Florida Catholic | Bishop Wenski's Column

Thank you "for your continued support of my ministry"

SEPTEMBER 14, 2007

Thank you "for your continued support of my ministry."

September 3 marked the 10th anniversary of my ordination to the episcopate. I am amazed that a decade has already passed. The first six years, I served as an auxiliary bishop in Miami; the last four, here in Orlando first as coadjutor and then as ordinary of this wonderfully vibrant local Church. September 3 also has special significance to my family: It was on that day in 1947 that my parents were married. Had they still been alive, my ordination as a bishop would have fallen on their 50th wedding anniversary.

I can only thank God for them — and for the Catholic faith they handed on to me.

September 3 is also the feast day of a holy Pope and doctor of the Church: St. Gregory the Great (A.D. 540-604). Born in Rome, Gregory lived in challenging times yet proved to be a true shepherd by carrying out his office, helping the poor, spreading and strengthening the faith.

His example and witness inspire bishops even with today’s challenges to approach the great responsibilities placed on us with certain equanimity. Pope John Paul II wrote in Pastores Gregis: "Spiritual realism enables us to see that the Bishop is called to live out his vocation to holiness in a context of difficulties within and without, amid his own weaknesses and those of others, in daily contingencies and personal and institutional problems."

"This is a constant feature of the life of pastors, as St. Gregory the Great acknowledged when he admitted with regret: 'After having laid upon my heart the burden of the pastoral office, my spirit has become incapable of frequent recollection, because it remains divided among many things. I am obliged to judge the cases of Churches and monasteries; often I am called to involve myself in the lives and actions of individuals. ... And so with my mind pulled and torn, forced to think of so many things, when can it recollect itself and concentrate totally on preaching, without withdrawing from the ministry of proclaiming the word. ... The life of the watchman must always be on high and on guard'" (No. 23).

St. Paul said: "For if I preach the Gospel that gives me no grounds for boasting. Necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the Gospel" (1 Cor 9:16). Yet, like Gregory and others who have served as successors of the Apostles, a bishop is never alone as he seeks to respond to his vocation to be a “servant of the Gospel of Jesus Christ for the hope of the world.” Though each one of us is indeed an “unworthy servant,” we can and do count on the extraordinary graces of the Lord Jesus who remains ever close to us. And we certainly do count on the prayers and collaboration of our priests, deacons, religious men and women, as well as members of Christ’s faithful.

As I reflect on my 10 years of service as a bishop — and now 31 years as a priest — I become ever more keenly conscious of the fact of how these prayers, and the collaboration of so many grace-filled people, have made it possible for the Lord to work through me; helping me — oftentimes in spite of myself — to teach, lead and sanctify that portion of the Lord’s flock entrusted to me.

And so, this 10th anniversary gives me the occasion to thank God but also to thank all of you, the Catholic people of first the Archdiocese of Miami and now the Diocese of Orlando for your continued support of my ministry, for all that you do with me in promoting the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and for your prayers. And the one thing I would ask of you is: "Don’t stop!"

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