Sunday, October 31, 2021

Dear Friends,

Two months ago, I took a vacation to visit the Paulist students and priests who were gathered at Lake George. One evening the topic of conversation turned to the upcoming January 2022 elections for the president and general consultors of the Paulist Fathers, elected from our community by popular vote every four years. I said that I hadn’t given it much thought as I’d been preoccupied with my weekly homily, trying to debug the parish sound system, and moving offices.

The Paulists were founded in 1858 by American priests with the distinctive mission to preach the Gospel in the context of American culture. At the time, to European Catholics in America, democracy was a new and unfamiliar system of governance, but our founders believed that our faith and the American values underlying our democracy could be mutually enriching. If people are attentive to the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives and have the freedom to respond to God’s call, a democratic society will manifest the Reign of God. Authoritarian societies, in contrast, can stifle the freedom of their citizens to respond to the Spirit. Likewise, democracies in which voters lack good virtues can devolve into shortsighted, selfish, and even oppressive societies.

We Paulists are called to practice what we preach through the way we govern ourselves as a community. Our presidents are elected every four years and can serve a maximum of two terms. They govern the community in collaboration with a council of elected general consultors who have deliberative powers specified in the society’s constitution. Fr. Chuck has been on the general council for many terms and, before the pandemic, he traveled to quarterly meetings.

We are all aware of the flaws of political campaigns in our civil elections. The Vatican strictly forbids campaigning for office in religious communities. Instead, we try to model a better way of electing our leadership through listening and prayer. Our election season begins with regional pre-assemblies that bring together Paulists, lay staff members, and collaborators from our different ministries to discuss the state of our work and how we feel the Holy Spirit is guiding us into the future. From these meetings focused on our mission, the Paulists can get a sense of the strengths and gifts our leaders will need to guide our ministries into the future. Then the Paulists nominate candidates and vote for president, vice-president, and the general consultors of the community in early 2022. Finally, the Paulists vote for delegates to our two-week General Assembly held at the start of every new term. This Assembly discerns the agenda that will guide the work of our next president and general council during their four-year term.

Our pre-assemblies are being held virtually due to the pandemic. Fr. Rich and I will participate in a pre-assembly alongside our new parish administrator, Diane Zbasnik, at the start of December. If you have any thoughts or suggestions for the Paulists to consider as we plan the next four years of our ministry throughout North America, please let us know. I am coming to a deeper appreciation for the profound responsibility that I have through my vote, both as a priest within the Paulist Fathers and as a citizen within the United States.

God Bless,