Slide links re-established

I have repaired all of the links to my PowerPoint presentations. Let me know if any of them doesn't work properly.

For all of you who feel called to be lay apostles, I believe it is necessary that you learn to pray. At this point, as I see what is happening around us, I'm convinced that we can't survive if our leaders don't learn how to pray. You are a leader if you go to Mass every Sunday and do anything beyond that to serve in the kingdom.

My favourite resource for people learning to pray is Speak, Lord, Your Servant is Listening. We need to praise God and thank him and intercede for others but more importantly, than all of that, is listening to God as he speaks to us. As you consider the limited amount of time that you spend with God in prayer, who do you think should do most of the speaking? and who should do most of the listening?

What changes will you have to make in your life to have a regular, extended time of listening to God? The excuse is the same for everyone: "I don't have time!" I understand that you don't currently have the time to pray but, if those of you who are called to be lay apostles don't learn to pray, then I think that as a Church we are essentially defenseless against all that is coming at us.

Advent is the perfect time to assess who, or what, determines the priorities in your life. Do you spend Advent the way the rest of the world does or have you made it a time of watchful prayer and reflection on the Scriptures? At the end of Advent will you be any more prepared for the coming of Christ than you were at the beginning of Advent?

After a long absence

I know it's been a long time since I blogged. I began as pastor of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel at the beginning of July. It's that transition that has kept me so busy. To add to that the principal of our elementary school resigned suddenly just over a week and a half ago. I'm currently doing both jobs.

I still have a profound desire to see a comprehensive approach to lay formation. I want to see all of the baptized living the apostolate they were given at baptism (cf. CCC 900). Please look up that paragraph in the Catechism and share with me what it says to you.

I have a meeting of parish leaders coming up. It's a time for them to meet me and it's an opportunity for me to share a bit of my vision with them. Some of you may have seen the slides or listened to a talk I gave called, "A Vision for Future Ministry." Unfortunately, I don't think the link to the slides works any longer but you may still be able to listen to the talk. (As a side note, I think it's time for me to start my own website so that I won't lose links like that. Do you know anyone who could help me with that?)

One of the pieces of that talk is what I have been calling my ministry principles. I originally imagined building a formation that included the six areas of lay formation that the Church calls for: prayer, moral life, liturgy, apologetics, community and mission. Right now that might be a little ambitious for a parish that I'm still settling in to. Instead what I have decided to do is ask each ministry to evaluate themselves in light of these ministry principles.

1. God's Wisdom: Is you ministry based on God's Wisdom? Are you surrendered to him such that you'll do whatever it is he asks of you? Do you consistently discern what God is saying to you as a ministry or do you rely on a 'program' and/or the way you've done ministry in the past?

2. Personal Vocation: John Paul II said that: "true renewal in the Church . . . based on adequate awareness of the individual Christian's vocation and of responsibility for this singular, unique and unrepeatable grace by which each Christian in the community of the People of God builds up the Body of Christ." Do you know your personal vocation? the singular, unique and unrepeatable grace that God has entrusted to you? Are the people you are ministering with operating in their true spiritual gifts? Does you ministry help those to whom you minister discover the personal vocation and spiritual gifts?

3. Discipling: Jesus' model of ministry was neither programmatic nor institutional nor content-driven - it was relational. Jesus choose Peter and poured his life into Peter. James and John were chosen as well to see and hear things that not everyone did. Jesus also gave himself in a special way to the Twelve and from there it spread outward. Who are you discipling? Who is your Peter? Who is your James and John? Who are the Twelve that you are to pour your life into, such that, when you leave, you will leave behind you those that you have personally discipled?

4. Ministry born of community: Can you be a ministry if you're not first a community? I always get the same answer when I ask the question. Does your ministry intentionally focus on community-building or do you hope that community is a by-product of what you're doing together? Is your community RADICALLY faithful to Mt. 18:15-17 or is there a lot of gossip and indirect communication? Do you bear one another's burdens without letting go of the responsibility for your own load (Gal 6:1-5)? The New Testament has a lot to say about community!

5. Evangelization: "Evangelizing is in fact the grace and vocation proper to the Church, her deepest identity. She exists in order to evangelize . . . ." (Paul VI, Evangelii Nuntiandi, 14) Are you evangelizing others? Are the people in your ministry being evangelized? They may have been served or instructed or prepared for a sacrament but are they evangelized? "The burning desire to invite others to encounter the One whom we have encountered is the start of the evangelizing mission to which the whole Church is called." (John Paul II, Ecclesia in America, 68.)

6. Heaven: We are called to be disciples and apostles but we are also called to be saints. This world is not our true home - heaven is! How much time do you spend preparing yourself to be at home in heaven? What is your ministry doing to prepare others for eternity? These principles are an order for a reason. I still believe that the basic (and biblical) stages of the Christian life are image of God then disciple then apostle. I've added that the final stage is for us to be a saint in heaven. Those three stages also correspond to the great works of God spoken of in the Catechism: Creation, Redemption and Sanctification.

I think that's enough for now. Let me know what you think. One last thing, because my PowerPoint slides are no longer working I'm wondering about getting my own website. Do any of you know a company that could do a good job of that for me. I've also thought of migrating to FaceBook because I read recently that you can post pictures there. Maybe I could post my slides there?

Updated June 6

I received a couple of comments about errors in my blog of June 6. I have made sure that the link to The Catherine of Siena Institute is correct and I added a link to Jim Herrington's blog. As you can see I've put them both here as well. Refer to the blog of June 6 for the original context.

I haven't posted anything recently because I was made pastor of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel parish and I'm still settling into my new role.

Also, please pray for my father who was married this past Friday. His wife's name (my stepmother) is Diane.

Please feel free to leave a comment if there are any questions or issues you'd like to see my address. In particular I want to address what the mission of the lay person is and how best they can discover and prepare for that mission.

My Farewell to the CCC

I've just posted my homily from this past Sunday. When I go to Our Lady of Mt. Carmel I'm hoping I'll be able to record my homilies there as well. They're going to be more frequent and probably shorter. I'll have to fit them in to the usual time for a parish Sunday liturgy.

A blog I recommend

Jim Herrington has been a real mentor for me. I've just read his blog and I'd recommend it. Any of his recent posts are worth reading. You can start with the most recent blog and then read from the bottom to get a sense of what he is critiquing when he mentions cultural Christianity. My heart resonates with Jim when he talks about wanting to be the kind of pastor that brings about the Kingdom rather than keeping cultural Christianity in place.

For those who have been working with me you will see some familiar themes like the call to discipleship and community. Jim comes from the experience of Protestant Christianity. Does what he say apply to Catholics as well? I'm about to become a pastor again. What is it that my parishioners will expect of me? How does that compare with what God is asking me to be as a pastor.

For those looking for resources to help discern their personal vocations I can recommend a few different resources. I highly recommend the Called and Gifted workshop offered by The Catherine of Siena Institute. You can order tapes and CD's and do the workshop on your own or with some friends. You can also check their calendar to see if it might be offered in your area.

Their are other Catholic resources that I've looked over but never used personally: Personal Vocation: God Calls Everyone by Name by Germain Grisez and Russell Shaw; LifeWork: Finding Your Purpose in Life by Rick Sarkisian and Living Your Strengths from the Gallup organization. I've seen a Catholic version but I couldn't find it online. Would anyone know where to find that?

A New Era . . .

With this blog I'm hoping that each member of this 'group' is going to receive email notification that I've posted. I will try and keep the posts short and they will focus on the lay apostolate. The lay apostolate is just a church word for two significant realities. One it means that all of the baptized are sent in the same way that the apostles were. Second, it means that each of us has some kind of a role in the Church. We all have a task: a work that God is calling us to accomplish.

Germain Grisez, a Professor of Christian Ethics, and Russell Shaw, an editor and writer, wrote Personal Vocation: God Calls Everyone by Name. The ideas in the book can be found in an interview with Zenit (http://www.tcrnews2.com/LayVocations.html).

One of the key ideas is that when we use the word vocation it really has three meanings. From baptism we all have the vocation to holiness. We also have a vocation that comes from our state of life as married, single, religious or clergy. Finally each of us has a personal vocation. A key to the renewal of the Church will be to help every baptized person find their personal vocation.

What would be a help to you as you seek that out in your own life?

Homily of May 20, 2007

Hello,
I know it's been a while since I've posted anything. If you'd like to receive an email each time I add something to my blog, please let me know. My email address can be found at My Profile (on the1 right hand side below my homilies and teachings).

I've added my homily from this past Sunday.

Come Holy Spirit!

Audio added

I've added the audio for 'A Vision for Future Ministry'. Let me know your thoughts.

Today's homily, last week's slides, etc.

I just posted the homily for Passion Sunday. The homily was recorded together with the reading of the Passion. The homily starts at 17:45. It's short for a Charismatic Center homily - it's only about 13 mins.

I've also posted a teaching about a vision for lay formation. Only the slides are available and I will upload the audio as soon as I have it.

I also added some slides from a short parish mission I did last year. It may give you another look at how to celebrate the Triduum (Holy Thursday, Good Friday and Easter) and Pentecost. You can find it under 'Other Teachings'.

Someone asked me if I'll be recording audio for the rest of the talks in the lay formation series. I'm not sure about that yet. The most recent teachings I uploaded as pdf files. Hopefully that will make them readable to those who don't have PowerPoint on their computers.

Have a most blessed Holy Week!

I've done it!!!

I found a way to post the PowerPoint slides from my lay formation series. For Liturgy and Community you will find both the audio of the talk and the PowerPoint slides that accompany them. To see the PowerPoint slides click the appropriate link and then on the next page click the arrow that says "Download Now." To listen to the audio and watch the slides at the same time you will have to open two separate windows (or tabs).

Teaching on Community added

I've added a link to a teaching on community. This is the 5th in a series. It is part of an overview of a process for lay formation. The other teachings aren't available yet because there was some difficulty learning how to do the digital recording.

Homily this Sunday

I'll be preaching this Sunday. Let me know if you have any thoughts or questions about the readings. I can use all the help I can get!

My most recent homily

I've just posted my homily at the Catholic Charismatic Center for February 18, 2007. You may have to wait a second for it to load. Once you it starts there's about 30 seconds before I start talking. Let me know what you think.

New teaching

I've posted a teaching that I gave as part of a lay formation series. You can see that I'm using a new file upload service. I hope it works well. I'm trying to find a way to add the PowerPoint slides that go along with this teaching.

Most Recent Homily

My most recent homily was posted even though for some time I forgot to change the message that said I was going to post it.

I'm attempt to find a way to upload some of the PowerPoints I create for teaching. When I'm able to do that I'll let you know and add a new set of links so you can access those.

I appreciate your prayers for me and my ministry.