The Beacons of Light: Your Pastor’s Perspective
I offer this bulletin article not as a pity-party or to complain or anything of the sort. I simply believe it is important to let you know what is going on in my mind and heart as we approach the Beacons of Light discussions and the new families of parishes.
The uncertainty of the whole matter makes a lot of priests feel uneasy. Probably all 140 active priests in the Archdiocese are wrestling with questions like: What happens if I have to move? What if I stay and receive more parishes or less priestly help? What happens to the parishes and parishioners to whom I’ve poured out my time and energy?
These are all questions that don’t have a straight-forward answer and ones that we have to continually surrender to Our Lord. Jesus Christ shows us the path of surrender as He entrusted His life to the Father.
One of the additional aspects of this process that I’m thinking about is presence and availability. As things currently stand, I feel stretched fairly thin. Anyone who has attempted to schedule dinner with me realizes that I schedule things a month or two out. I wish I could be more present at different events and ministries. For example, having CCD at four different places makes it really difficult to stop in and say hello to the different classrooms. Having four parishes already has me stretched thin.
Adding more parishes or going to a different multi-parish region will make it even more challenging. I’ll have to learn to prioritize, say no, or pass people off to someone else (when appropriate and expedient). The thought of this hurts. As a father you want to be present to your people. There is a desire to be available to support, guide, and solve issues. As my time and effort is spread even thinner, it will present new obstacles.
This leads to another aspect. All priests will experience loss over the coming year(s), but we aren’t the only ones. Parishioners throughout the Archdiocese will experience loss of various kinds and degrees. The question I’ve asked myself is: How do I best help parishioners experiencing loss and help them move forward? I believe that there are two extremes to be avoided: being callous and enabling.
On the one hand, it will be good to avoid being cold and callous. Remarks like, “just get over it” or, “no big deal” lack a certain degree of empathy and seem heartless. Part of our call as Christians, especially when we experience loss, is to have genuine empathy. When people are struggling, we all need to show compassion and love.
There is another extreme that I would like to avoid: enabling. An enabling behavior is one that allows a loved one to continue a self-destructive behavior. There will come a point when we will have to move forward. We won’t be able to live in the past and try to recreate different eras or “better times.” A good leader and good father helps his people to move forward into unknown territory.
I often think of a quote from JRR Tolkien’s classic novel, The Lord of the Rings. The main character, Frodo, is burdened with the task in front of him and shares his thoughts with Gandalf, a mentor. Tolkien writes, “‘I wish it need not have happened in my time,’ said Frodo. ‘So do I,’ said Gandalf, ‘and so do all who live to see such times. But that is not for them to decide. All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.'” We may wish that this wasn’t the era of the Church we live in, yet this is the moment that God placed us. We were born for this moment and these challenges.
The goal to always keep on the forefront of our minds is the salvation of souls. Our parishes exist to save souls and to form saints. In the midst of change and uncertainty, we can never lose sight of our ultimate reason for existence. Whatever our parish or pastoral structure looks like in the coming years, we can’t lose sight of the salvation of souls.
Sincerely in Christ,
Fr. Sean Wilson
