Archbishop Dolan's Thought for the Week

March 3, 2009 - Year of St. Paul

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

Well, now in my seventh Wisconsin winter, and after hearing about it for as long, I finally experienced the legendary “lake effect snow” last Monday.

It was a doozie. I woke up early to behold a blizzard outside, with at least eight inches of snow already on the ground, and the flakes coming down in such volume that I knew it would probably reach a foot.

Good, I figured. A snow day! Surely all of southeastern Wisconsin was covered with the heavy snowfall. I’ll turn on the news and then go back to bed . . .

. . . only to find out on TV that the storm had been confined to a tiny strip along the lake! The rest of the region was clear and sunny, with no idea at all that we were in a blizzard! The rest of you had no sympathy with our weather miseries that Monday morning, as you blithely made your way to work and school with no appreciation for our troubles!

Right now, we have a big “financial blizzard” on our hands. People are loosing jobs, savings, businesses, security and homes.

Some have it much worse than others. And, we all have a responsibility to help each other. People naturally turn to the Church -- parishes, St. Vincent de Paul Societies, outreach programs, Catholic Charities, food banks, soup kitchens and shelters. We can’t let them down.

And we can’t forget areas of the world that are really suffering a “lake effect” financial crisis. The horrors of Darfur and many sub-Saharan African countries are overwhelming compared to our own struggles.

It is time to claim our birthright as Catholic. That word means universal, all embracing. Our concern extends beyond our own yard, parish, community, country. No one is an alien to us.

St. John Chrysostom observed, “Some consider their parish their world; others know the whole world is their parish.”

We’re among the latter.

There is no “lake effect” suffering. Wherever it is, we feel it, we’re part of it.

Archbishop Timothy M. Dolan

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