The Potential to Be

By Sarah Vabulas

Potential. Every person has it. It’s a lot to live up to – to fulfill my potential.

What does this mean exactly? For Catholics, it means each person has dignity, that each of us is so much more than we may appear to be at any given time. We are each created to love God more every day and find God in every person despite our differences. Unfortunately, I often find myself lost amidst today’s culture, which makes recognizing God even more difficult.  I struggle to find balance in my work, my family, my social life and my prayer life. Fortunately, my family and friends continuously remind me to discern my potential.

We face daily choices of how to fulfill our individual potential (including the choice not to fulfill it). Living in a culture more confused about the truth than ever is exhausting. People, young and old, are searching for truth. When those of us who are faithful Catholics stand up for our values in the face of tough choices (whether at home or in the voting booth) we are often called intolerant. But we cannot and should not separate our faith from our ability to make crucial decisions.

Every day we are faced with choices in our relationships. Whether it be in a friendship, within a family, or in a romance, these choices affect not only ourselves but those around us. As a 29-year-old woman, I watch my peers make choices that don’t always enable them to fulfill their greatest potential. However, unlike millions of children each year, they have the gift of life to try.

My heart breaks when I hear reports of the number of abortions that take place each day in our country. We live in a great nation, one with even greater potential. Yet due to any number of reasons and a government that allows it, millions of children are not given the chance to find their potential because of abortion.

Abortion robs the dignity not only of the tiny human person who loses his or her life but of the mother and father who make this life-altering choice. The Roe v. Wade decision occurred 10 years before my birth. I shudder to think of the possibilities, the potential, of the number of my peers that didn’t get their shot at life. I often wonder how the world would be different.

My generation is full of loneliness. We are all searching for deeper community and a connection with the world. I can’t help but think that because we allow such monstrosities as abortion, this culture shift won’t change. And lately I’ve been wrestling with the intolerance of violence against children and the tolerance for abortion. To me, these things are the same.

To defeat the tolerance for abortion, we must change hearts. It is up to my generation to do so. If we recognize the potential in every life, I believe that we will live in a world where we no longer have to wonder if we are we missing a generation of friends, colleagues, leaders and heroes because of abortion. 

We are each called to fulfill the potential in ourselves. It’s as simple as that. But it’s a shame a million of us each year aren’t given the same chance to live up to it.

Sarah Vabulas, AKA “Vabs,” is a graduate of Saint Mary’s College at Notre Dame where she studied communications and theology. She has a social media presence known as the Catholic Drinkie where she blogs about her love for the Catholic faith and her pursuit of community and a tasty beverage. She coordinates the 20/30 Somethings group at her parish, the Cathedral of Christ the King in Atlanta.

For the week of the 40th anniversary of Roe v. Wade, this blog is featuring guest posts by Catholic bloggers who participated in the November 2012 USCCB event, "An Encounter with Social Media: Bishops and Bloggers Dialogue."

About Time We Crunched Some Numbers

This morning's double appointment in Florida and Illinois, along with the progression of time et al, has left the state of vacant U.S. dioceses and bishops serving past retirement age looking rather different. As this is an issue we've neglected on this blog lately, it can't hurt to take a quick tally of where the numbers stand.

This morning, Pope Benedict accepted the resignation/retirement of Archbishop John Favalora of Miami and appointed Bishop Thomas Wenski of Orlando as his successor. The pope also named Chicago Auxiliary Bishop Thomas Paprocki the new bishop of Springfield in Illinois, a diocese that has been vacant (i.e. without a bishop) since now-Archbishop George Lucas was appointed Archbishop of Omaha last June.

Taking into account these appointments, as well as that of Archbishop Jose Gomez as Coadjutor Archbishop of Los Angeles earlier this month, and the U.S. Church currently has four vacant dioceses:

-- Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, vacant since November 14, 2009, when Bishop Kevin Rhoades was sent to Fort Wayne-South Bend, Indiana
-- La Crosse, Wisconsin, vacant since November 14, 2009, when then-Bishop Jerome Listecki was appointed Archbishop of Milwaukee
-- San Antonio, Texas, vacant since April 6, when Archbishop Gomez went to Los Angeles
-- Orlando, Florida, vacant since 6 a.m. today, with Archbishop-designate Wenski going to Miami

Strangely enough, both the Los Angeles and Orlando appointments involve the pending retirments of bishops who have not yet reached the retirement age of 75. So that list has not only remained the same, but has grown to five:

-- Bishop William Higi of Lafayette, Indiana, age 76
-- Archbishop Alexander Brunett of Seattle, age 76
-- Bishop William Skylstad of Spokane, Washington, age 76
-- Archbishop Eusebius Beltran of Oklahoma City, age 75
-- Cardinal Justin Rigali of Philadelphia, who turned 75 yesterday

(Bishop Kevin Boland of Savannah, Georgia, will turn 75 this Sunday.)

So, congrats to Miami and Springfield on their new bishops! And as always, many prayers for the rest of the Church too.

Hat tip to David Cheney.

New Numbers Among the Bishops

It's that time of year again -- preparing the official U.S. bishops statistics, this time for the media's consumption at the 2009 Fall General Assembly (Nov. 16-19) in Baltimore.

Given the "circle of life" equilibrium that follows the usual trickle of new appointments, reassignments, promotions, retirements and deaths, these numbers don't really fluctuate that much. But they did it enough to matter. And they've done it recently.

To review, there are currently 429 active and retired bishops in the United States.

Of these 258 are active bishops:
-- 5 Cardinal Archbishops
-- 29 Archbishops
-- 1 Coadjutor Archbishop
-- 153 Diocesan Bishops
-- 70 Auxiliary Bishops

And 171 are retired bishops:
-- 8 retired Cardinal Archbishops
-- 19 retired Archbishops
-- 94 retired Diocesan Bishops
-- 50 retired Auxiliary Bishops

The recent fluctuation in these figures has come almost entirely from the spate of bishops' appointments that have rolled out of Rome since early October.

To recap, on October 7, the pope accepted the retirement of Gaylord, Mich. Bishop Patrick Cooney and named Msgr. Bernard Hebda as his successor. This meant one new retired diocesan bishop, one new bishop overall and a net of zero in the number of active diocesan bishops.

On October 15, the pope named three brand new bishops, sending one to the vacant Diocese of Duluth, Minnesota, a second to replace retired Bishop Arthur Tafoya in Pueblo, Colorado, and a third to be auxiliary of Providence, Rhode Island. The end was result was one more retired bishop, one new auxiliary bishop, a net of one new diocesan bishop, and -- as said before -- three new bishops overall.

On October 19, the pope named Indianapolis pastor Father Paul Etienne the new bishop of Cheyenne, Wyoming, which has been vacant for some time. This was a gain of one active diocesan bishop and one bishop overall.

On October 21, the pope accepted the retirement of Boston auxiliary Bishop Francis Irwin, meaning one less active auxiliary and one more retired auxiliary overall.

On October 28, the pope named Joliet pastor Father Joseph Siegel an auxiliary bishop of his diocese, bringing the number of active auxiliaries back up by one and the total number of bishops up by one.

With the dust settled somewhat, this means that in the month of October, the U.S. bishops gained a whopping six new members. The U.S. bishops also mourned the loss of retired Wilmington Bishop Michael Saltarelli in October, meaning their total membership increased by five. Given the three retirements in October, it means their active membership went up by three.

Even though a number of these newly-appointees aren't even slated to be ordained bishops till after the new year, the prospect of six new bishops in just a month is an exciting sign of life in the U.S. Church.

New Orleans Names and Numbers

While Rocco Palmo beat us to the punch in observing this, it's still worth noting here that this morning's appointment of Bishop Gregory Aymond of Austin Texas as Archbishop of New Orleans (congrats, Archbishop-designate Aymond!) gives the Archdiocese of New Orleans four living archbishops.

The other three being now-retired Archbishop Alfred Hughes (2002-2009, Archbishop Francis Schulte (1988-2002) and Archbishop Philip M. Hannan (1965-1988). As Rocco pointed out that this is unprecedented, all I have to add is hopefully somebody takes a picture.

While it's more-or-less equally common for a diocese to have either just an ordinary or one active ordinary and one retired ordinary, it's interesting to note that New Orleans was still in rare-enough territory before taking a turn into unprecedented.

It appears that, out of 195 dioceses and archdioceses, eight U.S. dioceses currently have three living ordinaries, that is, an active ordinary and two living emeritus bishops. This does not include auxiliary bishops, active or otherwise, nor does it count dioceses whose bishops have been assigned elsewhere and replaced.

That said, the eight are Amarillo, Kalamazoo, Marquette, Palm Beach, Providence, Sacramento, Springfield in Massachusetts, and Steubenville. (Research comes from the online Catholic hierarchy database, which is in no way affiliated with the USCCB.)

And since this blog has displayed an inordinate interest in the nationwide statistical breakdown of bishops (at least until next week's meeting is over), it's worth noting that the new numbers are:

Currently, 6 dioceses are vacant (sede vacante):

Austin
Cheyenne
Duluth
Milwaukee
Ogdensburg
Owensboro

There are 425 active and retired Catholic bishops in the United States:

257 Active Bishops:
5 Cardinal Archbishops
28 Archbishops
1 Coadjutor Archbishop
154 Diocesan Bishops
0 Coadjutor Bishops
69 Auxiliary Bishops

168 Retired Bishops:
7 retired Cardinal Archbishops
21 retired Archbishops
91 retired Diocesan Bishops
49 retired Auxiliary Bishops

Day's Count Part II

The U.S. bishops meet in San Antonio a week from tomorrow, and our staff will be on the ground a couple days before that. In the meantime, our media backgrounder on U.S. church statistics has gone to the printers, and the Congregation for Bishops in Rome keeps cranking out bishops' appointments. We'll see just how much more dated our statistics are by then.

Last time, I reported the following ...

Currently, 5 dioceses are vacant (sede vacante):

Cheyenne
Duluth
Milwaukee
Ogdensburg
Owensboro

There are 425 active and retired Catholic bishops in the United States:

258 Active Bishops:
5 Cardinal Archbishops
28 Archbishops
1 Coadjutor Archbishop
155 Diocesan Bishops
0 Coadjutor Bishops
69 Auxiliary Bishops

167 Retired Bishops:
7 retired Cardinal Archbishops
20 retired Archbishops
91 retired Diocesan Bishops
49 retired Auxiliary Bishops

Well, a lot has happened in three weeks. Chronologically speaking, on May 27, the pope accepted the resignation of the Bishop Edward Cullen of Allentown, Pa., and appointed Msgr. John Barres, up to that point the chancellor of the Diocese of Wilmington, as Cullen's successor. The pope also named Father Lee Piche as a new auxiliary bishop of the Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis.

On June 3, the pope accepted the resignation of the then-serving-longest-past-retirement-age bishop in the U.S., Archbishop Elden Curtiss of Omaha and named Bishop George Lucas (not to be confused with the Star Wars creator) of Springfield in Illinois as his successor.

Finally, yesterday, the pope named the vicar for priests of the Archdiocese of Philadelphia, Msgr. Timothy Senior, an auxiliary bishop of the archdiocese. (This appointment, as has been noted elsewhere, brings the number of Philly auxiliaries back up to four in the wake of last month's appointment of Bishop Joseph Cistone to Saginaw, Mich.)

So, crunching and pushing and pulling the national numbers once again, this swath of appointments raises the number of bishops nationwide by three, nets a gain of one active bishop, raises the number of retired bishops overall by two, raises the number of retired archbishops by one, retired diocesan bishops by one, nets zero in the number of active archbishops, reducese the number of active diocesan bishops by one, raises the number of active auxiliaries by two, and even opens up a vacant diocese.

Or to illustrate it in a less headache-inducing manner, I believe that leaves today's statistics as follows ...

Currently, 6 dioceses are vacant (sede vacante):
Cheyenne
Duluth
Milwaukee
Ogdensburg
Owensboro
Springfield in Illinois

There are 428 active and retired Catholic bishops in the United States:

259 Active Bishops:
5 Cardinal Archbishops
28 Archbishops
1 Coadjutor Archbishop
154 Diocesan Bishops
0 Coadjutor Bishops
71 Auxiliary Bishops

169 Retired Bishops:
7 retired Cardinal Archbishops
21 retired Archbishops
92 retired Diocesan Bishops
49 retired Auxiliary Bishops

Of course, with a week till the meeting, media may want to keep checking back for the latest numbers.

Day's Count

So much in contemporary culture is about self interest. How does this affect me?

Today's appointment of Philadelphia Auxiliary Bishop Joseph R. Cistone as bishop of Saginaw, Michigan (congrats to Bishop Cistone and the Catholics of Saginaw) had an indirect effect on my office, not only because USCCB Media Relations prepared a release on the appointment, but because our office is currently busy preparing for next month's meeting of the U.S. Catholic bishops in San Antonio.

As part of the preparations, our office prepares backgrounders and other informational handouts for media who will be attending the meeting. And among these backgrounders are the statistics on bishops and dioceses across the country, including numbers of bishops, archbishops, cardinals, coadjutors, active bishops, retired bishops, auxiliary bishops, retired auxiliary bishops, as well as vacant dioceses.

The challenge in getting this information off to the printers in time for the big meeting is that the ground keeps shifting beneath our feet. Most recently, the retirement of San Francisco auxiliary Bishop Ignatius Wang lowered the number of active auxiliaries and raised the number of retired auxiliaries by one while similarly shifting the active/retired ratio for all U.S. bishops.

More complicated, the May 5 retirement of Winona Bishop Bernard Harrington and immediate succession by his coadjutor, Bishop John M. Quinn, dropped and raised by one the numbers of active and retired diocesan bishops, respectively. The succession of Bishop Quinn, however, brought the number of active diocesan bishops right back up to its earlier number while dropping the number of coadjutor bishops nationwide to zero. However, since Bishop Quinn was already an active bishops, his succession didn't change the number of active bishops overall.

Last month, the appointment of Saginaw Bishop Robert Carlson as archbishop of St. Louis did nothing to change the active/retired ratio, but it did drop St. Louis off the list of vacant U.S. dioceses (that is, dioceses without a bishop), replacing it with Saginaw. About the only thing this appointment changed statistically was that we had one fewer diocesan bishop and one more archbishop with Carlson's promotion from ordinary to metropolitan.

And now, scarcely a month after going on the list, Saginaw drops off the list of vacant dioceses with the appointment of Bishop Cistone, whose appointments also drops and raises by one the number of active auxiliaries and active diocesan bishops, respectively.

Quickly becoming aware that a person could lose his mind by trying to stay on top of this, I'm resigning myself to the fact that, by the time the bishops meet on June 17, these statistics will have had plenty of time to go stale. (There are, after all, a dozen or so bishops serving past the retirement age of 75 and five vacant dioceses.)

So, with that in mind, here are the statistics that are going to the printers as of right now. It is nothing better than simply today's count:

Currently, 5 dioceses are vacant (sede vacante):

Cheyenne
Duluth
Milwaukee
Ogdensburg
Owensboro

There are 425 active and retired Catholic bishops in the United States:

258 Active Bishops:
5 Cardinal Archbishops
28 Archbishops
1 Coadjutor Archbishop
155 Diocesan Bishops
0 Coadjutor Bishops
69 Auxiliary Bishops

167 Retired Bishops:
7 retired Cardinal Archbishops
20 retired Archbishops
91 retired Diocesan Bishops
49 retired Auxiliary Bishops

I think I'm going to recommend that next time we give the media a link to a real-time online database.

Newly ordained men have inspiring backgrounds

Just got a note from an editor praising two releases we sent out to highlight the ordination Class of 2009. The annual ordination releases can be tedious because they involve gathering data (Cara’s Sister Mary Bendyna, RSM, and Mary Gautier, over at Georgetown University, do the heavy lifting on this project, but here at the USCCB we try to add as much other info from local dioceses as possible). Catholic press editors like the stories because they tell good news, that hundreds of men, young and older (25-65) are answering a unique call to serve. The releases are inspiring too. Matthew Schiffelbein, 29, of the Archdiocese of Kansas City in Kansas, is legally blind because of macular degeneration. His sharp memory, video magnifier and text-to-speech software, will facilitate his ministry.

Men who came to the United States as Vietnamese refugees also touch my heart. I remember thinking when the Vietnamese boat people reached our shores in the late 70s and 80s that this boded well for the USA. People who could survive that trek clearly had much to offer our nation. We in the church benefit now as men like the Diocese of Austin’s Justin Minh Nguyen, a skilled tailor form Vietnam, are ordained for the priesthood. You can read more about the new ordination class on the USCCB Web site here and here.