New Ulm, Minnesota. It is always great for the spirits of the faithful when a bishop of the Church follows up words with action. We must always pray for our bishops, for they are the visible leaders in the Church. How much more powerful, then, when they join the laity side by side in the work of bringing souls to Christ! Humor and relatability go a long way in the work of evangelization, especially when it comes to our leaders, as we will see from this report.
The following report comes from SPSE evangelist Deb in Minnesota:
“I was blessed to be able to spend a few hours at the Walmart in New Ulm evangelizing with Bishop LeVoir. Bishop LeVoir said his homily at Mass yesterday was all about evangelization and how we are all called to share the Good News. He also told the parishioners that he would be out at Walmart evangelizing doing exactly that and I think many thought he was kidding. He was awesome and prayed with many and gave lots of blessings. Many people stopped to talk to us (much more than usually happens) and the very last guy that stopped as we were putting things away said he needed prayers because his cat had diabetes and he was looking for a new job, because there was too much BS at his job he had worked at for twenty years, so he quit. Bishop LeVoir prayed for him and his needs and said “I pray that David will find a job with no BS and that his cat gets better”. Oh my gosh, you just can’t make these things up. We were teasing him about the BS line as we drove back to the pastoral center and he was chuckling about it, too. He loved the “Ask the Bishop” sign and can’t wait to take it to other events.”
Praised be Jesus Christ! Apostolic succession is a hallmark of our faith, one of the four marks of the Church. The structure of the Church that our Lord ordained lends itself to a top-down approach in teaching and authority (which is needed), while the work of evangelization is often done from the bottom up. Both are needed, and we are always blessed when our bishops recognized and participate in the important work of evangelization and public witness. Thank you Bishop LeVoir, and thank you to all the faithful who support our apostolate!