---

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Columbus Day this year will be celebrated on Monday, Oct. 9, designated by the United States government as one of 12 federal holidays. For many years, Columbus Day was observed each year on Oct. 12, commemorating the landing of explorer Christopher Columbus in the New World on Oct. 12, 1492. Since 1971, when Columbus Day became an officially recognized federal holiday in the United States, it has been observed on the second Monday in October.

On Oct. 10, 1992, Pope John Paul II visited the Dominican Republic and celebrated Mass in the nation’s cathedral, the first cathedral in the Western Hemisphere, to mark the 500thanniversary of the discovery of the Americas and the arrival of Christianity in the New World.

In recent years, some critics have taken to blame Christopher Columbus for all the ills and wrongdoings that followed the migration of large numbers of people from Europe to the Americas. Some states do not recognize Columbus Day and have replaced it with celebrations of “Indigenous Peoples’ Day,” “Discoverers’ Day,” or “Native American Day,” or they do not observe it at all. Even Columbus, Ohio, removed Columbus Day as a city holiday in 2018 and now honors veterans instead of their city’s namesake, Christopher Columbus.

At the University of Notre Dame, in the autumn of 2020, Luigi Gregori’s Christopher Columbus murals, painted between 1882 and 1884 and on the second floor of the university’s Main Building, were covered with removable tapestries. Gregori, a former artist in the papal household of Pius IX, arrived at Notre Dame in 1874 at the invitation of Rev. Edward Sorin, CSC, the University’s founder, to create works for the Basilica of the Sacred Heart. After the devastating fire and rebuilding of the Main Building in 1879, the 12 scenes from the life of Columbus were painted directly on the plaster walls of the new structure.

The University of Notre Dame’s website explains that the tapestries, removable for study, “honor the decision to preserve the murals as an opportunity to appreciate the context in which they were created and to understand the University’s history, while respecting the dignity and experience of indigenous people, especially in the aftermath of Columbus’ arrival.”

During a papal Mass in July 2022 in Canada, some indigenous protesters unfurled a banner calling for Pope Francis to “rescind the doctrine,” referring to the so-called “doctrine of discovery.” In a helpful analysis published in the National Catholic Register on April 29, 2023, Father Raymond de Souza, founding editor of Convivium magazine, wrote, “The protesters’ claim is that in granting permission to the Portuguese crown to acquire lands in Africa in the mid-15th century, the papacy created a ‘doctrine’ in which those Europeans who ‘discovered’ lands in Africa (and later the Americas) could claim them, superseding whatever ownership existed among the Indigenous peoples. This ‘doctrine’ then justified the seizure of Indigenous lands and property and the enslavement of Indigenous peoples.”

In response, the Vatican Dicastery for Culture and Education and the Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development jointly published a statement last March 30 stating that the Catholic Church “repudiates those concepts that fail to recognize the inherent human rights of Indigenous peoples, including what has become known as the legal and political ‘doctrine of discovery.'” The joint statement clarifies that the “doctrine of discovery” is a legal and political term, not what Catholics mean by doctrine as truths belonging to the faith: “The ‘doctrine of discovery’ is not part of the teaching of the Catholic Church. Historical research clearly demonstrates that the papal documents in question, written in a specific historical period and linked to political questions, have never been considered expressions of the Catholic faith.”

In fact, the term “doctrine of discovery” is not of Catholic origin. It comes from a U.S. Supreme Court opinion written by Chief Justice John Marshall in 1823, in which he wrote, “This principle was that discovery gave title to the government by whose subjects or by whose authority it was made against all other European governments, which title might be consummated by possession. The exclusion of all other Europeans necessarily gave to the nation making the discovery the sole right of acquiring the soil from the natives and establishing settlements upon it.”

The Vatican statement also pointed out that there are numerous affirmations by the Church and popes upholding the rights of indigenous people, such as the 1537 bull Sublimis Deusby Pope Paul III, who wrote, “We define and declare [ … ] that [, .. ] the said Indians and all other people who may later be discovered by Christians, are by no means to be deprived of their liberty or the possession of their property, even though they be outside the Christian faith; and that they may and should, freely and legitimately, enjoy their liberty and possession of their property; nor should they be in any way enslaved; should the contrary happen, it shall be null and have no effect.”

When Pope St. John Paul II met with indigenous leaders in Canada in the 1980s, he made explicit reference to Sublimis Deus as the basis for Catholic teaching on the dignity and rights of indigenous peoples.

Father de Souza has noted that “incomplete and incorrect history has been widely disseminated” about the Catholic missionaries who evangelized the New World. The immoral acts against indigenous peoples that were carried out by competing colonial powers should not prevent us from acknowledging the good that came from the discovery of America by Christopher Columbus and the subsequent spread of Christianity. In this regard, Pope Francis has expressed his “hope that all communities will devote the necessary effort to advancing along the path of a pastoral and missionary conversion which cannot leave things as they presently are. … Throughout the world, let us be permanently in a state of mission” (Evangelii Gaudium, 25).May God give us this grace. Amen.

---

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

As we begin a new school year, I would like to call your attention to some guidance I shared earlier this year for our Catholic grade schools and high schools in a document entitled, Higher Calling, Higher Standards: Renewal of the Mission of Catholic Education in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. I noted that, “The Catholic Church educates more than ten-thousand students in thirty-six Catholic grade schools and seven Catholic high schools in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois. These forty-three schools represent the Church’s largest investment of resources in pastoral ministry in our diocese, reflecting both the requisite resources for operating effective schools and the high priority we place on handing on the faith to the next generation. More than places of academic learning, our schools are centers of formation for children and community for Catholic families.”

On the plus side, “Our schools are staffed by dedicated teachers and administrators who have devoted their lives to the formation of our young people. Our Catholic school system is a central pillar of our faith community and brings much vitality, purpose, and clarity of mission.”

On the minus side, “Our schools, however, are facing significant challenges that, if left unaddressed, threaten to undermine their stability, vitality, and effectiveness in fulfilling their mission of discipleship. To varying degrees, our schools are facing financial, operational, and cultural disruptions and risks just at the time when the need for a Catholic school system is more urgent than it has been for several generations. Our schools are in urgent need of renewal.” To address these challenges to fulfilling our high calling, I described seven essential characteristics to which Catholic schools in the Diocese of Springfield in Illinois must be held. The seven defining characteristics are:

1. Inspired by a Supernatural Vision: All aspects of the instruction, curriculum, environment, and culture of our schools are rooted in and flow from a faith in and understanding of the Blessed Trinity as the deepest reality, and embrace our destiny to live eternally with God.
2. Imbued with a Catholic Worldview across the Curriculum: Flowing from the supernatural vision, our schools reveal the unity of the Creator in creation. In teaching math and science, we reveal the intelligibility, and goodness of creation, which points back to the intelligence and goodness of the Creator. In art and music, we reveal the transcendentals of truth, beauty, and goodness that point us back to the source of all that is true, beautiful, and good. In literature and history, we explore the human soul and moral life in relation to God, and the drama of the human response to God’s loving plan and the providence and active presence of God in the unfolding of human life.
3. Founded on Christian Anthropology: Our policies, curriculum, and instruction help young people to come to a fuller understanding of their identity as children of God. We equip our students to flourish by helping them to build habits of virtue and avoid habits of vice, and we foster a sense of peace and confidence in their identity as children of God, created in His image, and redeemed and recreated in Christ.
4. Animated by a Spirit of Community and Communion: Our schools exist to support parents as the first teachers of the faith, to strengthen and enhance the lives of families, and to provide a community in which Catholic families can live and raise their families together.
5. Sustained by Gospel Witness: All administrators, teachers, staff, and coaches in our schools fulfill a prophetic role of witness by their lives and serve, explicitly, as ministers of the Church. They are called to preach the gospel in what they say and how they live, and they instruct and encourage young people to do likewise. Our students are called to bear witness inside and outside of school in how they treat others, in their concern for the poor and marginalized, and in their upright living in harmony with the Gospel. Our school families are called to live in a manner that reflects their baptismal identity and their vocation of raising children in the faith.
6. Accessible, Affordable, Stable: In each parish and deanery, pastoral plans are established to ensure that all the faithful have access to Catholic schools. Each school will establish a plan to fully fund its operations through financial support of the parishes and benefactors without charging tuition. The continued viability of Catholic schools will thus require stewardship on the part of the whole community of faith.
7. Organized and Governed from the Heart of the Church: Each of our school communities finds its identity, mission, and purpose within the Catholic community. Our schools are governed from the authority that Christ has entrusted to the diocesan bishop as a successor to the apostles. Parish schools or community Catholic school systems are to be governed by pastors of participating parishes, and governing boards of high schools or other schools not directly sponsored by parishes. Schools sponsored by religious are to involve the diocesan bishop or delegates, along with local pastors in their governance to ensure the alignment and shared mission of Catholic education.

The full text of Higher Calling, Higher Standards can be found at dio.org/schools.

I am grateful to our priests, principals, teachers, parents, staff, and benefactors for the important roles they fulfill in promoting Catholic education. Please pray for a holy and healthy school year.

May God give us this grace. Amen.

---

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

The first day of this month of July marked a momentous occasion for our local Church: the official welcoming to our diocese of seven Norbertine priests from St. Michael’s Abbey of Southern California and the opening of their new Corpus Christi Priory located at the site of the former Chiara Center in Springfield. The members of this community are known officially as the The Canons Regular of Prémontré, but are also called the Premonstratensians or simply the Norbertines, after their founder, St. Norbert, who was ordained a priest at the Cathedral of Cologne and began his ministry as an itinerant preacher traveling throughout the countryside of Germany, Belgium, and France.

At the request of Pope Calixtus II and with his bishop’s encouragement, Norbert settled in the valley of Prémontré, northern France, in the spring of 1120. On Christmas Day 1121, Norbert and his followers professed their first vows, adopting the Rule of St. Augustine. Thus, the Norbertine order was born. Named Archbishop of Magdeburg in 1126. Norbert worked tirelessly for the reform of the Church until his death on June 6, 1134.

The Norbertines’ primary ministry here will be the Evermode Institute. Named after St. Evermode, one of St. Norbert’s closest companions and a bishop renowned for his fearless and tireless defense of the Gospel, the Evermode Institute will teach the Catholic faith to those who are most responsible for sharing the Gospel: to Catholic school teachers and administrators, to catechists in parishes, and to parents in families.

The Corpus Christi Priory and the Evermode Institute did not come about either by sheer accident or by some clever human design. I believe Divine Providence guided these events, so I would like to share with you some “behind the scenes” background information about how the Norbertines and the Evermode Institute came to our diocese at the site of the motherhouse of the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis.

In 1875, the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis established and grew a health system that now operates a network of 15 hospitals and other healthcare facilities in Illinois and Wisconsin. After starting St. John’s Hospital in 1875 in downtown Springfield, where the Hospital Sisters also lived, in 1917 the sisters purchased 500 acres of land situated six miles northeast of Springfield for the building of St. John's Tuberculosis Sanitarium and later the construction of St. Francis of Assisi Church and St. Francis Convent. This sacred place is a visible and powerful element of the sisters’ enduring legacy.

Apart from the church, which will celebrate its 100th anniversary of dedication by Bishop James Griffin next year on April 27, most of the buildings on this campus are new, having replaced older, larger buildings that served, originally, as a tuberculosis sanitarium and a large convent that once housed several hundred sisters. About 15 years ago, the sisters replaced those buildings with the current facilities, trusting that in some form they would be of use to the Church for years to come.

As efforts to secure that future became more concrete, however, the only serious consideration the sisters’ received was from an outside entity that would have forced them to leave their home in less than a year and would not have been a Catholic entity using the space. This was a non-starter for the sisters, so Sister Maureen O’Connor, the provincial superior of the Hospital Sisters of St. Francis, called a community meeting, at which one of the older sisters — in fact, 102 years old — said, “Why don’t you call the bishop?” That started our conversation, leading to the placing of this property in a trust to be used for religious purposes.

Providentially, during that same time period, Bishop Kevin Vann, the bishop of Orange County, a native of Springfield, a long-time priest of our diocese, and a lifelong friend and one-time employee of the Hospital Sisters, had introduced me and Msgr. David Hoefler, my vicar general, to the Norbertine Fathers of St. Michael’s Abbey. Through that connection, some of the Norbertine Fathers spent time in our diocese, offering retreats and conferences for our priests and lay faithful. Some of our priests visited and made retreats at St. Michael’s Abbey in California.

It was four years ago, on July 17, 2019, that I concelebrated the Mass for the Dedication of Christ Cathedral in the Diocese of Orange. At the luncheon after Mass, I met Abbot Eugene Hayes of St. Michael’s Abbey. Having heard of their growing community, I casually remarked that it would be wonderful for the Norbertines of St. Michael’s Abbey to establish a house in our diocese, something I am sure Abbot Eugene hears quite often from bishops around the country. Rather than politely declining the invitation, as I was half expecting, Abbot Eugene did not laugh and did not say no. Instead, he handed me his business card and said, “Let’s talk.” That began a conversation with Abbot Eugene and his leadership council about the possibility of them establishing some kind of more permanent presence in our diocese. As providence would have it, the Norbertine Fathers had experienced decades of growth and fruitfulness, and were discerning the establishment of a new foundation.

In turn, when Sister Maureen approached me and Msgr. Hoefler to discuss the future of the property, it quickly became clear to all of us that the hand of God was at work in this — that so much had been preordained and set in motion, that all the foundation of all these connections had been established far in advance. The Hospital Sisters of St. Francis will continue to live on the property and the Norbertine Fathers will provide for their pastoral care.

So that is some of the backstory of how this beautiful new chapter in the life of our diocese came about and I pray that this divinely inspired endeavor will flourish for many years to come.

May God give us this grace. Amen.

---

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ:

July 2, 2023, marks the 100th anniversary of the death of Bishop James Ryan, the third Bishop of our diocese. Putting his tenure in its historical context, we see the early roots of Christianity and its spread to our diocese depicted in our Cathedral windows. The windows on the north wall tell the story of the spread of Christianity, starting with Our Lord giving the keys of His Kingdom to St. Peter, on whom He built the foundation of the Church, which withstood the threat of the barbarian and Turkish invasions in Europe. The windows on the south wall tell the story of the Church's contribution in America, starting with the depiction of St. Brendan, who is said to have crossed the Atlantic Ocean to reach the American continent in the fifth century. The second window on the south wall shows Christopher Columbus carrying a banner of Mary the Immaculate, with his flagship, the Santa Maria, in the background. The third window features the Jesuit missionary Father Jacques Marquette preaching to Native Americans on the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, December 8, 1674.

That same year, 1674, the Holy See erected the Diocese of Quebec for all of North America. After the United States of America won its independence, the Diocese of Baltimore was created in 1789. As the country grew and expanded westward, new dioceses were created in Bardstown in 1808, Saint Louis in 1826, Vincennes in 1834, Chicago in 1843, and then Quincy in 1853. Pope Pius IX appointed Father Joseph Melcher, the Vicar General of St. Louis, to be the first bishop of Quincy, but he declined the appointment. He would later become the administrator of the Diocese of Chicago and in 1868 was named the first bishop of Green Bay, Wisconsin.

After three years without a resident bishop in Quincy, some Catholics in the new diocese requested the transfer of the See to a more central location. Springfield was considered since it had been chosen as the state capital in 1837, but there was a larger Catholic population near St. Louis. Pope Pius IX moved the See to Alton on January 9, 1857, and named Henry Damian Juncker as Bishop of Alton. He served until his death on October 2, 1868, and was succeeded by Bishop Peter J. Baltes, who served until his death on February 15, 1886. Bishop Baltes was buried next to his predecessor in the crypt below Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in Alton.

Following the death of Bishop Baltes, Father John Janssen, the vicar general, served as diocesan administrator. In 1887, Pope Leo XIII decided to divide the Diocese of Alton and established the Diocese of Belleville from the southern portion of the Diocese of Alton. Janssen was named its first bishop and continued as administrator of Alton until the consecration of Bishop James Ryan on May 1, 1888, at the Cathedral in Alton.

James Ryan was born on June 17, 1848, in County Tipperary, Ireland, and came to America at the age of seven with his parents and sister. Ryan attended the minor and major seminaries in Bardstown, Kentucky, and completed his theological education at Preston Park Seminary in Louisville. He was ordained a priest on the day before Christmas in 1871 by Bishop William G. McCloskey.

A significant accomplishment of Bishop James Ryan was the Diocesan Synod of 1889, our diocese's first. According to the history book prepared for our diocese's sesquicentennial in 2003, "The bishop convened this assembly of diocesan and religious clergy to adopt rules and regulations that would bring the diocese into compliance with the three Plenary Councils of Baltimore." The impact of this First Diocesan Synod would continue for several decades until the Second and Third Diocesan Synods were convened in 1953 and 1963, respectively. Of course, our Fourth Diocesan Synod took place in 2017, at which we pledged our diocese to the discipleship and stewardship way of life.

Bishop James Ryan served as Bishop of Alton for thirty-five years, the longest tenure of any bishop of our diocese. During his tenure, the estimated number of Catholics grew from 70,000 to 87,000. Forty new churches were opened and six hospitals were founded in the diocese. He is remembered for expanding the orphanage in Alton.

Bishop Ryan's Vicar General, Monsignor Edward Spalding, described Ryan as a reclusive man who lived in almost monk-like austerity. He abstained from alcohol, although he enjoyed smoking a pipe. He was said to have been a voracious reader. His favorite pastime was baseball, and it was said that Ryan knew the names and statistics for every player in the National League.

After Bishop Ryan's death on July 2, 1923, his funeral took place at the Cathedral in Alton, but instead of being buried with his two predecessors in the crypt of the cathedral, he chose to be buried in St. Patrick's Cemetery in Godfrey.

A few months later, on November 3, 1923, Archbishop Pietro Fumasoni-Biondi, Apostolic Delegate to the United States of America, wrote to Rev. James A. Griffin, Pastor of St. Mary's Church in Joliet, Illinois, that "His Holiness, Pope Pius XI, has graciously appointed you Bishop of Alton, Illinois."

Just nineteen days later, on November 22, 1923, the Apostolic Delegate wrote again to "Rev. James A. Griffin, D.D., Bishop-elect of Alton," saying, "I have the honor to inform you that His Holiness, Pope Pius XI, has decided to transfer the present See of Alton to Springfield, the Capital of the State of Illinois, where you will take up your permanent residence."

It is good for us to recall this history as we celebrate the centennial of our diocese's relocation from Alton to Springfield, praying that the practice of the Catholic faith will continue to grow in our diocese in the years ahead.

May God give us this grace. Amen.

---

My dear brothers and sisters in Christ,

Whenever I celebrate the sacrament of confirmation, I meet before Mass with the confirmation candidates to explain some of the many symbols that we use in the Church, such as the sacred chrism with which they will be anointed and by which they will be sealed with the gift of the Holy Spirit. I ask them if they have ever seen a spirit. Of course, they say no, you cannot see a spirit. I then point out that there are many things that you cannot see that are quite real, like the air we breathe. If there were no air in the room, we would be choking or suffocating from asphyxiation (lack of oxygen). I also ask them if they have ever seen wi-fi. No, comes the answer again. So how do you know if there is wi-fi in the room? Well, if you have internet access on your computer, you must have a wi-fi connection. But there might also be bars on your phone or computer that indicate whether wi-fi is present and how strong the connection is. I tell them that those bars are symbols, telling us that something is present that we cannot see.

Since we cannot see the Holy Spirit, God also uses symbols to tell us when His Holy Spirit is present, but that symbol is not always the same. When Jesus was baptized by John the Baptist in the Jordan River, the Gospel tells us that the Spirit of God descended upon Jesus like a dove (Matthew 3:16). In the description of Pentecost in the Acts of the Apostles, we are told that the Holy Spirit appeared to the disciples as tongues of fire, which came to rest on each one of them (Acts 2:3). Jesus is known as the Christ, which comes from the Greek word that means the one anointed by God’s Holy Spirit, and is recognized as the Messiah, the Hebrew word for the Anointed One. Thus, in the sacraments of baptism and confirmation and the ordination of priests and bishops, the presence of the Holy Spirit is symbolized with sacred chrism, the holy oil that is consecrated by the bishop in the Cathedral at the chrism Mass during Holy Week. It is also by the Apostles’ imposition of hands that the Holy Spirit is given (Acts 8:17-19; 13:3; and 19:6).

Most of the time, however, the action of the Holy Spirit in our lives is invisible and not readily apparent to us. Sometimes it is only in retrospect that we can discern the movement of the Holy Spirit. For example, I see the working of the Holy Spirit in the transition of the Chiara Center from a retreat house to become the Evermode Institute for the formation of Catholic school teachers and catechists. Also, the decision of the Norbertine Fathers of St. Michael’s Abbey in Southern California to send seven priests to our diocese beginning July 1 of this year involved a lot of human conversations and planning, but I believe this was guided by the Holy Spirit rather than mere coincidence.

Because the working of the Holy Spirit is often not readily apparent, perhaps we take the Holy Spirit for granted even in our prayer. We pray as Jesus taught us to “Our Father” or we direct our prayers to Jesus Himself. Even if we do not directly invoke the Holy Spirit in our prayers, the Church teaches that the “Holy Spirit is at work with the Father and the Son from the beginning to the completion of the plan for our salvation. … Consubstantial with the Father and the Son, the Spirit is inseparable from them, both in the inner life of the Trinity and his gift of love for the world” (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 686, 689).

The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit are: wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord. The tradition of the Church lists 12 fruits of the Holy Spirit: charity, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, generosity, gentleness, faithfulness, modesty, self-control, and chastity.

Our celebration of Pentecost is a good occasion for us to recall the gifts and fruits of the Holy Spirit and pray that the graces bestowed by our Triune God — Father, Son, and Spirit — will guide us through life on our journey to God’s Heavenly Kingdom.

May God give us this grace. Amen.