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For me, the real goal is how do we make vibrant and vital faith communities that are sustainable for the long run.
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Collaborative governance needs to be more than calling on the advice and competence of others to make up for our episcopal shortcomings. Rather, governance involves seeking how God is revealing his work through others in the community.
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Some of the greatest Christians I know are people who don't actually have a kind of faith system that they believe in. But, in their activity, the way they conduct themselves, there's a goodness there.
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We are called to care for those sickened by pollution, house those displaced by environmental calamities, and heal the spirits of those - especially our youth - who are disheartened by a world where human survival is now in question.
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We help immigrants because we are an immigrant nation, and we are an immigrant church. We've always done that; this is nothing new to us. This is not a new venture for us. It's who we are and have been from the very beginning of the history of the Catholic Church in this country.
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I want to be a partner with business, labor, civic leaders, foundations, other churches so that we can work together... If I can talk to all of these people and have something in common, maybe I can get them to see that they also have something in common with each other when we come together.
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I think that the Pope has trust in every bishop that is appointed.
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We want to let people know that we can build solidarity with suffering folks so that they are not excluded, they are integrated.
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The Catholic Church is an enormous footprint in Chicago, doing a lot of good. That aspiration is felt by a lot of people - that the church succeed - because it will be good for society.
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There is a temptation to have shortcuts and not put in the time and the effort. I think you have to be willing to talk to people and sit sometimes around a table and listen to other people.
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There is a synergy between the way Croatians approach life and the way Jesuits do. Croatians are very real about situations. We don't gloss over things. If there are issues to deal with, you deal with them.
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Every school that I have ever attended, except for kindergarten, I went to a Catholic institution.
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People think sometimes there is a 'Catholic vote' because of one particular issue. This demeans who we are as a Catholic community. We should take the whole thing... We take everything.
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Abortion is a searing and divisive public policy issue precisely because two significant sets of rights are in conflict, and no matter which set of laws it enacts, society must choose between those rights.
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Some pro-life advocates focus almost exclusively on the rights and suffering of the unborn baby, while some pro-choice advocates focus equally exclusively on the rights and suffering of pregnant women. This is a distortion of the moral choice that confronts us as a society.
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The state and its leaders have not only a responsibility but also a vested interest in defending the sacredness and value of every human life.
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We must band together to call for gun-control legislation. We must act in ways that promote the dignity and value of human life.
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Pope Francis tells us who he is by pointing to Caravaggio's St. Matthew: 'Here, this is me, a sinner on whom the Lord has turned his gaze.' He is telling us that he has experienced the same rush of speechless wonder and graced love Caravaggio depicts in his painting.
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Christ receives people; because of that mercy, conversion happens.
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We are a people unafraid to welcome 'your tired, your poor, your huddled masses,' because we measure others by the quality of their hopes for the future, not by the circumstances of their birth.
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Bishops need to resist the defensiveness that institutions often fall back on in crisis moments.
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We don't need more divisive language or programs and policies that are going to tear the fabric of the nation apart.
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I don't want the abnormal or something special. I want to have a normal life.
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I grew up in a family of nine children, and I know there has to be a back and forth and a listening.