Most Rev. Ronald M. Gilmore

Ordained &  Installed
Bishop of Dodge City
July 16, 1998

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