Pontifex Minimus

People have gone Papa Gaga over the epiphany of @Pontifex, the hallowed handle of Pope Benedict XVI.  On 12 Dec 2012, the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe, the Holy Father tweeted thus:

Blogger Kathy Schiffer recently posted on the recent World Communications Day message, in which he called for the use of social media to promote respectful, truth-seeking dialogue, in contrast to the shock-and-awe tactics often found online.

This very blog is my attempt to embrace said media with skill, compassion, and humor.  It is not a substitute for actual personal interaction--an easy temptation, I believe, for bloggers, facebookers, tweeters, etc.  For my dollar, there's nothing like personal interaction.  Priests, in particular, are pontifices--"bridge-builders"--facilitators of the personal interaction between God and the human race.  

Very deeply related to the God-Man encounter is the building of a intra-parochial bridge: when parishioners in separate milieux are introduced to each other.  Having been the Assistant Pastor of HGA for five years now, I have gotten to know or at least recognize most of the faithful.  Nothing lights me up like one parishioner whom I know from a particular ministry (or none at all) meeting another parishioner.  That's the work of a pontifex, strengthening the infrastructure of the "city" that is, in my case, Holy Guardian Angels.  Of course, it also can happen in a more regional setting, as when I give to an infertile couple in our parish the email address of a woman from another parish who teaches the Creighton Model of Fertility Awareness.  It's all about helping people to make worthy contacts.

Because the Holy Father is the Great Bridge-Builder (Pontifex Maximus), and because from 1998 to 2009 he shared his authority locally with Bishop Cullen, who saw fit to ordain me a priest and to elicit from me obedience to him and to his successors (currently Bishop Barres), I am a Pontifex Minimus (Small Bridge-Builder).

Of course, the major bridge work takes place in the celebration of the Sacraments and the proclamation of the Gospel; but the care of souls (including connections between parishioners) is important.

That's all.  I just wanted to share that meditation with you.  It may not seize you with wonder and delight, but I sure enjoy the notion, especially when I act upon it.