
Column | Lent: Springtime of the Soul
Bishop Bonnar: “With every spring there is something new. This is a new moment for our spiritual life. Spring also engenders many new beginnings and a wealth of opportunities. The Lenten spring is no different.”

Bishop Bonnar: “With every spring there is something new. This is a new moment for our spiritual life. Spring also engenders many new beginnings and a wealth of opportunities. The Lenten spring is no different.”

Bishop Bonnar: “As a pastor, I was at my best when I was able to collaborate with these professional people in the parish. Together we worked as a team in the parish to proclaim the joy of the Gospel and to foster unity. In my new role as bishop, I am just as committed to working with these dedicated lay men and women who have so much to give to the Church. In fact, it is hard for me to imagine doing ministry without them. They are a gift to the Church.”

Bishop Bonnar: “I want to thank the women and men in consecrated life for answering God’s call. . . . In so many ways, even in brokenness, they are a window that reflects the light of Jesus Christ.”

Bishop Bonnar reflects on the World Day of Prayer for the Sick (February 11) and invites all to the White Mass on February 20th: “The ongoing pandemic that has affected so many makes us more aware of the sick among us, and appreciative of the health care professionals and family members who care for them.”

Bishop Bonnar: “We must never grow weary of loving one another and promoting life.”

Bishop Bonnar: “Would you believe that, come Jan. 12, 2022, I will have been your bishop for a full year? Where did the time go?”

BIshop Bonnar: “As we complete one year and prepare to enter into a new one, let us give thanks to God who has allowed our dreams to take flight in 2021, and give ourselves a chance to dream anew in 2022.”

Bishop Bonnar: “We rejoice not only over the lasting memory of that first Christmas, but also over the glorious reality of our present experience rooted in the Good News of the Word made flesh that dwells among us.”

Bishop Bonnar: “We need to think less of the Church as a building and more of it as a community called to action.”

Bishop Bonnar: To be adaptive for mission, the Church needs to “steer away from the rear-view mirror and the sense of nostalgia to the front windshield and a whole new way of seeing and being.”