Pastoral Letter for The Catholic Moment

As I begin this reflection, it is only proper that I give thanks as we approach the 75 ^th anniversary of our diocese on October 21. We have matured, with God’s help, because of the faithful dedication of laity, men and women of religious orders and societies, and diocesan clergy.

We celebrate the descent of the Holy Spirit by the act of praying. Each day can be a Pentecost when we receive graces for our own vocation, or we become a channel of those graces for another’s benefit. This is a very live, dynamic way to view baptized living. Faith is not episodic, not once in a generation. So it is for the living church. The Scriptures for Pentecost Sunday breathe the announcement that the Spirit is an abiding presence among the baptized. This means that the mission of the church is in all our hands. The word evangelize comes from the Greek word meaning, “to bring the Good News.” 

When I was a young priest, our new pastor announced that his job was ‘to stay out of the way of the Holy Spirit.’ Building up the church is all about responding to the spirit, not letting old or new ‘master plans’ put handcuffs on current inspiration. I ask that you think and pray from this freeing point of view, of heart. If this scares you, good, because it means that you sense the importance of the present moment.

See

The method for our renewal is common to councils and synods. See, judge, act. Uniting in Heart 2030 asks us to evaluate our structures and practices. We are not starting from zero. The “seeing” is well begun and continues. During the past several years, we have benefitted from efforts to form clergy and laity effectively. In 2014, the Reid Group consulted all people of the diocese on their pastoral needs. In 2016-2017, my staff visited every parish or parish grouping—speaking with pastors, parish staff and parishioners to seek their input on pastoral successes and concerns. Now, with the help of a Lilly Endowment grant, we are benefitting from two resources. The Catholic Leadership Roundtable has helped us better translate diocesan mission into effective administration. Over the past year, Partners Edge LLC, which specializes in Catholic Church related planning, has continued to help collect and present data to guide us. Data by itself is not enough, and the narratives of parish experiences are being widely sought.

The fruitfulness of such work depends on our awareness of Christ in God. In turn, this makes us aware of who we are. As long as the awareness of these two things remain in our forefront, they act to dissolve fear and hesitation.

One typical outcome of the “seeing” exercise is that it surfaces misconceptions about Catholic Church structures and authority. I suggest that we look at the present effort as an opportunity for catechesis and encouragement. For example, a parish website noted the year that the church began in its town. In actuality, the parish was founded in that year, but the church is the diocese that now has 60 plus parishes and many related institutions. This diocese was founded 75 years ago in 1944, a successor daughter to dioceses and overseeing bishops that were in place before the Revolutionary War. In 2019, we are one church on over sixty campuses.

When I write that our mission is in all our hands, I am celebrating our baptismal roles. Each of us was baptized in the image of Christ, priest, prophet and king. Each has a role in prayerful worship, teaching the Faith, and leadership. The global church underlines this understanding in the phrase “the People of God.” Pentecost is a reminder that the Spirit accompanies us all, and raises up different strengths to be shared with the body of the church.

The purpose of the work before us is to infuse the possibility of growth. We do this by discovering Spirit-led maturity within our numbers and also through outreach to those who have listened to but not really heard the Good News. We are looking for opportunities, while considering pruning whatever may impede long-term growth. We can look to pruning within the broad perspective of repentance.

John the Baptist’s first recorded message proclaimed the need to repent (Mt 3:2). In Mark, Jesus begins his public ministry by saying, “Repent, and believe in the gospel” (Mk 1:15). In a biblical context, repentance is not only contrition. It is the opposite of self-satisfaction, of thinking that the current situation is enough. (The Latin word for enough is satis.) Repentance includes dissatisfaction with whatever holds us back from being vital faith communities. Early in this process we continue to gather accurate data.
 
Judge

Because numbers do not speak for themselves, individuals, parishes, and deaneries will look at the data and then talk about it and evaluate it. Are we seeing what we need to? What are the comparative weights of the findings?

After careful conversation, people will begin to see the same issues and potentials. Ranking priorities becomes easier. This is the judging part—as we consider the health of the diocese, the local church, over the next ten years. Important decisions will be ours to make in the coming months, and we have to execute according to the best data and narrative information available across the diocese. The parts cannot be healthier than the whole, so a coordinated vision is key. See, judge, act.

We do not start with a blank slate. The role of the bishop and canon law are clear about some things. Evangelizing and the salvation of souls in response to Christ’s mandate are the measure by which we will be measured. Overall, we aim to increase the capacity of the diocese to do these things, and this means increasing the capacity of the parishes and ministries.

Repentance does not take the place of positive planning, but certain insufficiencies or shortfalls must be listed (seen) at the start, and addressed, or they will continue to short circuit growth and vitality. Let me list some.

First, news events since June 2018 must be acknowledged. We continue to be distressed by reports from many countries about the sexual abuse of minors by clergy. We are angry that some bishops participated in cover-ups or abused their authority. Our hearts ache for the victim survivors whose trust was betrayed by anyone who abused them. Please know that we have been particularly diligent in protecting the young since the Dallas Charter of 2002. This is a document that each bishop has declared as particular law for his own diocese. We have worked continuously to maintain safe environments, yet this is news to too many Catholics. Abuse incidents in our diocese that come to light today happened thirty or forty years ago.

It is not enough for my office to advocate safe environments through screening and education if people choose to remain uninformed. The diocesan website hosts a primer and updates in these matters. The tremendous cooperation of clergy and lay leadership has strengthened our diocese. For this I am truly grateful. The weight of people’s trust weighs heavily upon me, and it should. We cannot pretend that all of our efforts to safeguard the young and the vulnerable are ever totally finished.

Second, population shifts in the diocese over the past fifty years, and particularly during the past ten, mirror what is happening across the country. Rural populations are declining as people move to urban and suburban locations. For us, this means that we see the majority of our Catholic households situated in Boone and Hamilton counties. This movement creates both challenges and opportunities for communities on either end of such migration. Catholics in any part of our diocese will continue to benefit from ministry, and, more importantly, continue to participate in it. How this will look in ten years will depend on conversations with parish leadership in each deanery.

Third, we have to look at how our priests and deacons are deployed across our twenty-four counties. Do we provide them with opportunities for successful, meaningful ministry? We have to look at workloads and allowances for healthful living. We have enough priests to provide weekend Mass for our people if beautiful liturgy and meaningful preaching are our expectation. In some areas, there are too many Masses for the number of people attending. In other areas, we will struggle to serve an increasing Catholic population.

Over the past two years, we have lost several retired priests to death. This has left us with few priests who can “fill in” for hospital emergencies, Masses and funerals. This is already a burden for priests trying to plan a vacation or retreat. When dioceses and parishes do not attend to the health of their priests, they will actually reduce the number of average “service years” out of the group as a whole.

Fourth, the growth of Hispanic communities presents opportunities that have to be seen and then acted upon. There is vibrant faith and leadership among these, but they need continued welcome from us. County censuses have recorded 70,000 Hispanic people in our diocese. Not all are Catholic, of course, but if only two-thirds are, we may need something more than a parish-by-parish plan to meet them where they are. Life in the Church is a two-way street. We must help others to greater participation and leadership in the Church; acknowledging ways to involve the gifts and talents of these our neighbors.

Fifth, we have to live within our resources. There are a number of things that contribute to this picture. One of them is deferred maintenance. Across the diocese, there are buildings that are just getting by with years of Band-Aid, temporary fixes. The diocesan buildings commission will tell you that there is no such thing as a small leak. Repairs that were put off due to inattention or lack of funds become disproportionately expensive when something finally breaks or fails. It is not satisfactory when brick and mortar needs begin to cripple the capacity to practice, preach and share the faith.

Act, but first

It tells us something that this letter is being published at Pentecost. As a human instrument, it is not perfect. However, it does call our attention to the Holy Spirit who is perfect, the Advocate for the One who makes all things new (Rev. 21:5). As your bishop, I have to pray sometimes for openness to the Spirit, and sometimes to stay out of the Spirit’s way. I recommend that all of us pray this way to prepare for upcoming conversations about our present and future. None of us has a monopoly on receiving grace, but all are promised it for their particular role in the church.

We have heard much about how civil discourse has suffered in our society. I am afraid it gets bruised up within churches as well. Something in Catholic culture has taught some people not to say what they think. Some people have not had good models for how to say happy or difficult things with their “indoor voice.” Productive meetings among people of faith are marked by measured speech. Timing, tact, and tone of voice are as important in planning meetings as they are around our kitchen tables with our own families. Our coming together is a gathering of adopted children of God. So we continue to begin our meetings with a moment of prayer. By your experience you already know to pray daily for and with our Church. In this way, we get more than a glimpse of how Christ might be looking at us, and what he expects from us, his disciples.

Act

In terms of things that are important, our parishes and diocese have made significant progress in recent years. Various human skills and working tools have been upgraded. Awareness of missionary discipleship has grown as an expression of our mission to evangelize. The preciousness of human life is celebrated. Men and women continue to respond to the call to priesthood or religious life. Care of the needy in our midst and elsewhere has evolved as circumstances have changed. Adult faith formation flourishes among parishes and movements. Spaces for worship have been renewed. Over all of these things, the main measure of all that we do is growth of God’s love in our hearts; that love strengthens our ability to accompany others in our faith journey. Remembering that this is the growth that God wants, we will be proud of what Uniting in Heart 2030 will manifest under the guiding presence of the Holy Spirit.