The US bishops of Region XIII are in Rome this week for their ad limina visits. Region XIII comprises areas in Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming.Archbishop Michael J. Sheehan of Santa Fe, New Mexico spoke with Vatican Radio about some of the issues of most concern to him, including the need to teach the moral precepts of the faith with clarity and charity. "Marriage and the family life are under attack in our secular socisty," he said, adding that it is not only the high-profile controversy over preserving traditional marriage that is threatening this basic social institution. "For us in the United States," he said, "I think that people simply living together without any commitment whatsoever," is a serious threat. Archbishop Sheehan explained that he has recently addressed the issue in a pastoral letter. "As a result of my letter, hundreds of couples have approached their priest, in order to have their situation regularized." Archbishop Sheehan went on to discuss in broad terms the need to reach out to those who have fallen away from the faith, or perhaps never learned it, saying that the message to them needs to be: "We love you, and we want you back."

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