Bishop's Ad Limina visit to Rome

There is a custom in the Church, dating back to the 1500s, for bishops to periodically go to the tombs of the Saints in Rome and to present themselves to the Holy Father, the successor of Peter. Known in Latin as ad limina, meaning, “to the threshold of the apostles,” this custom has developed in its structure over the years. For several decades, the practice was renewed every five years (quinquennium) that bishops from one country after the next would go to Rome, to pray at the tombs of the apostles, to meet with the pope and visit with the other “dicasteries” (departments) of the Vatican curial offices.

Beginning this past November, the bishops by regions of the United States, have been returning to Rome for these ad limina visits. I had the privilege of attending my first ad limina visit with the bishops of Region IX (Nebraska, Iowa, Missouri and Kansas) from Jan. 12-17, 2020.

Over the course of that week we celebrated Mass together and visited numerous dicasteries. Needless to say, the highlight of our week was the opportunity for the 15 bishops of our region to meet with Pope Francis on Thursday, Jan. 16. We had a marvelous conversation that lasted 2 hours and 15 minutes. Each of us was able to ask the Holy Father a question and he spoke with us quite freely and fraternally. He said, “Let us speak openly and honestly, for we are all bishops here.”

It was a tremendous privilege for us to have a dialogue with the Vicar of Christ regarding so many aspects of our ministry as bishops. One of the bishops asked Pope Francis if he takes a day-off. In reply, he beat his breast (as we do at Mass) and said, ‘mea culpa.” He said that he was not able to do that very often, though he can sometimes take a part of a day for reading or for a walk in the Vatican gardens.    We spoke with Pope Francis about how the culture is affecting the  Church, about how the polarization in politics affects the Church, about pro-life and pro-family challenges, about secularization in education, about priestly and religious vocations, about the clergy sexual abuse scandal and specifically about former Cardinal McCarrick, about our role as bishops to care for our priests, and so much more. Pope Francis emphasized our role as bishops to be near to people, to love them and to be patient with them. He also told us not to get discouraged as the evil one works this way to weaken the Church.

Personally, it was a tremendous privilege to have that time with our Holy Father. And while the world has so much clamor regarding just about everything, my own take away from our meeting with Pope Francis was to persevere in faith. There are no easy answers to the challenges we face in the Church today, no quick fixes. However, perseverance in faith and prayer is how we receive our salvation.

In addition to our meeting with Pope Francis, we met as a group with the leadership of the Vatican Congregations for the Doctrine of the Faith, for Bishops, for Clergy, for Sacred Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments, for the Causes of Saints, the Vatican Secretary of State, the Pontifical Council for Laity, Family and Young People and the Council for the Protection of Young People, among others. So much goes on through the ministry of the church throughout the world than we can possibly imagine. Our ad limina visit made me realize the importance of my role of being a link between all of that work in the service of the Church and all of you, the faithful in our diocese.      While in Rome, we as bishops had Mass at each of the four Patriarchal Vatican Basilicas. On Monday, Archbishop George Lucas of Omaha presided at our Mass at the Basilica of St. John Lateran—the Cathedral of Rome and thus of the universal Church. There I offered Mass for the priests, deacons, religious and lay faithful of our diocese, asking the Lord to bless us in our needs and to prosper the faith among us.

Truly we are, each of us and our diocese, a part of the universal Church. The more we look beyond our own concerns the more we will see the possibilities for unity, harmony, and service to all our brothers and sisters throughout the world. Please pray for the Church in every corner of the world and join in the mission of bringing Christ to people and people to Christ. Please pray also for me, that I may be ever faithful to the ministry of bishop entrusted to me here in the Diocese of Grand Island, nearly five years ago.
Know how much I love you and how much I love our Church.