From Rich Parish, notes taken at the Convention on Archbishop Sample's Speech.

 A Summary of Archbishop Alexander Sample Speech to the 

Delegates of the 113th Annual Oregon State Convention on 

Saturday May 1st, 2021 @ 2:00pm 

Summarized by Rich Parish, PGK & Past State General Program Director 

 

Archbishop Sample gave a very motivational speech at the recent state convention. I wish I 

had recorded it. 

 

My notes do not show due diligence however they are all I have so here goes. 

 

You are the watch timer; you were made for this time. I would like you to read the book 

called From Christendom to Apostolic Mission from the University of Mary Press.  

It is your book assignment. 

 

Christendom is over. 

The Christian world view is gone. 

Seeing things thru the Christian lenses is gone. 

It is dead in Europe. All the -ism’s have taken over. 

Over the past 90 years, your grandfather was Catholic, your father was Catholic, you are 

Catholic, but now your children are not Catholic. 

We were in the maintenance mode. 

People are now going along to get along. 

We are hunkering down and retreating. 

We need to engage, to transform, to witness to our Faith, and be fervent, courageous. 

Instead, we are lukewarm, we just coast and move toward the temptation to cowardness. 

 

But you are men of the Knights of Columbus, You are Men of Prayer and the sacraments. 

You are soldiers of Christ. The 90 year span of maintenance mode has ended. It will get 

harder, it already has. 

 

The movie post, The Lord of the Rings 

 

Picture the scene: The heroes take a moment to find their bearings, after weaving their way 

through the dark caver of Moria, through dwarvish mines that delve deep into the heart of 

the mountains. Their wizard guide, Gandalf the Grey, sits on a rock quietly talking with 

Frodo, our brave hero. 

 

Frodo is the kind of guy we all imagine ourselves to be sometimes: not apparently cut out 

for the task at hand but having it thrust upon us anyway. It’s something that has to be done 

and we’re the one to do it.  Only in Frodo’s case the fate of the whole world rests in his 

hands. 

 

S there they are seated in a cave, lost, waiting for Gandalf to remember the way forward. 

Frodo and Gandalf have a little heart-to-heart. 

 

Poor old Frodo is carrying this heavy burden, a ring of immense power, and it’s weighing 

him down. Evil follows him and threatens to bring him down. But he must continue on to 

finish his destined path. Their conversation goes like this: 

 

Frodo: I wish the Ring had never come to me. I wish none of this had 

happened. 

 

Gandalf:  So do all who live to see such times: but that is not for them to 

decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to 

us.  There are other forces at work in this world, Frodo, besides the will of 

evil.  Bilbo was meant to find the Ring. In which case, you were also meant 

to have it. And that is an encouraging thought. 

 

Hope 

 

Archbishop Sample went on to say: 

 

Did you notice Gandalf’s message to Frodo? He neither dismissed Frodo’s words nor let 

them rule Frodo’s life. Instead, he turned the situation around. In the midst of despair, there 

can be hope. In the place of frustration, perhaps we’re able to satisfy ourselves that perhaps 

we were, somehow, almost meant to have this situation. 

 

That’s not an encouraging thought, Really. But perhaps, in some small or large way, the fact 

that we have this situation is proof that this is simply an opportunity for growth.  While we 

can’t change the situation, we can change the decisions we make about it.  We can decide to 

let it keep us down or we can decide, once again, to pick ourselves back up and move 

forward. 

 

And maybe that, as Gandalf said, is an encouraging thought. 

 

Decide what to do with our time. This is our time. 

 

Vivat Jesus,