
	Each month Bishop Manning writes a Letter to the Catholic Community of Parramatta Diocese, which is published in 'Catholic Outlook', the official diocesan newspaper. Click here to view a pdf of the latest issue. To review previous letters from the Bishop visit the archive.
	February 2005 The Bishop's Letter From Bishop Kevin Manning published in the February 2005 issue of Catholic Outlook. My Dear People, Recently, I was commiserating with a fellow Bishop about pressure in our lives and how modern technology has increased the demands made upon us. Some of these are pure pressure of work; others of little consequence, but niggling; some that come in the guise of sugar-coated criticism, straight-out threats, or sheer misunderstanding about the nature of the Church. Bishops are not unique in the way they are pressured. Whoever we are, and whatever we do, there is need to practise perseverance and patience in our lives. Patience Patience as a virtue was never meant to be a stoic acceptance of suffering, nor a surrendering to fate. It is a strong virtue for, in practising it, we accept adversity as something that comes from God, helping us to identify with His Will. We exercise patience, firstly, in regard to our own behaviour; not surrendering to our defects, but persisting with confidence in God's love. People who contend with sinful habits know that good habits develop only after perseverance, humble prayer and trust in God. Our encounters with others offer real opportunities to exercise patience, especially if we are caring for children, the sick or the aged. Defects The defects of others can be a testing source of patience for even though we don't always agree, other people generally try to improve themselves by controlling anger, practising courtesy and not jumping to conclusions. There may be times when we, ourselves, have to correct others, but charity, first of all, demands that we be patient and understanding in correcting. As we know, the unexpected in our lives, eg, sickness, inadequate finance, ignorant and cutting remarks, unwanted visitors, triggers off all kinds of reactions. These occasions provide us with the opportunity to experience Christ in others, to restrain ourselves, and to love God in our neighbour. Charity St Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, said that "charity is patient" and we know charity is high on the sanctity scale. But, we have no reason to give into discouragement if we fail in charity. Jesus, Himself, must have felt pretty impatient at times, especially in His encounters with the poor, the sick and the angry. He said so Himself: "They look without seeing and listen without hearing or understanding." (Mt 13:13) Yet, He never gave up on them, not even the 12 Apostles, who were anything but perfect. Towards the end, Christ said: "I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you to bear now." (Jn 16:12) He knew his Disciples' inadequacy, He probably wanted them to be perfect, but they weren't, so He didn't dismiss them. These men, after the coming of the Holy Spirit, became the leaders of His Church. To be patient we need to be humble and try to detect God's plan in the impatient, who often mirror our own defects. We shouldn't be discouraged if others are indifferent to the ways of God, eg, lapsed Catholics, many of whom long for God but need someone to work with them to help them to understand. We must never forget that the Lord has shown us great patience, which we should reciprocate towards others. We can't go past St Paul for a bit of advice: "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things." But, we do need patience to bring this about. Yours sincerely in Christ, Bishop Kevin Manning Bishop of Parramatta

Each month Bishop Manning writes a Letter to the Catholic Community of Parramatta Diocese, which is published in 'Catholic Outlook', the official diocesan newspaper. Click here to view a pdf of the latest issue.

To review previous letters from the Bishop visit the archive.

February 2005

The Bishop's Letter

From Bishop Kevin Manning
published in the February 2005 issue of Catholic Outlook.

My Dear People,

Recently, I was commiserating with a fellow Bishop about pressure in our lives and how modern technology has increased the demands made upon us.

Some of these are pure pressure of work; others of little consequence, but niggling; some that come in the guise of sugar-coated criticism, straight-out threats, or sheer misunderstanding about the nature of the Church.

Bishops are not unique in the way they are pressured. Whoever we are, and whatever we do, there is need to practise perseverance and patience in our lives.

Patience
Patience as a virtue was never meant to be a stoic acceptance of suffering, nor a surrendering to fate. It is a strong virtue for, in practising it, we accept adversity as something that comes from God, helping us to identify with His Will. We exercise patience, firstly, in regard to our own behaviour; not surrendering to our defects, but persisting with confidence in God's love.

People who contend with sinful habits know that good habits develop only after perseverance, humble prayer and trust in God. Our encounters with others offer real opportunities to exercise patience, especially if we are caring for children, the sick or the aged.

Defects
The defects of others can be a testing source of patience for even though we don't always agree, other people generally try to improve themselves by controlling anger, practising courtesy and not jumping to conclusions.

There may be times when we, ourselves, have to correct others, but charity, first of all, demands that we be patient and understanding in correcting.

As we know, the unexpected in our lives, eg, sickness, inadequate finance, ignorant and cutting remarks, unwanted visitors, triggers off all kinds of reactions. These occasions provide us with the opportunity to experience Christ in others, to restrain ourselves, and to love God in our neighbour.

Charity
St Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, said that "charity is patient" and we know charity is high on the sanctity scale. But, we have no reason to give into discouragement if we fail in charity.

Jesus, Himself, must have felt pretty impatient at times, especially in His encounters with the poor, the sick and the angry. He said so Himself: "They look without seeing and listen without hearing or understanding." (Mt 13:13)

Yet, He never gave up on them, not even the 12 Apostles, who were anything but perfect. Towards the end, Christ said: "I still have many things to say to you but they would be too much for you to bear now." (Jn 16:12)

He knew his Disciples' inadequacy, He probably wanted them to be perfect, but they weren't, so He didn't dismiss them. These men, after the coming of the Holy Spirit, became the leaders of His Church.

To be patient we need to be humble and try to detect God's plan in the impatient, who often mirror our own defects. We shouldn't be discouraged if others are indifferent to the ways of God, eg, lapsed Catholics, many of whom long for God but need someone to work with them to help them to understand.

We must never forget that the Lord has shown us great patience, which we should reciprocate towards others. We can't go past St Paul for a bit of advice: "Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things."

But, we do need patience to bring this about.

Yours sincerely in Christ,

Bishop Kevin Manning
Bishop of Parramatta

February 2005

The Bishop's Letter

From Bishop Kevin Manning published in the February 2005 issue of Catholic Outlook.

From Bishop Kevin Manning
published in the February 2005 issue of Catholic Outlook.