Bishops should imitate St. Peter as leaders of the Church by following the word of God instead of shifting popular opinion, said Archbishop Jerome Hanus of Dubuque, Iowa.
“According to Jesus’ words, a leader in the manner of Peter must be solid as a rock; he cannot be fickle; he cannot change with the winds of popularity; he must subject himself to God’s word,” the archbishop said at St. Peter’s tomb on March 7.
Archbishop Hanus is one of 21 bishops from Iowa, Missouri, Nebraska and Kansas who are beginning their ad limina apostolurum (to the threshold of the apostles) visit in Rome.
The visit kicked off with an early morning Mass on March 7 in St. Peter’s Basilica. Over the next six days they will meet with the Pope and Vatican officials to discuss the health of the Church in each of their dioceses. The bishops’ schedule also included a meeting with the Vatican’s Congregation for Bishops and reception hosted by the U.S. Embassy to the Holy See.
Archbishop Hanus preached about Matthew 16:18, in which Christ proclaimed, “You are Peter; and on this rock I will build my Church.” He noted how “Jesus assigns the leadership responsibility to Peter only after Peter proclaims his faith in Jesus,” adding that “any leader must begin service by professing faith in Jesus.”
He also said that the way Peter “did not choose to be a leader” is still the way leadership is given in the Church today. It still comes as “a gift, a call from Christ.”
In terms of the papacy, “what Jesus entrusted to Peter is entrusted to the successors of Peter, the bishops of Rome, and in our day to Pope Benedict XVI,” he explained. This is because since the days of the early Church “someone had to decide” on matters of faith and morals.
“According to the meaning of today’s Gospel, that responsibility of ultimate decision was given by Jesus to Peter and his successors.”
This is why Christians, and particularly Catholics, have always “understood that Peter’s leadership role in the Church is so essential; it is an essential component of the Church,” he said.
“It is part of what we believe, what we profess in our faith.”
Like any leadership role in the Church, it is also a ministry based on service, so that “episcopal leadership, papal leadership, is for Christians, and particularly for us Catholics, a source of appreciation, assurance, guidance, peaceful acceptance.”
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Sad to say, but the Archdiocese of Dubuque also has the sad reputation of trying to shut down the pro-life movement in their area, discouraging priests from speaking on pro-life issues, and discouraging Catholics from praying at Planned Parenthood in the city of Dubuque.
Sad to say, Dubuque has almost no seminarians.
Too bad these subjects were not raised in the article.
“Bishops should imitate St. Peter as leaders of the Church by following the word of God instead of shifting popular opinion, said Archbishop Jerome Hanus of Dubuque, Iowa.”
I agree Archbishop Hanus….and it baffles me as to why all pro-life materials were taken out of one of our churches the other day in Dubuque (the one right behind the chancery office in fact). Would St. Peter have removed all those materials because they aren’t “politically correct” or because the “popular” opinion of the laity might be offended. As you said, a leader cannot change with the winds of popularity, and must subject himself to God’s word.
Well Archbishop Hanus, God’s word says that “thou shalt not kill” and that’s exactly what is being done here in Dubuque. The souls of the faithful are being killed because the priests are not preaching the truth, or rather, they are preaching such a watered down version of the truth as it can hardly be recognized as such anymore.
It is cafeteria Catholics like the ones in Dubuque that helped to enable a president such as ours to be elected to the highest office in our land and we know that everyone who voted for him has cooperated with the evil of abortion, among other things.
Archbishop Hanus, I pray our Lord has mercy on your soul because the sheep have left the flock and are wandering on their own. St. Peter brought thousands into the Church by preaching the Word of God and when that truth is watered down and attempts to comply with popular opinion, the result is hell.
Peter would be encouraging prayer at abortion mills…he’d be encouraging priests to speak out against the abomnation of abortion, same sex marriage and the SECULARIZATION of our church! PETER would be livid over the lukewarm attitudes which have developed in our church and how so many Catholics, laity and clergy alikek fell for the bait of “social justice” pedaled by some slick politicians who were looking for political power and to neuter the Catholic church. Whatever happened to SUBSIDIARITY? Chesterton said “once abolish the God and the Government becomes the God.” Now we see exactly what he meant….the HHS mandate is NOT about contraception, it’s about the GOVERNMENT telling the Church what it will do or suffer the consequence. SHAME on CATHOLICS of America…the consequence we will suffer will be eternal for thinking a godless government that allows for the killing of the unborn, the weakest of our citizens, could do for the poor better than we as the CHURCH could do!!! SHAME!!!
Many sheep have left the wandering flock in Dubuque because we heard a true shepherd’s voice across the river in the Diocese of Rockford! Thank God for Bishop Doran and his faithful priests!
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