Bishop talks with teens

Toledo Bishop Leonard Blair met with 160 seniors at St. Francis de Sales High School on Saturday. THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT Enlarge | Photo Reprints

Toledo Bishop Leonard Blair met with 160 seniors at St. Francis de Sales High School yesterday to talk about everything from sex to voting in a pastoral visit aimed at encouraging the teenagers in their Catholic faith.

Some tend to think of the bishop as a "remote administrator," he said, but while he does have administrative responsibilities, a bishop is "above all … called to be a pastor of souls." He pointed out that his coat of arms bears the motto, Pasce Oves Meas, Latin for "Feed my sheep."

Speaking to an assembly in the chapel of the all-boys school, Bishop Blair said modern society often touts freedom and portrays the church in a negative light for telling people what not to do. But the truth of the Gospels leads to happiness and abundant life, he said, "not only in the world to come, but in this life too."

Freedom is not just "doing what we please," he said, but being disciplined, making positive choices, and giving of oneself.

"Any fool can sleep until noon. Any fool can drink himself or herself silly and claim this is freedom to do what I want," Bishop Blair said. "But that certainly doesn't make that person a successful human being."

He cited warnings by Popes Benedict XVI and John Paul II against "the tyranny of moral relativism," a belief that there are no absolute truths, as well as "the exaltation of the autonomous self," which asserts "nobody's going to tell me what to do."

"Anybody who reads the Gospel will understand that this is not the Christian way of life," Bishop Blair said.

He told the teenagers to ask themselves, "How does God want me to make a gift of myself?"

Some St. Francis students may be called to the priesthood, he said; most will be called to marriage.

"We all start out virginally," Bishop Blair said. For those who will marry, "this gift of self is meant to be given in a very special way."

For those called to a religious vocation, celibacy is not "some horrible rule," but "a positive gift," he said.

The 62-year-old bishop said the Catholic Church opposes artificial contraception, instead promoting natural family planning. That method, which includes charting physiological signs to determine optimal times for intercourse, teaches "respect for the God-given gift of sexuality."

Saying society was "in turmoil" about homosexuality, Bishop Blair encouraged the students to learn the church's teachings, which oppose gay marriage and same-sex relationships.

During the question-and-answer session, the students in their school-uniform blue blazers generally steered away from controversial issues.

One said many St. Francis students will be voting next year and asked for guidance. Bishop Blair said voting is an obligation and a virtue, and urged them to be informed when they cast ballots.

Bishop Blair said the visit to St. Francis was "the fifth or sixth" in his effort to speak to seniors at all 14 Catholic high schools in the 19-county Toledo diocese.

Also addressing the students were Deacon Jerry Ziemkiewicz, coordinator of the diocese's Youth Ministry Office; Kelly Reed, religion chairperson of Toledo's Notre Dame Academy; Tony Mass, high school consultant for the diocese, and David McCutchen, director of the diocese's Office of Catechesis.

Contact David Yonke at: dyonke@theblade.com or 419-724-6154.