Ordained & Installed
Bishop of Dodge City
July 16, 1998
Learn More About Bishop Gilmore
The bishop's column, June 15, 2008
(The Spanish version is at bottom. Vea la traducción espanol abaho.)
For an archives of past columns, click here.
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After this discourse, Paul knelt down with them all and prayed. They began to weep without restraint, throwing their arms around him and kissing him. For they were deeply distressed to hear that they would never see his face again. (Acts 20:36-38) With the Redemptorists on the verge of leaving the Diocese, it is easy to find comfort in this passage. For Apostle, for missionary, for parish priest, for bishop, it has ever been thus. We and our people know what it means to weep without restraint. We are deeply distressed to see these good men go. They were such splendid co-workers. We are grateful to the Redemptorist Community for sharing them with us. They did their old charism proud on the plains of southwest Kansas. But they were more than co-workers. They were friends. They are friends. We can understand the weeping, and the hugging, and the kissing. It is an emotionally wrenching thing, this business of parting. We kneel down with them all and pray as they move to new places and to new challenges. It will be a privilege to watch their various vocations unfold from afar. I hope they will take us with them as much as we shall keep them with us. + Most Rev. Ronald M. Gilmore Bishop of Dodge City Después de este discurso, Pablo se puso de rodillas con todos ellos y oró. Todos lloraban inconsolablemente mientras lo abrazaban y lo besaban. Lo que más los entristecía era su declaración de que ellos no volverían a verlo. Luego lo acompañaron hasta el barco. (Hechos 20:36-38) Con los Redentoristas al borde de dejar la Diócesis, es fácil encontrar la comodidad en este paso. Para el Apóstol, para el misionero, para el sacerdote de parroquia, para el obispo, ha sido alguna vez así. Nosotros y nuestra gente sabemos lo que es llorar sin restricción. Estamos profundamente apenados en ver partir a estos hombres buenos. Ellos fueron tan espléndidos compañeros de trabajo. Estamos agradecidos a la Comunidad Redentorista por compartirlos con nosotros. Ellos hicieron que su viejo carisma estuvieran orgullo en las llanuras de Kansas sur-oeste. Pero ellos fueron más que compañeros de trabajo. Ellos fueron amigos. Ellos son amigos. Podemos entender el llanto, y el abrazo, y los besos. Esto es una cosa emocionalmente desgarradora, este asunto de la despedida.. Nos arrodillamos con todos ellos y oramos mientras ellos se dirigen a nuevos sitios y a nuevos desafíos. Esto será un privilegio mirar sus varias vocaciones, desplegarse desde lejos. Espero que ellos nos lleven con ellos, tanto como aquí los conservaremos entre nosotros. +Obispo Ronald M. Gilmore
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Pastoral Vision
I see a church that I must lead as Christ wants, not as I want. That will require more pointed evangelization and more careful catechesis in the next five years.
I see a church that I must make one through the unity of the Father, Son, and Spirit. That will require a more concerted effort in blending our major ethnic communities in the next five years.
I see a church of individuals alive to their own personal vocations, and at work appropriating them in all the dimensions of their lives. That will require making our parishes schools of discernment over the next five years.
I see a church of persons with a hunger for the Word of God. That will require expanding our lectio divina tied to mission over the next five years.
I see a church of persons with an attraction to prayer. That will require more widespread example and catechesis over the next five years.
I see a church of responsibility and initiative, putting its gifts at the service of others.
I should like a church wedded to social justice in the temporal order: life, work, family, peace. That will require a more systematic effort to spell out the consequences of our faith, to fill in the chasm between faith and life.
Pastoral programs are now in place for each of these five areas. We shall continue to work them, to watch them, and to change them as circumstances and providence suggest.
-- Most Rev. Ronald M. Gilmore
Bishop of Dodge City
