Our Way Ahead
Providence provided me with this prayer for it::-
Heavenly Father, give us the bravery of St George, to stand up for the truth and the glory of God
that we have seen in the face of Jesus Christ.
Give us the strength to overcome, in our lives and in the world,
all that is contrary to your rule of justice and love.
Help us to be good news to the poor, proclaim release to the captives
and recovery of sight to the blind; Let the oppressed go free, and proclaim the good news of God’s favour and Jubilee
Amen
The RCIA: Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults. Many years ago there was some initiative to place this at the heart of Catholic Life in our parishes. Professor Fr Seamus Ryan was a great proponent of this when we were in our seminary, and in my early years as a priest this was a key focus for me; something very worthwhile to bring to the parish.
After my early years as a curate I was happy to be appointed to a parish team ministry in St Pauls Parish, Haywards Heath. But within a couple of years of that appointment, the diocese introduced the Renew Programme, which also clashed with a newly introduced endeavour to have a structured process in place to develop ecumenical dialogue, and to improve working relationships between the churches. Unfortunately the Renew Programme and process was very patchy at best. After a number of years it became very clear that we did not have the support of our Bishop, and so the team ministry sadly came to an end.
Please God, the coronavirus will come to an end and the situation that we will be left with will be very challenging indeed. In the wider context there is reason for real anxiety about how many will return to church, and at this time, there is an expectation that it will not be in the same numbers. I also believe in other situations the numbers will be larger..
Our way ahead is now what we might call “the new normal”. Our children are back at school and many are very pleased to be back. The next horizon I would normally highlight is the Feast of Christ our King; the end of the church’s year. In time I believe this will become a great Feast Day, but certainly not this year. So our next highlight will be Christmas. I do not expect that things will have recovered enough by then so that we will be able to gather together to celebrate Christmas. But I do think it presents us with an important opportunity to develop our liturgies so that they will become a greater blessing and help us to grow as communities of faith. In fact, please God, a real bonus, a fresh life line that may bring us great blessings in the future. The reality of the coronavirus guidelines has given great emphasis to being over seventy. This calls for a true sense of discernment and this must get mature positive consideration. The fruits of this discernment process, like all others is in the outcome. So with gratitude for all that the over seventies have contributed, which calls for a new generation, let us all bear great fruits; fruits that will last.
Returning to the sadness of the end of our priests’ team ministry, which I had hoped would lead to great development in the life of our parish then, through a focus being placed upon eucharistic communities. As priests we had particular responsibilities. One of my responsibilities was for baptism. I visited the families who requested to have their child baptised. It soon became clear that for some their motive was to get their child into catholic schools. I tried to make clear the true nature of baptism with its need to nurture the life of the spirit, the life of faith, explaining that this was parallel with the natural daily nourishment that is needed for our physical bodies to develop and grow. This always raised the question of belief and the challenge that is brings. This remains at the heart of our life of faith.
I recently visited a lady who has just celebrated her 90th Birthday. Still with some lockdown limitations, it was the best birthday celebration of her life. Her more immediate family were able to gather, and one niece had made special arrangements so that family members from all over the world were able to greet her. They could all join together in singing Happy Birthday and sharing great greetings with one another. This is indicative of just a moment of inspiration that can be shared together for the future. Forty year ago; when I was a curate, I was given the responsibility for an outside church. We had developed preparation for the weekend Mass. We were especially blessed with a young mum who had a great gift to be a cantor. This helped greatly, and also the use of the new ministries of the eucharist and the word was very fruitful. Unfortunately I had to move on as a curate and the priests brought this preparation to an end. Four years after this, my next experience was the team ministry, so options and choices were getting scarce. Providence provided that I spent the next 10 years on an ecumenical project. Please God, we may all share a new project, that is very fit for purpose. For our time each Parish needs to become a “Community of faith”.
Now we will pause with the question “How?”