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Once there were three sisters, well into their years, whose minds were slipping a bit. One called down to her sister and said, "Emilie, I've got one leg in the bath tub and the other on the floor. Am I getting in or getting out?" "Oh for crying out loud," exclaimed Emilie as she rushed up the stairs. She suddenly paused on the landing and said to herself, "Am I going up or coming down?" The third sister, witnessing all this, said to herself, "Thank God, I'm not like those two, knock on wood"-- which is what she did. She immediately looked up and asked out loud, "Is that the front door or the back door?"
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The world we live in is changing so fast, that there are days I don't know if I'm coming or going. Can you identify with me? I simply cannot keep up with all the changes: technology (I humbly admit that I am in the dark ages); genetic coding; the internet; video phones; outer space; organ transplants; instant communication; faxes; voice mail; cyberspace; etc., etc. I have to remember my PIN number, my social security number, my number to get into my voicemail, etc. Not to mention the news and the War on Terrorism.
I recently told a friend that if my Dad, deceased only 30 years, returned to this life, he would be totally lost, in more ways than one. I'm still alive, but there are days I feel I'm being left behind with all the changes, and I feel lost and out of touch. And, to make matters worse, I'm not too sure where the Church is going!
There are days when all of us might feel weary/ helpless. The news is overwhelming and anything but "good news!" We need our parish, our faith community, more than ever. Even with the priest shortage, our parish will survive and thrive. St. John's has lived through two world wars, the Great Depression, the Korean and Vietnam Wars, the turbulent '60's, huge changes in society and in morals, a drug culture, etc. As we move on as a parish there will be a transformation. We won't look like we did in the past. But we will keep the essentials of our Catholic faith… the essentials will never change.
The good news of our times is that there is good news ! Every day thousands of planes takeoff and land safely. The only plane that makes the evening news is the one that crashed. The evening news this past year made the Catholic Church take a long hard look at the evil of sexual abuse. And during this time a lot of good work was being done by ordinary folks like your self who are the Church. We need to remember that all the baptized are the Church and have important work to do as followers of Christ and his gospel way of living. Like the plane that crashes, the news centers on the priests and bishops who failed, not on the good people like you.
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Young Catholics, right out of college, volunteer for a year or two as Jesuit volunteers or LaSallian volunteers. Some go to Appalachia and work with the Glenmary Fathers, while others volunteer with the Maryknoll missionaries in third world countries. Some begin their teaching careers in inner-city Catholic schools, making far less than they could elsewhere. Do these young adults make the evening news? Of course not. The secular news is looking for young adults who crash, who fail. These young Catholic Christians are "a shot in the arm" for me. They keep me going as they live as disciples of Jesus in 2003. Did you know that over 10% of the graduates of Notre Dame, Boston College, and Catholic University have given one year in volunteer work for the Church in the U.S.? That is good news!
Right here at St. John's we have hundreds of folks who volunteer in a multitude of ways: nursing home visitors, ministries to the sick and shut-ins, working with youth, hospitality, liturgical ministers, teaching the faith to our children, assisting those with food or financial needs, tutoring, and the list goes on. It is exciting to be the pastor of a parish where people come forward to do the work of the gospel. It's good news, and another "shot in the arm".
And the other good news that we should notice is the number of adults who are returning to their Catholic Christian faith. There is a hunger for God and the spiritual. Good people thought they would have greater freedom in their lives without God and the Catholic Church. They discovered their "freedom" was only "deeper darkness." They are coming back, not to be entertained at Mass, but to seek God and grow spiritually.
So, if you don't know whether St. John's is coming or going, just look at the people who show up and do great things for Christ. We may not make the news, and that might be good news in itself!
Fr. Bill
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