Top 99 Quotes & Sayings by Blase J. Cupich - Page 2

Getting to know people as they are is very, very important.

In the 40 years that I've been a priest and the 17 as a bishop, I have experienced people coming at things in a different way. That's the way adults are, that's the way the world is, and that's OK.

We want to let people know that we can build solidarity with suffering folks so that they are not excluded, they are integrated.

I don't think sometimes people in positions of leadership in the church really engage gay and lesbian people and talk to them and get to know about their lives.

We have to learn. We have to listen to where people are. We have to listen to where the Spirit is working in the lives of people.

Once a bishop is appointed, in terms of governance, we are semi-autonomous. It's not like we are branch managers of a bank or something.

We're not a Church of preservation but rather a Church of proclamation. To achieve this end, we must be open to significant, if not revolutionary, changes in how the Archdiocese with its parishes and ministries is organized, how it's resourced, how it's staffed.

We want to inspire people to work together, giving them hope that we can do something even if we cannot do everything.

We don't need military weapons in our society. We're not supposed to be at war with one another.

I want to be a partner with business, labor, civic leaders, foundations, other churches so that we can work together... If I can talk to all of these people and have something in common, maybe I can get them to see that they also have something in common with each other when we come together.

We're all different; we all have our ways of understanding ourselves and the way we live our lives and struggle with our humanity.

'Dialogue' is not a dirty word; it's our word.

We should be with people who are in need.

We have never owned, as a country, the damage done not only to people who were enslaved but to future generations in which they were treated. I think that has damaged the future of many African-American people. Some have risen above it quite nobly, but it has impacted generations, and we have to be able to own that as part of the past.

I would say the synodal church is like the word itself. It is 'a going on the way together,' and it is a way - whenever people walk, there are people who have been that way before who know that others have been that way before, and so they try to give direction.

The Catholic Church is an enormous footprint in Chicago, doing a lot of good. That aspiration is felt by a lot of people - that the church succeed - because it will be good for society.

I take time to be with people, and I learn a lot.

Listen, talk, be respectful of people - and make sure that you have openness to where people are coming from. And you don't do anything that is unnecessarily antagonistic, that is only going to make you feel good because you've done it.

People think sometimes there is a 'Catholic vote' because of one particular issue. This demeans who we are as a Catholic community. We should take the whole thing... We take everything.

White supremacy is a sin. Neo-Nazism is a sin.

I am never bored in my ministry because I continually see the impact of God in people's lives.

Some of the greatest Christians I know are people who don't actually have a kind of faith system that they believe in. But, in their activity, the way they conduct themselves, there's a goodness there.

There is a temptation to have shortcuts and not put in the time and the effort. I think you have to be willing to talk to people and sit sometimes around a table and listen to other people.

The church can challenge society, but society also challenges the church. That's good. We should be humble enough to be able to accept that.

I grew up in a family of nine children, and I know there has to be a back and forth and a listening.

I always tell myself... that the faith I have is a gift, so I shouldn't take that for granted. And so when people are struggling and feel they have no faith at all, I shouldn't say, 'Well, it's their fault.'

The Church is not fully Church if it lacks dialogue.

Realities are greater than ideas. Because sometimes ideas can separate us unnecessarily. So let's attend to the realities that we have to deal with on a day-to-day basis. That's what I want to do.

I commend the parents who are sending their children to a Catholic school, because they're making a sacrifice, and they're paying twice for their child's education: They're paying the tuition, and they're paying taxes.

Every school that I have ever attended, except for kindergarten, I went to a Catholic institution.

Chicago is highly segregated, a fact that both causes and compounds the problems we face in bringing an end to violence.

We realize there is no political party or politician who fully takes into consideration the issues the church is about. This is nothing new to us.

Once we begin to make our churches safety zones in a military-style approach, we're going to lose something of the character of our places of worship.

We have to become involved in the political process - if we don't like it, we can change it.

Let's face it: grandparents are very important to family systems. You're babysitters, but you also instill values in children that sometimes skip a generation.

Ultimately, it is only the witness who convinces people, not the teacher.

People are looking for a way in which their spiritual life can be deepened. They are finding it in some of our Catholic parishes and sometimes not in others, and that opens the door for them to go elsewhere.

For me, the real goal is how do we make vibrant and vital faith communities that are sustainable for the long run.

I don't want the abnormal or something special. I want to have a normal life.