This past Sunday afternoon we held our first Leadership Summit. It was an attempt by the Pastoral Council to bring together the leaders of the various organizations and ministries that are affiliated with Assumption.  Much information was shared and common concerns were identified. One of the goals of this gathering was to engage each of our groups in the Renew My Church process. So much of Renew My Church has focused on the merging of parishes and the closing of churches, because that is what creates news. Interview a couple of parishioners and film a scene of the “last Mass” at this church and you have a very neat two- minute segment for the local news.

Renew My Church, though, was never meant to focus on endings. It was meant to generate energy for new beginnings. The parishes that remain were challenged to become more mission oriented. We have to accept the fact that in a secular culture, many people will choose not engage with church, and the baptized Catholics who are here may not stay engaged. So, the various organizations and ministries have an important role in keeping people connected with church through roles of service and helping them grow as disciples of Christ. This touches on something that I have mentioned before, but something that bears repeating because I think it is essential to the renewal of our parish community. That word is vocation.

Most often when people talk about vocations, they are talking about priests, sisters, and brothers. Those are most definitely vocations, and we will have Fr. Sebastian Mulu come one weekend this summer to talk about vocations to the Friar Servants of Mary, the religious order that has staffed Assumption since its beginnings in 1881. Priesthood and Religious Life is a special calling, but it is not the only calling. In fact, one of the persistent themes in St. Paul’s writings was that a well-functioning church is like a well-functioning human body. Every part of the body is offering its unique contribution to the whole. This presumes that each of us has taken some time for prayer and reflection. How have I been gifted by God and how are those gifts being called forth right now? Instead, what we have too often done is simply ask for volunteers. Who is willing to help with this project?  Who is willing to be part of this ministry? The result is that some very generous people volunteer to help in many areas and end up getting burned out. Their generosity with their time is admirable, but they may not have the gifts that are well suited to a particular ministry. When noses step forward because a call went out for ears, the body is not going to reach its full potential.  A nose is never going to hear as well as an ear, and there may be “ears” out there in the pews who can then excuse themselves from getting involved because someone else has stepped forward. As parish activity has grown at Assumption over the past fifteen years, I have had to lean on people who are good at things for which I am not gifted. If I felt obliged to micromanage every group, growth would have been much slower, and some of the ministries and groups would be very poorly run! Almost all of the ministry leaders said they could use more people. Pick up one of the Opportunities to Serve brochures in the back of church. Read over what is out there; but, please, also spend time reflecting on your gifts and your calling before you step forward. Take your own vocation seriously.

This leads to two other aspects in the renewal of our parish organizations. If our groups are truly involved in the mission of the church, then they must be outward looking and open to changes in the way the organization or ministry has operated. How creative can we be in engaging people and how open are we to the new ideas that they bring? Being connected to a group or ministry is one of the ways of keeping people connected to the church. If we are involved in service, we have a sense of ownership in what takes place. If nobody knows that I am here in the first place, no one will miss me if I disappear. That leads to the second challenge that our groups face: to build up the sense of community within the organization itself. Can we find ways to come together to socialize, to pray, and to discuss new ideas? One very concrete suggestion offered by the Creation Care Committee was for each organization to look at its practices and the way it uses stuff and how well these practices reflect the Pope’s teaching on caring for the environment.

As we enter the final weeks of the Lenten Season, you might incorporate some of this in your own Lenten prayer routine. Easter is about new life and new beginnings. How might the new life of Easter energize your own identity as a disciple of Christ and the activities in which you participate?

                                   Fr. Joe