I am disorganized enough that I am often caught off guard by upcoming events. Just today I realized that I was working diligently in my office at OLR when I should have already been at St. James for adoration and confession (sorry, diligent adorers). With that said, I had the foresight to check the calendar to see how many more bulletins I have before we all know the initial draft plan for Beacons of Light, and it turns out it’s just two. With that in mind, I feel the need to both prepare our parishes spiritually and get a few last words in before I can be
accused of speaking with some ulterior motive. So, before we get to the public comment period, we should listen well to the words that St. James offers us in the second reading for this weekend.

Speaking to the early Church, the Apostle James advises them that “Where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every foul practice. But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peaceable, gentle, compliant,
full of mercy and good fruits, without inconstancy or insincerity.” Even two millennia later, we can still learn valuable lessons from this wisdom that will guide us through the upcoming pastoral planning process. There will be a knee-jerk reaction to whatever comes out of the Families of Parishes draft, and that’s understandable. It is an interesting (to say the least) phenomenon to take parishes that have existed on their own for fifty, one hundred, or even one hundred fifty or more years, and then smoosh them together into one entity. It
resulted in odd situations during the process that formed regions, and there is no reason to doubt that the same thing will happen many times over with this new process. People don’t like change, and there will be plenty of it to go around.

Jealousy and selfish ambition, now as then, are the natural enemies of the mission of the Church. If our goal in this process is to outlast other parishes, or maintain some semblance of what is normal, or what we prefer, or what our identity has been, then we are already falling behind in the mission of the Church. We’re about souls. That’s it. Anything that we do that does not lead to the salvation of souls through the proclamation of the Gospel is a distraction at best. How much should we be willing to sacrifice to reach more people and save more souls? Everything. That’s the only answer. Buildings? Customs? Mass times? Social groups? All of that and more must be evaluated through the lens of what must be done to save souls. Our work is too important to set aside for what we have enjoyed in the past.
 
This probably seems like a lot, and I’ll be the first to admit that this probably isn’t the most comforting column I’ve ever penned. But I am as convicted about the need for this process to take place as just about anything else in life. It will be hard, and there will be challenges, and everyone will be called to make sacrifices.
I’ll be right there with you, even if I’m not here (because again, I really don’t know what will happen). Priests will move, parishes will come together, and the future of the Archdiocese will start to take shape. If it is focused on anything other than saving souls, this will be an abject failure. As we continue moving through this new phase of the Archdiocese, please pray for me and the rest of the presbyterate, that we can remain laser-focused on the mission of the Church. Pray for our current parishes, as well as those who will work with us in the new families model. May we receive the great commission of Our Lord to go forth and make disciples of all nations, welcome it into our heart, and catch fire for the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
 
Prayers always,
Fr. McC