Where I Stand — Bishop Joseph A. Pepe: Faith is gift from God

Friday, Aug. 24, 2001 | 4:30 a.m.

Editor's note: In August Where I Stand is written by guest columnists. Today's writer is Bishop Joseph A. Pepe of the Catholic Church's Diocese of Las Vegas.

SOME YEARS AGO on a Sunday afternoon I was in the parish offices when I received a call from a nearby hospital requesting that I come to baptize and confirm a newborn infant near death.

After administering the sacraments to this little baby I went in to see the parents. I was quite apprehensive and I understood the pain and sense of confusion that the parents were experiencing at this time. However, when the mother, who was not a Catholic, spoke, she said, "I believe that my little Mary was born so that she could receive the sacraments of baptism and confirmation and so enter into heaven as a full Christian." I was quite startled by her affirmation of faith. Eventually, this young woman entered into the Catholic Church and was given the gift of two healthy children.

On that day and moment the mother said those words concerning her daughter, I was given a deep insight that faith makes us understand the incomprehensible. Faith is always a gift given to us to gain understanding in our life, to gain encouragement for the many challenges that we meet on our life journey and goal toward God. Finally, faith offers us, through understanding, an understanding of the hope for eternal life promised by the Lord, Jesus.

One of the most exciting things that I have experienced as I begin my role as Bishop and Shepherd of the Catholic Church of Southern Nevada is the depth of faith that I see in the people here, particularly in the Catholic communities. They show a depth of understanding that gives vitality and meaning to their daily life. Both in their worship and in their outreach ministries, these Catholic people show that faith is something vibrant, something that can be put into action and something that can change the community and the world around them.

Several parishes that I have visited so far have obviously different attitudes and different experiences of life as a community and as individuals. However, they are centered in their belief and trust in God, their belief in the power of the Lord Jesus in their celebration at Mass to bring about a sense of forgiveness of sin and an experience of new freedom in the Holy Spirit of Christ.

If I am fearful of the challenges that a growing Church demands of a bishop at this time and place in Nevada, I certainly feel through my own faith and the faith of the people in the various parishes of the Diocese of Las Vegas a strong sense of support, encouragement and prayer which will sustain us during these early years of the new millennium.

This past weekend I visited with a group of youth and young adults from a number of parishes in the Diocese of Las Vegas. What came through, as young as they were, was the depth of faith which gave them the opportunity to leave and risk their own comfortable surroundings and friends to enter into sharing, dialogue and growth with a greater group of young people. Their faith was evident in their warmth, their deep desire to learn and their willingness to take on the challenge of leadership for the future of the Church in Southern Nevada.

Faith then is a powerful gift given by God to us to understand the mystery of our life, to comprehend our world and to change the world and bring the light and hope of the living gospel, which is Jesus Christ, to the world.