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September
7, 2004 My dear brother Priests: I greet you in the Name of the Lord Jesus Who is our true High Priest. I extend a very special greeting and congratulations to you who observe silver and golden jubilees of ordination this year. May the Lord Jesus bless each of us whom He has called to serve as priests and to be representatives of our people before God! In the year of the Lord 1954, Ernest Flusche, Paul Mollan, Bill Ross, Kevin Devlin, Michael Hughes, John Steichen, Charles Schettler and Joseph Burger and in 1979, Joseph Vas and Bill Pruett – each of you, on a designated day, knelt before your bishop or his delegate. The bishop imposed hands on you, ordaining each of you to the priesthood. This action of the Church, which you had freely pursued, ratified the discernment of God’s Will. Through that action, each of you was assured that God had called you to be His priest. What you were not assured or even advised about were the events which would ensue over the next twenty-five or fifty years! Golden jubilarians, did you anticipate or even remotely expect Vatican Council II? Silver jubilarians, the year before your ordination, we had three Popes. Did you then suspect that you would live the entirety of your first twenty-five years as a priest with only one Pope? Yes, much has happened. Much has changed for all of us throughout our priesthood. From the very youngest to the oldest, we have experienced joys and sorrows, successes and failures, good assignments and possibly difficult ones. Radical changes in society and in the Church have become common. From being extolled twenty-five or fifty years ago as men of integrity and respect, we now face harsh criticism and even anger. The shadow of the sexual abuse scandal hovers over us. The failure to proclaim consistently the authentic teachings of the Church comes back to haunt us as we are publicly and politically scorned in and out of the Church. While it is nice to be liked and pleasant to receive affirmation, our priesthood does not come from or depend on public opinion, on polls or fads. Our priesthood comes from Jesus and it is shrouded in the mystery of the Cross. Saint Paul tells us that the Cross is a scandal to the Jews and a stumbling block to the Gentiles but to us who believe that Jesus is the Lord, it is a sign of salvation. When the bishop imposed has hands on our head to ordain us, we became a sign of contradiction. A male celibate priesthood receives little acclamation in the world today despite the fact that we proclaim the Good News of Jesus. But for those who listen, those who believe, our priesthood, like the Cross, is a sign of salvation. Over the past twenty-five or fifty years, each of you jubilarians as priests of Jesus Christ has faithfully ministered to His people. You have baptized thousands of babies and adults, giving them new life in Christ. Together you have celebrated the Sacrifice of the Mass hundreds of thousands of times and literally shared the Body and Blood of Jesus, distributing Holy Communion perhaps a million times! You forgave sins. You anointed the sick, counseled and instructed countless souls, united many couples in marriage and buried the dead. The hands of your bishop ordaining you empowered you to do these things in the Name of Jesus and on His authority. Thank you, jubilarians, for your faithful priestly ministry. Your priestly service to the Church of Oklahoma and consequently to the Universal Catholic Church is truly invaluable. Therefore, paraphrasing Saint Peter, I say: “Silver and gold I have not – at least not enough to repay you for your good priestly work.” But, in a spirit of fraternal respect and on behalf of the people of our Archdiocese, I thank you for your good and faithful priestly service over these many years. May Almighty God bless each of you now and always. Most
Reverend Eusebius J. Beltran |