Download PDF Version – English | Download PDF Version – Spanish

We live in a culture which increasingly focuses on individuality and the immediacy of the here and now. Rarely do we elevate our gaze to the transcendent. Modern voices proclaim the self-identifying and self-determining individual as important above all else, rather than reserving that distinction for God. Western society is at risk of losing the rich cultural heritage built on the firm foundation of the Judeo-Christian worldview. We, as Christians, therefore have the opportunity to instill back into our culture those things which reveal the goodness and love of God and the truths which He fashioned into the order of creation.

One means by which we can do this is through the arts. In the first centuries of the Church’s life, her members used art to reveal the mysteries of the faith. In the catacombs of Rome, the first Christians depicted scenes from the Scriptures as reminders of God’s goodness and love. Images of the Good Shepherd, the three young men in the fiery furnace, and acanthus leaves and evergreens reminded the faithful that even death does not have the final word over God’s mercy and the hope of redemption.

Over time, as the faith spread and the arts became more refined, the same truths of salvation would be revealed through sculpture, paintings, stained glass, music and even architecture. Gothic cathedrals, with their soaring walls and vaulted ceilings, draw people up into something beyond everyday life on earth. Even smaller churches and chapels reflect divine beauty when constructed with care and adorned in ways that make present the peace of the eternal homeland toward which we are journeying. Similarly, the harmonies of Palestrina and both the power and delicacy of the pipe organ and other forms of sacred music have the ability to impact the human soul in a unique way, transporting it to a brief foretaste of the angelic choirs of heaven.

When asked at a gathering with priests in northern Italy about the importance of beauty being linked to truth in art, Pope Benedict XVI said, “Christian art is a rational art […] but it is the artistic expression of a greatly expanded reason, in which heart and reason encounter each other. This is the point. I believe that in a certain way this is proof of the truth of Christianity: Heart and reason encounter one another, beauty and truth converge, and the more that we ourselves succeed in living in the beauty of truth, the more that faith will be able to return to being creative in our time too, and to express itself in a convincing form of art.”

Art has the power to remind us of the beauty to which we are called, the beauty from which and for which we were created. Life is beautiful. And it will be even more beautiful when we experience it in its fullness in heaven. In the meantime, though, artists are called by God to make the beauty of His truth tangible in ways which our limited human senses can both understand and appreciate. May God bless all those who embark on this sacred endeavor to, bit by bit, draw out from paint, glass, stone, sound and other media a hint of what awaits us in the world to come!

Download PDF Version – English | Download PDF Version – Spanish

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

In his October 2004 apostolic letter Mane Nobiscum Domine, Pope St. John Paul II wrote: “[B]y our mutual love and, in particular, by our concern for those in need we will be recognized as true followers of Christ (cf. Jn. 13:35; Mt. 25:31-46). This will be the criterion by which the authenticity of our Eucharistic celebrations is judged” (28).  With these words, the Holy Father underscored the divine connection between the Body and Blood of Christ that we freely receive and what we do as a result.

Like two sides of the same coin, there is an inseparable relationship for our path to salvation between God’s gift of the Eucharist and our willingness to selflessly give of ourselves to others.  To believe in a God that is love is also to assent that “each of us is truly called, together with Jesus, to be bread broken for the life of the world,” especially for the most vulnerable among us (Benedict XVI, Sacramentum Caritatis, 88).

The Catholic Church in the United States has embarked upon the third and final stage of our Eucharistic Revival: the Year of Mission.  After having so joyfully and publicly welcomed the National Eucharistic Pilgrimage to the archdiocese last year, we now remind ourselves of the mission to be Christ for others.  The world needs us to shine as examples of God’s love and compassion.  The unborn, mothers in need, immigrants, homeless, and so many other vulnerable people long for us to see them with the eyes of Jesus, who has a special place for the poor in His heart.

In the context of Beacons of Light, the Eucharistic Revival’s Year of Mission is well-expressed through the Love in Action principle.  This principle encompasses our parish ministries of charity and social justice that organize our time, treasure and talents to respect human life from conception until natural death, serve those in need, welcome migrants, advocate for a more just and peaceful world, promote solidarity through global missions, create spaces of belonging for those with disabilities and care for God’s creation.

The Eucharist is also a source of unity.  In these relentlessly polarized times, our Love in Action ministries present a unique and prophetic witness to how we as Catholics overcome ideological, racial and social differences to advance the life and dignity of everyone.  Likewise, the Eucharistic Revival Year of Mission is a welcomed opportunity for us to remind ourselves and our communities of how powerfully this Sacrament motivates us to see all people as beloved members of one human family.

It is also fitting that the universal Church is celebrating the Jubilee Year 2025 with the theme Pilgrims of Hope.  Motivated by the Eucharist to put our love into action in a divided and violent world, we all need a limitless source of hope.  In his Bull of Indiction for the Jubilee, Pope Francis assures us that our Christian faith offers us in all circumstances hope in God, a hope that does not fade.  “May it help us to recover the confident trust that we require,” the Holy Father prays, “in the Church and in society, in our interpersonal relationships, in international relations, and in our task of promoting the dignity of all persons and respect for God’s gift of creation” (Spes Non Confundit, 25).

Therefore, for this Eucharistic Revival Year of Mission during the Jubilee Year of Hope, I encourage all Families of Parishes, schools and other Catholic entities in the archdiocese to put a special emphasis on advancing Love in Action over the next five months.  More details regarding ways to do this are available through the archdiocesan Office of Catholic Social Action at https://catholicaoc.org/yearofmission.  We will conclude the Eucharistic Revival’s Year of Mission with a Mass at the Cathedral Basilica of St. Peter in Chains on the Feast of the Ascension, Sunday, June 1, 2025, to which all of you are invited.

Thank you for all you do to be ever transformed by the Body of Christ to put God’s love into action.  By doing so, you are a pilgrim of hope for the local Church and all the world.

 

Sincerely yours in Christ,

Most Reverend Dennis M. Schnurr

Archbishop of Cincinnati

Download PDF Version – English | Download PDF Version – Spanish

Gathered with His disciples around a table the evening before He would lay down His life for our salvation, Jesus said to Thomas, “I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me” (Jn. 14:6). Each December we celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, both Son of God and Son of Man. God became one of us to teach us who He created us to be and to show us how to restore our relationship with Him, with each other and even with the world around us. Before sin, these relationships existed in perfect harmony, but since the Fall we live in a wounded world in need of redemption. Jesus has come to show us the way back to the Father, and that is a journey we cannot complete alone.

Jesus left us the gift of His Church so that we can work together for the salvation of all. God has entrusted to each of us gifts and talents that He intends us to use for the common good and not just keep to ourselves. Even before our birth, God infused each person’s soul with particular gifts and talents. Over time, as these gifts mature, we learn how to use them most effectively so that they may eventually yield the fruits which God intended all along. This is a process in which each of us as individuals plays an important role. It is also the goal of education, especially Catholic education which seeks to form the whole person after the model of Jesus Christ.

During his 2008 pastoral visit to the United States, Pope Benedict XVI addressed a group of educators about this fundamental aspect of education. He said, “Education is integral to the mission of the Church to proclaim the Good News. First and foremost, every Catholic educational institution is a place to encounter the living God who in Jesus Christ reveals His transforming love and truth. This relationship elicits a desire to grow in the knowledge and understanding of Christ and His teaching. In this way those who meet Him are drawn by the very power of the Gospel to lead a new life characterized by all that is beautiful, good and true; a life of Christian witness nurtured and strengthened within the community of our Lord’s disciples, the Church” (Address at The Catholic University of America, April 17, 2008).

The mission, then, of our Catholic Schools is to provide a space where each individual can encounter the Lord and, through this encounter, learn who the Lord created him or her to be. It is a place where the desires and aspirations of one’s heart, placed there first by God Himself, are drawn out from each person and shaped and nurtured according to the truths of God’s created order. This formative experience is of life-long benefit for the tens of thousands of young people enrolled as students in the Catholic schools throughout our archdiocese. It is also a benefit for the greater community in which we live. The young people we form as disciples of Jesus will one day go out and make their contribution to society – in whatever vocational and career path they discover God has prepared for them.

As we celebrate Catholic Schools Week at the end of this month, it is fitting to take a moment to thank all those engaged in this endeavor: parents, teachers, administrators, staff, countless volunteers and, of course, our students. Together we are accomplishing a great work with the Lord! May He who has begun this good work bring it to fulfillment (cf. Phil.1:6).

Download PDF Version – English | Download PDF Version – Spanish

On the evening of Tuesday, December 24, Pope Francis will preside over the celebration of Holy Mass in St. Peter’s Square to officially open the Holy Jubilee Year of 2025, the theme of which is Pilgrims of Hope. The Holy Father begins his solemn Bull of Indiction of the Ordinary Jubilee of the Year 2025 quoting from St. Paul’s Letter to the Romans: “Hope does not disappoint” (Rom. 5:5). With these words, the pope emphasizes the importance of hope as an integral part of Christian life. He writes, “Everyone knows what it is to hope. In the heart of each person, hope dwells as the desire and expectation of good things to come, despite our not knowing what the future may bring” (Spes non confundit, 1).

Hope is the virtue, given to us by God at our baptism, which sustains us in this world as we progress towards the fullness of life in eternity. It is fitting to set aside the coming year as a time when we not only thank God for the gift of hope but, through an increase of prayer and devotion, ask Him to strengthen that virtue in our hearts. Only then can we offer the hope of fullness of life with God in Heaven to a world deeply in need of healing and grace.

The tradition of the jubilee celebration traces its roots to the ancient Israelites. In the Book of Leviticus, God instructed His people that every 50 years they were to celebrate a jubilee. It was a year in which property was restored to its hereditary owners, slaves were freed, and the land was left to rest without any formal farming of crops. These measures were included in the Law as a means of maintaining equilibrium among the peoples, such that no one would become too rich or too poor. All would be reminded that they are entirely dependent on God for everything.

Now, millennia later, we still need to be reminded that we are dependent on God in all things, that He alone is the source of our hope. This is especially important for us to consider given that we live in a culture which places the importance of self above all else. Before us is a year set aside, in a particular way, to prayerfully contemplate all that we have received from God. The Jubilee Year is a time of thanksgiving. It is also a time in which we can implore God’s mercy, reflecting on those occasions when we have placed ourselves above God and neighbor.

Seeking forgiveness and growing in repentance, then, are special fruits we should cultivate during the Jubilee Year. Of great importance in this regard is the Jubilee Indulgence. An indulgence is a special grant of divine mercy, through the ministry of the Church, which removes the temporal punishment due to our sins. There are many ways that this spiritual gift can be obtained during the Jubilee Year. The normal conditions for receiving an indulgence apply (being truly repentant and unattached to sin, receiving Holy Communion and the sacrament of penance, and praying for the Holy Father’s intentions). In addition to those pious practices, a particular act of devotion, such as a pilgrimage, is to be done.

Here in the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, three locations will be established as Jubilee Pilgrimage Sites: the Cathedral Basilica of Saint Peter in Chains, the Shrine of the Holy Relics at Maria Stein, and Emmanuel Catholic Church, Dayton. A pilgrimage visit to any of these sites can apply to the reception of the Jubilee Indulgence. Please join me in praying that many of the faithful will take advantage of this opportunity. And may we all pray together, as Pilgrims of Hope, for openness to receiving the graces God is prepared to pour out upon us during this Holy Year 2025.