RETHINK ST. FRANCIS OF ASSISI

You may think of St. Francis of Assisi as a religious brother wearing a habit.  That came later.  At first he was a Catholic guy out in the woods who wore strange clothes.  Not everybody was thrilled.  It’s hard to imagine that this habit and this religious order that we take as such an institution today was at one time seen as either cutting edge or slightly off and, in either event, very different.  But the way this guy decided to love Christ and live his life continues to have direct influence on us today - even to the way our churches are decorated.  Not one Catholic church today does not have the mark of St. Francis on it.  Just look up at the Stations of the Cross.

At a typical Catholic parish, there are hundreds to thousands of people per clergyman.  It can’t be like the Super Bowl to paraphrase someone more clever than I, where there tens of thousands of people desperately in need of exercise watching 22 guys desperately in need of rest.  We are all called, in different ways, to carry on the work of Christ.

St. Francis’s work was not a ministry of his parish, he didn’t have a budget or an announcement in the bulletin.  He didn’t have an official sponsor or a team T-shirt.  What he did have was love of Jesus and desire to spread His word so he experimented and did it.  Some things were wildly successful and some were not.

Support of an official organization is great when you can get it but not getting it is not an excuse not to serve.  It means be more creative.  The greatest changes in the Church have always come about when an individual man or woman has decided to take the faith seriously, not when they have been awarded poster space in the narthex of the parish church.  

What is your love for Christ calling you to do?

IF YOU SEE A HOLE - DISCERN IF YOU CAN FILL IT

“Parishes need to do more in order to attract and keep today’s people.”  The answer is always more programs and more ministries.  There is some truth to this and so many parishes have a full week’s worth of activities and special events to make sure that people are involved.

The danger of this is that many people mean that the priest and (usually his staff of about 3 full time paid people) are supposed to put all these things on.  Parishes become like your club membership, one “joins” in order to enjoy all the benefits offered.  But no matter how talented the staff may be, they can only do so much.

If you agree that your parish should do “more,”  maybe you are being called to do something about it.  It takes two of course.  In many cases a pastor must at least allow it to take place especially if you need space and a bulletin announcement.  But supposing that is there, if you see a hole, offer to fill it.

I’ve been heartened by the number of lay run ministries in our area some associated directly with a parish and some not.  Things that with our staffs and budgets we could never have enough to do.  West Side Catholic Couples incorporates a number of people from 5 parishes and they just put on a retreat for 600 people.  The ITE project is going strong.  (See more HERE.)  Theology on Tap Akron and Theology on the Rocks, The Young Adult Book Group, Bible Studies, Social Justice, and a number of other groups thrive in the Akron area with different levels of lay leadership and connections to parishes.  

The fact is, we are a mission people sent out from Mass to do Catholic, Christian stuff.  The rising movement of lay ministry is way to see to it that our parishes are as lively as they can be while not depending on “someone official” to bear the whole of the burden.