Discerning a Pastoral Plan continues

During the “January 12th Summit” in preparation for the Diocesan Pastoral Plan, Bishop Mulvey addressed more than 100 summit participants on the topic of the Church as the Body of Christ.

His remarks were rooted in St. Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.  The Body of Christ, he said “functions if all the parts harmonize with a single vision and mission.  In this vision and mission, all parts of the Church are essential and responsible no matter how insignificant they may seem to be.” 

To illustrate, the bishop used the relationship of the hand to the face as an example of the responsibility of one part of the body in relations to the well-being of the other parts. If a rock is thrown at a person’s face, he said, the person’s hand would act instinctively to block the rock and thus avoid injury to the face.  It would be absurd to think that the hand would allow the rock to do harm to the face as if to say, “you’re on your own.”  No, the hand, because it is part of the body will immediately try to stop the rock. 

The metaphor of the body for the Church is one that we effortlessly apply to the diocese and the parish. The example of the hand and the face make that metaphor more realistic and beyond theory, however the bishop’s vision is to take this metaphor and example and apply its practice for our diocese and the local parishes.  In other words, how can we collaborate, what can we share in terms of resources, programs and personnel.

Discernment is needed.  Discernment is a way of discovering the Will of God of listening together to the Holy Spirit. 

During the meeting, each person was asked to listen within themselves and to listen to the other participants to find the inspirations from the Holy Spirit to accomplish the mission of Evangelization within the parish and diocese. 

Gathered in small groups the participants tried to listen to the Holy Spirit together and in one another and respond to several ideas and proposals that have already emerged throughout the Pastoral Planning process.  “We are not a corporation that is here to devise some kind of futuristic plan for the company,” he said. “We are here as people of faith, we’re here as people of charity, we’re here as people of hope to move our Church forward in responding to the needs of people today.”

As the discernment process began, the bishop said that unity is a gift of God that is the fruit of love for one another. In the Acts of the Apostles, the early Church witnessed to who they were through their love for one another.  

As we move forward, he reminded participants that our evangelization efforts must be supported by a communion, the life among us. “It is always love that converts, not only words. Working together with joy and commitment is the true way of evangelization because, as Jesus promised, when we are united in his name, he is among us and he is our joy. Jesus touches peoples’ hearts, not us,” Bishop Mulvey said.

St. Paul VI and others have defined the Church as charity and unity.  We must discern what can be applied to our parish and diocese to better express who we are and what can help us witness through our mission.  

“So, it’s not we who build unity. Our part is to love one another. It is the work of the Spirit to create that unity. To live in such a way that you feel interiorly, the spiritual presence of Jesus. To be ready to die for one another – in our thoughts, in our opinions and in our judgments. If we are ready to die for each other in that way, we will experience and feel the presence of Jesus – His Spirit.”

Participants representing parish staff/laity, priests, vowed religious and deacons were invited to discuss focus areas and action plans which would help foster further development of the Pastoral Plan. 

They used electronic voting technology to indicate their level of support for the initiatives that should be further developed in the Pastoral Plan.

Some of them are summarized here:

1. Expand and develop Catholic Schools
2. Promote more shared activities, collaboration and interaction between parishes.
3. Provide Catholic formation to youth in the diocese who do not attend Catholic schools.
4. Develop methods to more effectively engage non-practicing Catholics.
5. Encourage parishes to support lifelong discipleship, not only Sunday attendance.

In the end, the majority of participants in the second summit agreed to be on a task force to move to action.