Aaron I.:
That’s right! The Wichita diocese is a model of orthodoxy and virtue. We got a new bishop late last spring who is close friends with the new pope. I had the chance to meet the bishop and he is a great guy.
The best part of Wichita for me was Bishop Carroll High School. I graduated there last year, and it was awesome. The academics were good, but the philosophy/theology was great.
I think vocations will always be high where there is orthodoxy present. When the faith is represented as it should be, it just naturally draws people in.
A Bishop Carroll grad, eh? Is it allowable for me to write to you, since my oldest two sons graduated from Kapaun one and two years ago, my daughter is currently a sophomore there, and there are three more in line to go there?
Are you talking about Bishop Jackels? Yes, I heard him speak once at Catherine’s confirmation and he was a riot. On fire with the Holy Spirit and excited about it, but “real” enough to both captivates the kids’ attention and impress the adults – both liberal and stodgy.
He asked the kids about their intentions for being confirmed. He asked, “are you here because you want to be on fire with the Holy Spirit, or because your dad said you have to be here and you’re afraid of his size 10’s finding your ‘bohinkus’ (I think that was the term)?” We new this bishop was different than Bishop Gerber, for sure, and probably different than Olmsted, with whom I had the pleasure to work on the Third Synod as parish liason and as data entry of private confessions into a database for the Synod.
Jackels asked the kids if they plan to stop going to church as soon as they get away from their parents. He said he did, and joined a Buddhist sect of some sort, until two years later he “came to his senses and came back to the church … in a big way.”
This guy just might get through to some of our young people. What a marvelous example of a cleric enthusiastic about life and always ready to crack a smile. One person who attended his ordination said he was like that there, too, once remarking while trying to get his hat on straight how he’ll have to get used to this kind of thing now. I know the opinions of many people of many stripes who are Catholic, but none yet who have met the new bishop and didn’t like him.
If you ever get to Wichita, you can find me nearly every week playing the music at the 4 pm Saturday Mass at St. Anthony’s (whose restoration will be complete next month) and 8 am Mass at All Saints.
Alan
The poor priest in the next town west of here also serves four or five smaller towns and, as far as I know, is the only Spanish speaking priest in the area. He is right in the middle of our concentration of Hispanics, so he’s really got his hands full. He is from Colombia, I think. Thank heavens he’s young and energetic. Keep praying for more vocations.
That is why I started this thread. Isn’t interesting how some places have Churches on top of each other. Others only have 1 within miles. Some have 2 or more priests per parish and others have 1 priest covering more than 1 parish.
There used to be more parishes, but some have closed or been consolidated.
Unfortuantely, they closed my parish (the one I grew up in) because attendance was dropping, so they combined 3 parishes in the immediate area into one. It’s sad, because now my old church is just there, empty, the convent and rectory too. The elementary school (which I also went to) is being used for classes for a technical school. It’s hard to believe - I don’t think I’m THAT old and when I was in kindergarten the whole place was in full swing, school, convent and all…sad.