Assumption Council 4473
Progress Boulevard
Louisville, Kentucky
Last night, I was invited to address a dinner meeting of the Knights of Columbus on my work in the Caribbean Missions.
I told them about how I got involved as part of my retirement planning, especially my founding of the Catholic Second Wind Guild for retired priests, bishops and lay professionals who want to donate their time, talent and treasure in building up the Church in a struggling area of the world.
I was able to report on the vision, the accomplishments and the dreams of Catholic Second Wind to date in its two Chapters: Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and Barbados.
Father John Deitrich, long-time Chaplain, and myself.
A partnership of the local
bishop, retired U.S. priests, retired/active executive level business leaders
and their associates
who want to share their
time, talents, resources and connections doing shared ministry in creative new
ways
that are both life-giving
for them in their retirement years and beneficial to the mission of the Church
by tackling targeted mission needs and projects.
A
SECOND WIND - a phenomenon in distance
running whereby an athlete who is too out of breath and tired to continue
suddenly finds the strength to press on at top performance.
A GUILD – Traditionally, a guild was a group of
artisans and craftsmen engaged in the same occupation who would associate
themselves together for protection, mutual aid and service. These guilds
performed other services for their members as well as the community at large.
Medieval guilds:
• provided
funeral expenses for poorer members and aid to survivors;
• provided
dowries for poor girls;
• covered
members with a type of health insurance and provisions for care of the sick;
• built
chapels;
• donated
windows to local churches or cathedrals;
• frequently
helped in the actual construction of the churches;
• watched
over the morals of the members; •
were important for their contribution to emergence of lay education.
THE ORIGINAL VISION DOCUMENT
THE CATHOLIC SECOND WIND GUILD
✦
… would be headquartered in the R C Pastoral
Centre of the Diocese of Kingstown, SVG, the renovation of which being its
first project.
✦
… would require that the Pastoral Centre be
renovated so that The Second Wind Guild would have a workable and comfortable
headquarters from which to plan and implement its future projects.
✦
… would, to this end, unleash a team of retired
specialists to design a new layout and implementation plan based on present
uses and identified new uses for the future to present to the bishop for
approval and implementation. Special
attention would be given to plumbing, electricity, cooling systems, kitchen
lay-out, chapel, furniture and bedding. Once the Centre is renovated, it would
be a simple, attractive, useful, workable, efficient, clean and comfortable
diocesan headquarters for the chancery, bishop’s residence, guest rooms,
diocesan meeting spaces for ministry development and spiritual retreats.
✦
… would be coordinated initially by Father
Ronald Knott, retired priest of Louisville, Kentucky, under the leadership of
Bishop County. In the renovation, Father Knott would be designated a small
office/room in the renovated Pastoral Centre out of which to operate. Even
though designated for this purpose, it could serve as the bishop’s guestroom
when not in use.
✦
… could be a source of part-time ministry by
specific retired priests and bishops looking for such opportunities. After
initial contact with The Second Wind Guild and a preliminary screening, retired
priests or bishops willing to volunteer would be introduced to the bishop for
further screening and assignment by the Bishop of Kingstown. They could serve
as formation specialists, relief for priests needing vacations or time off,
temporal pastoral assignments, retreat masters and the like. The Catholic
Second Wind Guild could organize an orientation program for volunteers to
better help them understand and acclimate to island culture. These orientation
programs would be conducted by the Bishop and local clergy in the newly
renovated Pastoral Centre itself. The Second Wind Guild could also arrange
periodic support meetings, short retreats or prayer days for volunteer and
local clergy.
✦
… would consider targeted projects identified by
Bishop County and his advisors for exploration, feasibility and possible implementation.
After studying the feasibility, assembling the right team, raising the
resources and being accepted by the Catholic Second Wind Guild, the
implementation could start under the auspices of Bishop County and in
partnership with local personnel.
✦
… would move slowly but deliberately from one
project to the next. Each project could possibly require assembling a different
Second Wind Guild team, depending on its nature and scope. Nothing would
prevent two small projects from being worked on at the same time.
✦
… could, in the future, include the “soup
kitchen project,” away from the Cathedral, on property already purchased or
even the big project of a Community Center, previously imagined by the Diocese
of Kingstown. Success breeds confidence and more success.
✦
… would not be a legal entity or hold accounts
of its own. All gifts would go directly to the Diocese of Kingstown through St.
Bartholomew Church in Florida or any other arrangement made by the Diocese of
Kingstown for receiving tax-deductible gifts.
✦
… would, with the approval of Bishop County,
begin immediately recruiting a team of experts to come down together to do a
study of the Pastoral Centre and its needs, as well as a study of the
availability of local talent and resources to implement such a renovation. Once a study has been completed, the team
would come down again to make a presentation to the Diocese of Kingstown that
could lead to implementation.
✦
… could, in the future if this model is
successful, pick and train other retired leaders and experts to start
additional Chapters of the Catholic Second Wind Guild in other dioceses
recommended by the Antilles Episcopal Conference.
