Formation with the Bishop!

Thursdays are always one of my favorite days of the week here on SPIRITUS.  Every Thursday we have formation as a team, and on the first Thursday of the month we have spiritual direction.  Yesterday was exceptionally special for us!  Jared and I headed up to Green Bay for spiritual direction with Fr. Schuster.  (As an alumni of UWGB, anytime I get to go up to Green Bay I'm happy!)   Then we met the rest of the team at Old Chicago for dinner which was quite a treat!

The big event of the night happened after dinner, we headed to the diocesan campus to meet with none other than His Excellency, Bishop Ricken, who led us in formation about Pope John Paul II's encyclical Redemptoris Missio, or the Mission of Christ the Redeemer.  If I were to summarize what Bishop's message was in two words it would be easy...SAVE SOULS.  He talked about how each one of us is to bring the good news of Jesus to everyone we meet, not to water down information, or because it makes us a good person, but because they deserve to know the truth!  It was also awesome to just be in the presence of a Bishop, but also a man who is so personable and humble.  Being around Bishop Ricken inspired me so much.  I could tell that what he was telling us and teaching us, is not something he takes lightly.  He shared with us how Mass attendance has been declining 3% every year for the past several years, and this is something he is truly worried about, and something that he is actually working to change.  Again he is not trying to just fill the pews at Mass, he wants souls to be saved.

Bishop also talked to us about how much he supports our team, and how important he believes SPIRITUS is.  I did not expect to go into formation with Bishop Ricken and have him thank us, but that is exactly what happened.  I could tell that he genuinely cared about us.  He even went around the table and asked each one of us what we are thinking about where God is calling us in our future vocation.  Although many of us are still discerning, and do not yet know what our call is, Bishop Ricken told each one of us he would pray for us.  Knowing that our wonderful Bishop is praying for us, helped to re-inspire me to go out to inspire other Catholic youth!