Archbishop: Focus on holiness

Archbishop Charles Chaput of Denver, a keynote speaker at the recent Indiana Catholic Men's Conference, told participants they should focus on being holy and helping God "share His love with the whole world."

"To be Catholic is to be very unique among the world's believers," he said. "To be a Catholic means believing that you are a part of a vast historical project. And it's not our project. It's God's."

More than 1,000 men attended the conference.

Scriptures

Archbishop Chaput compared the Bible to the sacred books of other world religions.

"What all the sacred texts of other religions have in common is that they're essentially wisdom literature," he said. "They're collections of noble teachings aimed at helping believers live ethically and find the right path to peace or happiness or enlightenment."

The Bible also aims to make people wise, he continued, "but it does much more. It seeks to lead them to salvation, which is much more than enlightenment."

Pilate's name

Catholicism is "the only religion to remember our founder's executioner by name every time we profess our faith" in the Creed, the archbishop said.

"Pontius Pilate and Mary are mentioned by name in the creed," he said, noting that the reference to Mary proves Christ's humanity while the reference to Pilate "guarantees His historicity."

The creed also speaks to the future, where "we believe Jesus Christ will come again in glory to usher in a kingdom that will have no end," Archbishop Chaput said. "If the Incarnation represents the past and the second coming represents the future, then the Church is always the 'present tense' of God's plan for history and for each of our lives."

Evangelizing

The Church exists to "proclaim God's love and the Good News of Jesus Christ to the ends of the earth," Archbishop Chaput continued. "We're here to make disciples of all nations."

That task falls on all people, he said, not just the clergy. "The demands of holiness apply to every one of us and, in a special way, to husbands and fathers who have the task of leading us," he said.

"As Catholic men, you have an 'ecclesial' being and identity," he told the attendees. "You're leaders by virtue of your vocation as husbands and fathers, and the Church is where you belong. It's where God called you to be. In the Church, you will find God's will for your life. Through your actions, God will change this world," he said. CNS)

(10/18/07) [[In-content Ad]]