Dear Parishioners and Friends,
This past week, on October
21, Bishop Barres celebrated his 25th anniversary of ordination to the priesthood. Please
pray for him and that he may enjoy many more years as a priest and bishop in
service to our wonderful Diocese of Allentown.
In Bishop Barres we see a
successor to the apostles and a living witness of the Church’s link with
Christ, her head and founder. The Catechism
says, “To fulfill their exalted mission, ‘the apostles were endowed by
Christ with a special outpouring of the Holy Spirit coming upon them, and by
the imposition of hands they passed on to their auxiliaries the gift of the
Spirit, which is transmitted down to our day through episcopal consecration’”
(1556).
The office of Bishop is
considered to be the fullness of the Sacrament of Holy Orders. Again, we read in the Catechism, “The Second Vatican Council ‘teaches . . .
that the fullness of the sacrament
of Holy Orders is conferred by episcopal consecration, that fullness
namely which, both in the liturgical tradition of the Church and the language
of the Fathers of the Church, is called the high priesthood, the acme (summa) of
the sacred ministry’” (1557).
It is our duty and privilege
to support, obey and pray for our Bishop, especially as he celebrates such a
significant anniversary.
In Christ,
Msgr. Baker
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