FEAST OF SAINTS PETER AND PAUL
“You are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church. …I give to you the keys to the kingdom of heaven” (Mt. 16:18a, 19). With these proclamations, Jesus indicates both that there will be a church and that Peter will be its foundation as Jesus returns to his heavenly Father.
The New Testament clearly shows St. Peter as the leader of the apostles. Jesus chooses him to have a special relationship with him. He was the first one whom Jesus called to follow him. Jesus cured his mother-in-law. Along with James and John, Peter was privileged to witness the raising of a dead child to life, the Transfiguration and the agony in Gethsemani. Jesus sent him with John to prepare for the last Passover meal. His name is first on every list of apostles.
At the same time, the gospels record Peter’s several flaws and missteps. Although he boldly stepped out of his boat to walk across the stormy sea to Jesus, he became frightened by the strong wind. Acting as a spokesman for the other disciples, Peter asked Jesus to explain the simple parable about what goes into and what comes out of one’s mouth. He tried to prevent Jesus from going to Jerusalem to die. Once in Jerusalem with Jesus, Peter denied knowing him three times. And, he abandoned Jesus in his greatest hour of need as he was led to his death on the cross. Despite his many weaknesses, however, Peter generously gave up everything to follow Jesus and, after receiving the graces from the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, he became a courageous proclaimer of the gospel, even traveling to Rome, seat of the Roman Empire, where he was crucified – upside down at his request – for his faith. So, he is a great inspiration for all of us who strive – but often fail – to follow Jesus and lead others to him.
St. Paul can also be a great inspiration for us. He started out as a persecutor of the first followers of Jesus but, after meeting the risen Lord on his way to Damascus, he became one of the most zealous, dynamic and courageous ambassadors of Christ the Church has ever had. And persecution, humiliation and weakness became the crosses he had to bear for the sake of the gospel. Although Paul never lost his love for his Jewish family, he carried on a lifelong debate with them of the uselessness of the law in comparison to the love of Christ. And, his passionate ministry to the Gentiles of his day caused the Church to grow throughout the Mediterranean Basin despite the opposition from his fellow Jews and oppression from the Romans. His many letters continue to teach and edify us today as they encouraged, admonished and redirected the followers of Jesus – both Jew and Gentile – of his day.
Today, we join with the universal Church in celebrating the feast of these two great saints. This feast day was established in 258AD to encourage the Christian community that had been struggling for over two centuries in the face of on and off persecution by both the Roman Empire and the Jewish community. Recalling both the shortcomings of these two men and the courage they displayed was a great inspiration and incentive for them; it is for us today, as well. May Saints Peter and Paul continue to inspire us to ever greater conversion and courageous proclamation of the Good News of our salvation in our everyday lives!
DISCIPLE MAKERS INDEX SURVEY RESULTS
“Thank you!” to all parishioners who took the time to take and submit the recent Disciple Makers Index (DMI) Survey. I’m very grateful for your participation in this very important endeavor to assess the strengths and challenges that we face as a parish as we strive to grow as a community of faith, worship God and draw others ever closer to God. As those of you who were in the parish in 2018 will recall, we first asked parishioners to take the DMI in 2018 and received 357 responses; this year, we received 371 responses! And, you will recall that, as a result of this survey, our Parish Pastoral Council, working closely with Mr. Tom Lenz, a consultant for the Catholic Leadership Institute, introduced a new Parish Pastoral Plan with a focus on three priorities: Liturgical Experience, Parishioner Engagement and Faith Sharing. Many parishioners worked hard under the leadership of Kate Mallach, Kim O’Neill and Laura Kerr, the coordinators of these three priorities, to strengthen our parish’s initiatives connected with these priorities and the results of the recent survey shows that we made significant strides in each of them.
The Parish Pastoral Council and Priorities Coordinators have been meeting with Tom Lenz over the past several weeks to study the survey results and develop a new plan that we will introduce in the fall but I would like to give you a snapshot of the survey results to let you see where we have grown. Those of you who took the survey will recall that you were called to “strongly disagree, disagree, agree or strongly agree” with statements about the life of our parish. Here are a few of the responses, showing those who agree or strongly agree with some of the more important statements, comparing your recent responses with those given in 2018:
Parish helps me grow spiritually: 78% from 67%
Growth through Mass: 60% from 41%
Increased individual prayer time: 86% from 72%
Growth in forming as disciple: 68% from 50%
Recommend parish: 81% from 77%
Recommend PREP: 85% from 69%
You see that there has been significant improvement in these areas. Of course, there is always room for growth and that’s what we plan to address in the fall; more on that later!