Anchorage Archbishop Roger Schwietz received honorary membership into the Congregation of the Mission formalizing a spiritual friendship that has grown and flourished in the Archdiocese of Anchorage since his arrival in 2001.
A Mass was held at the Co-Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe on formally proclaiming Archbishop Schwietz’ membership as an affiliate of the order. Archbishop Schwietz felt deeply honored by this gesture.
“At the Mass when this was announced, so many incredibly nice things were said, like what is said for somebody once they die,” he observed. “It was very nice hearing these things while I am still alive.”
Archbishop Schwietz told the Catholic Anchor that Father G. Gregory Gay, superior general for the Vincentians, became interested in Alaska when the two met in Rome a few years ago.
“I explained how we needed help, especially with our Hispanic evangelization and outreach,” Archbishop Schwietz recounted. “It became very clear that we have a similar approach to ministry. Eventually, he formed a team.”
The team now serves at Our Lady of Guadalupe Co-Cathedral in Anchorage, providing pastoral care for the parishioners there, many of them Hispanic.
The Vincentian religious order has now established a long-time commitment of priests in the Anchorage Archdiocese, with Vincentian priest Father Andrew Bellisario serving as pastor of the co-cathedral with fellow Vincentian Father Pedro Delgado serving as parochial vicar. A third priest is expected to join the team soon.
In a letter recommending Archbishop Schwietz as an honorary member of the Vincentians, the Fathers Bellisario and Delgado submitted their assessment of the archbishop.
They affirmed that Archbishop Schwietz “demonstrates a sincere care and affection for the poor and marginalized, for the many immigrants, and for the indigenous peoples of the frontier state of Alaska.” They also testified that in Archbishop Schwietz they “see clearly the five virtues of [their] congregation: humility, simplicity, meekness, mortification and zeal.”
While this honor is recent, the relationship between the Vincentians and the Archdiocese of Anchorage has developed over nearly two decades. Their women’s religious community, the Daughters of Charity, arrived in 1999. Lay chapters of the Society of St. Vincent de Paul also have provided tangible assistance to souls in need at the parish and community level. Over the past two years, missionary priests from the order have begun serving the Archdiocese, particularly focusing on Hispanic outreach.
“We have a huge Hispanic population in the state that is not really being addressed adequately by the church,” Archbishop Schwietz observed.
He is concerned because, without finding culturally relevant Catholic parishes, many Hispanics have joined Protestant communities or are not living out their Catholic faith at all.
In response to this, Archbishop Schwietz now requires all Alaska seminarians to learn Spanish. And when the Vincentians arrived in Alaska, he gave them a mandate to not only staff the Co-Cathedral of Our Lady of Guadalupe, but to bring their missionary charism to the community of Hispanics in the area, focusing on outreach, evangelization and service.
Archbishop Schwietz clarifies that his relationship with the Congregation is a different kind of membership from that which he has with his religious community, the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate.
“I do not have any obligations to the Vincentians, but I profit by their spiritual support, and they mine,” he said. “I not only have that connection in the present time but I will be remembered in their prayers after I’m gone.”
He believes this spiritual affiliation between him and the Vincentians will nurture the connections that have developed between the order and its new mission in Alaska. Archbishop Schwietz said he anticipates that this relationship will spiritually benefit Alaskans for many years.
“It will help foster our cooperative work together,” Archbishop Schwietz added. “I have a certain sense that I belong to them.”
Source: http://www.catholicanchor.org/alaska-news/archbishop-receives-honorary-affiliation-with-vincentians/
