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EPISODE #297
EMPOWERED BY THE SPIRIT: THE ROLE OF A VICAR GENERAL IN A DIOCESE

Welcome to another episode of Empowered by the Spirit featuring host Deacon Steve Greco.

On this week’s program, we enjoy a visit with Msgr. Stephen Doktorczyk, the Vicar-General for the Diocese of Orange. He also serves as the Moderator of the Curia.

He wears several hats in his role; and, he has a truly fascinating background.

Tune in and find out all about it!

 

 

 

 

Originally broadcast on 2/6/22

POPE’S NEW YEAR PRIORITIES: REFUGEES, YOUTHS, TRIPS, MORE CURIA REFORM

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — Foreign trips, a focus on the rights and needs of migrants and refugees and a Synod of Bishops dedicated to young people all are on the 2018 calendar for Pope Francis. 

His activities and the passions that drive them are familiar by now. In fact, March 13 will mark the fifth anniversary of his election as pope, succeeding retired Pope Benedict XVI. 

Pope Francis, newly 81, will begin 2018 with a focus on Mary and on migrants and refugees. 

As with all modern popes, Pope Francis’ Marian devotion and his concern for people forced to flee their homes have been a constant in his ministry. 

But Pope Francis is the first to dedicate a celebration of World Peace Day specifically to the theme of migrants and refugees. On Jan. 1, for the 51st time, the Catholic Church will begin the new year praying for peace. The day also is the feast of Mary, Mother of God, and while Pope Francis sent a message to heads of state in November reflecting on the peace day theme, his homily at the Mass is likely to focus on Mary. 

The pope’s focus on migrants and refugees will come to the fore again Jan. 14 when he adds to the normal papal liturgical calendar a special Mass for the World Day of Migrants and Refugees. 

In both his message for the Jan. 14 celebration and his message for World Peace Day, Pope Francis urged Catholic involvement in the drafting of the U.N. global compacts for migrants and for refugees. 

Approving the development of the compacts in September 2016, “world leaders clearly expressed their desire to take decisive action in support of migrants and refugees to save their lives and protect their rights,” the pope said in his message. He urged Catholics to get involved by lobbying their governments to include in the compacts proposals that would ensure the welcome, protection, promotion and integration of migrants and refugees. 

Although work on the compacts suffered a setback when the Trump administration announced in early December it was pulling out of the process and would not be a party to the accords, the United Nations hopes to have a draft of the documents ready by February. Late in 2018, the U.N. General Assembly will hold a conference to adopt the compacts. 

On Jan. 15, Pope Francis will set off for a six-day visit to Chile and Peru. As is his style, the trip will include meetings with government authorities and large public Masses, but also a visit to a women’s prison and to a home for children at risk. 

As of Dec. 20, no other papal trips for 2018 had been confirmed, although Vatican officials have said it is almost certain Pope Francis will travel to Dublin in late August for the World Meeting of Families; on the same trip, he is likely to be the first pope to visit Northern Ireland. 

Vatican officials also have confirmed that a September trip to Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia is under consideration. And they do not rule out a spring trip, perhaps to Africa. 

One month of the pope’s calendar already is booked solid. The Synod of Bishops focusing on young people and their vocations will be held at the Vatican Oct. 3-28. In preparation for the bishops’ gathering, the Vatican has asked bishops’ conferences around the world to nominate young people to attend a pre-synod gathering March 19-24 in Rome. 

Cardinal Lorenzo Baldisseri, secretary-general of the synod, said Pope Francis hopes about 300 young people — mostly, but not all, Catholics — would attend the gathering. Many of them will speak to the whole group about the hopes and concerns of young people, what they can offer the church and what they need from it. They will discuss the presentations in small groups and will be asked to prepare a summary document for the bishops attending the synod. 

The fifth anniversary of Pope Francis’ papacy also means 2018 is the fifth anniversary of his international Council of Cardinals and the effort to reform the Roman Curia.  

Changes have been made, new laws have been passed, offices have been combined to cut down on duplication. But 2017 ended without a clear indication of when a document presenting a global vision of the Curia and each of its offices would be ready. 

Perhaps that is what Pope Francis wants for Christmas 2018.

CURIA EXISTS FOR SERVICE, NOT FOR GLORY, POPE SAYS

VATICAN CITY (CNS) — The people who work at the Vatican and in the Roman Curia are supposed to be “sensitive antennas” that faithfully transmit the desires of the pope and receive information from dioceses and Eastern Catholic churches around the world, Pope Francis said.

Remembering that the Curia exists exclusively for the service of the Gospel, the pope and the church is the only way to counter “that imbalanced and degenerate logic of conspiracies or little cliques that, despite all their justifications and good intentions, represent a cancer,” the pope said Dec. 21.

Holding his annual pre-Christmas meeting with top officials of the Roman Curia and Vatican City State and with cardinals living in Rome, Pope Francis said he wanted to build on his previous talks about the reform of the Curia by focusing on its relationship to the world outside the Vatican walls.

His reflections, he said, were based on principles and church laws governing the Curia, but also “on the personal vision I have tried to share” as the process of reforming the Curia has unfolded.

The process began a month after he was elected in March 2013 and is ongoing, which brings to mind, he said, a saying attributed to a 19th-century Belgian cleric and Vatican statesman: “Carrying out reform in Rome is like cleaning an Egyptian Sphinx with a toothbrush.”

Still, he said, the process must continue for the good of the Curia itself, the good of the church and, ultimately, the good of the world.

Pope Francis cited as a sign of the work left to be done the danger posed by “traitors of the truth or profiteers of the church’s motherhood,” meaning personnel hired to give their expertise to the Vatican, but who “let themselves be corrupted by ambition or by vainglory and, when they are delicately let go, erroneously declare themselves to be martyrs of the system, of the ‘uninformed pope’ or of the ‘old guard’ rather than reciting a ‘mea culpa,'” in admitting their faults.

Repeatedly in his talk, Pope Francis spoke of “diaconal primacy” or the primacy of service, which must characterize his ministry and the work of all in the Curia in imitation of Jesus, who came to serve and not be served.

The focus of the Curia, he said, must be on service and not on self-preservation or maintaining areas of influence and power.

Quoting a third-century Christian treatise, Pope Francis said the Curia, like a deacon, must be “the ears and the mouth of the bishop, his heart and his soul.”

Listening to the local churches and to the needs of the poor comes first, he said. “I don’t think it’s an accident that the ear is the organ for hearing, but also for balance.”

Looking more closely at the church’s relation with the world outside itself, Pope Francis spoke about the new section he created in the Vatican Secretariat of State to oversee the training, assigning and ministry of Vatican nuncios and diplomats around the world.

Vatican diplomacy has no “mundane or material interest,” he said, but seeks only to build “bridges, peace and dialogue among nations.”

Pope Francis listed as diplomatic priorities “the importance of safeguarding our common home from every destructive selfishness; to affirm that wars bring only death and destruction; to draw from the past the necessary lessons to help us live better in the present, solidly build a future and safeguard it for new generations.”

Ecumenical and interreligious dialogue also are essential forms of outreach to the world, the pope said.

The search for Christian unity, he said, “is a journey, but as my predecessors also repeated, it is a journey that is irreversible and with no putting the brakes on.”

“The Curia works in this area to promote encounters with our brothers and sisters,” Pope Francis said, “to untie the knots of misunderstandings and hostility, to counter the prejudices and the fear of the other that have prevented us from seeing the richness of and in diversity and the depths of the mystery of Christ and of the church, which remain greater than any human expression.”

Pope Francis told the cardinals and other Curia officials that the faith celebrated at Christmas must be a living, lively faith that provokes conversion in all who call themselves believers.

“A faith that doesn’t put us in crisis is a faith in crisis,” he said. “A faith that doesn’t make us grow is a faith that must grow; a faith that doesn’t question us is a faith that must be questioned; a faith that doesn’t enliven us is a faith that must be enlivened; a faith that doesn’t shake us is a faith that must be shaken.”

If faith does not provoke the faithful to change and grow, the pope said, it really is something that is simply lukewarm or just an idea.

Faith becomes real, he said, only when it “allows God to be born or reborn in the manger of our hearts, when we let the star of Bethlehem lead us to the place where the son of God lies, not among kings and luxury, but among the poor and humble.”

JOE FERRARO

Joe Ferraro grew up on the gridiron, getting his start in Pop Warner Football at the age of 9, following in the footsteps of his older brothers who played before him.

“I’ve always been around the game,” says Ferraro, a varsity standout at Servite High School. “I just enjoy being on the field, playing with my teammates, contributing to the team and trying to help us get a victory.”

Ferraro considers his fellow Friar players to be his brothers, a bond he will miss as his high school football career concludes.

 

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“What I’m going to miss the most about Servite football is the brotherhood you have with your teammates,” says Ferraro. “It’s more than just a team; it’s a family.”

Ferraro serves as a member of the Curia, the team’s eight-member senior leadership group, a role that means a great deal to the 17-year-old.

“We try to lead the team,” says Ferraro, “and make sure that we’re always going in the right direction…so that we can be put in the best situation possible to win our game.”

In addition to serving his team on the Curia, Ferraro has been extremely versatile on the field this season, contributing on both offense and defense, as well as special teams. In his final year, Ferraro’s goals are to help lead his team to a state championship while playing his best each game.

“Joe embodies everything we stand for at Servite,” says the Friars varsity head football coach, A.J. Gass. “He is loyal, humble, incredibly unselfish and puts the needs of the team above any and all benefits to himself. When Joe leaves, we will struggle to find someone to fill his role in our program.”

Having two older brothers who played football for Servite has served Ferraro well when it comes to key role models in the game and the classroom.

But the top spot in that category Ferraro reserves for his mom, whose giving heart has made a lasting mark on her son.

“She’s always kept a great faith and she’s always so positive,” says Ferraro. “Just the love that she shows for everybody, just the guidance that she has shown me, leading me on the right path…growing up in a great home. She is definitely my biggest role model.”

With a future that may include studies in political science and law, the Fullerton resident would love the opportunity to play college football but knows that whatever team he’s on, he plays for a higher purpose.

“My faith has a large impact on my game,” says Ferraro. “I believe [God has] given me all the talents I need, so when I play for him, I’m giving him glory by playing my best.”