Saint Mary of the Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church

Dear Good People of Saint Mary,

This fall I was able to attend the International Catholic Stewardship Conference in Dallas. There were many presentations about how to inspire parish communities to come to life spiritually and socially, to develop a healthy spirit of volunteerism, to start a fire for the spirit of peace and justice in our cities, to invite people to really get invested in the present and future of their church that sits at the heart of their lives.

It is a beautiful vision, the one where the Church is the heart of the community. But what about those who don’t hold the Church at the heart of their lives?

Or what do we do with the all-too-common experience of “I’ll go where they will give me what I want”? This is the modern-day megachurch model for many Christian communities, one that turns the faith / religion / church biz into a kind of consumerism where I will support and give as long as I feel my investment is providing sufficient returns to me. What we are seeing is the advent of churches whose sole purpose is to help me feel good about myself, to help me justify subjective opinion, to turn the gift of faith into whatever I want it to be, as long as it seems to work for me. We want a homily that challenges us just enough and makes us think some, but not too much. And it has to be politically correct. Do you see how the self is the center of this whole description? The so-called Gospel of Prosperity (which is so popular today) actually teaches that Jesus wants you to be rich, and powerful, and happy, and people are flocking to it.

Studies show that a lot of Catholics are turning to these churches, but they don’t last long there. The biggest problem is, when they decide to move on again, they generally don’t land in another church home. They become unchurched. On one level, I think this is so because they realize how difficult it is to replace the ancient truth with a new opinion. The truth is a hard act to follow.

So, back to this idea of consumerism. One of the speakers at the conference spoke about how unhealthy it is to always be validating parish ministry with progress reports. It doesn’t make sense to create ministry for ministry’s sake if there isn’t the heart behind it in the community to will it into being. Nor can a pastor just decide that a parish is going to be kind, compassionate, gentle, generous and pious. He can guide, and mentor, but not make it up, or force it to happen.

In the same way, he said, do away with all fundraising. Don’t conceal the integrity of peoples’ giving spirit by handing them a candy bar or a lottery ticket, or even an engraved plaque. I had never really thought about this before, because I’ve always known fundraisers and just regarded them as a “necessary evil.” No, he said, just let people give. If they don’t, then you just won’t have. This is honest.

When you invite people to dinner, invite those who could never return the favor, taught Jesus. Give, and don’t count the cost, and don’t expect any return. In these teachings he was describing himself, and then calls us to follow him.

But he isn’t talking about money here. In a way, it would be a whole lot easier if he were just talking about money. But when it comes to the life of faith, and we approach his altar, it isn’t with a wallet that he calls us up, but with our hearts and hands open, and our life’s accomplishments and failures, with our daily gladness and difficulties. He asks us to bring all that up and make our offering. He asks us to give ourselves back to him, since he gave it all to us in the first place. Generosity will over flow into the collection basket, too, but only as an effect of the relationship that sits at the heart of our lives, which we call “church.” Otherwise we are simulating an effect without realizing what caused it to be; what caused us to be, and to be here in this place and time, fully, actively and consciously his.

God bless you.

Dear Good People of Saint Mary,

It seems like God has been trying to hit me over the head lately with a message. After considering the themes of peace and justice at our annual diocesan interreligious gathering on the 29th “In the Spirit of Assisi,” and celebrating the feast of St. Francis of Assisi on the 4th, reflecting on the theme of the Culture of Encounter that our Holy Father Francis continues to speak about—then at conferences last week with Evangelicals as well as Buddhists, the question of Christian mission and values kept surfacing.

We have a clear mandate from God that, in order to be faithful to living in his image, we identify ourselves with the poor and the most lowly and forgotten in the world in order to follow him. Two weeks ago we heard, “He became poor that we might become rich.” When all are assembled before the throne of God on that last day what is the final test determining our entry/nonentry into the Kingdom? It is all determined by how we responded to the needs of “the least” of our brothers and sisters (Mt. 25), whom Jesus claims also as his brothers and sisters, and with whom he completely identifies himself: “what you did not do for the least of these, you did not do for me.” Jesus is saying: I am the poor. I am the lost.

Our Sisters and all those who have embraced the vocation of the religious life aren’t living a radical extreme response to the example of Jesus: they are normal. We are the ones who aren’t paying attention. We must pray for many vocations for our Sisters because our blindness is so great where the world and our attachments to it are concerned.

St. Francis embraced the poor, and willingly embraced poverty itself as his “sister.” Pope Francis has taken some amazing steps to realign the office of the Vicar of Christ to be more Christ-like. When we encounter another, he says, we must first see the person, not the situation, the sin, the confusion, the illness. The person. Not what a person has or doesn’t have.

Jesus told us we already know the commandment of loving God above all things. But I give you a new one, he says. Love your neighbor as yourself. Well, I always thought this was a strange thing, because we were always taught that self-love wasn’t the best passtime. In Christ we have a new understanding: we must love our neighbor as we love ourself—not because we are so loveable, or even deserve to be loved—but because our neighbor and our self is the same thing. Loving kindness and compassion is a sharing, not a service we give to somebody. It is a sharing in the experience of life, a celebrating of joy, a suffering-with to help carry mutual burdens and difficulties.

We call them corporal and spiritual works of mercy, and we teach them to our kids. But not because they are good things to do in our spare time. They are who we are. And this identity needs to flow out of our hearts into the world.

Change our hearts, Lord. Make us like you.

I wanted to briefly mention, too, that we had some fruitful meetings last week with parents at Holy Cross about the continued attention we are giving to security and safety in our school, in response to this crazy world we are living in. Emergency plans, security measures and personnel training are well in place, as well as video technology and heightened awareness of what is going on around us. We don’t want to create an environment of fear, but rather a place where confidence and a sense of trust is established in knowing that needed measures are taken to keep everyone safe. Our parents were very pleased with our presentations.

You may notice in the next few weeks some additional cameras in our buildings. They are not because we sense any threat; they are just common sense. We have begun working on plans and procedures for the safety of the church, as well, and will get back to you soon. Thank God we have so many professionals in health care and security in the parish, and they are so willing to help us do it.

God bless you.