Bishop Wester discusses his 'ad limina' visit

Intermountain Catholic

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Mass was celebrated at the Altar of the Tomb in St. Peter's Basilica during the ?ad limina' visit. IC file photo

As has been reported in this paper, I recently completed my ad limina visit along with my brother bishops from the provinces of San Francisco and Los Angeles. Now that my jetlag has subsided and I am settling into my Easter season routine of confirmations, I thought I would share some of my reflections from my weeklong visit to the Eternal City.

Let me say from the outset that I am very grateful for the opportunity to renew my ministry of service to you, my brothers and sisters in the Diocese of Salt Lake City, by completing my ad limina visit. Actually, the principle reason for making this visit to Rome was to pray at the tombs of St. Peter and St. Paul, asking for the graces and strength I need to be a successor of the apostles, unworthy as I am.

The full name of this once-every-five years visit is ad limina apostolorum, "to the threshold of the apostles." Bishops from all over the world make this pilgrimage first and foremost as a spiritual journey that seeks the intercession of the great apostles Peter and Paul, both of whom died in Rome.

As we bishops gathered at their tombs, we sang the Nicene Creed and then celebrated the Eucharist in the crypt of St. Peter’s Basilica and at St. Paul Outside the Walls. These Masses are always inspirational and my brother bishops and I prayed for one another as well as for the people whom we serve as we sought God’s strength and grace for our respective ministries. Of course, we gathered for other Masses throughout the week, most notably at St. Mary Major Basilica and at St. John Lateran Cathedral.

In addition to these liturgies, we bishops also took the opportunity to meet with the various congregations that comprise Pope Benedict XVI’s Curia.

Each congregation, or dicastery, is dedicated to a particular part of church life and assists our Holy Father in his role as the universal pastor of the Roman Catholic Church.

While we did not have time to meet with all the congregations, we did meet with the Apostolic Signatura as well as the Congregations for the Doctrine of the Faith, Institutes of Consecrated Life and for Societies of Apostolic Life, Catholic Education, Clergy, Divine Worship and the Discipline of the Sacraments and Bishops.

We also took time to meet with Pontifical Councils, which serve the same purpose as the congregations. Among these were New Evangelization, Pastoral Care of Migrants and Itinerant People, Laity, Family, Social Communications and Justice and Peace.

During these meetings one of our group made a brief presentation to the congregation, summarizing our concerns and posing various questions. The prefect or delegate then responded, informing us of their priorities and activities. The exchange that followed was very informative and helpful, not only for us but for the congregations as well, as they learned about what is going on throughout the world in the Catholic Church.

As you might imagine, the highlight of our time in Rome was our audience with the Holy Father.

For us, this took place on the last day of our visit, Saturday, April 21. Father Omar Ontiveros, pastor of Saints Peter and Paul Parish in West Valley City, was in Rome for a communications seminar sponsored by the Holy See and he accompanied me in the audience. We had an opportunity to greet the Holy Father and have our picture taken with him. Then, the bishops and the Pope sat down for about 45 minutes to discuss our priorities and share with the Pope our pastoral concerns and aspirations.

The Pope was most hospitable and was very interested in what we had to say.

We, of course, took the opportunity to wish him a happy birthday (April 16) and to congratulate him on his seventh anniversary of election (April 19).

In a future article, I will elaborate on my intervention during this memorable meeting.

During our weeklong visit, I had a wonderful opportunity to spend quality time with my brother bishops. So often we are involved in meetings and seldom have an opportunity to speak to one another on a deeper level. Our ad limina week provided an opportunity for us to get to know each other more and to pray together in formal and informal settings. We had a chance to share our concerns and to compare notes on dealing with various issues in the Church today.

In addition, I am grateful for the experience of collegiality that we experienced during our audience with the Holy Father. There was a real sense of the universality of our church as we came together, highlighting the fact that we truly are a catholic Church, that is, a church that embraces all. We as pastors were reminded that while we focus primarily on the diocese we each oversee, we are at the same time part of the universal Church with Pope Benedict XVI presiding over our collegial union.

How blessed I feel that at every Eucharist throughout our diocese the Church prays for the Pope and for me, asking God to grant us the graces we need to shepherd the Body of Christ as we all journey together toward the fullness of God’s Kingdom.