“I’ve heard the lore of Camp MOSH,” Bishop Ronald Hicks said. “And from first walking in here, I feel the energy and joy, and that nourishes me.” On Tuesday night, Bishop Hicks visited Maternity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, a Viatorian parish of his Diocese of Joliet.
The parish gifted Bishop Hicks a camp shirt, and he put it on immediately! He shared that he likes to wear these t-shirts to the gym for a little anonymity, but when he inevitably gets noticed, he enjoys how the shirts are little advertisements and conversation starters for the ministries of the diocese.
Camp MOSH is an every-other-year parish service week. In addition to daily Mass, meals, and full days of service, each evening includes a special guest. Fr. Jason Nesbit, CSV, pastor, invited Bishop Hicks to visit nearly a year ago and introduced him for this talk.
The bishop began by sharing his vision for the diocese. “I want three things to happen in this diocese. I want us to be catechized; I want us to be evangelized; and I want us to put faith into action,” Bishop Hicks said of teaching the faith, coming to know Jesus, and committing to outreach and service. “When you have those three legs stable, you can put anything on it, and it’ll hold strong.”
Bishop Hicks affirmed the longevity and impact of Camp MOSH, and encouraged the community to go deeper on the why of service. “Many high school students and Confirmation candidates serve because it’s required. When you ask why they’re doing it, they often don’t have an answer. When they do, they often say, ‘I want to be a good person,’” Bishop Hicks said.
This isn’t reason to drop such service but rather to strengthen our catechesis and evangelization and work harder toward a deeper why. “I hope we’ll serve because we love God and know God, because we take seriously Christ’s message,” Bishop Hicks said. “We have a responsibility to be intentional about helping youth understand why they’re doing it. We want them to know God, love God, and to follow God’s command to live out our baptism in this way of service.”
Bishops discussed the importance of learning the faith, coming to love Jesus, and living our faith in outreach and service. After his talk, he stuck around the join the trivia game with the group – and Fr. Jason played, too!
To carry this out, Bishop Hicks offered expansive explanation. “Who is your neighbor? It’s anyone in need. And it doesn’t matter if they look like you, have the same political affiliation, are an immigrant, or anything else. In the Catholic Church, we take seriously the efforts to respect life from conception to natural death. And it means helping anyone who is in need,” Bishop Hicks said.
And he encouraged the wide range of activities that can unfold during service. “You go to help someone and spend half the time talking to them. So, is that service? Absolutely. So many Americans are suffering from loneliness,” Bishop Hicks reflected. “When I helped a parish service day and raked leaves from a neighbor’s dozen big oak trees, he told me he wished he could do it and that it pained him for others to have to do it for him. He talked to us a while, and I realized: I’m not just here to rake leaves — I’m here to be the face of Jesus. I’m building a relationship with a person and, in seeing the face of Jesus in every person I meet, building a relationship with Jesus, too.”
Bishop Hicks mentioned priests who reassure parents of young children that a noisy Mass reflects a Church that’s alive – and built on it. “I want to add: a church that doesn’t have outward service to others is also a church that’s dying. We can become so insular that we can lose track. Jesus tells us we cannot be content as our own little group,” Bishop Hicks said.
Bishop Hicks celebrated his link to MBVM, through learning from the same sisters of the Congregation of Notre Dame at St. Jude in South Holland that taught at MBVM alongside Viatorians for 175 years – and he shared his joy for this parish. “I want say congratulations to all of you because you’re putting Jesus’ command into action,” Bishop Hicks said. “And I hope you’re doing it because you love God so much that you want to go out and do what God said to you to do.”