|
My
dear Brothers and Sisters,
"This man welcomes sinners and eats with them." That is
what the religious leaders in today's Gospel saw Jesus
doing. There was an edge to their comment, a judgment. I
wonder how people see you and me as we come to Sunday
Mass, and how they judge us.
People do have the strangest ideas about us - "Holy
Joes" - "Self-righteous" - "Old fashioned" - "Out of
touch." And, unconsciously we may reinforce their image.
Some young people at a priest's farewell party before
the holidays were amazed. They found us laughing and
joking and enjoying the party. They commented on how
different that was from what they experienced at Sunday
Mass.
I am not suggesting that we turn the Mass into a party.
But are we letting the Spirit of Jesus who has died, who
is risen, and who will come again shine through the Mass
we are celebrating now?
Today is Home Mission Sunday - a day to pray for the
mission of the Church in our country, in our Diocese, in
this parish. It is a day to remember that at the end of
every Mass we are sent out in mission to love and serve
the Lord. That is easier said than done!
How can we bring the Gospel to our society in an
effective way? We feel uncomfortable about sharing our
faith with others. Perhaps that is because of a lack of
confidence or because of uncertainty about what to do.
Sometimes there is a diffidence because the children we
have loved and nurtured have left the faith behind.
Everybody around the country is looking at what it means
to be the Church today. Five years ago those of you who
lived in the Diocese then will remember that Bishop
Kevin, the Bishop before me, asked everyone to get
involved in what he called "Build My Church." It was a
way oflooking at the life and mission of the Church.
There was a great response. A lot of work was put into
the exercise in all our parishes. Then, of course.
Bishop Kevin was moved!
Now I want to pick up on all that good work and,
literally, build on it. To help us on our way a leaflet
has been produced with a summary of the findings of
"Build My Church" and with an outline of the next step -
a gathering of representative groups in the Diocese.
There we shall hear something of what the Liverpool
Archdiocese is doing and I shall be presenting what I
think that we should be doing in our own Diocese. Please
take a copy of the leaflet which is being distributed at
the end of Mass.
Together we have to try to discern God's plan for us. I
am sure that God is giving us a good shake, a wake up
call. He is chiselling away at us, wanting to reshape
and renew us. That involves change which can be painful.
The shortage of priests gives us a kick start. To date I
have had to adopt a piecemeal approach as the number of
our precious priests decreases. Perhaps your parish has
been affected. What we need is some kind of blueprint we
all own and some principles drawn from the teaching and
law of the Church on which to base some hard decisions.
It is not just a matter of reducing the number of Sunday
Masses. How best can we use the resources in our area?
We start with ourselves, people and priests. We priests
can let go of some of our traditional but non-essential
duties. You, dear people of God, can blossom even more
in your baptismal vocation. For us all it will require
training, encouragement and prayer.
Right now we should be working more closely with other
parishes. Are we connecting and communicating
effectively - bishop with priests - bishop with people -
priests with priests - priests with people - and people
with priests and bishop? Together we should be a sign of
unity in a society where there is so much breakdown in
relationships and so much isolation. Sometimes I think
that we have been affected by that culture and prefer to
be separate and on our own as priests and as parishes.
Please join with me. Do not stand aloof like the people
in the Gospel observing Jesus. We cannot stay as we are.
We cannot put our heads in the sand. What a challenge to
find different ways of working in our parishes, to let
go of organisations and routines that have been good for
their times and to give our time and our resources for
the needs of today, to work together, priests and
people, parish and next door parish. It will take time
and energy and the combined gifts of us all.
May the Holy Spirit inspire us in all this so that we
may continue to grow as a community of communities
acting justly and with integrity, loving tenderly from
the heart and always walking humbly with our God.
With every blessing, |
