While praying in a chapel, Jesus spoke to St. Francis, “REBUILD MY CHURCH.”
He realized the command wasn’t about a building in ruin, but a call to revival. Convicted with fire, Francis dedicated his life to that effort.
“REBUILD MY CHURCH” … What is His Church? Or better, who is His Church? The answer is simple. It’s you.
The person in the pew, the priest at the altar, the bishop in the chair—we are all the Church He wants to rebuild. Our conversion, our lives lived with Him—this is how He intends to do it.
As the Diocese of Orange approaches 50 years, we feel called to a renewal that begins personally, individually but then bears fruit publicly, conforming the Church to the image of her Savior, one heart at a time.
This year, we’re urging clergy, leaders, volunteers, and every person who fills the pews to pursue an encounter with Christ in a way that will deepen our conviction, echoing the words of St. Junípero Serra: “Never back.”
Never back to the old life. Never back to “Catholic” as merely a cultural label. Never back to mediocrity. Never back to business as usual.
Christ has a vision for His Bride, and after 50 years, the vision remains.
We go forward.
To all the exiles whom I exiled from Jerusalem to Babylon: Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat their fruits. Take wives and have sons and daughters; find wives for your sons and give your daughters to husbands, so that they may bear sons and daughters. Increase there; do not decrease. Seek the welfare of the city to which I have exiled you; pray for it to the LORD, for upon its welfare your own depends.
Jeremiah 29
