What It Means To Be Christian

It was one of those brief notations chronicled in an old parish history book that couldn't help but catch your eye and command your attention.

It starkly stated that in 1854 Father Patrick McLoughlin, pastor of Old St. Patrick's Church in Chicago (where I was pastor for 24 years), Sister Agatha O'Brien, RSM, the first principal of the school, and three other Sisters of Mercy died while attending to the needs of the poor, the sick and the dying during a horrible cholera epidemic that devastated the city.

Nothing more was recorded. No more data nor detail was provided. And while my curiosity longed for more information about these five courageous predecessors, the stark brevity of the report was strangely fitting.

Truly nothing more needed to be said. These ministers of the Gospel were simply, fundamentally living out what it means to be Christian.

Love incarnate

After all, isn't this what we believe is the heart of the matter and the core of what we have come to know in Christ? Christ radically incarnates God's passionate love for the world and for all of humanity. No one is left out or ignored or turned away.

Isn't this what generations of Christ's disciples have tried to express in a special way to the poor and the oppressed and the suffering of the world down through the ages?

Your life matters. Every one of us counts. And we who are Christ's Church are most profoundly "Church" when we are incarnating this divine compassion and healing love in service to the forgotten and forsaken.

You, the Catholic Extension family, have been especially sensitive to this responsibility by continually supporting Catholic missioners involved in the ministry of healthcare to the poor. As with so many other mission endeavors, your generosity has enabled angels of mercy to bring care and healing to places in our country where there simply is no one else doing it.

A true Light of Christ

In this month's magazine, we hope that you will be as inspired as we are by the poignant story and powerful ministry of a laywoman in the mission territory of Appalachia who truly radiates Christ's healing love and compassion.

This year's recipient of the Catholic Extension Society's Lumen Christi Award is Dr. Carol Cottrill from the Diocese of Lexington, Ky. We as a church and a country are deeply blessed by her dedication to her profession and by her commitment to her vocation.

We are fortunate to be able to share with you many details of her good life and healing ministry. But we also know that fundamentally, you are reading her story with eyes of faith.

From that perspective, what matters most is that in her we are graced to encounter someone who is simply and passionately living out what it means to be Christian, a Light of Christ in the world.

May God continue to bless Dr. Cottrill, and may God bless you, our Extension family, for the support you give to all our home missioners.