"YOU JUST CAN'T MAKE THIS STUFF UP" #24

 

THEY DON'T SPEAK OUR LANGUAGE

In 2014, I had the pleasure of leading the Bishops and priests of the Dioceses of Saskatoon and Prince Albert.  The Bishop of Saskatoon unfortunately had the flu most of the week, but he would get up and show up from his bed a few times that week. The Bishop of Prince Albert was a down-to-earth former White Father Missionary in Africa,  Bishop Albert Thevenot.  The Diocese of Prince Albert was north of Saskatoon, but both in the Province of Saskatchewan. We met together in Saskatoon. 

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon is a dynamic and vibrant diocese located in Saskatchewan, in the heart of Canada’s prairie provinces, largely situated on Treaty 6 territory, which is also the traditional homeland of the Métis.

Stretching across 44,800 square kilometers from Macklin and Leader in the west, to Kelvington and Wadena in the east, the Roman Catholic Diocese of Saskatoon includes some 75,000 Catholics served by 93 parishes.

From many backgrounds, speaking a variety of languages, with a range of socio-economic profiles, Catholics in the Roman Diocese of Saskatoon live in both urban and rural settings. There are First Nations and Métis Catholics, many served by the diocese’s most-recently created parish, Our Lady of Guadalupe, in Saskatoon, and there are newcomers to Canada who connect to their ethnic community when gathering to pray and worship.

In the west are the many parishes of St. Joseph’s Colony, established more than a century ago by German-Russian pioneers, and served for many years by Oblate priests.

Around Muenster and Humboldt are parishes established as part of St. Peter’s Colony, another German settlement: this one grew up around the Benedictine Abbey established at Muenster: St. Peter’s Abbey.

There are also French-speaking communities established in the area of Vonda, Prud’homme and St. Denis, as well as a French-speaking-Catholic parish in Saskatoon: Sts-Martyrs-Canadiens. The diocese also includes a wide range of other national groups: Irish, Filipino, Polish, Iraqi, Spanish, Italian, Croatian, Ukrainian, Sudanese, Vietnamese, and others.

As you can see, language can be a problem even in northern Canada. I was told a story when I was there that I still remember plainly. It still makes me laugh and I like to repeat it to anyone I meet from Canada. It's about two American tourists, a husband and wife, who were visiting Canada. They go lost right outside Saskatoon. The husband sent his wife into a gas station to ask where they were while he waited in the car! The wife went in and asked about where they were. The man behind the counter answered her, "Saskatoon, Saskatchewan!" The woman left and hastened back to the car and said to her husband, "It's hopeless! They don't speak English!" 

.....BUT WHAT IF GOD DOES NOT EXIST?

The current erosion of faith and religious practice has affected me more than I had previously expected. When I was younger, I would never allow myself to even think about the possibility that God does not exist. As I have gotten older and experienced the world on a much larger stage, I am constantly confronted with the question of whether God exists or not. It does not help to have an old friend who claims to be an atheist. My argument with her usually ends with me saying, "You may be right, but it is pretty arrogant not to believe in something most of the world has believed in, in one form or another, going back centuries and centuries! 

The quote above from Voltaire (1694-1778), a French Enlightenment philosopher and critic of religion, may have solved my problem. Even if God does not exist, I would choose to continue living as if God does exist because I would still want for myself what God would want to give me if he did exist. I believe from years of living out my belief in God's existence that my belief has made me a happier human being and has led me to be a more authentic human person - something I expect that I would never have experienced as a non-believer. 

With the erosion of faith and religious practice, I have seen and experienced a decline in honesty, truth, respect and general care for others as well as the planet on which we live. With the erosion of faith and religious practice. I have seen and experienced a rise in greed, selfishness, dishonesty, disrespect and lack of concern for and general  care for others, as well as the planet on which we live. If God did not exist, our survival as individuals and as a plant might depend on our inventing Him. 

I find great comfort in knowing from my belief in God that I am not the center of the universe, that there is something bigger than me and that I have an unbroken connection to those behind me, those here with me and those in front of me. Personally, I guess it finally comes down to this, as Blaise Paschal put it below, that I would rather live like I believe in God just in case there is a God, rather than live like there isn't a God and find out some day, when this is over, that there is a God! 

For those who argue that I could be a good humanist without believing in God, I would respond. "Yes, I guess I could, but what or who would motivate or inspire me to be a "good" humanist? What or who would prevent me from becoming a selfish "every dog for himself" narcissist?"  

HURTING PEOPLE HURT PEOPLE

 

LUKE 6:27-28

A HEALTHY BODY HAS MANY PARTS WORKING TOGETHER SMOOTHLY

 

To each individual the manifestation of the Spirit is given for some benefit to the whole church. As a body is one though it has many parts, all the members of the church though many, are one body.

I Corinthians 12:3b-7, 12-13

St. Paul is famous for his comparison of the church to a human body! Jesus is the head of the body and together we members of the church make up the various other parts. Jesus is the head so we follow him, listen to him, and let him guide our steps, just as own heads do for our own individual bodies.

Likewise, this analogy to a human body acknowledges how good diversity is for the church. The body needs many parts—various organs and physical structures—to function properly. Likewise, we believers need to work together to accomplish the mission Jesus turned over to us when he left this earth at his Ascension. Rather than expecting everyone to be alike and do the same thing, each of us can contribute to the health of community by using whatever gifts God has bestowed on us in particular for the benefit of the rest of us!

St. Paul goes on to explain our diversity this way, “If the ear should say, ‘Because I am not an eye, I do not belong to the body,’ it would not for that reason stop being part of the body. If the whole body were an eye, where would the sense of hearing be? If the whole body were an ear, where would the sense of smell be? God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.”

Each believer is valuable to the church and each of us is a needed part of the body of Christ. This diversity is something to be celebrated and recognized as part of God’s great design for the church. We have all heard the expression "It runs like a well-oiled machine." That's what St. Paul is trying to tell us today, that just as a healthy body needs all its parts working together in harmony like a "well-oiled machine." A disciplined group, with a clear goal, can take action like a well-oiled machine. Through hard work and allegiance to each other, we can accomplish more, but only if we support one another and only if we work together as a team.

I just had my annual physical a couple of months ago. The doctor checked out my blood, my heart, my lungs, my joints, my balance, my ears, my eyes, my reflexes and more. He gave me a list of tune-up ideas to help my body function more smoothly. He said that I needed to watch my "sugar intake" and to stay engaged in some "vigorous exercise.” These days, because I am headed toward 82, I get maintenance physicals "twice a year" to make sure there are no damaged parts that need attention, to make sure my shots are up to date  and what I need to do before the next “tune up.”

If healthy parishes are like human bodies, then every member must be healthy and doing his or her part to serve the rest of the body. One of the things that I have heard over and over again in various parishes is this: "You can't get anybody to do anything for the parish anymore!" If that is true, it is tragic indeed! If that were true, more parishes would indeed become sick! Let me be perfectly clear! I believe that what all dying parishes have in common is a leadership vacuum - something you do not have here!  Good spiritual leaders must have the ability to influence people. That means that if people are not asked and inspired to use their gifts, have their gifts recognized and appreciated, they get used to not offering them very quickly. They shut down like any unhealthy organ in the human body putting the rest of the body at risk. Just think how long you would last if your heart stopped, your digestive system failed, your lungs no longer functioned, your kidneys quit working? That's exactly what happens when all the members of the parish are not pulling their weight, doing their part and using their gifts.

I find it hard to believe that "you can't get anybody to do anything for the parish anymore." I do believe, however, that people will not step up until they are asked and shown that their help has been used, appreciated and shown to be helpful. That's what good leaders do! They manage human resources! I know from 55 years of experience that people will help if they have committed leaders to invite them, guide them and thank them! If people volunteer and no one responds, no one is around to answer the phone and no one shows an ounce of appreciation, they will soon lose heart and finally give up. In a leadership vacuum, either the crazies take over the asylum or the situation crumbles into chaos!

Friends! I didn't give my life to serve the parishioners of this diocese to see our faith communities dwindle and shrink and wither away. I have been in ten countries promoting parish revitalization through my teaching and my personal experience to Cardinals, Archbishops, Bishops and thousands of priests. I have written a couple of books about parish revitalization. I will not believe that I wasted the last fifty-five years of my life doing all this!

Parishes are like marriages. If both partners do not feed their marriage regularly, it will die of starvation. Then there will be nothing left but a love-less relationship or maybe a divorce. Parishes are also like pot luck dinners. If everybody contributes, the meal is absolutely fabulous, but if most of the parishioners show up only when they have a personal need (a baptism, a wedding or a funeral), expecting somebody else to have kept things going, they will go hungry   . People who don't do their part tend to treat the parish like a fast-food restaurant - they want things to be convenient, easy and cheap! Then people begin to complain, "I don't go anymore, because I don't get anything out of it!" Sadly, one of the reasons they don't get anything out of it is because they probably never invested much in it anyway!

Of course, I have been talking to the wrong crowd! Most of you obviously are involved and the parish owes you its gratitude! I should be talking to the people who are not here! If not treated, the death of a parish is more like a slow-growing cancer than a quick heart attack!

Let me list a few practical tips on how to be a good member of any parish. (1) Not everybody can volunteer for jobs, but if you can't do anything, at least thank those who did do something! When we helped restore and revitalize the Cathedral, growing the parish tremendously and completely renovating its buildings, the work was hard and long which we were happy to do. What hurt was the fact that so few priests said anything positive to us at the rededication! Thanking those who can do something motivates them to do more. Withholding gratitude makes them want to give up and quit!

(2) “No one has ever become poor by giving.” That is a quote from the diary of Anne Frank whose life was saved for a while by people willing to hide Jews during the Holocaust. I remember the day when one of the street people we fed daily at the Cathedral rang the rectory door bell. I assumed he was begging. When I opened the door, he opened his hand with some change in it! "Here, Father! I want to donate this to the Cathedral restoration project!" I took it, because I did not want to rob him of the opportunity to be generous too, but I wanted to cry! On another day, I was running late for Mass when I was confronted by a street person wanting my attention. I had decided I’d tell her to come back after Mass to see what I could do for her when she opened her hand clutching some change. Before I could open my mouth to put her off, she asked, “Father, where is the poor box? I want to make a donation!”  

My friends, to keep your parish going, give some of your time, if you can. Offer some of your talent, if you can!  Share some of treasure, if you can! Yes, even leave something in your will, if possible!  "No one has ever become poor by giving." There are tax laws that can help you do that without taking anything away from your kids! Go talk to a finance professional and find out how it can be done! I believe in this so much that I have left a little to each of the parishes I have served in, including the one I was raised in!

(3) It is in the small communities of faith like this one where most Catholics experience the “one, holy, catholic and apostolic church” that we say we believe in!  We need these faith communities. We need everyone to be involved in standing up to the worst sins of our culture. Selfishness, laziness and me-me-me are epidemic! We have got to show the next generation how to care for these faith communities in contrast to some current form of "every dog for himself" way of living. The epidemic of selfishness, laziness and me-me-me is a spiritual sickness that can lead to the death of a community! Building thriving parishes is an effective way to fight the spiritual diseases that are infecting communities across our country!