Catholic Diocese of Saginaw Podcast Catholic Diocese of Saginaw

It was an extremely difficult letter to write.

Bishop Robert Gruss recently shared a story about forgiveness and the letter he wrote to his father decades ago. He told the story after First Friday Mass at the Cathedral on April 5.

"It all surfaced on a five day retreat while in the seminary in Rome," said Bishop Gruss. "To make a long story short, I wrote a letter to my father sharing with him my feelings, my hurts, my anger, all the while reaffirming my love for him in spite of the disease of alcoholism.

"I told him that I forgave him and in turn, I asked him for forgiveness for any time I failed to love him resulting from my anger and resentment toward him.

"Writing this letter was very difficult.  I agonized over it, not only from the standpoint of writing it, but from the standpoint of putting it in the mail, always wondering what would be his reaction.  Because this came through prayer, I put my trust in God that I was doing the right thing...Read more

On Friday, March 1, faithful gathered at the Cathedral of Mary of the Assumption for the monthly First Friday gathering. Don Buchalski, coordinator of evangelization for the Diocese of Saginaw gave a presentation about the Synod of Bishops, focusing on findings from local listening sessions, writings from Pope Francis and more.  
“Perhaps my main takeaway from leading the Synod effort in our Diocese is how important listening is,” said Buchalski.  
“People want to share their story and tell us what their concerns are. In his writings related to the Synod, Pope Francis wants us to understand that this commitment to listening to the Holy Spirit and to one another is a way of being Church.”  
Buchalski shared that Pope Francis is calling members of the Church to listen to one another and bring questions to the Holy Spirit in prayer, sharing with one other what we believe God is saying to us. 
“I’ve been blessed to be a part of Bishop’s leadership team, Buchalski said. “I’m thankful to Bishop Gruss that this is what we do when we meet. A question is brought forth, and then we go to the chapel to pray and afterwards discuss what we believe God’s message is. This is the foundation of our discernment and decision making.” 
During the First Friday gathering at the Cathedral, attendees shared about their experiences at parish listening sessions.  
“Our parish advertised that they were having listening sessions and we wanted to be heard,” said Brett Burke, a parishioner of Holy Family Parish. “Father Tipton (who served as pastor at the time of the sessions) was very gracious in listening to us. He understood where we were coming from.” 

Part five of six mission values that send us out carrying the Gospel into the world

Being docile to the Holy Spirit is the only way we can accomplish the works of God and the mission of Jesus. We are to use His grace and do His works for His glory, no matter what the world may think or say about us. This is the work of a true disciple of Jesus.
Bishop Gruss: We must be authentically human (Week 4)
Bishop Gruss: Do you have unshakeable confidence in the Lordship of Jesus? (Week 3)
Bishop Gruss: God has set us apart for his work (Week 2)
Bishop Gruss: Be ambitious for God and his kingdom! (Week 1)
Bishop Gruss: We must become a Church with the same apostolic zeal as the disciples of the first century! (Ash Wednesday)

To be authentically human means we are not afraid to be vulnerable.
 
We are in touch with our humanity and are honest about who we are and what we stand for. We are vulnerable when we put ourselves out there beyond what is safe, familiar, and comfortable.
 
In doing so, we open ourselves up to the possibility of being wounded. Wasn’t this the way of Jesus?
 
This is part four of six mission values that send us out carrying the Gospel into the world