St. Joseph of the Lakes

The United States bishops have begun their ad limina visits. In the Roman Catholic Church, a quinquennial visit ad limina, more fully ad limina apostolorum or simply an ad limina visit, means the obligation of residential diocesan bishops and certain prelates with territorial jurisdiction (such as territorial abbots), of visiting the thresholds of the tombs of the Apostles, Saints Peter and Paul, and of meeting the Pope to report on the state of their dioceses or prelatures. It begins with visits by the bishops of the north eastern parts of the United States. Our bishops participate in their visits from January 9-18 2020.  It used to be that this visit was expected every five years, (thus the quinquennial) but the last time these visit took place was way back in 1978. At that time there were 2423 dioceses in the world. Since that time, the Church has grown and there are now 3017 dioceses in the world.

In the visit the bishops (usually 20 or so) meet with the Pope as a group. Before they arrive for the visit each bishop must accumulate a report about the state of their own dioceses. It ranges from the number of priests and parishioners; the financial health of the diocese; the number of schools and seminaries; the number of cemeteries; and anything else that that is particular to that individual diocese. Last year Archbishop Hebda conducted this gathering of information.

During these meetings the Pope will make comments that speak to specific areas of the United States and possibly our archdiocese. It should be rather interesting to see how the Pope responds to our national church. As these comments arise and are made public I will keep you informed, but today I just want to prepare you for the attention we will be getting from Rome.