Roman Catholic Bishops

"My personal vision is that everybody, every single one of us has this hunger for infinity. We have to help each other to discover how we can answer this hunger."

"We must live Christ's Love not only at home but in all our relations with everyone. Not all our young people are victims of alcohol and drugs. You are part of a thousand young people presently giving up part of their holiday time to share with others what they are and what they have."

"It is good to be told, in a world often marked by violence, poverty, and despair, that God loves us."

"Our paradise is not linked to a specific place, or a concrete time. It is not tied to vacations, nor does it consist of having many things within reach, nor is it attained by giving free rein to our passions. It is not the property of a few, and is not obtained by human effort alone. The New Testament reveals the last secret of this divine plan for man's happiness: Jesus Christ is our happiness, he is our Paradise."

"A remnant of the settlers who constitute a bare 5 per cent of the population, this small group of Europeans denies to the African majority fundamental rights and is determined to hold on to power and privilege even though in this manner it has now become a political absurdity—a state without a nation."

"I went to Dodge City as the bishop of the diocese, you sent me there for 15 years. I didn't come back as a cowboy."

"Strive for new missionary zeal with courage and to strive for holiness. As we journey towards the Great Diocesan Mission, every community must become a powerful centre of radiant of life in Christ."

"The multi-ethnic environment in which we live leads us daily to commit ourselves and work on dialogue, but, based on the example that the Pontiff himself has given us, we will be able to open ourselves even more to the encounter with people who come from other traditions, cultures and religions. We can learn to live and love each other: that of dialogue is like a seed that we will continue to cultivate and a process that we intend to develop."

"The Church must not be something museum-like, but dynamic and evolving. But it must also not be an experimental field for arbitrariness. Christ is the center and standard. The remedy for the tensions present in the Church is that we all find ourselves in Him."

"Especially in remote isolated mission territories, it is the laity who keep the Faith alive in places where the priest does not live. They have no regular Mass, no Sacraments, no ordained Ministers. The priest visits from time to time, but it is the lay leaders, the Catechists who hold these Churches together. Even in New Zealand, the laity are assuming leadership roles in parishes more and more. These lay leaders are well-formed."

"There are no words to express the joy of the entire Catholic community in Kazakhstan at the visit of Pope Francis to our country. What pleases us the most is the fact that even the non-Catholic citizens of the country received the news of the planned trip of the Holy Father with great enthusiasm."

"We think that the Eucharist is the source and summit of the life of the Church and for this we do not abandon its essential importance."

"We go to the Holy Land in a spirit of communion with the Christians who live and suffer there, praying and celebrating the Eucharist with them, which is very much appreciated and mutually reinforcing. The spirit is that of pilgrims who learn from the Holy Places and let ourselves be filled by the grace of the pilgrimage"

"I'm humbled, but if this is what God wants, if he kicks the ball in your direction, you might as well run with it. I honestly never thought about it for a minute before it happened that I would be named a bishop. I was surprised myself."

"Voting is a solemn civic ceremony that has been won and defended by the blood of countless American men and women throughout our Nation’s history, up to the present day. Please exercise this precious right. For the Catholic, voting also has grave moral obligations and consequences. Voting can never be taken lightly nor be contrary to a well-formed conscience."

"Martial law was a completely new experience for the Church and the CBCP. The human rights violations and the black propaganda of the military that the Church was infiltrated by communism made many bishops weary and even frightened. We may discuss, we may debate, we may even have wanted to strangle each other, but when it came to writing a joint pastoral letter it was always on target."

"We always rank at the bottom of the list when it comes to economy, wealth and wellbeing. Unfortunately, there is no common scale for measuring values, such as intelligence, charity and generosity. Otherwise, we would rank at the top because this small diocese has a big heart."

"From our own little Caribbean island the cry resounds: "I believe in One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church." This ecclesial and social event is a message and a challenge. We needn't wait for the leaders of nations to be reconciled or come to an agreement. We are already experiencing the reality of reconciliation and fraternal communion with our sister churches."

"An inner fatigue has grown in me that has gradually deprived me of the momentum and serenity needed to lead the Church of Lugano. The public aspects, the representation, the financial and administrative management, have become unbearable for me, despite the valuable presence of collaborators to whom my gratitude is due. I tell you this with an open heart: I can no longer imagine being in the position I have tried to hold until now."

"I guess I seem a bit unusual in Finland, don't I? Finnish and Basque, doctor and bishop and "young and dynamic," but especially young."

"We are used to looking at Christ from an ontological point of view. The contact with non-Christian Asia invites us to look at Him in other contexts as well, especially from the cosmic and historical point of view."

"I am very clear that in the Church we all row: My image of the Church is the trawler. In the trawler we all row. The bishop may be at the helm, setting the pace or changing the direction a little, but we all row: priests, laity, religious. I want the laity to support and I want to promote the participation of the laity. All together."

"It is truly a Catholic Church because there are more than 115 nationalities. The key is to understand that Catholicism unifies. For this reason, the Catholic Church in Finland is really Catholic because it is one. We all want to go to heaven. And this also unifies us."

"Scripturus bella regum cum gentibus adversis, martyrum cum paganis, eclesiarum cum hereticis, prius fidem meam proferre cupio, ut qui ligirit me non dubitet esse catholicum. Illud etiam placuit propter eos, qui adpropinquantem finem mundi disperant, ut, collectam per chronicas vel historias anteriorum annorum summam, explanitur aperte, quanti ab exordio mundi sint anni. Sed prius veniam legentibus praecor, si aut in litteris aut in sillabis grammaticam artem excessero, de qua adplene non sum inbutus; illud tantum studens, ut quod in eclesia credi praedicatur sine aliquo fuco aut cordis hesitatione reteneam, quia scio, peccatis obnoxium per credulitatem puram obtenire posse veniam apud Deum."

"Nec dubium enim est, quod hic primus homo Adam, antequam peccaret, tipum Redemptoris domini praetulisset. Ipsi enim in passionis sopore obdormiens, de latere suo dum aquam cruoremque producit, virginem inmaculatamque eclesiam sibi exhibuit, redemptam sanguine, latice emundatam, non habentem maculam aut rugam, id est limphis ablutam propter maculam, extensam in crucem propter rugam."

"Here in Utah all the community – Anglos, Hispanics and others alike – are together celebrating and participating as one whole community. When you get over the language barrier and take away the shame and you are not afraid, all the divisions get erased. I recognize all the contributions that they make to our Universal Church in their local churches, and for that I am also thankful. Now here in Utah and then when I am in El Salvador, I will continue saying "Animo" – you are doing good."

"Speaking of pastoral reconfiguration means putting Christ at the center of our lives and our activities. The purpose of pastoral reconfiguration is to put who we are and what we have at the service of the mission."

"In the midst of the storms, doubts and anxieties of the present, we want to affirm our roots, to make a grateful memory, we are the people of memory."

"It is not easy to link together the individual and society, or the believer and the community. Nothing is easy, in effect. I therefore believe that the "newness" to be sought for today's evangelization should be proposed as a rediscovery of living Christ in the co-existence of specific communities. These, in turn, should integrate interpersonal links, indispensable nowadays: inter-communitarian communities, fixed but interconnected points."

"It is with a trembling heart that I take up this new commitment as the Bishop of Moroto Diocese, returning to a place where I consider my Diocese and my people, where I spend my best years as a Missionary priest. I greatly rely on your prayers, support and cooperation as I take up the service of shepherding the people of God."

"One thing that all saints have in common is that they are happy, they possess a joy. When one is happy you want to share what you have, you want others to know what you know. One consequence of that attitude is that many Irish saints travelled from their homeland taking with them the message of the Gospel. They did so precisely because they were motivated by that desire to introduce others to the God who had brought such meaning and joy to their own lives."

"It is clear that in the future, we will be a smaller faith community, but with the help of God we will be a more faith-filled, vibrant, welcoming, grounded community. A faith community that is aware of our individual human weakness while, at the same time, ever striving to overcome such weakness with the merciful healing help of God. A faith community that lives the message of Jesus in a way that better speaks in equal measure to the lives of our fellow women and men."

"There is nothing wrong with a church being small and simple. As long as we can pray in it and celebrate the Eucharist. Above all, it is important to have a temple of God also in our hearts too, adorned with prayer and good works, if we really want to be children worthy of His name."

"Perhaps the Lord chose me because I am one of the few who is respected by both sides. Perhaps I can help pacify the two sides. It is not a mission that is only mine, but a Franciscan mission."

"There's a lot of blessing, too... having cancer. That may sound awful. I mean, first of all, so many people reached out to me. Expressing their concern and their prayers for me. You don't realize how many lives you've touched until something like this happens."

"In caring for God's people entrusted to me in Masaka Diocese, I put great emphasis on the teaching of Vatican II. When I returned from Rome I tried my best to direct the diocese and run the diocese on fundamental realities I had learned from the Council."

"One of the aspects that we insist on is that of education towards peace and reconciliation: the northeast area is affected by thousands of micro-conflicts between the communities of various ethnic origins, that can go on for years and that take a serious toll on local development."

"On the national level, the Eucharist becomes for us the way to true unity: as was asserted by the Fathers of the Special Synod for Africa, we try to make clear how much the Blood of Christ by itself can realize the unity of the nation that has more than 50 ethnic peoples, ready to oppose each other and enter battle especially when they are manipulated by politicians for electoral reasons."

"If we don't eliminate interest in cocaine production the people aren't going to consider other alternatives, and that's the problem with PLANTE. There has been plenty of good will, funding, and a fairly good strategy on the part of the government, but the people are simply unwilling."

"In our opinion, celibacy is about the Eucharist,"

"There is no fear. Optimism sees the light of heaven as the beginning of eternal life. The pain is reduced because of the deep conviction and faith."

"We really hope this great Pope – great in life, great in suffering, great in death – will, even after his death, live on in our hearts, because there is a new generation who only know him through books and through pictures, we have to give testimony to his life and suffering so that people can know the good that John Paul II did for sick people."

"In the Church in Slovenia this parishes and missionary style was favored in the whole post-Council period, when we tried to bring to life different indications and pastoral guidelines of the pastoral council and post-Council documents. At the level of dioceses and also nationally, several "pastoral forums" have been prepared to promote Christian life inside parishes, always in the main dimensions of the salvific mission of the Church, which takes place in the evangelization."

"In this Season of Advent I am more aware that we unite with the whole Church and especially in Pakistan to prepare the welcome the Birth of Our Saviour whom comes to us in poverty and in the midst of our joys and sorrows. Finally when I see the red mission box I know how important those pennies are to the lives and faith of our brothers and sisters."

"Our age needs to rediscover awe. St Francis calls us back to awe - to surprise and amazement at how God is constantly taking the initiative in our regard. This is vital for those of us who live in a culture where nothing amazes us any more because everything is the product of human planning and organization. Humanity appears as the product of its own experimentations, leaving no room for surprise and novelty."

"In Jesus Christ, God not only speaks to man but also seeks him. God and man meet in Christ. The Church is the servant and mediator of this encounter so that man may live. The joyful, firm proclamation of Christ's Good News is therefore essential, since no other name is given to men to ensure salvation."

"Evangelicals grew particularly in the suburban areas and in regions of recent deforestation and rural occupation by migrants. We're not as fast as those churches and we haven't been able to secure our presence in those areas. We always noticed a sentiment of abandonment by the people in the region. They usually tell us that they joined the church that was available."

"I'm not charismatic in the classical sense. I have a certain passion for life, and I think people sometimes use the word "intense" to describe me."

"If the regime remains in power, I do not see that the Catholic Church could have a future in China other than that of a persecuted Church"

"We do not plan for the future but God plans for us. I had chosen to be a Jesuit missionary for the Calcutta Province but providence has brought me as the Bishop of Raiganj, a unknown place with unknown people, culture and language. Though I have left my parents and brothers and sisters, I have hundreds of parents, brothers and sisters among the poorer people of the diocese who really love me and call me "Bishop Baba"."