Benedict the Builder is placing the Foundation stones in place upon which will be built a firm foundation for the Church in the United States. She is being secured and made ready for the challenges we face. From the beginning of his service to the Church, Pope Benedict XVI has been about rebuilding the Church.
When this papacy is recounted in history, Pope Benedict XVI's apostolic work will be credited with having re-secured the Catholic Church in a time of trial so that she could inaugurate the new missionary age of the Third Millennium. His appointment of Bishops is key to that entire undertaking.
I believe that Pope Benedict XVI will also be credited with stemming the slide of western civilization into a new paganism. The Church is the only hope to preventing such a slide. She is not some irritant, preventing progress, she is the very path to authentic progress and human flourishing.
In continuity with the 2,000 year teaching of the Catholic Church and helping to ensure that the proper understanding of the Second Vatican Council within a hermeneutic of continuity, Pope Benedict XVI is re-securing the foundation stones of the Catholic Church in the United States in many ways.
His selection of Bishops proceeds from his unwavering conviction that the Catholic Church - and the message of authentic and true human progress which she offers the world - is what is most needed in this critical hour in human history.
What is happening in our Nation and the West constitutes a clash of worldviews, personal and corporate, involving competing definitions of human freedom, human flourishing and human progress.
The positions being espoused and lifestyles being affirmed as "progressive" by some currently using the term as a political label are anything but. They turn the clock back on true human progress.
It is the message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, the fullness of which is found within the Catholic Church, that alone can paves the path to true progress!
Pope Benedict XVI is placing in pastoral leadership over the Catholic Church precisely the kind of Shepherds we need in this vital moment of Church history. He is leading the Catholic Church through a New Evangelization so that she can engage in a new missionary age. He just returned from another apostolic visit. While many would have delayed that visit to the Middle East, given the current dangers, he went right into the heart of it all! What a Pope!
Though things may seem to be getting darker, I believe - even more than I did on that day when I heard those words "Habemus Papem" - that Pope Benedict XVI is laying the foundation for the springtime that his predecessor, Blessed John Paul II, prophetically anticipated. I know that in some Catholic circles the notion of a "New Springtime" is mocked. I will not join the cynics.
Let's consider some points of hope. One example is the Personal Ordinariates for returning Anglicans represent the beginning of a great homecoming in the Western Church. It was Benedict the Builder who championed their return and made it possible. Archbishop Vann was integral to the implementation of the historic Ordinariate of the Chair of St Peter in the United States.
Pope Benedict drew the blueprint and championed the process, protecting orthodoxy and orthopraxy within a refreshing witness of legitimate diversity; offering a vision for the coming full communion of the Church more like the first Millennium.
We are witnessing under his papacy the beginnings of the longed for full communion of the Church, East and West, as the "two lungs" on the One Body of Christ begin to breathe together again in order to animate this new missionary age. Can it happen? Yes, it truly can, because it is the Will of the Lord. (John 17)
We are witnessing the recovery of the Catholic academy through the rebuilding of some institutions almost lost to the Church - and the building of new ones. We are seeing the flourishing of good, solid theological and philosophical work - along with a flourishing of the arts and human culture led by the Church - as we have seen in ages past.
This task of rebuilding the Church - so that she can win the world - has not been easy. And, it will probably become even more difficult. The old adage is true; it always seems darkest before the dawn. Those who wanted to try to change the teaching and doctrine of the Catholic Church are deeply disappointed.They were unsuccessful.
However, for those who hunger for a vibrant, faithful, dynamically orthodox
Catholic Church, the source of all
truth, the God who is Truth has once again been faithful to his promise
to Peter, "upon this rock I will build my Church and the gates of hell
will not prevail against her". (Matt. 16:18)
Bishop Vann was courageously standing out front in the defense of the First Freedom, Religious Freedom. His was one of the first of multiple lawsuits filed against the Obama Administrations "mandate" which seeks to compel Church outreaches to violate their deeply held religious convictions in direct contravention of the First Amendment's protections.
He served the Fort Worth Diocese with great distinction, always evidencing what I like to call "dynamic orthodoxy". He is in love with the Risen Lord, faithful to the Magisterium and happy! Being faithful to the Church does not mean being cranky! Having one more Bishop filled with joy, hope and genuine affection for all men and women is critical in this hour.
This combination of living faith, unwavering fidelity to the Magisterium and human warmth seems to be evident in all of the recent Episcopal appointments made by Benedict the Builder. Though I do not know Bishop Vann personally, I have heard repeated testimonies of his pastoral warmth, holiness, genuine compassion, theological depth and likeability from people I trust.
Finally, I admire the fact that he is one of a growing number of "Bishop Bloggers", immensely comfortable with the technologies which are so essential to the work of the Church in this hour. His excellent contribution can be found on "Shepherd of Ft Worth" http://fwbishop.blogspot.com/
I trust he will change the name soon.