Sunday, January 30, 2022

As we come to the end of this month we have wrapped up the Diocesan phase of the Synod listening sessions. The Synod on Synodality will not actually occur for more than another two years. There will be further listening and work sessions on the Diocesan level, and we will continue for the next semester or so the task of listening and developing our thoughts and responses here at St. Austin parish.  I would like to thank all those who participated. I appreciate your giving us your time and attention, and sharing your thoughts and dreams with us. I also want to thank those who helped make this possible, i.e. the note takers, and especially Elizabeth Korves who did a tremendous job on very short notice. I am always amazed at how St. Austin’s people know how to get things done, from Christmas Basket project to moving school, offices and rectory, to the Synod, to a major Development Project. This is a 'can do’ parish and school community!

There was one thing however that I found disturbing. In a couple of the listening sessions, parishioners lamented the difficulty in coming to St. Austin’s due to traffic and distance, especially during the week. Several people lamented the inability to be involved in various ministries such as Thursday Outreach, Prayer Blanket, Martha Ministry, Liturgical Ministries, etc. because they don’t have the time and energy to do all this stuff. It was noted that mostly retired people have the ability to engage in these ministries, and some people felt a little left out or bad because they cannot do these ministries.

This bothers me because no one should ever feel bad about not being engaged in church ministries because they are too busy with family, school, work, civic engagement, etc. And that is because the REAL and AUTHENTIC ministry of the laity is NOT in church, but in their family, their neighborhood, their work or school, their community, the voting booth, and the world. At the end of each Mass, the Deacon or Priest say something like, “Go and announce the Good News!" or something similar. The directive always is to GO, GO! LEAVE! GET OUT OF HERE! SCRAM! VAMOS! Don’t hang around here.

The role and ministry of the laity is NOT in church, but out in the world, and no one should ever feel bad about not being involved in “churchy” ministry if they are busy doing the work of being a conscious and active Christian in the world. That is where the true ministry of the laity takes place, and what the laity should really be involved in.  

Of course we need help with the things we do as a parish and school. We certainly could use more servers at Mass, and more greeters at some Masses. We always have room for more help at St. Vincent de Paul and Thursday Outreach, or the Knights of Columbus. But those are NOT the more important part of the mission of the laity. What you do OUTSIDE of church, being the Body of Christ, and doing the work of the Church, and being the Good News to the world, is much more important and critical than anything you do inside the church or as part of the parish. And I hope and pray that every parishioner will take that to heart.

God bless!