Good news from Page One of the June 22, 2008 edition of Eastern Oklahoma Catholic! The Diocese of Tulsa is a thriving missionary Church in a state where Catholics are a minority. I appeal to the readers of Vultus Christi and to their friends to offer financial support for the construction of the Cenacle.
Eucharistic Cenacle
"Cistercian Father Mark Kirby has been invited into the Diocese of Tulsa to serve as a spiritual director for the priests and deacons as well as to implement plans announced by Bishop Edward J. Slattery June 8 to establish a Eucharistic Cenacle of prayer and adoration for priests.
Secret of Sanctification
Through Father Kirby's ministry within and for the presbyterate, Bishop Slattery hopes to expand Eucharistic Adoration throughout eastern Oklahoma while helping our clerics rediscover that "the secret of their sanctification lies precisely in the Eucharist ... The priest must be first and foremost an adorer who contemplates the Eucharist." (Pope Benedict XVI, Angelus, Sept. 18).
To Tulsa
Born in Connecticut and a monk of the Cistercian Abbey of Santa Croce in Gerusalemme in Rome, Father Kirby has been a priest for 22 years. He is expected to arrive by August 1st and will make his residence in midtown Tulsa, near St. John Medical Center, where he will be able to assist in St. John's program of 24-four Adoration and Intercession. At some point in the future, work will begin on the Cenacle of Prayer, although the Bishop has not disclosed the probable location of the Cenacle, which the Vatican's Claudio Cardinal Hummes described as being 'a kind of Eucharistic shrine.'"
Please send your contributions toward building the Eucharistic Cenacle to:
His Excellency, The Most Reverend Edward J. Slattery
Bishop of Tulsa
P. O. Box 690240, Tulsa, OK 74169-0240
Kindly indicate that your contribution is for the Cenacle of Eucharistic Adoration. Thank you for your generosity. May Our Lord Jesus Christ make the light of His Eucharistic Face shine upon you.
His Excellency, the Bishop of the Diocese of Tulsa, Oklahoma has given
Father Mark a special mandate to live in adoration before the Most
Blessed Sacrament, in a spirit of thanksgiving and intercession, that he
might make reparation before the Eucharistic Face of Jesus for all his
brothers in Holy Orders. At the same time, he is available to the
priests and deacons of the Diocese for spiritual and sacramental
support in their pursuit of holiness.
This is all wonderful, Father! May your ministry be richly blessed!
Father Benedict.
I just found your blog, Fr Mark. What a awesome ministry through which the Lord is calling you to serve him and his Church in our nation. As a Benedictine oblate (Olivetans) and an Oblate of the Precious Blood (Cor Jesu Monastery, Jemez Springs, NM)I am delighted with BOTH your monastic life and your ministry towards priests. Both of these are at the heart of my Christian life as a layman.
I am sure you are familiar with OSB oblates but the OPB (not in competition with OSB, the former consist in a different form of oblation on behalf of the priesthood) are dedicated to prayer and sacrifice for the santcification of priests.
And so I will surely be keeping you and the Cenacle in my prayers, asking Christ and our Lady to bless you and your ministry.
PAX,
David