We are being ordained to Jesus Christ because of a desire to share the love of Christ with others. In a recent meeting with our Bishop, the presbyterate was presented with a new missionary model of Church. Here, in Northeastern Wisconsin the Catholic Church is once again missionary. After being first evangelized over 400 years ago by Jesuit missionaries, we are now reverting to a "contextualized missionary model."
As I listened to the bleak report of 62 parishes being closed, merged or linked in the past 24 years, I could not help but think as a priest of five years what I had actually gotten myself into! Our Bishop went on to declare that we were not going to close any more parishes and focus on vocations to the priesthood. I admired his courage and hopeful confidence in God's promise to remain faithful and provide for the needs of the Church.
It was an inspiration to see a gifted leader rally an often frazzled and beleaguered presbyterate. The year of faith is upon us and the launch of the New Evangelization is at hand. To be honest, I thought the New Evangelization had already begun back in 2002! Apparently, some of us had jumped the gun. It was inspiring to hear that we were at a new place, an uncharted territory to us, but one nonetheless that had been traversed by the faithful before us.
A week following the meeting, I was still in deep thought and prayer about what was presented to us. I reflected on how much our 27 seminarians will need to prepare for a new landscape. As an associate vocation director, I see great potential and promise in our seminarians. So what's our game plan? We know the problems well enough, but how do we approach this new era in the Church?
As priests increasingly receive the brunt of radical secularism's brutal hostility, we must be innovative in responding to the Holy Spirit's initiative to create alternative places of interaction that engages the youth with the Gospel. Often, in the mindset of our current maintenance mode, we get wrapped up in existing structures and what Pope Benedict XVI calls, "a grey pragmatism," that has enveloped the Church. These initiatives of new places to respond are happening all over the Church, however, as a priest, you find yourself torn between two realities. The reality of what we knew worked, and the possibilities of what can work now and in the future. My prayer and hope is to remain open to these promptings and fulfill the invigorated sense of mission to share the love of Christ with others.
