Embracing Change
Dear Parishioners of Our Lady of Divine Providence Family of Parishes,
I hope you are staying warm and safe in our wintry weather! I want to thank everyone who helped clear snow at our churches, including volunteers, our dedicated maintenance crew, and the contractors. I also want to commend those who faithfully attended Mass! Faithfully attending Mass is the most important thing we can do in our lives. As St. Padre Pio said, the earth would exist longer without the sun than without the Mass. St. John Vianney said that because the Mass is the sacrifice of God for men, it is worth more than all the good works that men can do, combined, because it is the work of God. It is not an exaggeration to say that the world exists because of the Mass. It is certainly worth making the ultimate priority!
On Tuesday, January 20, twenty-eight of our young people were confirmed at the Cathedral. Randi, Katelyn, and their team of volunteers did an outstanding job preparing them with classes. The Archbishop noticed this and also commented on the quality of the sponsors. Let us pray that the confirmands and their sponsors continue to live and witness to the faith in which they are sealed by the Holy Spirit!
Archbishop Casey mentioned to me, in light of the closure of St. Francis Seraph parish—and the current state of many of the religious orders—that we are seeing religious communities celebrating with a sense of accomplishment, rather than grief. He noted that the women’s religious orders are celebrating their accomplishments instead of lamenting their demise. If we understand that the Church has a mission, and there are different phases of that mission, then we can see that we have a part to play. A time comes for our part to end, and a new role begins.
The Jesuits, the Franciscans, and almost all the religious orders of the past are reaching the completion of their mission. They could wring their hands, lament, mourn, and get stuck in grief. But we don’t see that. Instead, we see them recognizing their accomplishments, seeing the completion of their work, and then stepping back to allow the next phase of the mission to begin. Sister Margie is a good example of this. She has never appeared to be bitter or angry or grieving that her order is ending. Her order has stopped accepting new members, and are planning to care for the few members they have left until they all go to their eternal rest. Then their work will be completed.
Relatedly, after Fr. Bob Thesing’s retirement this year, the Jesuits will no longer be able to contribute a priest to minister at St. Bernard. However, we can learn from the religious communities! We have options available to us: fighting the inevitable, wringing our hands, saying “woe is me,” blaming others, and mourning our losses… that is one available response. Or, we can choose to say, “that’s accomplished… what’s next?” We must recognize our current mission and bring past efforts to completion.
There are lots of signs of life and hope in the Church around the world. Our mission is to evangelize, to spread life and hope. The Gospel is real, and we have at Mass the Bread of Eternal Life. We have at Mass Someone that literally makes the world go around, and keeps everything in existence. That’s an awesome message that we must share. We have to ask ourselves, is maintaining care of more than 20 buildings at 5 campuses the best way to evangelize? What’s next? How can we best fulfill our mission?
Yours in Christ, with Mary,
Fr. Henry
