A  little less than a month ago on the occasion of National Child Abuse Prevention Month, I addressed the Church’s responsibility to protect children. The column provided me with the opportunity to assure you that the Diocese of Syracuse is dedicated to promoting the protection of children and young people.

Last week two important documents were released: a letter from the Sacred Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith which offers guidelines for dealing with cases of sexual abuse of minors and a landmark study by the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. The publication of these documents has prompted me to write once again about the Church’s on-going efforts to address the sin and the crime of the sexual abuse of children and the consequences which follow in its wake, namely, care for the victims, education and prevention programs, initial and on-going formation of the clergy, civil and canonical issues, etc.

On Saturday, June 4, I conferred the sacrament of Holy Orders on James Andrew Schultz at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception. The following is the homily I preached on that occasion. Please join me in praying for Father Schultz as he begins his priestly ministry. We ask God to bless our diocese with vocations to the priesthood.

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ and my Dear Brother James — soon to be ordained to the sacred order of priesthood,

On this bright spring day, we are gathered here in the Cathedral Church of our diocese to celebrate with you and to confer upon you the object of your desire — the holy priesthood.  Surrounded by your warm and loving family, your mother and father, your twelve brothers and sisters, nieces and nephews, many people related to you by blood or marriage and the wider family of this local church, the Church at Syracuse, you come with deep humility and a sense of unworthiness to present yourself to me for the conferral of the sacrament.

The psalmist says it well, “Behold how good it is, and how pleasant, when  brothers dwell as one!” (Ps. 133:1) That phrase has often found a place in my prayer life dating back to my seminary days. It is evident when the bishop gathers with his priests during the course of the year.

In my own mind, there are three occasions during the year when it is essential for your priests to gather with me in liturgical concelebration. One we celebrated just a few weeks ago at the priestly ordination of Father James A. Schultz. Another occasion  is the Chrism Mass when we renew our commitment to priestly service. The third is our gathering at our annual convocation in September.

Three special occasions during the course of a year and how important they are for us as we celebrate and confirm our unity as diocesan priests united with the bishop. I am personally very grateful to our priests when they make every effort to join me on these occasions to celebrate, in a public manner,  our unity and to ask God’s blessing on our ministry.

As I write this article, we have celebrated the Feast of the Ascension and are anticipating the great Feast of Pentecost.  The days in between Ascension Thursday and Pentecost are an appropriate time to reflect on the Church’s mission to announce the Good News.  During His earthly ministry, Christ proclaimed the good news of salvation. “I must proclaim the good news of the kingdom of God, because for this purpose I have been sent.” (Lk. 4:43) “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring glad tidings.” (Lk. 4:18) Jesus was the first evangelizer. He was the message and the bearer of the message.

The Gospel on the Feast of the Ascension told us that although Jesus was returning to His Father, His mission would continue. Jesus sent the Apostles. He commissioned them to continue His work. “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.” (Mt. 28:19-20)