Thanks be to God for a priest such as this

On May 20, our dear friend Fr. Joe Krupp was honored by the Catholic community of Lansing, Michigan. He took the opportunity to articulate what it means to be Catholic. Treat yourself and read this lyrical and profound message...

"To God be the Glory for the things he has done.

We are Catholic.

Tonight, we sit here together; one in our mission.  This mission that unites us is not solely about us, it’s about our name.  Our identity.

We are Lansing Catholic.

We are not a part of the Church, we are the Church.  We are not just connected to the Catholics who live and breath all around the world, we are connected to those Catholics who have gone before us and those who will come after us.

When we say, “We are Lansing Catholic,” we are speaking our connection in Christ to all of Catholicism around the world, past and present.

When we say We Are Catholic, we acknowledge with holy pride all those things that Church has given the world:

We translated and compiled the Bible.
 
We created the University system and today, we educate more people than any other educational institution on the planet.

We are the largest charitable organization in the History of the world. In most counties in the United States, the Catholic Church is the largest provider of food, clothing, shelter and medical care for those who are living in poverty.

Who are we?  Let’s step back into history and see the part Catholics have played in the formation of the world:

We are the men and women who boarded ancient ships and sailed the oceans to unknown destinations, guided only by the stars.  We stepped off the boats and connected to new worlds, bringing the light of faith in Christ with us.

We are the brave men and women who founded orphanages and missions in these new worlds; caring for the lowest of the low and entering into their darkness to find light.  In this, we laid the foundations for hundreds of cities around the US, which bear the names of our Saints.

We are Catholic.

We are the men and women who funded the arts throughout the centuries.  We are Catholics like Salvador Dali and Leonardo DaVinci.  We are Andy Warhol and Oscar Wilde, Michelangelo and Pablo Picaso.  We are Rafael and Renior.

We are providers of the world’s largest free art museums; making sure that anyone, anytime can see beauty through the eyes of those who created it.

We are composers.  We are the men and women who created masterpieces which allowed our spirits to soar to the highest heavens: We are Catholics like Beethoven, Fr. Antonio Vivaldi, Dvorak, Haydn, Mozart and Schubert.

We are thinkers.  We are the men and women who allowed the light of Christ to illuminate the minds of all: We are Augustine, Aquinas, Blaise Pascal and Rene Descartes, the Father of Modern Philosophy.

We are Catholic.

We are authors and directors: GK Chesterton, JRR Tolkein.  We are Frank Capra, Bing Crosby and Alfred Hitchcock.

We are Scientists and Astronomers.  We are Catholics like Marie Curie, the first female professor at the University of Paris and a pioneer in radiation research.  We are Louis Pasteur and the Monk Gregory Mendel, the father of genetics.  We are Enrico Fermi, Copernicus and Sir Francis Bacon, the Father of the scientific method.

We are Catholic.

We are Katharine Drexel, who poured out her life in caring for the needs of the oppressed Native and African Americans of the 19th century and reminded the world that when one of God’s children is oppressed, we are all lessened.  We are Elizabeth Ann Seton who dedicated her very existence to educating young women and offering them a future that no one else could at the time.

We are the Catholics who will come after us.  The men and women who will fight for the poor and downtrodden.  We are the men and women who will end the scourge of abortion.  We are the men and women whom God will call to light the world on fire and forever change human history to reflect God’s glory and goodness.

We are Catholic.

This is who we are.  We are the mistakes of our past and future.  We are the glory of what has been and can be.  We are God’s children.

So now, I ask you to pause and consider.  Will you revel in this unbroken chain of goodness or will you join it?

Your presence here would suggest to me that you want something more than to glory in our past or consider the wonders of our future.  Your presence here suggests that you want to join the hands of the men and women who have gone before us and allow God’s grace and light to shine through and in you.

You are Catholic.

I thank you tonight for all you’ve done for Lansing Catholic.  I beg God to pour out his blessings on you for what you’ve done and who you are.

I also challenge you: don’t be content.  Extend your hand and join the billions of Catholics, past, present and future in adding to this legacy.

God has called us to nothing less than to be his light shining.  We must pour out our lives in loving service of the Gospel, answering the call to bring Jesus to the world and live the Justice that follows His presence.

We must be people of prayer and people of action.

We must be people of action and people of prayer.

Remember the words of the Apostle Paul: “He who started a good work in you will see it to completion.”

I will close now with some words from Lord Tennyson that have inspired me during my time at Lansing Catholic.  They’ve inspired me to never be content, but to stand and be who God has called me to be:

Some work of noble note may yet be done,
Not unbecoming men that strove with gods…
Come, my friends,
Tis not too late to seek a newer world.
Though much is taken, much abides; and though
We are not now that strength which in old days moved heaven and earth;
That which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find and not to yield.

Blessed be God."