Bp Thomas: No more 'camouflage Catholics'!

American Bishops from states as diverse as Montana, Oregon and Alaska are in Rome this week for their regular visits ad limina apostolorum, 'to the threshold of the Apostles'. “The ad limina apostolorum is a time for each Bishop to re-connect with the Holy Father and the See of Peter,” said Bishop George Leo Thomas of Helena, Montana. He said the visit reminds Bishops of the “apostolic foundations” of their ministry, and serves as a retreat for the prelates.

Bishop Thomas spoke to Christopher Wells about the efforts made in his diocese to promote the New Evangelisation. “We’re beginning, first of all, by mobilising the diocesan clergy. They’re really the key to bringing the vision of the New Evangelisation to the people. So our presbyteral council – our priest council in our own diocese – and I are working together to create a very concerted plan in this upcoming Year of Faith, that would help each Catholic reclaim his or her own baptismal promise and identity as a Catholic, and then to very courageously invite others to see and taste the goodness of the Lord.”

He said, “My message, of course over and over again, is: No more ‘camouflage Catholics’ in our diocese! Mediocrity, the lukewarm spirit, is an enemy of the Church.” But, he added, his message is a very positive one: “The Church in the Northwest is very intentional, very dynamic… So I see it as a springtime in the Church.”

Bishop Thomas concluded with a call to Catholics throughout the world: “One thing that I would certainly want to share with the people of our own diocese, but certainly across the country and the world, and that is to take seriously your own individual call to holiness your personal encounter with Christ, and to remain very steeped in the sacramental life of the Church. It is an emancipating and joyful life as a Catholic.”

Listen to the full interview of Bishop George Leo Thomas with Christopher Wells: