THE FOLLOWING ARTICLE BY DAN
KELLY APPEARED IN THE 27 JUNE 2010 EDITION OF THE READING EAGLE,
After nearly a year at the helm of the Roman Catholic Diocese
of Allentown, Bishop John O. Barres found he needs to brush up
on his Spanish. During an interview last week in the chancery
in Allentown, Barres said one of his goals in the coming year
is to be able to work closely and converse easily with Latino
Catholics. So Barres, 49, is leaving Monday for a monthlong trip
to Lima, Peru, where he hopes to immerse himself in Spanish language
and culture. "I've spent time with the Catholic Relief Services
in San Marcos, Guatemala, and a couple of weeks in Guadalajara,
Mexico, and got a base for my Spanish, but I have to build on
that," Barres said. "Pope John Paul II talks about
the Ecclesia of America. I've found our Hispanic brothers and
sisters have great insights into catechesis - the teaching and
passing on of faith - that we don't have in North America. "My
conversation is really rusty. I think I can tune up the base
and take it to the next level." The diocese comprises Berks,
Lehigh, Northampton, Schuylkill and Carbon counties, all of which
have growing Latino populations. Barres also talked about his
personal connection to the diocese, the need to consolidate some
parishes, a shortage of priests, priesthood and marriage, and
the church's child-abuse scandals. Ethnicity plays a major role
in the diocese, Barres observed. The Polish, German, Irish, Italian
and now Latino parishes form the foundation of the church in
America and they must be preserved, he said.
Consolidating parishes
Since the 2008 order to consolidate some parishes in Schuylkill
County, rumors of further consolidations have spread through
the diocese, especially in Berks. Barres said there will be no
further consolidations until the 14 consolidations being appealed
by Schuylkill parishes are resolved. Those appeals have lingered
for two years and diocesan spokesman Matt Kerr said he had no
prediction on when they might be resolved. Most of the parishes
have strong ethnic identities. Barres said it is very difficult
to close traditionally ethnic churches. He used St. Casimir's
Church in Shenandoah, Schuylkill County, as an example of a church
with strong ethnic ties. That church is where the Rev. Walter
Ciszek, the Polish-American Jesuit priest who spent 23 years
in a Russian prison during the Cold War, was baptized as a baby.
Ciszek, who is buried at the Jesuit Center near Wernersville,
is being considered for sainthood. "We stand on the shoulders
of these beautiful ancestors who sacrificed so much," Barres
said.
More priests needed
Barres said the number of priests, parishioners and finances
all figure in the decision to consolidate parishes. "There
has not been a liturgy or a function where I haven't spoken for
the need for all of us - not just priests, but lay people as
well, to be agents of the call to the priesthood," Barres
said. "I have real expectations and high hopes that some
great things are percolating in terms of vocations," he
said. And recruiting new priests isn't rocket science, Barres
said. "We had a holy hour at the cathedral; had some pizza
and then had some cell phone numbers of mostly college students,"
he said. "Every priest would call the students that they
knew and at the end (of the conversation) they would put me on
with them and I talked to them. "Even if the young man wasn't
remotely interested in the priesthood, it was a good investment
because they had contact with a great priest and they knew their
bishop was praying for them. "What we find is that personal
contact is absolutely key."
Clergy abuse
Barres doesn't mince words when talking about abuse of the young
by clergy. "Clergy sexual abuse is a crime," Barres
said. "It is a terrible sin. It has absolutely devastating
consequences on the victims and their families, and the church
is taking responsibility for the history of this." The church
is trying to ensure that abuses are not repeated, he added. "These
wounds are so deep and so painful that you never fully step into
the pain, but we have to be as vibrant instruments of healing
as we possibly can," Barres said. "All of us are called
to be beacons of hope for the victims and their families who
deal with these wounds the rest of their lives. It is absolutely
crucial to me."
Marriage and priesthood
Barres said marriage could be a distraction from true holiness
for priests. He said he doesn't buy into the argument that more
men would become priests if they could also get married and have
families. "There is something special about the celibate
commitment," Barres said. "The radical focus on the
consecration of mission that is Eucharistic, that is biblical,
that is missionary: That celibate commitment is so beautiful."
Priests must be able to focus on their work, he said. "Priests
must be intellectually engaged," Barres said. "That's
important in terms of the issues of the day, but also in terms
of being able to articulate the Catholic experience and Catholic
teaching in the prism of contemporary experience."
A personal connection
"My whole family history runs through Bethlehem," the
bishop said. "My father grew up across from Liberty High
School. My great-grandfather was a night watchman in Bethlehem
for 38 years. One of his sons, Grover Ritter, was a tailor in
Reading." Barres said he visited recently with Grover Ritter's
daughter-in-law, Bonnie Ritter, Wyomissing, who is 86 and a retired
Wyomissing High School art teacher. "I was getting some
of the beautiful stories and getting a sense of the Reading connection
in my family," Barres said. "When I go into South Bethlehem
or Reading, realizing some of my ancestors had their lives and
their families there, that's very powerful to me. "Every
summer from 1967, when I was 7, until I was about 20 years old,
we'd come back. My great-grandparents are buried on the banks
of the Lehigh River on a hill looking over the steel mills. "I
remember going to that cemetery when I was 7 and seeing that
family plot for the first time and it was my first experience
of mortality. That place has kind of a special place in my memory.
"The deeper we get into history, the more we are able to
chart paths into the future." |
Saturday, 03
July