Monday Message, October 17, 2022
KNOW
We had wonderful LEAD and Lunch sessions last week. Those who attended brought to the table many wonderful ideas and are now equipped to use LEAD in their parishes to coordinate their ministry personnel and communicate more effectively. For those unable to attend, keep an eye out for an invitation to open Zoom calls that Carmela will begin to host this week. Those invitations will be sent out via LEAD.
The current term is coming to an end for Readers and EMHCs (November 29, 2022). If you would like to host a face-to-face gathering to make sure your ministers are up to date and continue to enjoy authorization to serve in the bishop’s name, please email the Institute to either let us know when you plan to host it or, if necessary, when you would like someone to come lead the session.
We have a parish check-in this week. Details are here.
Otherwise, have a great week and make sure you get outside or drive down the Merritt to enjoy fall in New England.
REFLECT
Maureen and I drove back and forth to Philly on Saturday for the funeral of a friend’s mom. She was 95, predeceased by her husband and one child, and mourned by the other eight children. She was a knitter, a cook, and chaperone, and constant cheerleader for her children. The priest did not know the family, since the mother had been in a retirement home the last few years and the parish had been the parents years before. Those in the family that still go to church do so in other places, including our friends, who live in Nashville.
The young associate was assisted by a few lay people on his team that met with those of us reading at Mass, gently instructed us where to go, when to stand, and how to bow. They did it with kindness, not a feeling of superiority. I felt like I belonged at this parish. It was clear the priest, ordained in 2019, was nervous. You could tell he wanted to do this celebration well and he made an effort to guide the congregation through the funeral without making it seem like a chore. He expertly weaved some of the ideas from the words of remembrance, delivered before Mass, into his homily and offered consolation like an old friend. In thirty two years of ministry, I have seldom seen anyone rise to the occasion like this young priest. The music, chosen from a list prepared by the parish, was uplifting and appropriate. It was a wonderful liturgical event and I know my friend’s mom – a daily communicant when she could – would have appreciated it.
As we were driving home, discussing the funeral, it made me think about the ways we go out of our way to welcome people – or don’t. It made me think of the way we celebrate these great rituals of our Catholic lives in a way that either brings people in or, too often, sends them home longing for more.
The Church is filled with many personalities, many gifts, many warts. Saturday reminded me what was possible. In a church full of strangers, two lay people and a young priest made everyone feel at home. They connected a family in grief to the faith of their mother. They led. They did not push. They did not preach. They did not force.
They accompanied.
This week, may we do the same.
LAUGH
