Dear Friends,
October is always a busy time in parish life. We have the Annual Archbishop’s Appeal going on. The national and local elections are a few weeks away and as is common, there are a few ballot initiatives that have moral implications which need our attention and our vote. Parishes are also required annually to complete a report to the diocese letting them know what has happened in their community during the year. We have our fall Spaghetti Dinner happening on the 20th and we need your help and participation to make it successful. Parish programs such as Alpha and Called and Gifted are in session. And, this weekend, I am giving you the Annual Parish Report which is primarily about finances but also looks at our ministerial impact during the past year.
If you are registered in the parish, then you should have received a copy of our Annual Report in the mail. If you haven’t yet registered, there are extra copies at the church entryways. You will notice that there is less reading in the report than in prior years because now we want you to scan in the QR Code and listen to your fellow parishioners talk about their experience and the impact of our parish community. The printed report tells you the financial story, the QR linked videos tell you the faith-filled story.
On Tuesday and Wednesday of the past week, we had our fall Clergy Conference. During one of the sessions, we were invited to name the vision we have for our parish and to spend time in prayer with God to make sure that the vision belonged to God and not just to me. Part of my prayer that day took me back to a long-ago seminary class in ecclesiology (church). In the class, we were taught that the church was a very complex entity with multiple roles given it by God. We used Cardinal Dulles’ classic text, Models of the Church. In it he sifted out six major approaches, or “models,” through which the Church’s character can be understood: as Institution, Mystical Communion, Sacrament, Herald, Servant, and, as Community of Disciples. A balanced theology, he concludes, must incorporate the major affirmations of each. “The method of models or types,” observes Cardinal Dulles, “can have great value in helping people to get beyond the limitations of their own particular outlook and to enter into fruitful conversation with others.” In my prayer that day, I was sure that my dominant vision was to see our parish as a community of disciples but, hopefully, without losing any of the other dimensions of church. So, I wonder, how do you see our parish?
I am taking an online class from Barna with Annie Wise and the Lenz’s. Barna has given us an assignment to ask our parishioners about your spiritual journey and the role our Cabrini Communities may or may not be playing in that journey. Don’t be surprised if we ask you to fill out an anonymous questionnaire soon.
At its very basis, I trust that what we are doing as a community of believers at Cabrini is engaging in the very subversive activity of making Christ present in our world through our gathering. That in our flawed, gifted, limited, sinful, and holy assembly others will encounter the presence of Christ. Agreed? Is that worth your time, your gifts, your life? I pray it is.
Peace,
Fr. Damian