Click to read the following excerpts from the six major teaching
documents issued by Bishop Myers from 1990-2000.

“The vocation of youth is to be young, to be full of life and enthusiasm, growing, forming friendships, learning of faith, or commitment, and of love.

“As the custodian of the teachings of Christ, the Church is by no means behind the times; she is always ahead of them. Our age needs to catch up to the Church and to conform itself to the mind of Christ, who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.

“During sexual development it is both natural and good to want to understand what is happening to your body. Unfortunately, many young people are not sure whom they should speak to, or how to ask questions.... But we all need those questions answered, and there is no one in the world more appropriate to ask than your parents....

“The teachings of the Lord should be part of your sexual education. They are not one possible way of living and expressing oneself sexually. They are the truly human way that guarantees that the experience of sexual union will be exactly what it is meant to be. The way of the Lord is the only way that will make you truly free and lead you to personal fulfillment.

“Your commitment to chastity will set you apart from the culture in which you were born.... Like Jesus, you may encounter ridicule from those who do not yet see the truth. You must, therefore, be strong in your convictions, and you should try, with charity, to help others discover the freedom you have found.

“The preservation of one’s virginity allows the vows of marriage to achieve their most joyful expression. Virginity is a great and beautiful gift that a man and woman, united in the sacrament of marriage, can give to one another.... Given the negative influences of our culture, men and woman often learn the truth of Christ’s teaching on human sexuality from experiences of pain and alienation that result from unchaste sexual encounters. One’s virginity is most often given away in ignorance, doubt, or confusion. But virginity, as a response to the truth of human sexuality, can be regained.

“Take responsibility in your own life. Know who you are and what you are about. Rather than going along with the crowd, join with your friends in living in a new way, a better way, a way that Jesus has pointed out to us and continues to show us through His Church.”

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“We owe the young more than just any kind of tomorrow. We owe them the tomorrow they deserve: the full and abundant life that comes with Jesus Christ.

“It is simply not enough to ‘be friends’ with one’s children, as if friendship and authority are contrary.... While not ‘lording it over their children,’ parents owe it to their children to provide firm direction, to share what they know and, when needed, to seek the assistance of resources that uphold the spiritual way of thinking that sets us free. Loving does not consist of leaving the young to figure out life for themselves.

“The good of any relationship requires honest communication. Since every person has a right to the truth, parents must tell their children the truth -- even when the truth is not popular. Non- marital sexual conduct of any kind is destructive of personal integrity. Abortion is murder. Contraception violates the meaning and significance of marital intercourse. Adultery is always dishonest. Masturbation is a serious sin. Condoms do not always prevent infection from sexually transmitted diseases.... (Homosexual acts) are not life giving and can never attain one of the essential purposes for which God created us as sexual beings. Because sin takes many forms, the truths of human sexuality must be honestly spoken of and clearly explained to young people.

“Trust the Lord and your own good judgment in rearing your children. Let your children see you praying. Pray with your children and share your faith with them. Talk to your children. Take the time to know what is going on with them. Be involved in school programs and in other programs in which they are involved. Exercise your rights to examine materials and be fully informed. Do not be afraid to withhold your consent for your children to participate in programs you consider harmful or ill-advised.

“Today many men have lost their vision of fatherhood. They lack confidence in who they are, where they are headed, and what they are about as people. This constitutes a crisis for young men as well as old, for those married and single, for men who make up the clergy as well as the laity. And ‘the eclipse of fatherhood’ is not only an important issue for men. Women are very much involved.

“The sexual revolution.... at the start seemed to promise an era of intimacy without complications.Both sexes have been very much involved in this revolution. But in particular it has exacerbated male sexual weakness....

“The contraceptive society provides neither men nor women with the incentive to take personal responsibility or to mature in the life-giving commitment of faithful marriage. Rather, it encourages a chronic adolescence which balks at commitment in which God’s greatest gifts to families -- children-- are seen as mere objects at the service of their parents’ convenience.

“The family, Church, and society function best when the roles of both men and women are celebrated. Yet I believe we have often failed to call men to full responsibility in them.... Men need to be evangelized to assume their dignity as sons of God, brothers of Christ, faithful spouses of their wives, and committed fathers of their children.

“Christ teaches us how to be men, good sons of the heavenly Father. A man has only to look upon Christ to see himself as God intends. Man must not be ashamed of being a son of the heavenly Father, ashamed of Christ, or ashamed of being a man.... As Christ is humble, a man must be humble before God. As Christ prays, a man must pray. As Christ is obedient, a man must be obedient.

“Saint Joseph clearly demonstrates how a father should sacrifice for the child and family he loves.... Unlike Adam, Joseph stood and proclaimed the truth; when God called Joseph, he was not afraid and did not hide. Joseph instead listened to God and answered the call.

“Trust in the Lord. Do not be afraid to trust in the Father’s providence for your life and the life of your family. Strive to be a good son of the heavenly Father by cultivating a spirit of prayer and recollection....

“Love your wife. This is a great gift not only for her, but for the family. Actively care for her and be attentive to her needs, as she is to yours. Be sure to support her, affirm to her and tell her that you love her. You may believe that your actions will make your love for her clear, but also remember that she needs to hear you say it....

“Guard the moral environment of your family, understanding that we live in a culture that is often hostile to our faith and unsympathetic to the moral teaching of Christ. The virtues of an adult Christian are not formed automatically. It requires effort and patience to pass these on to your children. Strive to practice the same virtue you want to form in them.

“Let there be no doubt that striving for legal abortion is radically inconsistent with the Catholic faith. Any citizen or public official who helps to make abortion more widely available, or any priest, religious, or theologian who teaches that it ought to be made available, commits a grave injustice against the most vulnerable members of the human family.... By their own actions they seriously weaken their own relationship with the Church, the Body of Christ.

“All of us are entitled to make legislative choices concerning matters affecting out lives; but none of us is entitled to choose that an innocent, helpless human being be put to death. There is, and can be, no such thing as an authentic “‘pro-choice’ Catholic.

“Public law wisely does not attempt to forbid every immoral act or require that citizens fulfill every one of their moral obligations. There are, however, certain evil acts, which the law of any just society must forbid.

“One of the central purposes of public authority is to prevent injustices. Gravely unjust acts, especially acts of unjust killing cannot be legally tolerated. Nor can public law permit the unjust killing of a whole class of human beings while protecting the lives of others.

“A Catholic may never count an office-seeker’s advocacy of legal abortion or public funding of abortion as a reason to favor that person’s candidacy. Indeed, it is wrong not to count such advocacy as a very weighty reason against the candidacy. A Catholic may support the candidacy of someone who would permit unjust killing only when the real alternatives are candidates who would permit even more unjust killing....

“The willingness of an office seeker to permit, and even to fund, the unjust killing of the unborn reveals a shocking lack of commitment to the rights of the weakest and most vulnerable members of our society.... Those who assist such candidates because of their position on abortion are guilty of complicity in the abortions their election would make possible.

“The Church urges public officials to be aware that they cannot hold themselves excused from their duties as disciples of the Lord. They must be able to stand before the Lord with a clear conscience and say they defend the rights of all human beings, at every stage of existence, to the best of their ability. They must never take refuge in the specious argument that they must enforce the law, whatever it may be....

“One need only recall history’s judgments on politicians and judges who made or enforced the segregation laws in our own country for so many years. Let them also recall the judgment of nations on public officials who attempted to take refuge behind unjust laws during the last world war. No one accepted the excuse then, no one should expect future generations to accept it.

“It is all too common for Catholic politicians to say they are ‘personally’ opposed to abortion but will nevertheless vote to permit it, and even fund it, out of respect for the consciences of those who hold different views. The ‘respect’ for another’s conscience should never require abandoning one’s own....

“Any politician who wills that the unborn be excluded from the protection of the law commits a grave injustice. No one willing to commit such injustices should be entrusted with public authority.”

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“Catholics who publicly dissent from the Church’s teaching on the right to life of all unborn children should recognize that they have freely chosen by their own actions to separate themselves from what the Catholic Church believes and teaches. They have also separated themselves in a significant way from the Catholic community. The Church cannot force such people to change their position; but she can and does ask them honestly to admit in the public forum that they are not in full union with the Church....

“One who practices such dissent, even in the mistaken belief that it is permissible, may remain a Catholic in some sense, but has abandoned the full Catholic faith. For such a person to express ‘communion’ with Christ and His Church by the reception of the sacrament of the Eucharist is objectively dishonest.

“In order to end the evil of abortion, the Church must therefore address the social conditions and moral dispositions which make it appear to some as if it were a legitimate, even attractive, option....

“Today women are often tempted to request or submit to abortions because they find themselves in difficult - indeed in some cases desperate - circumstances.... People of good will, rightly sympathetic to the plight of these women, are sometimes misled into thinking they would be well-served by policies allowing them to do away with their ‘unwanted’ offspring. However, it is a misguided compassion which views killing as a solution to these difficulties.”

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“The Mystery of the Church, which is Christ’s Body on earth, is inseparable from the mystery of the Holy Eucharist.... The Eucharist defines and constitutes our life as Catholics by bringing us into the very presence of the saving mystery of the cross in a preeminent way.

...Let us grow in our conviction about the importance of the Holy Eucharist in bringing about this much needed interior renewal. I can think of no better way to ask the Lord to renew us than to turn to Him more fervently in this Mystery of Faith.

“All the Eucharistic devotion of the Church flows from the Mass. The veneration of Christ’s lasting presence in the Blessed Sacrament, whether privately in front of the tabernacle or publicly in Eucharistic exposition, relates us to the Mass in which Our Lord’s sacrifice— the Sacrifice of the Cross— is made present to us.

“It is our union with Jesus in the Mass that gives true and lasting importance to everything in our life. We must share in the Eucharistic Sacrifice reverently, following faithfully the liturgical prescriptions of the Church. Our sense of wonder at this great mystery must not be lost, but rather expressed in our every word and gesture.

“Our journey of faith in these last years of the twentieth century often takes place in difficult terrain. At times this world seems far removed from God....

“Faced with such challenges, we believers can easily fall prey to the temptation of discouragement and pessimism. Our journey can seem long and burdensome. We may fail to realize that this is how it has always been; our brothers and sisters who preceded us faced similar challenges....

“What sustained these brothers and sisters of ours? Where did they find the strength to face up to the challenges of their times? They relied upon the same source of strength that is available to us: the nourishment of the Holy Eucharist.

“When we approach the Lord’s Table to receive His body and blood, we should reflect on our intentions and disposition.... A casual, cavalier, or unworthy reception of the Eucharist would reflect gross ignorance of the greatness of this gift, or even worse, indifference. If we have become estranged from Christ and His Church, if we have rejected His love through serious or mortal sin, it would be dishonest to approach the table of His body and blood.... In these circumstances, we must first seek His pardon through the sacrament of reconciliation....

“We should prepare ourselves carefully when we are to receive Jesus. We should reject any attachments or habits of sin and selfishness that might inhibit the full transformation of our lives through union with Him....

“We do not receive Jesus Christ simply as a means to achieve our own purposes. Just as Christ Himself died, we must surrender ourselves so that the Father’s will might be accomplished in us. Through Christ we seek to be comforted in God’s will, not to cajole Him to do our bidding.”

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“Eternal life is this: to know you, the only true God and Him whom you have sent, Jesus Christ (John 17:3). This verse, which begins the Prologue to the Catechism of the Catholic Church, succinctly states the goal of the catechesis....

“Thus, our catechesis must be Christocentric, focusing on a personal and communal relationship with Jesus Christ.

“There is evidence, despite our most conscientious efforts, that a cry of alarm is in order. Our people are not praying as well as they should. Mass attendance is down; indeed, many have drifted away from the Church.... Study after study shows that Catholics’ moral beliefs are not different from those of the rest of society....”

“Revitalized religious education alone will not solve all these problems; it is merely a necessary first step. Well-catechized Catholics may still knowingly do wrong, but if they do they will at least know the fuller life to which they are called.

“Public dissent and public disobedience.... of the norms, laws, and regulations of the Church undermine the effectiveness of any and all teaching authority in the Church. It is completely unacceptable for public persons in the Church to dissent openly from magisterial teaching -- especially in a catechetical context....

“One might ask what catechists who find themselves in conflict with Church teaching or discipline should do. Viewed properly, this moment offers an opportunity to grow in faith and to improve as a teacher. The necessary first step is humbly and prayerfully to seek clarification.... Discovering the source of one’s own difficulties can make it possible to help others avoid them....

“If after prayerful study the catechist still finds him or herself unable to give assent to the Church’s teaching, he or she may, in honesty and for the good of the Church’s catechetical mission, need to temporarily or permanently leave the catechetical role.

“Catechists should desire that those they teach fall in love with the Lord. Like any love relationship, our relationship with the Lord requires time spent with Him. Catechists, therefore, need to teach their students to speak to God cor ad cor loquitur -- ‘heart speaking to heart.’....

“The child should be shown by example and by instruction how frequenting the sacraments, especially Penance and the Eucharist, can aid in their spiritual formation.... Acts of piety - such as Bible study, the Rosary, and the use of sacraments - can be introduced as ways to ‘extend’ the sacraments into students’ daily lives. Hence, students will learn early that ‘saying one’s prayers’ is not so much a matter of duty as an act of love.’

“Although our children should not be made into automatons or parrots, memorization of basic doctrine, prayers, and practices is needed....

“Memorization of this sort allows the child to have a permanent space in mind and heart set aside for and dedicated to the things of God and of the Church. They are permanently there wherever the child goes. He or she can come back to them again and again, looking back at them from different aspects and in different life settings. They are there to give comfort and solace in times of trouble, to call for conversion, and to raise questions.... In this way, young people are kept in touch with the transcendent, which is all but eliminated from a secular understanding of the world.

“Our Catholic schools are by far our best resource to aid parents in their efforts to educate their children in light of the vision we have outlined above.... Where they are available, parents should very seriously consider sending their children to Catholic schools, deciding not to do so for only the most serious reasons.

“Parents should not feel anxious about their roles in educating their children. If you feel inadequately catechized yourselves, it is never too late to begin.... The Church is here to help you in your vocation. Please hold us to that responsibility.”

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“Although surely it will entail an often heroic struggle, our effort to make the vision of the family as presented in (the papal document) Familiaris Consortio, our own is ultimately the only means of renewing the Church and society from the ground up.

“The liturgy, especially the parish celebration of each of the sacraments, enriches family ritual. At the same time, family ritual enhances our appreciation of liturgy and the sacraments.

“Each Catholic family must be encouraged to see, in a daily deeper fashion, that the sacraments are gifts from God which enable family members to fulfill their tasks. They are the means par excellence by which strength is given to fulfill the mandate articulated by the Holy Father, ‘Family, become what you are.’....

“Parents are the primary educators of their children. No fleeting goal that parents can set -- not fame, not power, not fortune -- is more important than choosing to train their children to be imitators of Christ. For it is in doing so (or not doing so) that parents’ actions can have everlasting consequences.”

“Do you make time for prayer with your family? Family prayers at mealtime, upon rising and retiring, during special times set aside for this purpose, provide a moment of grace.... Even a few minutes of family prayer can go a long way toward showing the importance of God in your life.

“Do you take advantage of the teachable moments to instruct your children in the faith? Children have inquiring minds and have a knack for posing questions. They will often ask parents about the spiritual or religious dimension of life: ‘Why are they baptizing my baby brother?’ ‘What happened to my grandmother when she died?’ ‘Why do some people want to kill their babies?’ Take advantage of this interest to teach such aspects of the faith.

“The majority of the spirit-filled teens credit their parents with being the greatest influence for good in their lives. Parents are four times more effective than clergy, and 10 times more effective than teachers, in instilling a sense of religious duty. Despite the best efforts of the Church, there clearly is no substitute for a solid religious upbringing in the home.”

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About the Archbishop