However well-educated we may be in the Catholic faith, it is simply too deep for any of us to plumb its depths.
Northwest Catholic’s mission, as outlined by Archbishop J. Peter Sartain when we began publishing in 2013, is “to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ to Catholics in Western Washington to teach, inspire and form disciples who know the Lord and live their faith to the full.”
Teaching disciples to better know the Lord and their faith was the motivation for our “Ask Father” column, a catechetical commentary that has been curated by Father Cal Christiansen, pastor of St. Pius the X Parish in Mountlake Terrace, for the past three years.
It is a space in this magazine where people can go to read reflections on questions arising from the deep (and often puzzling) repository of the Catholic Church. It’s an important and challenging part of our mission.
The church has always had to deal with a secular culture that provides ready answers — mostly misconceptions or distortions — to the complex challenges and tensions of discipleship with which we all struggle. So Northwest Catholic opened this space to help Catholics form their consciences.
It is a genuine gift to our readers that with this edition of Northwest Catholic, newly ordained Auxiliary Bishop Daniel Mueggenborg will begin writing “Ask a Bishop” in this space. We could hardly ask for a more qualified successor to Father Christiansen, who gets a much-deserved respite from publishing deadlines in order to attend to his ever-expanding pastoral responsibilities.
Bishop Mueggenborg has been a pastor and held positions in Catholic high schools, universities and seminaries. He also is a Scripture scholar and the author of a three-volume series on the Sunday Gospel readings entitled Come Follow Me.
You’ll find his first column on page 12, answering the question “What are the ‘gnostic gospels’?” It’s a must-read for any disciple who wants to know the Lord and live their faith to the full. Please send your questions for Bishop Mueggenborg to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. document.getElementById('cloakd5817fcd320929ed801791ac10b38511').innerHTML = ''; var prefix = 'ma' + 'il' + 'to'; var path = 'hr' + 'ef' + '='; var addyd5817fcd320929ed801791ac10b38511 = 'editor' + '@'; addyd5817fcd320929ed801791ac10b38511 = addyd5817fcd320929ed801791ac10b38511 + 'seattlearch' + '.' + 'org'; var addy_textd5817fcd320929ed801791ac10b38511 = 'editor' + '@' + 'seattlearch' + '.' + 'org';document.getElementById('cloakd5817fcd320929ed801791ac10b38511').innerHTML += ''+addy_textd5817fcd320929ed801791ac10b38511+''; .
Northwest Catholic - September 2017