car, something we hardly needed to come to this venerable archdiocese to learn, is that “love for Jesus and His Church must be the passion of our lives!”

Perhaps, brethren, our most pressing pastoral challenge today is to reclaim that truth, to restore the luster, the credibility, the beauty of the Church “ever ancient, ever new,” renewing her as the face of Jesus, just as He is the face of God. Maybe our most urgent pastoral priority is to lead our people to see, meet, hear and embrace anew Jesus in and through His Church.

Because, as the chilling statistics we cannot ignore tell us, fewer and fewer of our beloved people — to say nothing about those outside the household of the faith — are convinced that Jesus and His Church are one. As Father Ronald Rolheiser wonders, we may be living in a post-ecclesial era, as people seem to prefer
a King but not the kingdom,
a shepherd with no flock,
to believe without belonging,
a spiritual family with God as my father, as long as I’m
the only child,
“spirituality” without religion
faith without the faithful
Christ without His Church.
So they drift from her, get mad at the Church, grow lax, join another, or just give it all up.

If this does not cause us pastors to shudder, I do not know what will.

The reasons are multiple and well-rehearsed, and we need to take them seriously.

We are quick to add that good news about the Church abounds as well, with evidence galore that the majority of God’s People hold fast to the revealed wisdom that Christ and His Church are one, with particularly refreshing news that young people, new converts, and new arrivals, are still magnetized by that truth, so clear to many of us only three months ago in Madrid, or six months ago at the Easter Vigil, or daily in the wonderfully deep and radiant faith of Catholic immigrants who are still a most welcome — – while sadly harassed — – gift to the Church and the land we love.
But a pressing challenge to us it remains . . . to renew the appeal of the Church, and the Catholic conviction that Christ and His Church are one.
Next year, which we eagerly anticipate as a Year of Faith, marks a half-century since the opening of the Second Vatican Council, which showed us how the Church summons the world foreward, not backward.

Our world would often have us believe that culture is light years ahead of a languishing, moribund Church.

But, of course, we realize the opposite is the case: the Church invites the world to a fresh, original place, not a musty or outdated one. It is always a risk for the world to hear the Church, for she dares the world to “cast out to the deep,” to foster and protect the inviolable dignity of the human person and human life; to acknowledge the truth about life ingrained in reason and nature; to protect marriage and family; to embrace those suffering and struggling; to prefer service to selfishness; and never to stifle the liberty to quench the deep down thirst for the divine that the poets, philosophers, and peasants of the earth know to be what really makes us genuinely human.

The Church loves God’s world like His only begotten Son did. She says yes to everything that is good, decent, honorable and ennobling about the world, and only says no when the world itself negates the dignity of the human person . . . and, as Father Robert Barron reminds us, “saying ‘no’ to a ‘no’ results in a ‘yes ‘!”

To invite our own beloved people, and the world itself, to see Jesus and His Church as one is, of course, the task of the New Evangelization. Pope Benedict will undoubtedly speak to us about this during our nearing ad limina visits, and we eagerly anticipate as well next autumn’s Synod on the New Evangelization. Jesus first called fishermen and then transformed them intoshepherds. TheNew Evangelization prompts us to reclaim the role of fishermen. Perhaps we should begin to carry fishing poles instead of croziers.

Two simple observations might be timely as we as successors of the apostles embrace this urgent task of inviting our people and our world to see Jesus and His Church as one.

First, we resist the temptation to approach the Church as merely a system of organizational energy and support that requires maintenance.
As the Holy Father remarked just recently in his homeland of Germany, “Many see only the outward form of the Church. This makes the Church appear as merely one of the many organizations within a democratic society, whose criteria and laws are then applied to . . . evaluating and dealing, with such a complex entity of the ‘Church’.”

The Church we passionately love is hardly some cumbersome, outmoded club of sticklers, with a medieval bureaucracy, silly human rules on fancy letterhead, one more movement rife with squabbles, opinions, and disagreement.

The Church is Jesus — teaching, healing, saving, serving, inviting; Jesus often “bruised, derided, cursed, defiled.”

The Church is a communio, a supernatural family. Most of us, praise God, are born into it, as we are into our human families. So, the Church is in our spiritual DNA. The Church is our home, our family.

In The Power and The Glory, when the young girl asks him why he just doesn’t renounce his Catholic faith, the un-named “Whisky Priest” replies:
“That’s impossible! There’s no way! It’s out of my power.”
Graham Greene narrates: “The child listened intently. She then said, ‘Oh, I see, like a birthmark’.”

To use a Catholic word, Bingo! Our Church is like a birthmark. Founded by Christ, the Church had her beginning at Pentecost, but her origin is from the Trinity. Yes, her beginning is in history, as was the incarnation, but her origin is outside of time.

Our urgent task to reclaim “love of Jesus and His Church as the passion of our lives” summons us not into ourselves but to Our Lord. Jesus prefers prophets, not programs; saints, not solutions; conversion of hearts, not calls to action; prayer, not protests: Verbum Dei rather than our verbage.

God calls us to be His children, saved by our oldest brother, Jesus, in a supernatural family called the Church.

Now, and here’s number two: since we are a spiritual family, we should hardly be surprised that the Church has troubles, problems . . . to use the talk-show vocabulary, that our supernatural family has some “dysfunction.”

As Dorothy Day remarked: “The Church is the radiant bride of Christ; but her members at times act more like the scarlet woman of Babylon.”

It might seem, brother bishops, that the world wants us to forget every Church-teaching except for the one truth our culture is exuberantly eager to embrace and trumpet: the sinfulness of her members! That’s the one Catholic doctrine to which society bows its head and genuflects with crusading devotion!

We profess it, too. With contrition and deep regret, we acknowledge that the members of the Church — starting with us — are sinners!

One big difference: we who believe in Jesus Christ and His one, holy, Catholic and apostolic Church interpret the sinfulness of her members not as a reason to dismiss the Church or her eternal truths, but to embrace her all the more! The sinfulness of the members of the Church reminds us precisely how much we need the Church. The sinfulness of her members is never an excuse, but a plea, to place ourselves at His wounded side on Calvary from which flows the sacramental life of the Church.

Like Him, she, too, has wounds. Instead of running from them, or hiding them, or denying them, she may be best showing them, like He did that first Easter night.

As Monsignor John Tracy Ellis used to introduce his courses on Church history, “Ladies and gentlemen, be prepared to discover that the Mystical Body of Christ has a lot of warts.”

And we passionately love our bride with wrinkles, warts, and wounds all the more.

We bishops repent as well. At least twice a day — at Mass, and at compline — we ask Divine mercy. Often do we approach the Sacrament of Penance.
One thing both sides of the Catholic ideological spectrum at last agree upon is the answer to this question: who’s to blame for people getting mad at or leaving the Church? Their unanimous answer?
. . . nice to meet you! We’re the cause, they never tire of telling us.
Less shrill voices might comfort us by assuring us that’s not true. Nice to hear . . .
But we are still sincere in often praying “mea culpa, mea culpa, mea maxima culpa.”

As Gregory the Great observed fifteen centuries ago: “the Church is fittingly pictured as dawn . . . dawn only hints that night is over. It does not reveal the full radiance of the day. While it indeed dispels the darkness and welcomes the light, it presents both of them . . . so does the Church.”

Bishops, thanks for listening.
I look out at shepherds, fishermen, leaders, friends.
I look out at 300 brothers each of whom has a ring on his finger, because we’re spoken for, we’re married.
Our episcopal consecration has configured us so intimately to Jesus that He shares with us His bride, the Church.
There’s nothing we enjoy doing more than helping our people, and everybody else, get to know Him and her better. That’s our job description.
Because . . . “Love for Jesus and His Church is the passion of our lives!”

It is important to know, however, that this is not a New Mass. Nothing we do at Mass will change. We will stand, kneel, and sit at the same times that we do now. What will change are the words we use in the prayers at Mass. (For more on the explanation underlying these changes, please go to the New Roman Missal icon on our archdiocesan web site: mobilearchdiocese.org. and click on my article on the new translation.)

There will not be many changes regarding the responses of the congregation, but there will be some. The first noticeable change is that whenever the celebrant says “The Lord be with you” the people will respond “and with your spirit.” The reason for the change is to highlight that the people are not merely greeting the priest but are acknowledging the activity of the Spirit through the priest at Mass.

Two other notable changes will occur in the Penitential Act and the Creed. Form A of the Penitential Act will now be (changes in bold):

I confess to Almighty God and to you, my brothers and sister, that I have greatly sinned in my thoughts and in my words, in what I have done and in what I have failed to do, through my fault, through my fault, through my most grievous fault; therefore, I ask blessed Mary ever virgin, all the Angels and Saints, and you, my brothers and sister, to pray for me to the Lord our God.

The repetition of “through my fault” is to express a deep desire of repentance. When we are truly sorry we often say it more than once.

The Creed will now be professed as “I believe” rather than “We believe.” This is to better express that each individual must express their own faith and it cannot be done for us by anyone else. Although our faith is the faith shared by our community, the Church, each individual must profess his or her acceptance of this faith.

Other changes will seek to bring out in a clearer fashion the scriptural connections at Mass. Many of the prayers at Mass are based upon passages from the bible. The Glory to God and the Holy, Holy, Holy are examples of this…(Thanks to the USCCB Liturgy Newsletter for this information):

At Mass we will say (Changes in bold): Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace to people of good will.
Taken from the Bible: “Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests.” (Lk 2:14)

At Mass we will say: We praise you, we bless you, we adore you, we glorify you, we give you thanks for your great glory, Lord God, heavenly King, O God, almighty Father.
Taken from the Bible: “All earth’s kings shall thank you, O Lord, when they hear the words of your mouth. They shall sing of the ways of the Lord, ‘How great is the Glory of the Lord!’” (Ps 138:5)

At Mass we will say: Lord Jesus Christ, Only Begotten Son, Lord God, Lamb of God, Son of the Father, you take away the sins of the world, have mercy on us; you take away the sins of the world, receive our prayer;
Taken from the Bible: The next day John the Baptist saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Behold the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world.” (Jn 1:29)

At Mass we will say: you are seated at the right hand of the Father, have mercy on us.
Taken from the Bible: “It is Christ who died, rather, was raised, who also is at the right hand of the Father, who indeed intercedes for us.” (Rom 8:34)

At Mass we will say: For you alone are the Holy One, you alone are the Lord, you alone are the Most High, Jesus Christ, with the Holy Spirit, in the glory of God the Father. Amen.
Taken from the Bible: “For you alone are holy. (Rev 15:4) Let them know you alone, you whose name is the Lord, are the Most High over all the earth.” (Ps 83:19)

Similarly, the Holy, Holy, Holy:

At Mass we will say: Holy, Holy, Holy Lord God of Hosts, Heaven and earth are full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest.
Taken from the Bible: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts! they cried one to the other. All the earth is filled with his glory!” (Isaiah 6:2-3)

At Mass we will say: Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest.
Taken from the Bible: “Hosanna to the Son of David; blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord; hosanna in the highest. (Mt 21:9)

We will notice these and other changes in the prayers at Mass beginning in Advent. More information will be forthcoming in The Catholic Week and in your parish. I ask you to please acquaint yourself with these changes. It may take a while for each of us to become familiar and comfortable with these changes, but I pray that this will be a time for each of us to grow in a deeper appreciation for the priceless gifts of word and Eucharist that God gives us in the Liturgy.

(excerpted from “And With Your Spirit” by the Most Reverend Thomas J. Rodi, Archbishop of Mobile, originally published in The Catholic Week, Oct. 2011)

“No community is healthy where it is ever necessary to distinguish one politician [from] his fellows because ‘he is honest’ . . . [Moreover, it is not] enough that a public official should be honest. No amount of honesty will avail if he is not also brave and wise. The weakling and the coward cannot be saved by honesty alone . . .”

Leadership requires two virtues that seem very simple until they become very inconvenient: honesty and courage. All of you have earned the right to be here today by winning the trust of the people of Philadelphia. But along with that honor comes a duty of humility, integrity and public service. So let’s settle our hearts for just a moment in prayer.

God of justice and mercy, thank you for the gift of life, and the opportunity to serve the people of our city. Help us to act with character and conviction; help us to listen with understanding and good will; help us to speak with charity and restraint. Give us a spirit of service. Remind us that we are stewards of your authority. Guide us to be the leaders your people need. Help us see the humanity and dignity of those who disagree with us, and to treat all persons, no matter how weak or poor, with the reverence your creation deserves. And finally Father, renew us with the strength of your presence and the joy of helping to build a community worthy of the human person. We ask this as your sons and daughters, confident in your goodness and love. Amen.

From “Invocation Delivered at Philadelphia City Council Meeting,” by Archbishop Charles J. Chaput, O.F.M. Cap., October 20, 2011.