THE GOOD NEWS
ARCHBISHOP BELTRAN

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January 29, 2006

The Good News

...ADF Message

                        February 2006

Human life is a great gift from God!  Our Catholic faith is a great gift from God!  The promise of eternal salvation is yet another of God’s gifts which we anticipate now and prepare for daily with great faith, confidence and joy.

My dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ:

This is Archbishop Beltran addressing you today with a very important message and a request.  The message is the saving Proclamation of Faith.  The request is for your participation in our ADF appeal.

First and most important, the Message:

As Catholic people, we believe in One God Who revealed Himself to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.  This One and only true God is Creator of the universe and the Giver of all good gifts.  He created us out of love, making us in His own image and likeness.  Yet when we sinned, He did not abandon us but promised to redeem us through His eternal Son, Jesus Christ.

Christ’s coming into the world, which we just celebrated at Christmas, was the beginning of the fulfillment of God’s promise.  By His life, death and resurrection, Jesus would complete the promise and we would be redeemed.  In order for us to share in His redemption, Jesus established His Church.  To the Church, He entrusted His teaching and the seven sacraments which He instituted.  In this way, He continues to give us guidance and direction and help for our daily lives.

In today’s Mass, in the Old Testament reading, we heard the plight of Job, speaking of the sorrow he bears.  Job was a man of faith but Jesus had not yet come.  On the other hand, in the second reading, we heard from Saint Paul.  He too speaks of the heavy obligation weighing on him but he has found consolation and strength.  He has met Jesus!  He knows Him and he loves Him.

In the Gospel, we heard how Jesus reached out to heal the sick and the distraught, the wanderer and the lost.  This is the beginning and the sign of His redemption.  Thereby, Jesus challenges His disciples:  “Let us go to the neighboring towns so that I can preach there, too, because this is why I have come.”  

Christ as God is always present among us.  He is everywhere.  But his mysterious, dynamic sacramental Presence is repeatedly renewed in the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass.  “Take My Flesh and eat It; take My Blood and drink It and you shall have life everlasting.”  

I said I had a message and a request.  The message of faith I  just presented is a brief summary of our Catholic belief.  This divinely revealed message should inspire us to fuller participation in the Church and to respond whole-heartedly to my simple but sincere ADF request.

The Archdiocesan Development Fund appeal, commonly call the ADF, is an annual request for the financial support of the works of the Church of this Archdiocese.

Money cannot buy faith but money generously given and properly used can share with others the faith that we have in Jesus.  If we believe in Jesus then, like Saint Paul in the second reading, we must acknowledge and joyfully accept our obligation to share the Good News of Jesus with others!  

Last June I celebrated the Saturday evening Mass at Saint Frances Cabrini Church in Beaver.  The young girl serving the Mass told me, with great emotion, how excited she was.  She said:  “Tomorrow morning I’m going to the Catholic camp.  I can hardly wait!”  She was one of the more than one thousand young people who come from all over Oklahoma each summer to spend a week at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Youth Camp.

In the normal course of the year, I receive hundreds of letters or notes from elementary school children expressing their appreciation for the Catholic school education they are receiving.  They thank me and all who make it possible for them to learn more about Jesus.

Many Catholic young people remain in Oklahoma for their college education.  I meet these young people at Oklahoma University, Oklahoma State University, University of Central Oklahoma, Oklahoma City University and other local colleges as well as our own Saint Gregory’s University.  In addition, there are many other Catholic young people at these colleges from Africa, Asia, South America and Europe.  Our Catholic campus ministry programs are crucially important for nurturing and supporting the faith of these students.

Each year I confirm at least one thousand high school students who are discovering God’s goodness and His plan.  This year’s Confirmation candidates and the other 12,500 students in religious education programs are all benefiting from the guidance and direction provided by the Archdiocese.  They are learning what it means and preparing to live the fullness of our Catholic faith.

At the present time, we are blessed with seventeen young men in seminary formation who are being prepared to become priests for the service of the Church of our Archdiocese.

The little girl from Beaver and the other children at the youth camp, the students in our religious education programs across the Archdiocese, the college students as well as the men in the seminaries and the current Confirmation candidates are all benefiting from the apostolates and services of the Archdiocese.  These are only some of the many, many services that the Archdiocese sponsors and provides for all Catholic people living in central and western Oklahoma.  Each of these ministries depends heavily on finances from the ADF appeal.  All the works that originate at the Catholic Pastoral Center or in our schools or parishes or other Catholic institutions in our area need the continuing financial support you provide through ADF.  

Therefore, each year on the first weekend of February, I ask every Catholic person of this Archdiocese to please make a financial contribution to our ADF appeal.  Are you willing to consider making such a pledge of support for the works of the Church of our Archdiocese?

Every Catholic person shares in the spiritual benefits which the Church offers.  Indeed, through the proclamation of the Gospel, the celebration of the sacraments and the challenge to right living, the Church brings us to Jesus and Jesus to us in a very unique and effective way.  Consequently, every Catholic person also shares in the challenge and obligation to support the mission of the Church.

In a spirit of faith and confidence, I turn to you and ask for your help.  I ask you to make a financial pledge to ADF to be fulfilled over the next ten months.  Some can contribute more than others but all of us can contribute something.  A pledge of $25 or $50 a month is something attainable for most people.  Are you willing to respond generously  I pray that you will!

In advance of your pledge, I want to thank you for your support of the ministries and works of the Church.  I need your help and your support.  Therefore, I ask you to make your ADF pledge today because “We are all one in Christ!”