Archbishop Dolan's Thought for the Week

January 13, 2009 - Year of St. Paul

Dear Friends united in love and service of Jesus Christ and His Church: 

Good Lord! Officially, the Christmas season just ended Sunday with the Feast of the Baptism of Jesus.

Yesterday was the commencement of Ordinary Time.

But there’s nothing ordinary about it at all!

Just give a look at what we have coming up the next few weeks:

-- The Birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (Celebrated January 19) calls us all to renewed fervor in work for racial equality and social justice;

-- The January 20 Inauguration of our new president finds us obeying the injunction of St. Paul to pray for our civil leaders;

-- January 22, the somber anniversary of the tragic Roe v Wade decision of 1973, renews our prayer and commitment to ending this national curse which has removed the basic civil right of the most helpless of our citizens, the pre-born baby. (Join Bishop William Callahan for a special pro-life Mass at St. Monica’s Parish, Whitefish Bay, that evening at 7 p.m. I’ll be in D.C. with our high school students from Catholic Memorial for the March for Life);

-- My annual conversations about the State of the Archdiocese will take place as follows:

January 19, 2009, 2 p.m., Parish Pastoral Staff, Archbishop Cousins Center
January 20, 2009, 6 p.m., Parish Councils, Trustees, Advisory Commissions, Archbishop Cousins Center
January 27, 2009, 10 a.m., Priests, Deacons, Parish Directors, Archbishop Cousins Center

If you are unable to attend one of the sessions in person, this year, each of the sessions will be available over the internet in a “webinar” format.  To register for the webinar, please click the date you plan to attend.

-- We celebrate the feast of St. Francis de Sales, the secondary patron of the archdiocese, on January 24, with special events at our historic seminary dedicated to him;

-- January 18-25 calls us all to the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity, to conclude on Sunday, January 25 (the feast of the Conversion of St. Paul) at St. Vincent Pallotti Parish, with Vespers at 4:30 p.m. at which ELCA Bishop Paul Stumme-Diers will preach;

-- January 25-31 will be Catholic School’s Week, with our annual Catholic Schools Dinner at Marquette University on January 29.

And they call this ordinary time!

Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan

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