"Welcome, September!"

September 1, 2009

The Year for Priests

Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,

Welcome, September!  They say today is the start of “meteorological autumn.”  The calendar looks to September 21 as the official seasonal change, but with the present chill, fall is definitely in the air.

Congratulations and prayers to all of our wonderful Catholic school administrators and teachers as we start a new school year.  Thank you to all of you parents who are sending your children to Catholic schools.  Catholic education is a gift to our American way of life.  Catholic schools make a significant difference in our society and provide a quality, Christ-centered, value based, education for our children.  Have a great year.  You are all in my prayers.

September is a wonderful month dedicated to the Exaltation of the Holy Cross—the central solemnity of the month celebrated on the 14th.  There are also major feasts of Our Lady — Her birthday on the 8th and the Commemoration of Her Sorrows on the 15th.  We remember St. Matthew, the Evangelist, on the 21st and Sts. Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael, the Archangels, round out the feast days on the 29th.  There are also great memorials of saints such as Robert Bellarmine, Padre Pio, and Jerome, to mention a few.  So, there are plenty of great saintly heroes to celebrate during the month — something for everybody!

I want to call your attention to one of the most recognizable names among the blessed whom we honor on September 5th —Blessed Teresa of Calcutta.  Blessings to all the parishioners at Blessed Teresa Parish, North Lake.  It’s been 12 years since Blessed Teresa’s death, but so many of us think of her as a living presence among us still.  Her incredible charity and care for the dignity of the poor and the dying gave us a visual presentation of the power of Christ at work among the most forgotten and abandoned of humanity.  Her Missionaries of Charity are still at work in so many places of the world.  Her famous understanding of the mission: “God did not call me to be successful; He called me to be faithful,” sums up the great gift of humility that made her so irresistible to everyone who came in contact with her.  She mirrored Jesus Christ so faithfully.  How can one say “no” to Christ?  She is such a model for us that saintly lives can be lived in our day.  It certainly is not easy, but it can be done!  Her cause for canonization, on the fast track, moves along in Rome.  We ask her intercession for all the charitable endeavors of our archdiocese, especially for those who work with the terminally ill and the poor.

Enjoy these seasonally beautiful days.  Get outside.  Take your rosary for a walk.  God be with you.

Faithfully in Christ,

Most Reverend William Patrick Callahan

Archdiocesan Administrator
Archdiocese of Milwaukee

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