Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church

Dear Good People of Saint Mary,

We were finishing up our sixth meeting of our local dialogue with Fredericksburg United Methodist Church—six members of our parish and six of theirs—on Monday morning and someone was talking about how, when we were children, we would get in the car and just go for a ride on Sunday afternoon. If you are old enough you can
remember; if you aren’t, then you wouldn’t believe it if I told you.

We would just get in the car and go for a ride. Nowhere. It was considered relaxing, interesting, to see what was new out there and spend time with family just driving around, instead of playing cards or sitting at the table after dinner on Sunday afternoons. I remember when they finally invented air conditioning in cars (yes, that is right) and it became so much more enjoyable in the summer. I guess gas was really cheap.

For a parish that dreads the many hours they are stuck in traffic every day, this is an odd sort of concept. For people who use their cars to race from one commitment to another, always watching the clock, this will sound like lunacy. We called it leisure.

Leisure is one of those things that a culture must have to advance. It is the downtime when we can think up new ideas. It is the space in which relations can grow with time. It is also the time in which we make spiritual discoveries about God with prayer, and reflection about ourselves. Leisure is the most important thing, and probably the least available thing to all of us.

Lent is here… it is time, it is opportunity to carve out a little leisure for your life. Don’t confuse leisure with doing nothing. There are no “days off” in the
spiritual life. But it is an active “making room” in life for the kind of reflection we must have in order to grow.

Giving is another spiritual discipline that we often overlook. We, generally speaking, do not give as easily as we receive. And yet, if we are not giving people, we won’t appreciate what we have. I’m not necessarily talking about the annual Bishop’s Lenten Appeal, or our several collections for local charities—these are good things and we should be generous, if we are authentic. But the integrity of a Christian includes a spirit of giving. Gifts we receive are intended for others, but we have to make the time and place available in order to be givers, or we won’t give. Once again, it’s about leisure.

Look at this amazing picture below. 300+ people made a commitment to providing the leisure necessary to attend our Called and Gifted Workshop. Response has been amazing—thanks to you all. Out of it will come what, I believe, might constitute a new spirit and a new life for Saint Mary, rooted in the gifts we have receive, and the gifts we can give.

God bless you.

Dear Good People of Saint Mary,

What an amazing parish you are! Looking back over January, thinking about all the activities we packed into the month, what with Family Week in Religious Education, Catholic Schools Week, all the preparation for two Called and Gifted Workshops and the great response you have had so far for the Lenten Friends small group Bible study program — well, it is amazing.

As I write this, the big Called and Gifted Workshop still hasn’t happened, but attendance looks like it will be well over 300 people. It will be one of the largest efforts in gifts discernment that any parish has ever attempted. Add to that about 180 parish leaders, faculty and staff from three other Workshops and you have quite a significant number who have begun the work of inviting the Holy Spirit into their lives of service in an intentional way.

Do you know what might be the result of all this? Already we are a parish that is far above the national (far, far above the international average) of Mass attendance, just under half, I figure. (Most places count a good attendance as 20-22%.) Based on the figure that we see about half, or 8,000 parishioners on a regular basis every Sunday, that means that one of every 16 active parishioners will have been blessed with the opportunity to stop for a day and consider a deeper calling from God, and more actively seek to understand the working of the Holy Spirit in their lives. That is a pretty high percentage. It will raise the sensitivity that we have of one another in seeking to help each other grow in ways that we are being called to live and serve, and our culture might slowly begin to change. If only we as a Church could do this on a massive scale! The Holy Spirit can only work among those who have an awareness of him, and a welcome.

Then, add to that so many who have signed up for the new Bible study small group program BETRANSFORMED this Lent. Already over 100 people have planned to participate — probably several times that by the time you are reading this article. Not only do we Catholics have a lot of work to do to get acquainted with texts of the Bible, but the principal value of this program is getting comfortable with sharing the faith that we have. We tend not to be “wired” for small groups, to speak freely about our feelings or about our faith. Catholics tend to be introverts in this area. But in the context of friends, we can practice that sharing skill and become more effective evangelizers, and therefore more likely to speak when needed in uncomfortable situations as well. In the process, our friendships grow, and we may even make new friends.

Last week I also had the opportunity to participate in Catholic Advocacy Day at the Virginia General Assembly. We gathered with Bishops Loverde and DiLorenzo in the morning and heard an overview of the Catholic viewpoint on major areas of legislation that are proposed for this session, then caucused according to districts to plan our conversations with our elected officials and practice what we planned to say when our appointments took place later in the morning.

Our group — Sister Susan Louise, Rick Caporali, Jim Carlson, Gregg Carneal, Tess Thome, Maureen Guilfoyle, and Dr. Trish Barber (principal of Saint Francis in Triangle) made our way to meetings with Senators Reeves and Stuart and Delegate Cole to speak on the topics of life protection and taxpayer subsidy, immigration, education, the death penalty, guns after hours in private schools, TANF reform and rapid rehousing initiatives for the homeless, among others. Our conversations were well-received, and we left with a sense that we had spent the day well.

I always wonder, afterward, how this day comes and goes with so little notice. If we truly have the opportunity to speak out and help shape the laws of our society according to our  beliefs, then it is a wonder to me that we all don’t take the day off and flood the capitol with information and voters. Over the past ten years, we have made a significant difference in the deliberations of our state legislature.

We especially thank Jeff Caruso, our parishioner and Executive Director of the Virginia Catholic Conference, for his constant attention to these matters, and to his staff who do such a nice job making all of us feel organized and valued in the work of advocacy.

Now Lent is less than two weeks away. Don’t forget to get in as much chocolate and TV as you can while there is still time. 🙂

God bless you.