1st Sunday of Advent, A December 2, 2007
Today Bishop Clark has a message for us by way of a letter that is being read in every parish in our diocese. Bishop Clark writes,
My dear sisters and brothers in Christ:
I write to you today to announce a major initiative for our Diocese-an initiative that I hope will change our lives. Beginning in Lent 2008, I am inviting you to enter with me into a time of renewal.
These past few years have been hard on everyone. A changing economy and shifting demographics have altered our parishes dramatically. The resulting pastoral planning has been truly painful as we consolidated, merged and closed churches. The abuse scandal has offended and discouraged many of the faithful. Mass attendance is down. Vocations to the priesthood and religious life are few. Some find us helplessly polarized between those who are impatient for further change and those who fear the complete erosion of our treasured past. Some say we have lost our focus. Commentators have called us "a people adrift."
So now is the perfect time for renewal.
Sisters and brothers, I invite you to enter with me into a deeper relationship with Jesus, our Lord and Savior. Our faith has never really been about buildings and boundaries. So I invite you to enter a multi-year commitment to nourish what is most important-a personal relationship with Jesus, through prayer and Scripture.
A team of priests and pastoral ministers is designing tools and program options that will be made available to us through our parishes over the next several years to assist us in this process. While the details will be announced as we go along, I invite you at this point to be a willing participant, opening your heart to become more truly his disciple.
During these Advent days of longing and expectation, I call our local Church to deep prayer for the success of this "time of renewal," which will begin during this coming season of Lent.
Your brother in Christ,
Matthew H. Clark
Bishop of Rochester
Our bishop’s words call to mind the famous quote of Robert Kennedy in 1968, “Some people see things as they are and ask why... I dream of things that never were and ask why not.”
Bishop Clark is dreaming of things that never were and asking why not. He is inviting us to join him in making something new happen. A renewed heart, a renewed spirit, a new vitality in our Church, in our parish.
Why this call to renewal today?
Because today is New Years Day in the Church. What does everyone do on secular New Years on January 1st? We all make resolutions to do good things, to become better people. I don’t know about you, but I’ve always found January 1st to be so artificial, so contrived. What’s so special about that day? Why not February 29th? It makes much more sense to me to make new years resolutions on a day that really means something. Each of us has our own special new years day, when we begin a new year of life. It is our birthday. Now that’s a day that makes sense to me to make resolutions. Or, today. Today begins a new year of faith, a day to resolve to grow in our relationship with Jesus Christ.
I love making new years resolutions today. Would you join me? My resolution for the coming year of faith is to not worry. I resolve to be calm and peaceful when I can’t juggle all the demands on my time. I resolve to not worry when a crisis hits St. Catherine’s or me personally. Should I get sick or hurt in an accident, I will not worry. Should we be unable to pay our bills, should the roof leak on this church, should our most dedicated parishioners move out of town, I resolve not to worry. I will trust that our Lord remains with me and with all of us doing his work together. That’s my resolution. What is yours?