This has been a very interesting year, hasn’t it!?!  Last February, we started hearing about a virus that was spreading quickly around the world with deadly consequences.  The medical world struggled to understand and even name it; it finally settled on COVID-19 since it was a version of the coronavirus discovered at the end of 2019.  With increasing alarm, our government reacted, calling for all non-essential activity to stop for a short time beginning on 18 March 2021.  That short time was extended and rules and guidance changed constantly as medical science and other agencies struggled to understand and address the many aspects of this disease and its effect on our world, striving to find the best way forward in these unprecedented times.  It is now a year later, and we continue to learn how best to recover and, as a current commercial declares, not just bounce back but bounce forward.

I would like to use the pandemic as an analogy for the Catholic Church universal and our parish in particular.  Thirty years ago – back in 1991 – the Catholic Church in our archdiocese and, indeed, much of the western world, was coming to grips with an alarming trend: the decrease in practice of our faith.  Since Sunday Mass attendance was the clearest indicator of this trend, like many (arch)dioceses in the country, our archdiocese began to take an October Count, charting the Mass attendance trend during the month of October.  In our parish, Mass attendance has dropped from 47% in 1991 to 13% in 2019; this trend is matched around the country.  And, like many parishes, we have tried to address this alarming trend in a variety of ways, establishing Parish Pastoral Councils to help us pastors revitalize parishes and introducing various programs to engage parishioners in the mission of the Church.

In the spring of 2018, our parish participated in a survey to help us get a better understanding of the life of our parish: the Disciple Makers Index (DMI).  The results of this survey helped shape the Parish Pastoral Plan that our Parish Council introduced in December of that same year.  The first step that we took after we reviewed the results of the DMI was to establish an evangelization team.  Under Laura Kerr’s unflagging leadership, our ETeam has made great strides in making evangelization the guiding light for our parish.

Now, we are preparing to take another step in revitalizing our parish and have joined with 15 other parishes in the archdiocese to engage Catholic Leadership Institute in introducing the Next Generation Parish.  As we look forward to slowly regaining normalcy following the pandemic, I think this is a providential moment for our parish to carefully examine how we can not only bounce back to where we were pre-pandemic but, indeed, bounce forward to a new vibrancy as a community of faith fully alive, each of us growing in our close relationship with Jesus, the Son of God who leads us back to our heavenly Father through the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

In his apostolic exhortation, The Joy of the Gospel, Pope Francis called on parishes to be “capable of self-renewal and adaptivity, living in the midst of the homes of her sons and daughters.”   My hope is for us to be grounded in the Church’s wisdom and be present in people’s everyday life.  Our parish can be central for those who are seeking, and for those who are sent out to seek.

My hope is that as a parish, we will cultivate a community that knows it is part of the larger Body of Christ.  The Eucharist, the source and summit of our faith, as describes so succinctly by the Second Vatican Council and which so many of our parishioners have longed for as they attended Mass virtually, will become even more of a priority.  Our parish will support each of us in deepening our faith in Jesus, and our parish will spur among our members a boundless hope for the potential that exists in those who don’t yet know or follow the Lord.

Over the next four years, we as a parish will be partnering with Catholic Leadership Institute to make these hopes a reality. CLI is a 25-year old national apostolate that provides training and formation for the purpose of creating more vibrant communities rooted in Jesus Christ.  We look forward to benefiting from their experience and support, following these steps:

Part 1: Awareness.  Over the course of a year, we will paint a picture of our current reality as a parish and gain insight into the discipleship opportunities unique to our parish.

Part 2: Envision.  Based on this insight, a parish team will create a vision for the future for our parish and discern strategies to make this vision a reality.

Part 3: Invitation.  Through a series of faith-sharing and skill-building sessions, we as a parish will be invited to embrace a missionary impulse to go out and bring others to know Jesus. 

Part 4: Commissioning.  As we implement our parish pastoral plan, we as a parish will foster unity in shared discipleship of Jesus Christ and commit to maintaining a community of faith that is vibrant and healthy.

Throughout this process, I will participate in one-on-one coaching with the CLI team to ensure I am being as effective as I can be as your pastor. Additionally, at various points throughout the years, we will join with other parishes in the archdiocese who are going through a parallel process of envisioning and growth.

As we begin this endeavor as a parish, I will keep you informed as to what is happening and how you can be involved.  For now, I ask you to commit to helping me in this vision. Join me in ensuring that the Eucharist is the center of our community, that we are nurtured and willing to proclaim the gospel as missionary disciples, and that we are living our call to corporal and spiritual works of mercy.  Help me to make sure our parish is an ever-brighter beacon of hope for all those who are searching for Jesus.