During his time as a priest in the Diocese of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, Bishop Edward Malesic spent several years as a campus minister. When his schedule permits, he still enjoys visiting schools and colleges to spend time with young people.
One summertime opportunity in the Diocese of Cleveland is when he can spend time with participants in the Tolle Lege Summer Institute.
(See photo gallery above.)
Founded by Father Damian Ference, vicar for evangelization, in 2011, Tolle Lege welcomed its first class in 2012. Since then, incoming high school seniors can attend the coed, weeklong program based at the Center for Pastoral Leadership in Wickliffe. Father Ference and several seminary professors assist with Tolle Lege. The program is managed by three seminarians. This year’s seminarian institute administrators are Josh Stecz, Andrew Bendahan and Matt Wasinski.
Participants in the first session spent some time one recent afternoon with the bishop in the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. Bishop Malesic spent nearly an hour chatting with the students, answering their questions, praying with them and offering a blessing.
“Life is a blessing. God gave you life and he has a plan for you,” he told the students. “His ultimate plan is for you to be saved.”
The bishop invited the Tolle Lege group to ask him questions. One wanted to know about his schedule. He explained he has many meetings and has been busy in recent weeks with travel, also, including a trip to Orland, Florida to attend the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops’ spring conference. He also traveled back to Harrisburg for the ordination of the new bishop. And he ordained six Jesuit priests in Milwaukee, Wisconsin recently. This month, he will be attending the National Black Catholic Congress and celebrating a ballpark Mass at League Park.
“I’ve been traveling a lot lately,” he quipped.
When asked about his typical day, the bishop said he gets up about 6 or 6:30 a.m., prays, may celebrate Mass, has breakfast and heads to the office. After lunch, there’s more work. In the event, he often has events to attend. Sometimes he’s at a parish event, a pastor installation or a meeting.
“My secretary keeps the schedule,” he said. “I don’t remember a time when I wasn’t pretty busy.”
Another student asked the difference between a basilica and a church. He explained that a basilica is a church that was given special significance or an honor by the pope.
The group was interested in learning that the cathedral has a complete set of relics – St. Christine, an early Church martyr – and is one of the few places outside of Rome to have a full set.
The bishop was asked if he had a favorite church, to which he replied it was hard to say. “There are some beautiful, old churches in the diocese,” he said, mentioning a few – St. Stephen, St. Michael and St. Stanislaus. “It would be too expensive to build a church like that today,” he said, noting many of the craftsmen came from Europe and had special skills.
He took the students into the cathedral sanctuary and showed them the cathedra, the bishop’s chair, and explained his motto and coat of arms.
Then he prayed with them and offered a blessing before he had to head to another event.
Father Ference said Tolle Lege provides an opportunity for participating students to learn about their faith and its relevance to the modern world. They have a four-pronged focus during the week: spirituality, academics, culture and fun. In addition to classes at the CPL, the students take field trips to churches, cultural places and other sites of interest in Greater Cleveland.
Learn more about Tolle Lege here.