Priests’ Institute 2021   I greatly appreciate the opportunity the parish has provided me in the time away and the resources spent on the five days I spent at the Lake of the Ozarks with Bishop McKnight and my brother priests. It was an intense time with many different subjects treated, but the overall objective was to inspire the priests of the Diocese of Jefferson City to acquaint themselves more fully with the three pillars of the Diocesan pastoral plan:  stewardship as a way of life, co-responsibility of the clergy and the laity in the evangelizing mission of the Church, and leading the parishes to be places where all can encounter the mercy and charity of Christ himself.

The presentations on stewardship were a mixture of inspirational stories and practical advice. Fr. Godfrey Mullen, OSB, a monk of St. Meinrad Archabbey and pastor of the Cathedral of St. Benedict in Evansville, IN, gave an amazing talk about the total transformation of the cathedral parish into one of total stewardship. Father Godfrey became pastor of a parish that had a large debt, had experienced the sorrow of theft of parish resources, and facilities that were in dire need of major capital repairs and improvements. Father Godfrey needed a roadmap for parish renewal and alone of the parishes in the Diocese made the commitment to make stewardship the cornerstone of parish renewal. Of the many lessons I learned from his talk were that hospitality and welcome must be the constant and consistent values in everything the parish does. “What are the doors that remain closed to large numbers of the faithful? How do we open them to engage each and every parishioner according to their unique talents and charisms?” 

Father Mullen earned a doctorate in sacramental theology writing on the meaning of full, active, and conscious participation of the faithful in the liturgy. What he taught students for years at St. Meinrad Seminary about the Mass became the model of all the activities of the parish. Our personal engagement in the holy mysteries of the Eucharist, the gifts we offer and the grace we receive, become the wellspring of pastoral energy and mission. The Second Vatican Council urged the faithful to not remain mere passive recipients, or even consumers of grace, but active stewards of the divine mystery of Christ’s presence in the world. 

Bishop McKnight not only grew up in the Diocese of Wichita where stewardship became the key to pastoral renewal, he grew up in the very parish where Father Thomas McGread, the priest who began this now world-wide renewal program, was pastor. We are so blessed in the Diocese of Jefferson City with Bishop McKnight who himself learned from the master of stewardship, and even today is able to call on experienced priests and lay people to teach stewardship. We were able to hear from a few priests of the Diocese of Wichita and from a few lay folks who have been assisting in the stewardship efforts of their parishes for many years. I appreciated the great opportunity to ask questions and gain some particular insights, especially on the place of a Catholic school in a stewardship parish. 

There was an interesting dynamic at work. The priests of the Diocese of Jefferson City, including myself, seemed to be focused on the hard problems:  how do you get people to make their yearly stewardship commitment and keep that commitment? The presenters indicated that perhaps that was misplaced interest and energy. More important to them was the need for accountability and transparency in the life of the parish. What does that mean practically?  Communication and information are crucial aspects of a stewardship parish. People are grateful and wish to share their time, talent and treasure. But they need to be invited, welcomed, and assisted in sharing their gifts. That means that ministry coordinators are essential in a parish. They are the ones who must do the follow up and ensure that those who volunteer are given an opportunity to serve. 

John Cavadini, director of the McGrath Institute for Church Life at Notre Dame, gave us a presentation on co-responsibility. I’m still wrapping my head around this important value and the talk and subsequent question and answer period not only clarified the topic, but inspired an even greater desire to assist the lay faithful to live out their baptismal calling as a priestly, royal, prophetic people. Pope Benedict, in an address to the people of the Diocese of Rome as their bishop, invited the whole Church to a deeper commitment to exploring and living out this mystery. Co-responsibility isn’t just collaboration in governance. Co-responsibility isn’t just allowing for increased participation of the laity in the liturgical ministries. Co-responsibility is awakening the lay faithful to their rightful and holy responsibility for the mission of the Church:  to evangelize the world in ways and places that are proper to their vocational state. 

The “aha moment” for me came when Mr. Cavadini emphasized the Eucharistic context of the mission of evangelization. Preaching the Gospel in word and work does not end in the conversion of hearts and minds. It must necessarily complete the process of conversion in the Holy Eucharist. Evangelization is not finished until it meets where it began:  in the paschal mystery which we encounter most fully and perfectly in the Holy Eucharist. I believe this is a key part of evangelization that co-responsibility can nurture to perfection. 

In my own understanding of this dynamic, if one thinks of this in the context of the history of Christianity, we can understand even better the great tragedy of the Protestant split from the Catholic Church. While the sacraments and even an understanding of the Eucharist, albeit faulty and frail, were kept by some of the ecclesial communities, a large portion of those who split off from the Church focused, yes, on evangelization and conversion. But it necessarily stopped short of true evangelization which always leads to communion as Church and in Sacrament. This a-sacramental, non-Eucharistic church community is the predominant form of Christianity in our nation today. We might be forgiven for a lack of imagination and vision here, of seeing our responsibilities as what we see in the world around us. The take-away? The lay faithful are responsible for preaching Christ in word and deed in the world but are equally responsible for bringing those they encounter into full, Eucharistic communion in the Church. Yes, the Sacraments of Initiation are presided over by the priest, but without the lay faithful engaging in their baptismal responsibilities in the world, there would be no one to bring into the Church!

I’m getting a bit long here, as usual. There were a few other topics that I won’t go into now, but may take up at a later date. So I’ll wrap it up with a few of the practical concerns we addressed. The Diocese is working diligently to ensure that all parishes are using best practices in governance. That means human resources, financial accountability, health and liability insurance, just and fair wages, and overall administration of the goods of the parish require attention and diligence if we are to measure up to the standards of care expected of any organization in this day and age. There were a few groans and complaints as we reviewed the burden of pastoral leadership today. It is a reminder that though we are a divine institution, the Bride of Christ, the Church is in this world and as such must render an account of the blessings that God has given us each and every day.