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?