2/3/23 - Friday Forget-Me-Nots by Jim Silcott

Photo Caption: Some of our middle school Honor Roll recipients

Dear Our Lady of Peace Family,

Bishop Fernandes is coming to Our Lady of Peace on Sunday. Now the Bishop is a pretty busy guy. He’s been the Bishop for the Diocese of Columbus less than a year. The Diocese covers 23 of the 88 counties in Ohio and that includes a lot of churches, schools and institutions.

And yet, The Bishop is coming to Our Lady of Peace. Why? Because the eighth graders of our school and parish are receiving the important Sacrament of Confirmation this Sunday.

Confirmation is a big deal. Our students have been preparing for months for this sacrament. Actually, all of middle school religion points them in the direction of being conferred as confirmandi by our Bishop. And the fact that this sacrament is done almost exclusively by Bishops supports the enormity of this moment for the future of not only the young men and women to whom the sacrament is being conferred but to the future of the Catholic Church.

Although our eighth graders are still pretty young, the Sacrament of Confirmation is an opportunity for them, most of whom were baptized as very young babies, to confirm that being Catholic is still something they want to be a part of. Unfortunately, we know that many of your young men and women, as they grow into adulthood and beyond, although confirmed, drift away from the church. The reasons for that are many. But this Sunday, Bishop Fernandes is coming to Our Lady of Peace to welcome our eighth graders into a fuller role in our church. Let us embrace these young people. Let us pray that they will be filled with the Holy Spirit and step up to positions of faithfulness and leadership in the Catholic Church.

One of our most frequent prayers during the petitions in Mass is the prayer for an increase into the priesthood and religious life. The reality is that of all the petitions we lay before our God, this is one of the most important. We need to pray that those being confirmed stay active and involved not only in their faith but in the faith community. We need to pray that many will marry and raise their children in the faith. We need to pray that some will be successful in their secular lives and support our church financially. We need to pray that God will call some of these young men and women to a life of service in the Church as priests, deacons, and sisters. And we need to fervently pray that those who are called have the courage and faith to answer that call.

With our young pastor here at Our Lady of Peace, Father Sean Dooley, we are blessed to have a young man who answered that call and serves our parish so well. Think how grateful we are to have him here. One day, hopefully not for a few more years, Father will be called to another assignment. Who will take his place? And who will take the place of the man who replaces him?

Father Dooley freely admits that part of his calling to the priesthood was through priests who he admired. May some of our young men be as inspired by Father Dooley as he was by others.

At school this week we had the honor of having Dominican Sisters, representatives of the founding teachers and administration of our school, talk to our students about what it means to be called to religious life. May some of our young ladies be inspired by these wonderful role models to carry on the Dominican charism as well.



So let us pray for these young men and women not only this weekend but as we watch them grow in high school, college and beyond. May the Saint whom they have chosen watch over them and guide them into a life of service and faith. And may we, of whatever age we happen to be, recollect our own confirmation and rekindle that fire of the Holy Spirit when the Bishop came to our church and called us to help build the Kingdom.

Jim Silcott