Eastern Oklahoma Catholic May 2012 : Page 2
Pope Benedict XVI meets with from left, Bishop Anthony B. Taylor of Little Rock, Ark., Archbishop Paul S. Coakley of Oklahoma City and Bishop Edward J. Slattery during their ad limina visit to the Vatican on Friday, March 16, 2012. (CNS photo/L’Osservatore Romano) A spiritual journey to a holy place Ad Limina I 2 n 1585, in the height of the chaos caused by the Reformers, Pope Sixtus V determined on certain reforms that, he prayed, would strengthen the universal Church by strengthening the reciprocal relations between the world’s bishops and the Vatican. This papal legislation codified the ancient practice of bishops reporting on the health and well-being of their dioceses to the Pontiff ( cf. Galatians 1:18) and regulated when and how regularly each Bishop would come to the threshold of the tombs of the Apostles to make his report. In more modern times, Pope St. Pius X issued a Decree for the Consistorial Con-gregation, specifying that Bishops should come every fifth year, beginning in 1911. For more than 100 years then, the quin-quennial visit ‘ad limina apostolorum’ (“to the thresholds”) of the diocesan bishop, and the preparation of the report sent in advance of his visit, has demanded the utmost care and diligence. I recently returned from my third such ad limina visit and would like to share with you some of the experiences I had there, from my prayerful reflections as I said Mass at the tomb of St. Peter, to the surprising confession the Pope made to me during the private audience Archbishop Paul Coakley (Oklahoma City), Bishop Anthony Taylor (Little Rock, Ark.) and I enjoyed with the Pontiff on March 16. The ‘ad limina’ is a pilgrimage The first thing I want to share with you is my realization that this ad limina visit Eastern Oklahoma Catholic / May 2012 / www. dioceseoftulsa .org
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