Catholic Courier

On Sunday, Jan. 22, we celebrated the seventh anniversary of the rededication of Sacred Heart Cathedral, the mother church of the Diocese of Rochester. It is always an occasion of grace and renewal to remember that cold winter evening in 2005 when people from all 12 of our counties gathered in prayer to ask God’s blessings on our renewed place of worship.

Another reminder today of how often there is the grace of healing and new life even in the midst of sorrow.

One of the greatest delights of the Christmas season was the Dec. 29 reunion at Becket Hall of the men studying for priesthood in the Diocese of Rochester. It gathered the current residents of Becket Hall and students home on vacation from the Theological College at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C.; St. Mary’s Seminary and University in Baltimore, Md.; and Blessed Pope John XXIII Seminary in Boston. Our student at the North American College in Rome, David Tedesche, was not able to be with us.

Several weeks ago, I was privileged to give a talk at the Islamic Center of Rochester to a group of Muslims and Catholics. I was humbled to accept their thanks for the work we have done as a diocese on interreligious dialogue, most especially the signing of the Muslim-Catholic Agreement in 2003, and the ongoing work of

The office schedule is quiet today, Dec. 28, so I decided to spend the day at home. It’s a good time to write this column, to catch up on correspondence, make some telephone calls and restore some semblance of order to my room in anticipation of the New Year. It also is an opportunity to do what I encouraged you to do last week, viz, to pray and think about the great themes of this holy season -- faith, life, promise and call.

I extend my loving good wishes and my prayers to you that the light of Christmas will shine in your hearts and guide you in safe paths all through the Christmas season and into the year of our Lord 2012.

We were housed at the Casa O’Toole, formerly a convent on the grounds of the North American College. The Casa O’Toole is now the home of the Institute for Continuing Education of the Clergy, a program that over the last 40 years has hosted more than 2,500 American priests for continuing education. Many of the priests of our diocese have participated in the program -- most recently Father Joe Catanise, pastor of St. Leo the Great in Hilton, who with his group left the Casa O’Toole the day before we arrived.

Our Holy Father, Pope Benedict XVI sends to all in the Diocese of Rochester his apostolic blessing and affectionate good wishes. His holiness conveyed these greetings to you when I met him in the course of our visit ad limina Apostolorum on Thanksgiving Day.