Roman Catholic Bishops

"Priests must be clearly aware of their identity and they need new enthusiasm for their mission. Facing tasks that have become even more difficult and more involved, many priests maintain that too much is expected of them; they get discouraged and give up. They need companions on their journey who help them and instill them with courage and can accompany them. The awareness that he who truly acts in the pastoral programme is Christ who frees from worries."

"The priest's concrete humanity is "humus," the inherent seat of the other dimensions. It is not an inert seat, but simultaneously active and receptive. Formation in the other dimensions should not be a superimposed addition, but must be rooted within the human person, in his mentality, affectivity and will."

"I ask all to continue to pray for the unborn who died, for all those who have experienced the pain of abortion, and for those who cannot understand our divine and steadfast calling to champion this cause."

"There are lots of people who are dealing with loved ones who are in crisis. It's a quiet work of charity, and obviously they need all the help they can get. Let people know that they're not alone when it comes to mental health."

"The valuable legacy of the Preventive System with reason, religion and loving kindness is more necessary than ever today in our pluralistic society."

"Fundamentalist groups are telling lies and inflating the numbers of reconversions in order to scare the Tribals. This way they can boast about the success of their drives."

"Africa is searching for its own identity, darkened by those strong and merciless years of colonisation, and also neo-colonialism. Today, more than yesterday, and as never before, the African Church feels the need to integrated its faith and its traditional culture in the same movement of dual fidelity: fidelity to those traditional values, and also to the evangelic message. In this context, the task of inculturation is imposed on its own. And it is imposed for its own people."

"People are so fed up of the suffering. They need a solution and so we hope something will come out of these talks. Both the government and the tribes need to think of the good of the people. The government needs to say to the rebels something besides: "Put down your weapons." These people need to be reintegrated into the police and the army. They need to be integrated into society."

"We are concerned that this attack on the family is happening in Catholic Spain. It is sad and concerning that the government has let itself be influenced by populism without considering the consequences of this law in Spain and elsewhere, including Latin America where Spain has considerable impact and from where Latin America received the faith."

"There are essential elements which no activism must take away from religious life in a local Church. Although expressing itself according to different models and according to charisma, fraternal life is an essential component of consecrated life. Encourage communities to be an evangelical sign in the various environments, especially for the young and offer the local Church wealth of universality."

"Inculturation is only cultural; it must be cultural and anthropologic at the risk of only being folklore."

"I presided over a reparation service during which I reminded the faithful that the wooden manger in which the Prince of Peace was born was already a sign of his crucifixion. This octave of Christmas reminds us of the feasts of martyrs such as Stephen, John and the Holy Innocents. Now we see the same sign in Ambala as well. We are deeply saddened, but we remember the words of Jesus on the cross: "Father, forgive them.""

"I keep the fond memories, the person of the gift givers, but I realized that I don't really need them anymore. I keep the nice meetings in my heart, but I want to get rid of the objects"

"The Church, the Family of God in Congo Brazzaville, our mission today, is located clearly between the first evangelization, a parish pastoral of true closeness, and the new evangelization."

"It would be a tragedy if in our deliberations we gave the impressions that the modem section of our communities is not of concern to us. This pain and suffering calls for the defence of the dignity of the African people. It makes it imperative that the Church in Africa continue to place at the heart of its ministry matters of justice. This justice must embrace both the way in which we treat each other as Africans and the manner of dealings of others who interact with us."

"He spent most of his time and energy putting up structures in his new diocese and renewing institutions. He was a servant leader, who was influential, humble and a community builder. The clergy and laity of Klerksdorp remember him as a leader of faith, who trusted God and who insisted on the love of God and the love of neighbor."

"Through Jesus Christ, God not only speaks to humanity, but he also seeks us. In Christ, there is the encounter of God and humanity. By such, the expediency of presenting Christ to the world, all-richness and gift of God, to humanity. The Church on our Continent must be the servant and mediatrix of this encounter through which mankind lives."

"The way he talked was fit to print. He loves to debate with you, not only about theology."

"My experience in the Seminary taught me that the educator, in addition to teaching, is called to give testimony of their faith, with a simple and exemplary life. Following the Gospel leads us to create a just and loving social order, based on respect for human dignity, at the service of the common good, especially by caring for the abandoned. Living in the spirit of charity and unity, beginning with our Vietnamese Church and with our entire nation: this is what the episcopal motto "Chistus vivit" reminds me of and tells me."

"If it's not in your heart, it's not going to work."

"I believe that the issue of drugs should be fought with prevention. Drug is not lightning in the middle of a dark night, but is caused by family situations of abandonment because of the problems of this society. We Bishops saw that there was no intention of fighting drug trafficking. On the other hand I think that unfortunately the social situation that we are living in the postmodern world, where there is much poverty and a lot of confusion among the youth contributes to this phenomenon. The Church has its faults, too because it was not missionary as the Pope wanted it to be, it did not have a missionary attitude."

"Since my childhood, I've known persecution. I have known hunger. But God gives you strength in the worst moments and even during them, we experienced moments of happiness. Without God, I don't know where we'd be. He was the panacea."

"The Holy Spirit is the soul of the Church, infused through the Wind and the Fire of the Upper Room, such that the Church must "be converted" every day, every instant, into what she herself is, the Body of Christ and the People of God living through history."

"There is a word that today is not very common: educe, which means to elicit, to draw out what is already in another, what I have to do is bring to light their moral values. I always think that in a child, in a young person there are essential values such as loyalty, respect. All of this needs to be educed, to be drawn out. This is the work of education."

"The objective of the Pauline Year is one of deep reflection and of evangelization. That is, in addition to its being a perfect time to awaken knowledge of the person and works of "the Apostle to the Gentiles," it is also an opportunity for all believers and men of good will to reflect more deeply on St. Paul’s inspired message on life in Christ, the message of salvation. It is a time to allow ourselves to be formed by God and His grace, to make our faith, hope, and charity (without forgetting its social dimension of solidarity) blossom in a world that is so in need of virtues."

"We are looking to be more numerous, to gather more faithful for the Eucharist, to manifest more strongly the Catholic presence in our secularized societies. However, we cannot be satisfied by these quantitative perspectives. We are also called upon to a task of internal renewal of our Christian life."

"The Catholic community is not very big and in this rests its charm."

"In the Catholic Church, it is not like politics. When we accept a task, our main duty is to continue what our predecessors did."

"The person does not realize himself in himself. He finds himself only by overcoming himself and is self-realized outside himself, that is going towards God and men. He can achieve happiness only indirectly through this double transcendence. In this sense, there is no need to condemn the entire process of individualism; it must be oriented towards the correctly understood Christian faith and the human personality."

"There's always the tendency to transform the Church into an ethical agency, and of measuring the Church by the yardstick of social and cultural utility. The mission proper to the Church is that of proclaiming the Gospel. But when one identifies the Church with a cultural and political bloc, there is the danger of making difficult the Church's contact with all those outside the bloc."

"The State can ensure quality education at a lower cost than the direct management of schools and the Church enjoys a fundamental tool to evangelization and human promotion."

"Faith is not merely a private concern, it is something that is to be lived out in the great space of public life, community life."

"To build peace all the causes of discord among men, which generate wars must disappear; especially injustice."

"As we celebrate Christmas, we are charged with a great responsibility. We are called to be "heralds of peace". This Christmas, let us recognise how interconnected we are, how interconnected is our world. From all points of the compass – north, south, east and west – the human family is drawn together in Christ. The child in the manger will become the man upon the cross, offering the embrace of his love to the whole world. As heralds of peace, let us embrace one and all."

"A large number of programs of the Church in Africa still depend largely on the conditions of the donors. This state effectively threatens the autonomy and propriety on one hand, on the other there is the threat of putting into place projects or structures that are not right for the local Church and recipients. For this, mutual trust and understanding by both parties is necessary in order to avoid tainted gifts."

"When the rights of God are trampled with impunity, the rights of man are in danger."

"30 people in my cathedral is ridiculous and absurd. It is 96 m long and 25 m wide (40m transept) by 30 m high. Total = 2500 m²: with 4 m² per person, we can fit 600 people! You have to learn to count!"

"Isolation is not a new situation for Japanese Christians, it was like that even at the time of persecutions: even then they could not meet in churches, but they carried on faith in families. Today faced with the threat of the coronavirus and the impossibility of celebrating the Eucharist from a liturgical point of view, Christians, once again, are showing that faith can be equally lived in a profound way."

"The Catechist is the backbone of the outlying parishes, especially where there is no priest."

"Many other catechists recalled that Bishop Stuart always had a welcoming approach. He trusted his people. He was humble — he was down to earth. Many of them saw him as a father or a grandfather. And he certainly was... very optimistic."

"Be servants to the people entrusted to you and ensure you practice what you preach to the people of God. As Priests to be ordained, do not seek the things of the world but make yourselves available always for the Word and preach the Word like Christ Himself. You have to work in the Lord's vineyard with zeal and shepherd the people of God with humility. You are to lead the flock to worship God in peace."

"No teenager should be banned from public school for not having paid school fees."

"One part of India is affected by extreme drought, whereas another part experiences a severe flood. This is happening because of our greed and the kinds of choices we have made."

"I grew up in Genoa, I carry with me above all, I have to tell the truth, the affections, the people I met in Genoa, who loved me like carrying my heart."

"Efforts to help people after natural disasters are part of the Church's social commitment to help people in need, both in the short and long term."

"Who the poor are brings us the image of Christ. We have to encounter them and know them, not just as a name but as a real person."

"O celestial gift of divine liberality, descending from the Father of light to raise up the rational soul even to heaven. ... Undoubtedly, indeed, thou hast placed thy desirable tabernacle in books, where the Most High, the Light of light, the Book of Life, hath established thee. Here then all who ask receive, all who seek find thee, to those who knock thou openest quickly. In books cherubim expand their wings, that the soul of the student may ascend and look around from pole to pole, from the rising and the setting sun, from the north and from the sea. In them the most high and incomprehensible God Himself is contained and worshipped."

"That I be the better and the clearer understood of the lay people in some words to be after spoken in this present book, I set now before to them this doctrine taken shortly out of the faculty of logic. An argument, if he be full and formal, which is cleped a syllogism, is made of two propositions, driving out of them, and by strength of them, the third proposition. Of the which three propositions the two first be cleped premisses, and the third following out of them is cleped the conclusion of them. And the first of those two premisses is cleped the first premiss, and the second of them is cleped the second premiss. And each such argument is of this kind, that if the both premisses be true the conclusion concluded out, and by them, is also true; and but if evereither of those premisses be true, the conclusion is not true. Ensample thereof is this: “Each man is at Rome, the Pope is a man, eke the Pope is at Rome.” So here be set forth two propositions, which be these: “Each man is at Rome,” and “The Pope is a man”; and these be the two premisses in this argument, and they drive out the third proposition, which is this: “The Pope is at Rome,” and it is the conclusion of the two premisses. Wherefore, certes, if any man can be sicker for any time that these two premisses be true, he may be sicker that the conclusion is true, though all the angels in heaven would say, and hold that, thilk conclusion were not true. And this is a general rule in every good and formal and full argument, that if his premisses be known for true the conclusion ought be avowed for true, whatever creature will say the contrary.What properties and conditions be required to an argument, that he be full and formal and good, is taught in logic by full, fair, and sure rules, and may not be taught of me here in this present book. But would God it were learned of all the common people in their mother’s language, for then they should thereby be put from much rudeness and boisterousness which they have now in reasoning; and then they should soon know and perceive when a skile and an argument bindeth and when he not bindeth, that is to say, when he concludeth and proveth his conclusion, and when he not so doeth; and then they should keep themselves the better from falling into errors, and they might the sooner come out of errors by hearing of arguments made to them, if they into any errors were fallen; and then they should not be so blunt and so rude and informal and boisterous in reasoning, and that both in their arguing and in their answering, as they now be; and then should they not be so obstinate against clerks and against their prelates, as some of them now be, for default of perceiving when an argument proceedeth into his conclusion of needs, and when he not so doeth, but seemeth only so do. And much good would come forth if a short compendious logic were devised for all the common people in their mother’s language; and, certes, to men of court, learning the king’s law of England in these days, thilk now said short compendious logic were full precious. Into whose making, if God will grant leave and leisure, I purpose sometime after mine other business for to essay."

"Of which first principal conclusion thus proved followeth further this corollary, that whenever and wherever in Holy Scripture, or out of Holy Scripture, be written any point or any governance of the said law of kind, it is more verily written in the book of man’s soul than in the outward book of parchment or of vellum; and if any seeming discord be betwixt the words written in the outward book of Holy Scripture and the doom of reason, writ in man’s soul and heart, the words so written withoutforth ought be expounded and be interpreted and brought for to accord with the doom of reason in thilk matter; and the doom of reason ought not for to be expounded, glazed, interpreted, and brought for to accord with the said outward writing in Holy Scripture of the Bible, or aughtwhere else out of the Bible. Forwhy, when ever any matter is treated by it which is his ground, and by it which is not his ground, it is more to trust to the treating which is made thereof the ground than by the treating thereof by it which is not thereof the ground; and if thilk two treatings ought not discord, it followeth that the treating done by it which is not the ground ought to be made for to accord with the treating which is made by it the ground. And therefore this corollary conclusion must needs be true."

"Even as grammar and divinity be two diverse faculties and cunnings, and therefore be unmeddled, and each of them hath his proper to him bounds and marks, how far and no farther he shall stretch himself upon matters, truths, and conclusions, and not to entermete, neither entermeene, with any other faculty’s bounds; and even as saddlery and tailory be two diverse faculties and cunnings, and therefore be unmeddled, and each of them hath his proper to him bounds and marks, how far and no farther he shall stretch himself forth upon matters, truths, and conclusions, and not intercommune with any other craft or faculty in conclusions and truths: so it is that the faculty of the said moral philosophy and the faculty of pure divinity, or the Holy Scripture, be two diverse faculties, each of them having his proper to him bounds and marks, and each of them having his proper to him truths and conclusions to be grounded in him, as the before-set six first conclusions shew.Wherefore followeth that he unreasonably and reprovably asketh, which asketh where a truth of moral philosophy is grounded in pure divinity or in Holy Scripture, and will not else trow it to be true; like as he should unreasonably and reprovably ask, if he asked of a truth in masonry, where it is grounded in carpentery; and would not else trow it be true, but if it were grounded in carpentery.No man object here against me to be about for to falsify this present thirteenth conclusion; and that, forasmuch as spurriers in London gild their spurs which they make, and cutlers in London gild their knives which they make, as though therefore spurrery and cutlery entermeened and interfered with goldsmith craft, and that these crafts kept not to themselves their proper and several to themselves bounds and marks. For certes though the spurrier and the cutler be learned in thilk point of goldsmith craft which is gilding, and therefore they use thilk point and deed and truth of goldsmith craft, yet thilk point of gilding is not of their craft but only of goldsmith craft; and so the crafts be unmeddled though one workman be learned in them both, and use them both, right as if one man had learned the all whole craft of goldsmithy and the all whole craft of cutlery, and would hold shops of both, and work somewhile the one craft and somewhile the other craft. Yet therefore those crafts in thilk man be not the less diverse, nor never the less keep their severalty in bounds and marks as in themselves, though one man be learned in them both, and can work them both, and hath them both. Yet it is impossible the one of those crafts for to enter and entermete with the truths of the other, though one man can work in them both: for then those two crafts were not two diverse crafts, not subordinate. And thus ought be avoided this objection, right as though a man were a knight and a priest; yet knighthood in thilk man is as far atwin from priesthood in the same man (as by their both natures and beings, though not in place or person), as be knighthood in one person and priesthood in an other person."