Faithful citizens building their Church and their state

On Feb. 14, we will celebrate Arizona’s Centennial of Statehood.
Looking back over Arizona’s 100 years of statehood, we can see how generations of Catholics in the Diocese of Tucson have contributed to the building of our State and to the building of our Church.
Just think:
The first schools in Arizona were Catholic schools.
The first hospitals in Arizona were Catholic hospitals.
Just think:
Father Bonaventure Oblasser, the famed Franciscan friar known as the “Apostle to the Papagos,” began his ministry among the Papago People (the Tohono O’odham) 100 years ago this year.
Just as Arizona was becoming a state, Father Ventura was beginning to make history in his advocacy for the rights of all Native Americans. (Father Ventura is featured in our special Arizona Centennial section in this issue. See page 11.)
Just think:
In 1933, at the height of the Great Depression, Bishop Daniel J. Gercke asked Catholics in the Diocese of Tucson to support a special campaign for the creation of Catholic Social Services of Arizona.
Catholics were so generous and made sacrifices to help Bishop Gercke start this ministry that served needy Arizonans of all faiths and races. This ministry continues today through Catholic Community Services of Southern Arizona in our Diocese and Catholic Charities Community Services in the Diocese of Phoenix.
Just think:
Each church building and each school building at our 77 parishes and our 26 Catholic schools represents the generosity and sacrifice of countless Catholic families over the years and the generosity and sacrifice of the priests, the deacons, the sisters and the brothers who have served at those parishes and schools.
We have much to celebrate as we join in Arizona’s 100 years of statehood, and I think a good theme for our diocesan celebration would be “Faithful Citizens Building Their Church and Their State.”
Clearly, among the generations of “Faithful Citizens” who have built our State and our Church in the Diocese of Tucson are the women religious from dozens of communities who have ministered in Arizona with extraordinary dedication, extraordinary generosity and extraordinary sacrifice.
For our celebration of Arizona’s centennial of statehood, we have put together a special exhibit, “The Sisters: Roman Catholic Women Religious in Arizona.”
The exhibit, which will open on Feb. 14 at our diocesan Archives at St. Ambrose Parish in Tucson, shares through photographs and artifacts the stories of the unique role that the sisters have had in our Diocese and in Arizona’s history.
The exhibit is our acknowledgement and recognition of the sisters who started our schools and our hospitals, of the sisters who reached out to the littlest and weakest among us and of the sisters who continue the legacy of caring and loving ministry started by those whose paths they walk today.
I had a preview of the exhibit late last month with a group of parishioners who have been very supportive of our Diocese.
The photographs of sisters in the classroom brought back many good memories of the sisters who taught me in grade school. I enjoyed listening to the folks in our preview group who were inspired by the photos to share their experiences in Catholic schools.
Some of the photos show sisters teaching 50 children in one classroom!
The exhibit includes a re-creation of a sister’s room in a convent so you can see how simply they lived. Our Archives building was itself a convent where the several groups of sisters lived while they taught at St. Ambrose School.
The exhibit is our contribution to our State’s centennial observances, and I invite you to visit it.
I liked the exhibit so much I will go beyond an invitation and say, “Don’t miss it!”
You can visit the exhibit at our diocesan Archives at St. Ambrose Parish, 300 S. Tucson Blvd., in the Msgr. Don Hughes Pastoral Center, which is on the south end of the parish campus on Tucson Boulevard.
The exhibit will be open to the public (beginning Tuesday, Feb. 14) from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday.
I can only imagine what will happen in our Diocese and in our State in the next 100 years. I hope when they celebrate our bicentennial of statehood that people will look back on our efforts to enliven the faith and serve the neediest with as much pride as I look back on what our predecessors in the faith accomplished.
Growing the faith is in our hands now, so I pray that our Co-workers in the Vineyard Ministry Conference on March 15-17 for all Catholics in our Diocese will be an occasion to celebrate what we are doing and encourage us to do even more in realizing Christ’s mission.
In October, we will begin the Year of Faith called for by Pope Benedict XVI. This will be an opportunity to invite others to come to know the Lord Jesus and to continue the evangelization that has been the hallmark of our Catholic faith in Arizona these past 100 years.