Monthly Newspaper • DIOCESE OF BRIDGEPORT

The following is Bishop Caggiano’s homily at the Annual Saint Luke Guild Mass:

My dear sisters and brothers in the Lord,

They were words that were burned into my mind and into my heart. Words that I never expected to be said, although somewhat feared that they would be said. The diagnosis is non-small cell lung cancer and it was spoken to my mother. And I froze in the response, of which I had none. And my mother, in her great holiness, just sat there with that look of resignation that I knew very well.

And it began an odyssey of thirteen months. And its an odyssey that taught me, my friends, very personally, the beauty and power of Christian healing. For my mother had the privilege to be attended at Memorial Sloan Kettering, which is a secular, private hospital. And yet, as grace would have it, her attending physician and all those who cared for her, were deeply faithful Catholics. And they showed my mother the face of the healing power of Christ.

For you see my friends, they certainly tried to attend to her disease as best they could. But they also recognized from the beginning that my mother, and I, and you, and they are destined as pilgrims for a greater life. They revered her dignity as a child, daughter of God, and yet they attended to her spirit as well.

In the those moments of doubt and fear and isolation that even the greatest believers have when they face a medical challenge that is deeply grave, they accompanied her on her journey. And as I said, they showed the face of Jesus.

For what is Catholic health care, my friends?

That which we celebrate here today. We celebrate the men and women who are doctors, physicians, nurses, physician aides, healthcare workers, attendants in hospitals, every single person who allows health care to be delivered. We celebrate all of them today. But what is it that they do together? It seems to me that they extend the healing Ministry of Jesus Christ. For we hear in the Gospels that the Lord healed, and He did – interestingly, He healed more those afflicted in spirit than those afflicted in the body. But He healed them both. And He healed them as a sign of a Kingdom that was coming in Him. That we would all please God one day to the mystery of death which is inevitable For all of us will enter into His Glory by His Mercy.

Isaiah spoke of about it today in the first reading. The mountain we will dwell on, the mountain of the Glory of God where even death itself will be destroyed. Christ has brought that to us. And in His Ministry of Healing, He seeks to make whole what is broken, but always recognizing the infinite value and dignity of every human person made in the image and likeness of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

And He comes to heal not just the body, but the spirit. And my friends, it seems to me often times, healing the spirit is far more difficult than healing the body. And it is a Ministry that doesn’t just practition, but it’s a Ministry of compassion. Catholic healthcare walks with people on their journey. For those who are doctors and nurses and other healthcare workers, I could imagine the difficulty in your own spirit when there is a diagnosis that you know there will be a point – there will be nothing else to do except walk in faith. To walk so that no one walks alone to the great wedding feast that Jesus refers to us in the Gospel.

My dear friends, all of you who who are here, who are involved in health care in any way possible, every way possible, when you do it in the name of Jesus you are offering a Ministry that is beyond price. You are the co-workers of the building of the Kingdom. You are the face of Christ to those who are facing difficult moments in their life journey. And every year we come here, I come, we come to say thank you for doing that, reflecting that, being the instruments of healing and compassion in the name of Jesus.

But this year we will do one more thing. And you will notice from your program, when my homily is complete, I will have the great privilege to inaugurate a new Guild that is a company, a community, a fraternity of sisters and brothers who share the same healthcare Ministry. So that they might be fed and strengthened in the work Christ has chosen for them. For my friends, you know how difficult it is to be faithful to Christ in our modern world. And in the world of healthcare there are many challenges, in a world that wants to make Health Care a business. Those who are Catholic healthcare professionals make it a Ministry. And that is difficult.

And so we are creating a new Guild in honor of St. Luke, physician and evangelist, so that those who give compassion may receive it. Those who give healing might themselves be accompanied in the times when they need strength and fortitude, to grow together in prayer and formation, and to walk with each other and please God. I to walk with them. So that they may remain strong and faithful in the Ministry Christ has asked of them. And to which everyone in this church is deeply grateful for.

So my friends we heard in the Gospel that Jesus, the man who gave the feast, said go out and get everyone. And those who came were not prepared, were thrown out. Because we do not know the day or the hour, when perhaps a doctor, nurse or someone may say to us, the diagnosis is X. And therefore you and I need to be ready.

But how fortunate we are, that whether the diagnosis is the flu or the diagnosis is non-small cell lung cancer, how fortunate we are that we have here, in this church and throughout our Diocese and throughout the world, we have sisters and brothers who are the face of Jesus to us as we journey onto eternal life.

The following in Bishop Caggiano’s homily for the Twenty-Seventh Sunday In Ordinary Time:

My dear sisters and brothers in the Lord,

As Jesus does each time, He teaches us a parable. Today the Lord, in this Parable, is teaching us what the Kingdom of God will look like. The Kingdom of Heaven that He brought by His life, death, and resurrection. A Kingdom that we are all walking towards with His help and the power of the Holy Spirit.

But as He also does in His parables, He’s also asking us to look inside of ourselves so that we might be ready to receive the Gift. And more than that, that you and I are ready today to help build that Kingdom in this world with His grace.

And so today in the parable of the tenants and the vineyard, the Lord is building on what Isaiah had taught centuries before. It seems the more time passes, the more things stay the same. And in the time of Isaiah. he preached, gave this image of a vineyard. Remember, my friends, the vineyard is not a place. As we heard from the psalm, it is a people in the time of Isaiah. God’s chosen people.

And what did they do when they heard about this message of life, of a Kingdom? They rejected it. Because it demanded that they change their lives. It demanded that they they look deep within themselves, that they be obedient to the words of the prophets, that they set aside their sin, they seek a new life. And many said no.

So too for the Lord Jesus. Remember, He is the King of the Kingdom. And in the parable we hear that even when the Son comes to preach a Word, what? Not of judgment, but a Word of mercy, of kindness, of forgiveness, of patience. Many who heard Him then, and many who hear Him now, refuse to change their lives, Refuse to walk in His footsteps, Refuse to live as He asks us to live, imitating Him.

So allow me to ask you a question. How do you and I avoid the fate of those who say no? How is it that you and I can say yes to the Lord Jesus and to what He asks?

Well you see, my friends, if you look at this parable of the tenants, let me ask you another question. If you were the owner of the vineyard and you sent one person to try to reason with the people who were tending the vineyard, or a second person, or a third person, or a fourth person, and everyone you sent got beat up, got manhandled, got thrown into a pit, and you heard all this and you kept sending people, and they kept doing the same thing, let me ask you – would you send your son or your daughter to those people? Would you put someone who was so dear to you in harm’s way? Would you or I actually risk he or she, whom we love, perhaps the most, to send them to a people who showed themselves to be stubborn and ungrateful? Would you do that?

I’m not sure I would. But God did. And that’s the point.

For you see, my dear friends, the lesson of the parable is that God never gives up on us. God’s love for us is so deep, so beautiful, so profound, that he will offer you and me everything and anything, even his most beloved Son, whom we depict here on the cross. There is no limit to God’s love for us because He wants us to be part of His Kingdom. He wants us to receive what our hearts truly desire. He wants to give you and me the joy and peace only He can give. He wants you and I to be free from our sins. He wants us to run and laugh and dance as His own children. And He will spare nothing so that we might have the chance to have so great a gift.

And how sad it is that there are so many who say no.

How do you and I avoid saying no? Well allow me me to ask you one day to look in the mirror, the mirror of your own spirit, as I will mine. And mirrors do not lie, do they? And look deep within your own heart and ask yourself the question, what prevents me from doing to my neighbor what God is offering for me? What is it that I can do more to help my sister, brother, husband, wife, neighbor, classmate, or friend so that I may show to them the Lord Jesus alive in me? Who is it in your life that you are refusing to forgive? When will you and I forgive them? Who in your life, in my life, do we have a grudge? And we say to ourselves, well only if the person does this or this or this, maybe I’ll speak to them.

But God does not do that to us. Why do we do it to others? How far will you and I walk to be merciful and kind and forgiving, even when we get nothing back in return?

For you see, my dear brothers and sisters, in order to enter into the Kingdom, you and I must become like the King, in this case the vineyard owner. And if you and I live lives where we only want to be faithful until it’s comfortable, we only want to be faithful until it hurts maybe just a a little bit, that we’re willing to be comfortable only to the point where everyone else around me is doing the same thing. If you and I want to be part of this Kingdom, then my dear friends, what the Lord is asking of us is to dare to live as He did.

And that is not easy. It is not easy to give and receive nothing back. It’s very difficult to forgive when a person may not return the forgiveness to us. But that is what we are called to do, one step at a time. And we come here to the Altar of God because what we cannot do, He can do in us.

And boys and girls, for those of you who are here from religious education, remember you are going to learn about your faith. Not so much that it stays here, but it has to move to here. And it has to move to here as you walk and live and talk. And choose friends who will help you to imitate the Lord Jesus.

My dear friends, allow me to end by asking you one last question. What would it take in your life to do what the landowner did? What has to change in your life or mine so that we can give up everything for Jesus? And perhaps we could spend this week asking our ourselves that question. And to the extent that we can get an answer, we have work to do.

The following in Bishop Caggiano’s homily for the Twenty-Sixth Sunday In Ordinary Time:

My dear friends,

For about a year and a half between College Seminary and major Seminary, I worked in the world as a salesman for McGraw-Hill Publishing Company. And my territory was New York and the greater region. And part of my job was to just visit my customers to make sure they were happy.

I had one customer in particular, the most important one I had, who as soon as she saw me did not like me. And nothing I could do could change that. So much so that we saw each other face to face the first time I went, and not after that. For as soon as I would show up and they announced that I was there, she would walk down the hall, always in front of me, and I would be talking to her but she wouldn’t be looking at me. And then she’d go into her office and close her door on my face. And I knew the visit was over, and I go home.

In those months when I worked for McGraw Hill I also was considering, reflecting, praying on whether I had made the right decision, whether the Lord was really calling me to be a priest. And because at times I can be stubborn, it took almost 20 months to realize that everything I wanted, which I had, was not what I needed. What I needed is to follow God’s will.

So I decided to go back to the Seminary. And so my district manager said ‘Frank, you have to go visit this person and tell her yourself.’ I thought, ‘okay’.

So I arrived, and she’s walking down the hall, and I’m right behind her. And she was so far ahead of me that I literally had to scream out. And I said to her, ‘by the way, I’m leaving’. And she stopped, and she turned around, so I saw her face to face for the only second time. And she said to me – I’m going to change the phrasing because we’re in church – she said she said to me, ‘who would hire you?’ And I said ‘Jesus’.

And my friends, the reaction was amazing. You could see her face, I saw her face change. Her shoulders, they were always like this, began to relax. And for the first time, not yelling but whispering, she said to me, ‘What did you just say?’

I said ‘Jesus. I’m going back to the Seminary to be a priest.’

And then she was at her door, she flung the door open and she said to her secretary, ‘cancel my appointments’. And she said ‘you’, pointing to me, ‘you come with me’.

And I went into her office for the first time, which was the last day I was there, and for almost two hours she talked. And I just sat there. And she talked about her life, which was a life filled with a lot of suffering, a lot of pain, a lot of wounds. And I don’t think I said five words. And at the end she was kind of cordial. She wished me well. And I left the school. And I was on Seventh Avenue in Manhattan and I said to myself, ‘what was that? what happened?’ And then the words of the second reading today came to mind.

Saint Paul and Philippians sings at the name of Jesus, ‘every knee shall bend in the heavens on Earth, and under the Earth. And every tongue professed to the Glory of God the Father Jesus Christ is Lord, the name of Jesus.’

You see my dear friends, all of us come here to this church with our own names given to us in baptism. But many times we forget that we have one name we all share together, also given to us in baptism. In that name is Christian. For we are all named after Jesus the Christ.

And we know in baptism we were given the gift of the Holy Spirit, the forgiveness of original sin, the enlightenment of our minds, and the gifts of faith, hope, and love.

But what we sometimes forget is that we will also given the Name of Jesus. And with the Name of Jesus comes power, and grace, and authority for us to use in service of our brothers and sisters.

Now you may say, ‘Bishop, this gift of the name of Jesus, how can it be shared?’ Like, ‘what does it do for me?’

Well I glimpsed it that day, where it freed the tongue of this woman to share something probably she had not shared with anyone else. And she began to feel the healing power of God.

But my friends, with the name of Jesus you and I can see what the world is blind to. And by seeing brothers and sisters who are sick and homeless and handicapped and alone, we can be the ones to reach out to them. Because they are our brothers and sisters, with names and respect and dignity.

And what will happen? Christ will use us to bring healing and hope to them. With the power of Jesus, His name in The Gift of the Holy Spirit, He asks that we allow our hearts to become compassionate, merciful, kind, patient, and forgiving. Not because we are doing it alone, but because He will do it through us.

And what will happen? There will be people, couples, neighbors, co-workers, friends, our communities, and even our Parish that will find freedom from sin. Joy that only Christ can give. That they will find that they can be forgiven, and they will learn how to forgive. They will recognize that God’s love is real because we have brought it to them. And all of that comes to us through the name and power of Jesus and His presence in you and me, in His Holy Spirit.

How often do you and I reflect on this gift? How often when you and I pray, do we ask that the power of the Name of Jesus be unleashed in you and me? How often do we go out these doors and proudly profess who we are? For we are Christians. And our allegiance is with Jesus Christ, in word, witness, and the lifestyle that we choose to show.

May I ask this week for our spiritual homework, is to reflect on that question. Have I had this gift all these years and have done very little with it? For the time has come to unleash its power in you and me. For if you are wondering what difference can one name make, in the case of Jesus, the difference is everlasting life.

Bishop Frank J. Caggiano has issued the following three decrees on September 29, 2023, the Feast of the Archangels: the Decree of Dedication of the Altar of the Private Association of Carmelites of Mary Ever Virgin, the Act Commemorating the Blessing of the Private Chapel of the Association of Carmelites of Mary Ever Virgin, and the Decree Establishing a Private Chapel for the Association of the Carmelites of Mary Ever Virgin.

To read the text of the three decrees in full, please see the below document:

Decrees for the Carmelites of Mary Ever Virgin

The following in Bishop Caggiano’s homily for the Twenty-Fifth Sunday In Ordinary Time:

Sisters and brothers in the Lord,

When I look back on the many many times that my sister and I fought when we were young, the majority of those occasions were precipitated because one of us thought we were being unjustly treated. Because we were keenly aware of what the other was getting.

Now the truth of the matter is, most of those times it was all self-interest. But it does demonstrate for even when we’re very young, there’s an innate desire for justice. That we be treated fairly, we be treated equally, we be treated with dignity. And unfortunately in the society in which we live that struggle, you and I as Believers must bring forward. For the world does not treat everyone equally or justly. We have much work to do to realize that basic human desire and need. It is, after all, a basic virtue.

Now I raised this for a reason. Because this parable is strange, isn’t it? For when you read it or hear it at first
value, it seems as if the landowner is being unjust. For if you worked a full day and you worked for an hour, who in our structure of life would give you the same wage? It seems unjust.

And yet, Isaiah tells us our ways are not God’s ways. Our thoughts are not His. So what is the Lord actually teaching us?

well perhaps my dear friends, part of the answer lies with the fact that the context of the parable is the clue to the answer we are looking for. For the Lord is not giving us an example of human interaction or how society operates. He would not waste his time doing that.

This parable, like every parable, like every miracle, is a sign and teaching of the Kingdom. He says so, the evangelist, right at the beginning. And if that’s the case, we have to see it with a different set of eyes. So let me ask you, what is the wage that is being given if the landowner is the king of the Kingdom? What is the wage being given? What is at the heart of the Kingdom if not the generous, reckless love of God that cannot be earned, no matter how long or how short we work? It is a gift open to all. It is a gift that is not given to us because we are meriting it.

And let me ask you a second question. What is the day the Lord’s referring to? It’s not the 24 hours you and I measure, but perhaps it is the measure of one’s life. And if you see it in those terms, in that lens, then this wage, this gift of God’s love to some come at the beginning of their lives, some in the middle of their lives, some in the twilight of their lives. For none of them is wages earned, they are free gifts.

And therefore you may ask yourself, well then Bishop, why would I need to get it at the beginning of my life and work in the vineyard for the love of God. Why would I do it at the beginning? Well precisely because of what the love does to you and me. It heals us, it frees us, it empowers us, it enlightens us, it encourages us to be the instruments of God’s love to our sisters and brothers.

You see, that is what makes the labor a joy. For the gift, the wage was given. And we journey through life. And those who receive it towards the end of their lives certainly are healed and forgiven. But perhaps they could look at the arc of their life and sometimes wonder, why I was not able to say yes earlier, see the benefits that they glimpse towards the end of their earthly life. But that is not for us to judge. The question we ask ourselves, me, you, all of us is, in the journey of our day have we accepted this love? Do we allow it to enter our lives? Will we allow God to heal us, forgive us, empower us, enlighten us? Or do we still cling to the idea that somehow I am not worthy, somehow I need to earn it.

There is another lesson to be learned though my friend. And that is, unfortunately, a tendency we can all fall into. And that is, as I look upon this church and you look at one another, we are all workers receiving the wage. And how often are we tempted to compare ourselves to others? Others who perhaps have been in the vineyard, faithful to Christ longer than us. Or the many, many who are not even here at all, as if my holiness has anything to do with your holiness.

The truth of the matter is my friends, religious observance is not the equivalent of a holy life. It is a means to a holy life. And the love of God is given to you and me so that we might be impelled with His help, to seek His will, and do it faithfully. And that is the road to holiness. That is the result of a life lived working for the Kingdom. For the ultimate wage is eternal life with Him.

So when we re-read this parable, it is not only just but wildly generous, isn’t it? That no matter where you and I are on the Journey of our Life, the day of our work, wherever we happen to be, whether our life is a mess, whether we have just begun the journey, the Gift is ours.

Who here in this church believes, then, that it is not worth working for the Kingdom having received so great a gift?

The following in Bishop Caggiano’s homily for the Twenty-Fourth Sunday In Ordinary Time:

My dear friends,

We come here this morning on this beautiful day with the first hints of autumn to hear a very sober, direct, one could even say blunt, lesson from the Lord Jesus. And it comes to us in this parable about our desire to be forgiven; married to the command that we forgive others.

In fact, that command is not new. For we heard in the First Reading from the Prophet Sirach how even among God’s chosen people, they were clearly taught that you need to forgive your neighbor. And then when you pray, your sins will be forgiven. They are intricately linked.

So I thought today, a good question to ask is, why? Why are they linked? What is it that the Lord is trying to teach us in His love – not in His judgment – in His mercy and care for you and me, what is it that He’s trying to teach us do that we can be truly open to the forgiveness of our sins and truly free to forgive our neighbor?

So let us begin with the gift given us by God the Father through Jesus His Son, in the power of the Holy Spirit. Through the death and resurrection of Christ we believe that He has forgiven all sin, provided that the sinner comes forward and does what? In contrition of heart, recognizing his or her sinfulness, asks for that gift. In order for us to receive the gift we need to prepare our hearts to receive it.

Because, my friends, like any other gift, God will not force it on us. He will not give it to us unless we are ready to accept it.

And so what allows us to be contrite of our sins? Truly contrite, really contrite, honestly contrite. It’s when you and I in humility look ourselves in the face and admit the truth of what we have done, with no excuses. No “it’s my other neighbor’s fault”, “it was my wife’s fault”, “it is my brother’s fault”. Or this one: “it was circumstance.”

No. The truth. When we’ve dishonored our neighbor ourselves, when we have not given right worship to God, when we’ve chosen selfishness over selflessness, the truth – the brutal honest truth in humility – what does it do? It cracks the heart open, makes us recognize that we need to surrender in order to be healed.

And it is in that broken heart, if I may call it that, that the rain, the shower, the water, the grace – however you want to describe it – of God’s forgiveness that’s always there, comes flooding in. And we’re healed. And we find the peace and a joy in which we’re set free, almost as if we are reborn.

Why is that linked to the forgiveness of our neighbor? Because, my friends, the same quality is required to forgive our neighbor. For the truth is, when we are on the short end of the stick – meaning when we ask God to forgive us – that’s easy. When this person who told me off or cheated me or betrayed me asked forgiveness, that’s a different story, isn’t it? When we’re at the short end of the stick, it’s a much more different reality.

And yet the humility of that moment is what allows us to forgive them. Because the truth is, we may have gotten the short end of the stick from this person, but how many times have we given it to someone else? That there is a commonality.

None of us in this church escape sin. And when we look our neighbor in the face, it’s with the contrition we asked of God. In the humility of knowing my own limits, I can offer forgiveness in God’s grace and allow that person the same freedom I want for myself. For the hold on to the grudges, or the silence, or to refuse to let that person go free in God’s grace, is to condemn me to slavery.

And allow me to ask you a very blunt question – how do you know, how do I know, that my contrition before God is honest and true?

One of the ways is whether or not that same humility is present when my neighbor asks to be forgiven. For if I refuse to forgive him or her, am I really sorry to Him? And you see my friends why the Lord loves us so deeply that He commands us to do the one, so that we might receive the other fully, totally and completely.

And the interesting thing is, this commandment is so important that in the only prayer the Lord Jesus gave us directly from His own mouth, which we recite, I presume, every day – certainly every time we come to Mass – we call it the Lord’s Prayer. What do we say? Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us.

My dear friends, our spiritual homework this week is to pray for the grace, to live the power of the word as.

The following in Bishop Caggiano’s homily for the Blue Mass:

My dear friends,

What I’m about to tell you, I’m sure you will find hard to believe, but nonetheless it is true.

That when I was a young man, particularly a young boy, I was incorrigible, stubborn, wanted what I wanted, when I wanted. Of course, some people say to me, not much has changed in 65 years. That’s another story. And I got into a heap of trouble because of it. And ninety percent of the time, mom was the one who took care of it.

But every once in a while, it rose to the level of hearing the words “wait till your father comes home.” And my dad was a 245 pound longshoreman immigrant Italian from Brooklyn. So those words, even in my stubborn heart, gave me great pause to fear.

And he would sit there at the table pondering the punishment to fit the crime. And he would inevitably, somewhere in the speech, tell me “…and remember this is going to hurt me more than it’s going to hurt you.”

And in my mind I would always say “yeah, right”.

Interesting. Some of my closer associates know that as I’ve grown older I’ve come to appreciate the wisdom of my father more and more. For in fact he was right. Because as even I myself as a spiritual father of many people, I’ve come to realize that there are decisions you make for the good of the person before you, or the community in your care, that are not easy, that will not be well received.

But you don’t do it because it makes you feel good or you get satisfaction out of it. You do it because it’s right. And it is what needs to be done for the good (muffled).. take no pleasure in punishing or disciplining my sister and I. Those of you who are parents and grandparents know what I mean. But you do it so that your son or daughter could grow in wisdom, discipline and grace. That is the definition of Christian Love.

We gather here every Sunday to celebrate Divine Love. Love that has come to us in Jesus Christ. And my friends, we need to remember love is to choose to do what is good for those around us – wife, husband, children, grandchildren, relatives, friends, neighbors and even those who harm us – is to always make the choice to lift up our neighbor even when the choice is difficult, even when we may be persecuted by the choice, not appreciated because of what we do, not encouraged for the actions that we choose, but nonetheless we do it because we know it is right and it is good for the person for whom we are making the choice.

That comes as no surprise. For, my friends, each time we come here to this sacred Cathedral we have here the perfect definition of love. You don’t need a theologian to describe it. For here the Lord chose to die for us, not because it was pleasant, not because He enjoyed it, not because in the end it was inevitable. But He chose it so that you and I might have Life Eternal. He chose this for our good. This is the definition of love.

And I remind you and me of this because it’s the only way we could make sense of the scriptures today. Because Ezekiel speaks of this strange notion that if someone is doing evil, it’s not enough simply to mind your business, but to say something to them.

Well the reason is love. For love demands we choose to speak up for the good of the other person even when the person does not want to hear it. That is why the Lord in the Gospel today says the same thing. You see your brother or sister offending or sinning or doing something wrong or harmful to themselves, go and confront them. Not because it’s pleasant, not because you’re going to be welcomed by doing it, but because it is good for them.

You and I are the instruments of that goodness, to lift them up before it is too late.

If that is the vocation of every believer, then today on what we traditionally call the Blue Mass, I stand before you to thank all those who, every single day in their line of duty and active service, are the ministers of love in the world. For that, my brothers and sisters who are present here and not, that is exactly what you are.

For you go as law enforcement, firefighters, emergency medical technicians, on the front line to do what – not to serve yourself, not to lead a comfortable life, not to hide from danger or harm, but you go in every day, wherever duty calls, so that you might lift up your neighbor, whether that neighbor is in a moment of crisis or being threatened by someone, or is in peril of health, you go out there to lift that person up and make the choices that have to be made so that that person might have greater life.

Those are choices this world doesn’t always appreciate. I’m sadly we live in a world that does not fully understand the nobility of your vocation. But in this Church we do. Because in many ways, my brothers and sisters, you make God’s love real to the people whom you serve, whether they realize it or not. But in this church we do realize it. And I, for my part, and on behalf of all God’s people, wish to say thank you to every single one of you for showing the world that love is still alive.

And of course today we have the opportunity to honor one, you Officer Torreso, for your heroic work in saving the life of a newborn. To consider that that child’s future was resting in the actions you had to take. And in that moment you are not thinking of comfort, you were not thinking of anything other than to save that little infant’s life. And you did. You’re an instrument of God’s creative love. And that child, as that child grows older, I hope and pray that he will pray for you. Because you were the instrument of his life in this world, and all of us are grateful to you for your heroic service. And you represent the heroism of everyone in this church who in other ways, perhaps known and unknown, have put your life in the service of someone else that they may have life.

And of course, we also remember those who died in the line of duty 22 years ago. It seems like it was yesterday when our city was attacked in a war we didn’t choose to fight. The thousands of people (that) died, and hundreds and hundreds of the men and women on the front lines, died with them. And hundreds and hundreds served those survivors for months after. And many have been slowly dying since. Those were heroism acts of love so that Christ was present in the darkest of hours in any person’s life who was in that place we now call Ground Zero. And so many others.

And so on a day like today, we pray that they will rest in Eternal Peace for the goodness of their life. For they did not fail love, and therefore, love will not fail them.

So allow me to end by simply saying to all of you who are here – and I ask you take this message to those who could not be here, for so many other responsibilities – thank you for your service. Thank you for being honorable. Thank you for doing what you do, even at times when the world and the press and whoever else does not appreciate it and will not encourage you. Thank you for being the Ministers of Love. And remember that love, true love, Christ’s love, never fails.

NORWALK- Are you a young adult between the ages of 18 and 35 in the Diocese of Bridgeport? Then we want to see you at the bishop’s annual Mass for Young Adults on Saturday, September 30 at St. Matthew Parish in Norwalk!

Join fellow young adult Catholics for a Rosary and reflection at 5:30, followed by Mass celebrated by Bishop Caggiano at 6. And then be sure to stick around for a social following Mass.

Don’t miss this great opportunity to join other young Catholics in the diocese for worship and fellowship.

If you’re coming to the Bishop’s Mass for Young Adults, please RSVP at www.youngadultmass.eventbrite.com.

For more information on the bishop’s Mass for Young Adults and other events for young adults in the diocese, visit catholic203.com.

https://bridgeportdiocese.podbean.com/e/eucharistic-revival/

To read the official announcement of Bishop Coyne’s appointment from the Archdiocese of Hartford, click here.

Statement by Bishop Frank J. Caggiano Welcoming Bishop Christopher Coyne, Co-adjutor Archbishop of Hartford.

Today we send our heartfelt congratulations and best wishes to Bishop Christopher Coyne of Burlington Vermont who has been appointed as the Co-adjutor Archbishop of Hartford.  He will succeed Archbishop Leonard Blair, who will retire next year.

As we prepare to welcome Bishop Coyne, we take this opportunity to send our abiding gratitude to Archbishop Blair who has faithfully shepherded the Archdiocese since 2013, with his prayerful, collegial and pastoral leadership in the State of Connecticut.  The Diocese of Bridgeport was created out of the Archdiocese of Hartford in 1953, and we continue to share a close relationship of mutual support and cooperation—one that we look forward to continuing with Bishop Coyne.

Bishop Coyne is a man of the people, who understands the struggles and challenges faced by individual and families striving to lead faithful lives. As one who comes from a large, extended family, and who worked many jobs prior to his ordination, he has never lost touch with those he serves as pastor and shepherd.

We look forward to working with Bishop Coyne as we seek to walk with all in their faith journey, engage the young, and accompany those who are suffering, neglected, or unwanted by our society. His considerable communications skills and pastoral gifts will be of great service in the mission of evangelization and overall renewal of the Church.

As the Archdiocese of Hartford prepares for the welcoming ceremony, I ask all of the people of the Diocese of Bridgeport to join me in welcoming Bishop Coyne and asking for blessings upon him as he takes on the responsibilities of leadership with deep faith and joyful spirit.

My dear friends,

I’ve been asked to answer the question, where do we go from here? What is our future before us? And it seems to me that the answer perhaps has already been given by a man 60 years ago, on the 28th of August 1963, when he gathered with those of like mind on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, DC.

On that day, Dr. Martin Luther King, I think gave the nation a roadmap for its future for Americans of all goodwill. And 60 years later, that path had still not been fully created. It still remains our path for the future.

Because as you know, my friends, Dr. King spoke of a dream. A dream for all Americans. A dream where everyone, black, white, brown live in dignity and respect that’s given by God and not the state. That all people could live in equality and justice and peace.

In that dream, he refused to believe that the bank of justice could be completely bankrupt, but that justice could no longer be delayed. He has a dream that says that soul force would overcome all physical force because evil meeting evil leaves no one standing. And that, my friends, I believe is still our future. It is the path that God has given us to walk together.

And yet it seems to me the very word dream can mean different things to different people. And for us to appreciate what Dr. King was asking of us we need to remember that, for example, for those who may be psychologists a dream is something that occurs that allows us to deal with our fears and our anxieties. And sometimes those fears and anxieties cannot be addressed.

If you ask the scientist, perhaps he or she would say that our dreams particularly in the deep sleep that you and I have each night, that they express the deepest desires of our happiness or to be satisfied, but to find peace that may or may not be fulfilled.

But for our future, my friends, to realize the dream that is before us, we need to remember that that dream lives in a biblical spirit. Because when God dreams He’s inviting us to fulfill His deepest desires for us. He invites us to action together. And at times, that action may cost us dearly.

In the history of salvation we know that dreams have been so much a part of the unfolding of God’s grace. Think of the patriarch, Joseph – the two dreams he had that the bundles of grain that his brothers gathered would bow down to his bundle. That the moon and the stars, eleven of them, would bow down to him. And the response of his brothers was to nearly put him to death and throw him in a cistern for they refused the desire of God. No differently, Joseph of Nazareth, the boss, the father of Jesus, we know from sacred Scripture he also received dreams from God. And he upended his entire family and became an immigrant and refugee losing his language, his livelihood, his position so that those entrusted to his care, our lord and our lady that they might be free.

You see, my friends, for us to understand where the future will lead us when we look at the dream that was put before us in the spirit of the sacred Scripture in the spirit of our God, the Lord has given us a choice as a community, as a nation, as individuals, you and I. How is it that we can fulfill God’s dream for us as a community of sisters and brothers?

And my friends, I would be a liar if I told you how that path will unfold. I do not know. No one does. But allow me to suggest three steps that you and I together can take.

And the first is, as Father Reggie said so beautifully in his own remarks, we as a people of faith must remember the past with honesty and contrition. For my friends, we all know in our heart of hearts, we know with clarity of mind and conscience that slavery was an abomination and an atrocity that should never have occurred. And although Christianity has always taught that it is a great evil, the truth is that slavery flourished even among Christian nations. And the untold suffering endured by men, women and young people can never be forgotten.

We celebrate freedom that came at the price of great cost. And the effects of that slavery, racism and segregation still remain in our midst. His Father Reggie said so beautifully in his very poignant and honest remarks, and yet they become systemic hidden in so many ways. So segregation is illegal by law, and yet redlining continues to segregate people. We have equality in law, and yet the halls of influence are closed to so many of our sisters and brothers who don’t believe, don’t belong to the club hall of industry, where they can be included in opportunities denied to others.

My dear friends, for our future, we cannot forget our past. We cannot fight an unnamed sin.

And so I stand before you as your spiritual father in the Church, committed to do whatever I and we can together to educate and challenge our people and or people of goodwill to know what it is in our midst that we must root out once and for all. And we can do that together.

But I, as your bishop, to be able in any way I can, to help the people of God to understand the truth of the evil of racism, discrimination, segregation, and to offer an invitation of repentance and conversion in Jesus Christ, who is the Savior and Redeemer. He is the one who gives freedom to all God’s children. And we can do that through the preaching and teaching of our clerics and pastoral leaders, by the training of all those who are in leadership for celebrating our racial and cultural diversity and to celebrate the communities that make the one community of the Catholic Church together.

My friends, in our future, this is what you and I must do together. And I want to say publicly to you, Father Reggie, thank you for your leadership of the vicarioan black Catholics. But more importantly, I want to thank you for being a man of honesty and integrity, a man of faith, a man who speaks the truth and lives what he preaches and teaches. And I think Father Reggie demands our collective thanks. Let us show him.

And also Valerie. Valerie where are you? Oh, she’s probably not just preparing for the reception. I want to thank Valerie Bien-Aime for her tremendous work in working not only with Father Reggie, but all the vicars of all our different communities to lift up the diversity of our church and to tell the story of who we are in Jesus Christ.

The second step, my friends, in our future, is whatever we decide to do, we must do it together as one family. Baptism has made us sisters and brothers adopted in Jesus Christ. There is only one Lord, one faith, one Savior, one baptism, one redeemer. And we are all brothers and sisters in Him. And each of us is made in the image and likeness of God. So imagine the beauty, the grand, the power of God. For we all, in our diversity, are reflecting His life and love in the world. We must stand together as sisters and brothers in faith.

And if I may, there are those here whom we honor, whom I honor, those who have stood together in the face of great trial and persecution, who have endured personal attacks and attacks upon their family simply because of the color of their skin or for the history of their people. I want to thank you for your perseverance, for your courage, for your faithfulness when society did all it could to try to marginalize you. And if we ought to stand together, and we will, then I ask you to continue to share your personal story of courage and integrity. Because those stories, my friends, can melt the hardest of hearts in our midst.

So how can we work together? Allow me three suggestions.

The first is that we must continue to create a safe space, an environment that truly welcomes from the heart in every parish and school and mission in our diocese and in that space for God’s people to tell their stories of freedom and integrity.

I ask you, secondly, to support Father Reggie and the vicarian of Black Catholics. For we can come together in the events that are being sponsored so that we can give witness to a community that is alive and an intrupal part of the heart of our Church. And it is important that every community council committee that we have in our diocese, that in every office of leadership, that our diocese reflect who we truly are in the richness and beauty of our diversity. And so, if I call to ask your help, please say yes.

My dear friends, the third step is perhaps the hardest, but the one you and I must do together. And that is never stop dreaming. You know, my friends, I very often do not remember my dreams. I have a little pad of paper next to my bed, and I always promise myself when I wake up and I have some. Vague recollection of what I was dreaming. I’m going to try to write it out. And of course, the desire for coffee when I wake up is more important – sometimes – than to write down what I dreamt. And it just fades away.

But our future does have a dream. A dream we need to believe in, stand together in and fight together as sisters and brothers. And can you imagine, 60 years from now, 120 years after the dream was first put before us? Can you imagine the world that our children’s children will inherit if that dream becomes a reality? My friend, that dream must be realized. That dream can be realized. That dream will be realized if we work together in the grace of Jesus Christ. Our future depends on it.

Thank you, my friends, and God bless.

My dear friends,

At least to my way of looking at things, the early days of the pandemic seem like they were a thousand years ago. But you and I probably still remember those early months of the pandemic, more particularly as we struggled to figure out what this virus was and how it was transmitted.

Do you remember? Was it by touch? Was it by breathing? Was it in the air? And a lot of what we did in response was simply because we did not know how it was transmitted, that is, passed on from person to person. Now that we do know, we’re better able to protect ourselves.

As I was reflecting on the scriptures, particularly the Gospel, that came to mind. Because my friends, disease and viruses are not the only things that are transmitted in life. There is something far greater and more important, and it is the offer and gift of faith. It too is transmitted, meaning that it is passed on from person to person, generation to generation, starting with the men that we heard in the Gospel who are the apostles, the foundation of the Church of Jesus Christ.

Let’s consider for a moment how faith is transmitted. Because the Lord today in the Gospel is giving all of us a very specific challenge in that work. But before we realize the challenge, let’s look at how faith is transmitted. How is it passed on?

Perhaps in this coming week you could spend some time asking yourself the question, how did I come to Faith? When I look at my own life, it was certainly the experience of the Sacraments. Coming with my mom and my sister, and at times even my father, to Mass, to confession, to novenas, to adoration – not knowing who it was I was encountering until I grew older.

It was by word. What I was taught, what I heard from the preaching at mass and from other occasions, from being privileged to go to Catholic school and having my the sisters of Saint Dominic teach me. I was offered the word of Salvation in Jesus.

And then there were the role models. There were many because actions speak louder than words. So I think back on my teachers in school. Some who were religious, some who were not. The coach I had in high school. Some of my friends’ parents and of course, my own parents as well.

And then they were the leaders of the Church. I already mentioned the sisters. And it was the priests that I had the privilege to meet, many of them in high school and older. All of them, all of that has a role to help us, to what? Meet the Lord Jesus, hear His voice, feel His presence and His love. Respond yes to that and begin the Journey of Faith which lasts for a lifetime. That, my friend, is the Transmission of Faith.

So now, what’s the challenge for today? Jesus says the laborers are few. And of course, when He speaks of the shepherd, you and I immediately think of the shepherds – that is, the ordained ministers of the Church. And rightfully so. We have a unique role to play in the Transmission of Faith. And not just in our words but in our loving service to you, and by our example. And on this Father’s Day, we should give thanks for the spiritual fatherhood of our priests. All of them. Because even though they do not give life in a physical way, they give life in a spiritual way. And they’re asked to nurture that life and protect that life.

But this is the challenge. Please do not understand the word ‘shepherd’ solely to mean a deacon, a priest, or a bishop. For the Lord meant much more than that. The truth is, anyone to whom another life has been given to care for, to guide and protect is a shepherd or shepherdess. And our role understood that way is perhaps the most powerful way the offer of Salvation in Jesus Christ can be passed on to those entrusted to our care.

So today we celebrate Father’s Day. Natural fathers, godfathers, grandfathers, foster fathers. Fathers are given a unique role, are they not? For not only do they bring forth life with their wives, but they are called to nurture that life, protect that life, guide that life. That’s being a shepherd to your children, and in time, your grandchildren. You are playing an essential role to help them to realize that as you love your children, God loves them. You are father, He is Eternal Father.

And so on this day, we give thanks to all those who are fathers. Because the Lord is asking you, He is commanding you, to be His presence to all those entrusted to your care.

But they’re not just fathers. Those of you who are mothers, godmothers, spiritual mothers, religious mothers – all of you play an equal role. Because to you has also given the great privilege. Either to give birth to life or to take life and nurture it in the spirit of Christ. And so you too are shepherdesses, you too have been given lives that are meant to be molded, cared for, protected and nurtured, intentionally. Because the greatest gift you can give your child, mother, father, aunt, uncle, whoever it is, teacher, doctor, counselor, the greatest gift is not physical life, but eternal life in Jesus Christ.

And my dear friends, you do not need me to tell you in the 21st century, the transmission of life, that is the transmission of faith in Jesus Christ, is being broken over and over and over again. And there is now multiple generations who have not encountered the power, mercy, and love of Jesus Christ. And when we imagine how we can allow that transmission, or forgive me for putting it, that infection, to happen, we need to think and remember that every single person in the Church to whom another life has been entrusted, has work to do. In word, in witness, in authenticity, and most especially, in self-sacrificing love.

For it might be very blunt, if we say God is Love, and we say that Love took a human life and died on the cross for me, and I do not have people around me who will love me just as I am, even when I mess up, there’s no one in my life who takes an interest and will walk with me in good times and in bad, in sickness and in health, if there’s no one in my life who is willing never to turn their back on me, if there is no one like that in my life, how can I possibly believe you when you tell me that God loves me? For He will only love me through you and me.

So there is a profound challenge the Lord is asking of us today in this 21st century in the life of the Church. But have no fear my friends, because with the grace and power of the Holy Spirit and being nourished by His sacred body, blood, soul and divinity, all of us here, spiritual fathers, natural fathers, spiritual mothers, natural mothers, grandfathers, grandmothers, aunts, doctors, lawyers, counselors, whoever we are, in this time when we need to find new ways to transmit the great gift of faith, perhaps the beginning and most important part of the task is staring us in the face when we look in a mirror.

My dear friends,

I was going to start my homily by stating ‘isn’t this a joyful day?’ but you have already proven it for our brother David. We come here in the presence of our living God to ask that the Father and Son send the Holy Spirit upon our brother David, who has been prepared for this moment all the days of his life, so that he might enter what I called at the beginning of mass ‘a great mystery’. For you, David, will be ordained into the Mystery the Sacrament of the Diaconate. And you will become a living sacrament of service; that is, to lay down one’s life in love, so that those who are loved may grow – increase – may have ever greater life.

It is the type of service, my friends, that the world out there does not quite understand. For service in our modern world is a quid pro quo. We do, to get. We serve in expectation of something in return. But that is not what brings us here today.

From the very mouth of the Savior I have come, not to be served, but to serve and give my life as a ransom for many. And so consider the adventure, the odyssey, that you have lived David, from when you were a little boy to the four ends of the earth, so that you might have learned and will continue to learn what this mystery really means.

For my friends, every Christian is called to that life of service. But there are some among us who live this sacrament so we might always be reminded of what it is we share and He sacramentally lives. In this case, our brother David.

Last night we had the opportunity to chat at dinner and you recounted some of the stories that I had forgotten about your time in itinerancy. So when I say you were prepared from the beginning, very beginning of life, so that was in the midst of mom and dad and your sisters and brothers who love you so deeply and have formed you, in times of triumph, and in times of crisis. You saw how God accompanied you, and them, in His love and mercy, at every moment of every day.

And I’m grateful to you, Sabrina, and Matt for giving us this gift. It is a precious gift. And it does cost, it does. And I, and we, are grateful to you and to your whole family for the gift of David that you now give to the entire Church.

And then, of course, in the way your brothers and sisters in the way have walked with you since your youth. And they are more your family, are they not, right? They walk with you with honesty. They walk with you with generosity. They walk with you with integrity. And always in love.

And I’m sure I’m not exaggerating to say you could not imagine your life now without that community of support. And no matter where you go, and only God knows in the end where you will go in ministry, they will always be there as part of your larger family. And they have helped you to come to this day.

But going back to itinerancy…the most exotic places I have ever imagined, you have gone to, and you have served. Sleeping on kitchen tables so that the creepy crawlies would not – kind of – make their home with you in the middle of the night. To learn different languages, different customs. To be able to see poverty and dignity go hand in hand. To be able to explore the depth and breadth and beauty of God’s mercy, that is not bound to our little world alone, but it is at the four corners of every place on Earth. And you were welcomed with generosity, hospitality, and true acceptance.

And why have you walked all that? First and foremost so that you could be a man of holiness. For our ultimate vocation is to enter into the glory of Heaven. But God, in His great love, has chosen this vocation. And you and your courage have discerned it and chosen it freely. Because this is the path God wishes you to walk for holiness of life now. And glory in everlasting life.

And I as your bishop and spiritual father are grateful to you, for all that you have walked and for your willingness to say yes.

Towards the end of our conversation last night, my friends, David and I remarked on the fact that, what a beautiful day to be ordained to Deacon on the Feast of the Immaculate Heart of Mary. And allow me to propose to you, David, and to your brother deacons, and perhaps to all of us who are here in this sanctuary, that it is the very heart of Mary that will be your catechism for your diaconate year, and for the rest of your life as a cleric.

But consider, my friends, this Heart of Mary Immaculate, chaste and pure. First and foremost, it was a heart that was open to the word of God. And she was formed in that word when she was a little girl in the words of the prophets, and the great revelation that came to God’s chosen people about the nearness and power and sovereignty of God and how He was a liberator from their slavery. And in that word of God that rested in her heart, it was that willingness to allow the word of God to lead her, that allowed her, when the word came to her in Gabriel, to say yes even though she had no idea at that moment where that word would lead her, no idea it would lead her to Calvary where she would say yes again and again and again.

Scripture says she pondered these things in her heart. And among that was the word which he bore in flesh, in the word that sets us free. So as Mary did, I ask you David to do, to allow the word of God to be pondered in your heart, to be disposed to it as you have all this time, to welcome it as divine fire that will burn away whatever is sinful in your life. And also to enlighten your mind so that you might do what we heard in the Gospel. To go out and teach all nations because the nations out there need to be taught the truth. Not what the world thinks is the truth, not what’s politically correct, which the world thinks it guides itself. It’s the truth who is Jesus Christ. He is the Living Word.

You have, up to this point, had the courage as a young man to face your own sinfulness and limitations, to grow in humility. I’ve seen that with my own eyes. So I ask you to follow our lady’s lead, so that the word can continue to mold you and form you into Holiness to be a holy preacher of the word who is Jesus.

But we also know that our lady’s heart was one that always was mindful of the needs of those around her, not her own. Consider, my friends, when our lady received the gift of the life of her Savior in her own womb. The very next thing she did was to go to Elizabeth, an old woman who had self-conceived. Not thinking of her own needs, she went to Elizabeth because, my friends, in those days an elderly woman who was pregnant, chances are she would not survive her own pregnancy. And so for months she went to attend to her elder, her cousin, and the one she loved, to give herself in self-sacrificing love.

And so you too, all of us, but you especially, to mold your heart so that you will continue, David, always to give your life in service to others, not account for your own needs, but for the needs of those whom you will serve. And it will hurt.

Simeon said ‘the sword will pierce your heart to our lady’. Because to love as Christ loves, as you all know, my friends, costs dearly, but rewards us infinitely. So walk with the heart of our Lady.

And if I may, finally, it was the immaculate Heart of Mary that allowed her, in her ‘yes’, to become the Tabernacle of Life, Tabernacle of the one who will become here, for us, the Eucharist, the Bread of Life.

As a deacon you will help me today, and countless others after me, at the Ministries here at the altar. But remember David, you are not being ordained to be a housekeeper of the altar. You are ordained so that you might bring the Bread of Life to hungry hearts who are abandoned. Elderly, sick who may even doubt if anyone loves them. And you will bring the Bread of Life to remind them that they are loved by Him, by you, and by us.

May Mary be your companion as you are the minister of the Eucharist itself.

So you may be sitting there saying to yourself, ‘my gosh am I ready for this?’ And the answer is, no one is. Are you worthy for this? No one is. That’s the beauty of God’s love. For He will grant you every grace you need so that you may minister as his deacon – and please God one day as His priest. And you will do it worthily, wisely, joyfully, because it will be Christ alive in you.

David, congratulations! We all are very proud of you. And you know in our own way we all love you very much. And today as your spiritual father I commend you to the Immaculate Heart of Mary who is your guardian, your protector, your defender, and your mother. May she lead you in this year ahead in your ministry to be ever more joyful, present, holy, faithful. And one day may she take you by the hand and lead you to the throne of her Son, one day to the Glory of Everlasting Life. May God bless you, David, all the days of your life, through Christ our Lord, amen.