Bishop to the Class of 2024: Your faith is not uncertain
June 18, 2024 at 11:14 a.m.
Each year, Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., celebrates Baccalaureate Masses and visits with graduating seniors in as many Catholic high schools throughout the Diocese as his schedule will allow. While his homilies are a bit different for each, his key message is the same. His main homily text follows:
You are about to graduate from high school – but not just any school. You are about to graduate from a Catholic high school in the Diocese of Trenton. In addition to excellence in the education your school has provided, it stands head and shoulders above its peers in another way: it incorporates the Catholic faith in the values and vision supports and offers not only in “what” it teaches but “how” Catholic schools bring Jesus Christ to life!
In all the excitement that surrounds this great event in your lives, the Lord has put so much before your minds and hearts to celebrate. Graduation is a rite of passage, a moment in your young lives when you mark the end of four years of school and the beginning of a new chapter in your lives. You leave behind you your childhood only to strike out on your own as young adults. Throughout your lives, the Lord has spoken to you often: through your parents, your teachers, your friends, the brothers, your parish priests and your Church. You have been told what to do and have been given many words of instruction and advice on how to do it. Now it is up to you. Yes, we will all continue to be a part of your lives and we will continue to give you advice. But no more bells. No one to wake you up. No one to tell you get going. Now you must take those important responsibilities and make them your own.
But before you do, let me take you back to the beginning.
When you were born, your parents brought you to church for your Baptism. The Lord spoke to you through them, inviting you to become a member of a larger family, the Christian family that is the Church. At your Baptism, your parents and godparents made promises for you to bring you up in the Catholic faith, to teach you the Catholic faith, to help you live your Catholic faith. And they brought you to church, to Catholic school, to Confession, to Mass, to help you make those same promises for yourself in Confirmation. In each of those things and all of the moments in between, the Lord has spoken to you and fulfilled his word. This is your faith, the faith you bring to this Church tonight as you prepare for graduation.
As you celebrate graduation, don’t lose sight of all those things: all that has been in your life and the great sacrifices your parents made to bring you to this moment. And as you celebrate, pray tonight that the Lord will stay with you and help you take your faith into a happy, healthy, and wonderful future. And continue to believe that what the Lord has spoken to you will be fulfilled.
The world is a big place, and the future is uncertain. But your faith is NOT uncertain. Your faith and all that it teaches is true and it will carry you through all the uncertain moments that the future lays out before you. God goes with you and your faith will make you strong, able to handle whatever comes your way. Do not forget God. Do not forget your faith and all that you have learned about it. Do not abandon for any reason what the Lord has spoken, offered, promised and fulfilled in your lives so far.
Whatever path you now choose to follow, remember this: success is a choice … with a Catholic education as your foundation, choose well.
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Each year, Bishop David M. O’Connell, C.M., celebrates Baccalaureate Masses and visits with graduating seniors in as many Catholic high schools throughout the Diocese as his schedule will allow. While his homilies are a bit different for each, his key message is the same. His main homily text follows:
You are about to graduate from high school – but not just any school. You are about to graduate from a Catholic high school in the Diocese of Trenton. In addition to excellence in the education your school has provided, it stands head and shoulders above its peers in another way: it incorporates the Catholic faith in the values and vision supports and offers not only in “what” it teaches but “how” Catholic schools bring Jesus Christ to life!
In all the excitement that surrounds this great event in your lives, the Lord has put so much before your minds and hearts to celebrate. Graduation is a rite of passage, a moment in your young lives when you mark the end of four years of school and the beginning of a new chapter in your lives. You leave behind you your childhood only to strike out on your own as young adults. Throughout your lives, the Lord has spoken to you often: through your parents, your teachers, your friends, the brothers, your parish priests and your Church. You have been told what to do and have been given many words of instruction and advice on how to do it. Now it is up to you. Yes, we will all continue to be a part of your lives and we will continue to give you advice. But no more bells. No one to wake you up. No one to tell you get going. Now you must take those important responsibilities and make them your own.
But before you do, let me take you back to the beginning.
When you were born, your parents brought you to church for your Baptism. The Lord spoke to you through them, inviting you to become a member of a larger family, the Christian family that is the Church. At your Baptism, your parents and godparents made promises for you to bring you up in the Catholic faith, to teach you the Catholic faith, to help you live your Catholic faith. And they brought you to church, to Catholic school, to Confession, to Mass, to help you make those same promises for yourself in Confirmation. In each of those things and all of the moments in between, the Lord has spoken to you and fulfilled his word. This is your faith, the faith you bring to this Church tonight as you prepare for graduation.
As you celebrate graduation, don’t lose sight of all those things: all that has been in your life and the great sacrifices your parents made to bring you to this moment. And as you celebrate, pray tonight that the Lord will stay with you and help you take your faith into a happy, healthy, and wonderful future. And continue to believe that what the Lord has spoken to you will be fulfilled.
The world is a big place, and the future is uncertain. But your faith is NOT uncertain. Your faith and all that it teaches is true and it will carry you through all the uncertain moments that the future lays out before you. God goes with you and your faith will make you strong, able to handle whatever comes your way. Do not forget God. Do not forget your faith and all that you have learned about it. Do not abandon for any reason what the Lord has spoken, offered, promised and fulfilled in your lives so far.
Whatever path you now choose to follow, remember this: success is a choice … with a Catholic education as your foundation, choose well.