Pope Francis has dedicated 2015 as The Year of Consecrated Life.
Many meanings and associations flow from the term ‘Consecrated Life’, one of the first would be the thought of those men and women who pursue the vocation of religious life as nuns, brothers, monks, priests. Another association is the way in which a person might consecrate or bless life by using the gift of our days as a blessing in life.
Consider this University of Portland legend. Rev. Arthur M. Schoenfeldt, C.S.C.
Born in Portland, “Padre” first ventured onto the Bluff as a student at Columbia Prep (’48). He went on to become a Holy Cross priest serving in educational works, and returned to the University in 1978; for the next thirty years he served our community as pastoral resident, hall director, and counselor-at-large. For all the fame of the Schoenfeldt Writers Series [named for his parents], Father Art’s true legacy at UP is his extraordinary grace as a counselor. His oceanic patience, his gentle nature, his willingness to listen as long as necessary, his quiet wisdom, his shy playfulness, his remarkable generosity, his wry humor, his sweet selflessness made him a trusted and beloved counselor, advisor, and spiritual confidant to many, many men, women, and children. His University community, his Holy Cross brethren, and the thousands of people whose lives he touched with such wit and grace mourn the loss of such a sweet, kind, gentle man now at home in the hands of the Lord.
Memorial Mass program
11 January 2008
