Application Process 5

After the review board at the Diocese is normally a meeting with the Bishop, so he can get to know you and you can get to know him. The problem in my application process with this is that the Diocese of La Crosse currently doesn't have a Bishop. Our most recent Bishop was transferred to become the Archbishop of Milwaukee.

So, in place of the Bishop I had a meeting with Msgr. Gilles (I'm not sure if I spelt his name right), the Diocesan Administrator. His job at this point is to run the Diocese until the appointment of a Bishop, he can't administer the sacraments reserved for a Bishop, but he does the typical administration duties.

Msgr. Gilles had also read all the documents which I had submitted and the letters of recommendation. As in the board review he asked a little about me and then asked questions that had stuck out to him from what I had written.

The one thing that he asked about that really sticks out in my mind was my answer to a question on one form about what I hope to see in the Church. I didn't even remember responding to that question but my response had been something about hoping to see a better understanding among the faithful and the clergy of what makes a valid Mass. To be valid in this case means within the understanding of the Church to allow for the sacramentality of the Eucharist. Msgr. Gilles asked me to explain what I meant.

What I meant by that answer is a hope to stop the petty bickering among Catholics as to who is celebrating better and to remove false perceptions that someone else is somehow worshiping "wrong". There are certain parts and ways of doing things in the Church that are required but there is also a lot of leeway in getting to that.

Some people are very traditional in their practices, while others are more progressive (many people use the words conservative and liberal respectively but those are too political for me in this). I have been in parishes who are very traditional and I overhear people (even the priest) mentioning something that a more progressive parish is doing and saying that it is a terrible thing and even saying that it is wrong when it isn't at all wrong, just different. I have heard people in progressive parishes saying the same things about the more traditional parishes. This pains me because it causes divisions in the Church that God gave us.

I am not saying that Catholics can do whatever they want in Mass, but a better understanding and acceptance should be brought about for those areas where there are legitimate differences.

The meeting with Msgr Gilles was great and I wish I had more time to spend talking to him. But he had another applicant scheduled so it had to end.

A couple of days later I heard from Fr. Hirsch that I was accepted by the Diocese, so it was on to the actual seminary's application process.

Peace,
Adam