A PASTORAL LETTER FROM BISHOP MARTINO
Looking Back, Looking Forward a Pastoral Letter from Bishop Martino on the one-Year Anniversary of His Appointment as the Ninth Bishop of Scranton  

July 22, 2004

My Dear Brothers and Sisters: 

It has been quite a while since I have written to you. I do not like to write letters to you without a serious reason, but I think that the time has come to share some important matters with you.

July 17 may not be an important date for most people, but it always will be a special day for me. That is when I first was introduced to you, not in a public way, but in a private telephone conversation in my room. I woke up last July 17 feeling a certain sense of a new direction in my life. Two days before, the public had learned in Philadelphia that their new archbishop was to be Cardinal Justin Rigali. The next day, the archdiocese said thanks and a sort of good-bye to Cardinal Bevilacqua. By the 17th of July, I just foresaw that I needed now to adjust to a different style of leadership in my new archbishop and perhaps even a change of duties. I had no idea what a change of duties I was going to receive!

On the morning of July 17, 2003 , after a couple of hang-ups on my phone message tape, I had the sensation that someone important was trying to reach me. Eventually it became clear that the “someone important” was none less than the pope's representative in the United States , Archbishop Gabriel Montalvo. Once I successfully connected with Archbishop Montalvo, and after a few moments of small talk, Archbishop Montalvo told me that he had news for me. The “news” turned out to be the message that our Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, had appointed me the Bishop of Scranton.

I was caught completely off guard by this news. There had been rumors about my eventually being transferred from Philadelphia to this or that diocese, but Scranton was never mentioned to me. Here I was, though, the next Bishop of Scranton. My first reaction was an experience of great joy that the Lord was blessing me with such a wonderful flock. Then I got a little scared. Nevertheless, encouraged by the nuncio as well as by Bishops Timlin and Dougherty, I put my hand to the plow and never looked back.

As you can see, the appointment of a bishop to a diocese is a lot like an arranged marriage. The mediator bringing you and me together was Pope John Paul II, hopefully in fidelity to God's plan for us both. Like a couple in an arranged marriage, we did not know each other. I had been to the Diocese of Scranton a couple of times in my life, but I doubt that you had ever heard of me. In many ways, it must have been rather awkward for you to meet your future spouse like this. For my part, I seemed rather like the groom on his wedding day. I looked at my wonderful bride, the people of Scranton , and felt moved to love and provide for this bride with my whole heart, mind and strength.

I hope that in the last ten months or so I have lived up to my duties in your regard. I know that I have had to ask generous sacrifices of some. The pain these caused I regret very much. In seeking the best for the diocese, I humbly suggest that I am only human. The Lord has sent you a new bishop who is genuinely a vessel of clay. Permit me, please, with the help of your prayers, to grow in perfection, as all husbands must do over their years of married life.

I have been very moved over the last few months by your assurances of prayer for me. You honk the horn at me and wave as you see me crossing Wyoming Avenue . You cross the street and offer me words of encouragement. You write me beautiful cards and letters. I only regret that I cannot thank you all personally. However, I can promise you that every day I pray for the priests and people of this great diocese. Please continue to sustain me by your patience, encouragement and prayers.

Now that it has been a year since I was first informed that I would be the ninth Bishop of Scranton, I thought it might be a good time to highlight for you some concerns that I have. I will speak in a general way now. More details will come soon.

As you may remember, when I was installed as Bishop of Scranton on October 1, 2003 , I decided against preaching a homily in which I would inform you about all of the things I intended to do as your new bishop. In point of fact, I was not at all clear about what to do as your new bishop. So, I decided that I should be honest with you: Whatever I intended to do as the new bishop would all boil down to helping everyone in the 11 counties of the Diocese of Scranton “to contemplate the Face of Christ.” I borrowed this phrase from Pope John Paul II. It was, and is, my sincere intention to work in such a way that I bring you to Christ. After that, He will tell you and me what to do.

YEAR OF THE EUCHARIST

Very soon, I will be announcing some specific details regarding a special year in the Diocese of Scranton. I speak about a Year of the Eucharist during which the Diocese of Scranton – and indeed the entire church – will celebrate at the invitation of Pope John Paul II. Our Holy Father announced just this past Solemnity of Corpus Christi (June 10) that a Year of the Eucharist would be observed by the Catholic Church from October 2004 until October 2005. It is my sincere hope that our Year of the Eucharist will lead us all to a more authentic celebration of the Mass in accord with our Holy Father's recent writings on the Holy Eucharist. I foresee that this great aim will be achieved by an increased emphasis on adoration of the Eucharist outside of Mass (Benediction, Holy Hours, Forty Hours Devotion, extended or perpetual adoration, etc.).

This aim will also be immensely assisted by greater devotion to the Rosary, as recommended by our Holy Father. Please note that the month at the beginning and end of our Year of the Eucharist is October, the month of Our Lady of the Rosary. By increased adoration of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament outside of Mass, we will come to see that it is not some THING contained in the Holy Eucharist, but SOMEONE, Jesus Christ. If we see better this SOMEONE in the Eucharist, we will never participate in Mass again the same old way. Furthermore, Mary is described by Pope John Paul II as the true “Eucharistic woman.” Through the Rosary, Our Lady will help us to be more like her, to see Jesus in the Eucharist and give Him to the world. 

Our objective throughout the Year of the Eucharist will be to restore a sense of Eucharistic awe and wonderment, as our Holy Father suggests. We will not be highlighting a new and great quantity of programs, but simply engaging in those activities which will help us “to contemplate the Face of Christ,” which, as our Holy Father reminds us, is above all seen primarily in the Eucharist.

SPECIAL PRAYER INTENTIONS DURING THE YEAR OF THE EUCHARIST

I will be asking you to pray for two special intentions this coming Year of the Eucharist. The first is an increase in vocations to the diocesan priesthood. While I am grateful for the fidelity to their vocations of the laity and religious of our diocese, in point of fact in the average parish of our diocese, it is the diocesan priests who make it possible for our people to participate in the Holy Eucharist. Recent studies have shown us that we have less than 50% of the priests which we had 40 years ago. We have about the same number of parishes. That means that 50% less priests are doing 100% of the work done by the greater number of priests we had 40 years ago!

My friends, this situation cannot be tolerated any further. We risk draining our priests of the stamina they need to serve us. We are depriving them of the time which they need to pray. We are taking away the serenity they need to plan for the evangelization of everyone in our parishes and diocesan institutions. We must on the one hand beg the Father in heaven to send more workers into the vineyard. But on the other hand, we must renew the souls and bodies of the priests who currently serve us. I pray that the Year of the Eucharist will initiate a new harvest of generous men to serve as priests.

I also ask you to pray as we begin to plan for the spiritual and pastoral renewal of our diocese. This will be an arduous, but necessary, endeavor as we progress further into the new century and new millennium. The Holy Father has asked us to engage in a “New Evangelization.” The message of our evangelization is not what will be new. It will be the perennial announcement of the Good News of Jesus Christ. However, it will be new in the ardor of our evangelization work, in the methods we employ, and in the ways we express the church's evangelization mission in the new circumstances of today. If we plan without first praying, we will rightly be condemned to failure. Our Year of the Eucharist will give us a prayerful beginning to our pastoral planning. 

SPIRITUAL AND PASTORAL RENEWAL

The spiritual and pastoral renewal of the Diocese of Scranton will mean that we need to look at every one of our structures, i.e., our parishes, schools, institutions, buildings and programs. Are these entities the right ones for the 21st century? Are these entities currently prepared to announce the Good News of Jesus Christ as Jesus intends them to do?

As we answer these long-range matters, there is one current matter which needs to be addressed immediately. I speak of the Mass schedules which are observed in many of our parishes. Can parishioners, for example, continue to expect to experience a Mass schedule which may be very convenient and traditional for many decades now, but which is no longer sustainable by our aging – and fewer – priests? Please understand that the church's Canon Law permits a priest to celebrate ONLY two Masses on a weekday and three on a Sunday. For us to expect a priest to do more is to ask him to violate the church's law, a law by the way from which I cannot regularly dispense.

Recently, I met with the priests who are deans of the various deaneries of the Diocese of Scranton. I asked them to help me plan for the Year of the Eucharist mentioned above. I asked them to address with their priests the often unnecessary frequency with which Mass is celebrated in some of our parishes. It is not inconceivable that in some locales three priests are celebrating Mass at the exact same time in three separate churches, all of which are a short distance from one another. This must appear to non-Catholics as some sort of competition between Catholic parishes. This is a scandal, and incidentally no way to treat our priests. If our priests are not sufficiently recollected to celebrate Mass devoutly, God is not honored nor the parishioners served very well. Please cooperate with your priests as they seek to establish realistic Mass schedules.

PLANNING ASPECTS FOR OUR SPIRITUAL AND PASTORAL RENEWAL

I also asked the deans to help me to seek your prayers during the Year of the Eucharist to begin a plan for the spiritual and pastoral renewal of the Diocese of Scranton. Some work has already begun in this matter as I led our priests in Days of Sanctification this past winter and spring. I will inaugurate a new series of Days of Sanctification with our priests this fall and spring.

However, we must do even more. I want to see our spiritual and pastoral renewal begin and beautifully reinvigorate our grassroots, our parishes. I will soon mandate a uniform Parish Pastoral Council in every parish. The Parish Pastoral Council will be the pastor's chief advisory group – please note: ADVISORY group, not board of trustees – in planning for the parish's renewed vigor in evangelizing all the people in the parish's area. I will also soon be ascertaining that every parish currently has a Finance Council as mandated by Canon Law. The Finance Council will help the pastor in drawing up the parish's annual budget and the parish's budgetary projections for coming years. The Finance Council will also witness to me about the parish's ability to fulfill its budget.

Once parish Pastoral Councils and Finance Councils are in place, all parishes will begin a period of Parish Self-Study. Through this carefully disciplined process, each parish will create a snapshot of how well it is fulfilling – or not fulfilling – sufficiently its mission to announce the Good News in Word, Sacrament and through a serving Community. Once each parish sees it strengths and weaknesses, its proud accomplishments and its inevitable deficiencies, it can plan with nearby parishes to see if there is a better way to serve “the neighborhood of parishes.” Are joint efforts possible, for example, instead of overlapping separate efforts? Are our current deanery boundaries the most helpful ones for our evangelization efforts? All of this will be accomplished through the work of a Steering Committee for Planning which will soon be named.

Once our pastoral planning is accomplished at the various grassroots levels, we will then begin to see the contours of a diocesan pastoral plan. This will take into consideration the rich diversity of our diocese throughout its entire 11 counties: the areas of population growth and decline, the economic realities faced by our people, and the new immigrants who deserve a generous Scranton diocesan welcome. I also envision a Diocesan Pastoral Council of clergy, religious and laity as a means by which I will receive good advice from the grassroots. In addition, a Diocesan Pastoral Council will enable us all to see that the Catholic Church to which we belong is not just in our parish or neighborhood, but is vibrantly present in 11 Pennsylvania counties. We will understand in a practical way that the Catholic Church is one, holy, catholic and apostolic – not just someplace else, but right here!

ADDITIONAL CONCERNS

All of the above planning will take several years. There are some parishes and schools in our diocese, however, which are already in serious trouble. They may not have the luxury of undergoing several years of reflective planning, but may need to enter a planning “emergency ward.” We will face these issues with God's grace and with courage as the need arises.

Meanwhile, the Diocese of Scranton cannot halt its spiritual and pastoral life while it plans for a reinvigorated future. We will need to address the pastoral issues which are already here and in need of our attention. Very soon I will issue a pastoral letter on the virtue of chastity. It will be my hope that this letter will help us to contemplate the Face of Christ insofar as He is the Chaste One, who calls us to be pure of heart. Every person in the diocese – single or married; lay, religious, seminarian, deacon, priest or bishop; old or young – needs to examine his or her conscience and discover to what extent he or she is or is not “pure of heart.” It is my hope that the projected pastoral letter on chastity will occasion a renewed understanding about Natural Family Planning among our couples preparing for marriage, our married couples, and also among our deacons and priests who have such a crucial role in preparing and supporting our engaged and married couples. If we are to give Jesus Christ to others, we must be like Him. He was chaste and called us to follow Him. We therefore cannot be authentic followers of Christ or His genuine missionaries unless, like Him, we are pure of heart.

I have begun meetings with area religious men and women. I thank them for their service to the people of the diocese and I promise to meet regularly with them to assist them in their own authentic renewal. As you know, the shortage of vocations forced me to suspend operation of the seminarian formation program at St. Pius X Seminary in Dalton . The Seminary building will remain vital to the ongoing formation programs of the diocese, but our college-level seminarians will now enter St. Charles Borromeo Seminary in nearby Philadelphia . While there were not sufficient seminarians to justify the continuation of a college seminary program at St. Pius X Seminary in Dalton , we are still very blessed with a commendable number of seminarians. Their individual welfare is very dear to me. I intend to care for them personally with the able assistance of Monsignor Vincent Grimalia, the new director of the Office for Vocations, Seminarians, and the Permanent Diaconate. However, I beg you to pray for more vocations to the diocesan priesthood. God will only grant us the vocations we pray for, so please pray fervently.

It is consoling to know that throughout our diocese there are people meeting regularly to study the Word of God, adore the Blessed Sacrament, recite the Rosary, and perform works of charity. I think, for example, of the Neocatechumenal Way community with whom Bishop Dougherty and I walk spiritually here at St. Peter's Cathedral Parish. It is deeply moving to receive cards and letters from such individuals and groups. In these notes, I am reassured that they are praying for me and for my intentions. Through this letter, I thank them most humbly and profoundly. May the good work which the Lord has begun in them redound to God's and their eternal glory.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

Throughout much of this letter, I have spoken a great deal about our apostolic activities. Such talk is understandable. After all, I am a successor to the apostles. And spreading the Good News of Jesus Christ is the precise reason why we Catholics even exist! However, before we get to the local implementation of the church's Christ-given mission, we have to put first things first. Yes, we must imitate that great Apostle, our Cathedral's patron, St. Peter, in our mission to others. But first of all we must be like Mary, the Mother of Jesus, Son of God. We must have HER faith, hope and love. Only when Jesus authentically lives in us the way He did in Mary can we seek to give Jesus genuinely to the world.

I pray that God will continue to bless the Diocese of Scranton with warm and loving people, open to God's Word and generous in missionary zeal to bring Jesus to everyone we meet. Through the help of Mary, Mother of Christians, I pray that we may do something beautiful for God during my years with you as your bishop. When I am called some day to contemplate the Face of Jesus in eternity, I know that He will not be a stranger. I shall have met Him in every Eucharist celebrated with you. I shall have seen Him in every good thing you do for the least of His brethren, most especially me.

May God bless you!

Sincerely in Jesus Christ,  

Most Reverend Joseph F. Martino, D.D., Hist. E.D.
Bishop of Scranton