All Things New Revisited
Now that the dust has settled a bit, I think it is good to reflect upon the last year and a half and where it may lead us into the future. Holy Redeemer has remained a stand-alone parish, but we lost our new associate pastor, Fr. Gene, who will be moving to Chesterfield. Fr. Charlie Samson, a professor at the semi- nary, will be in residence here at Holy. So on one level, very little has changed here at our parish. But what are we to make of all that happened? Four points.
One: The changes were not as sweeping as we thought they would be.
The original plan was to make 178 parishes into 88. That did not happen. Instead, roughly 40 parishes will be subsumed. Cure of Ars will be subsumed into St. Michael’s. Multiple other parishes will be joined with others in a pastorate. Our Lady of Providence will be joined with Annunciation. The reason for this may be that, according to Canon Law, it takes a lot to close a parish. But there were some parishes that met the criteria.
Take for instance, our neighbor Cure of Ars. There were four reasons for it being subsumed into St. Michael’s, a drop in households from 230 to less than 165, dwindling numbers for Weekend Masses, few baptisms and funerals, and finally run- ning a deficit budget.
From the last model, it looked like the four parishes south and east of us would merge, but this did not happen. There are a couple of ways we can interpret this, but, in general, I would say this is a positive thing.
Two: There were a lot of priest retirements.
Twenty-three priests retired, the most I have ever seen in my forty years as a priest. It was quite jarring. And the scary part is, this is just the tip of the iceberg… My class, if you count everyone up, started out with 15 priests. Two have left the priesthood, one cannot serve anymore, one has passed away, one was retired and another has just accepted retirement. That leaves nine of us still serving. Of those nine, only four of us will be pastors come August. My class was the last of the “large” classes, and we are all barreling toward our own retirement. If you doubted the reasons for All Things New, the fact that 23 priests retired this summer, is a wake-up call that it needed to happen.
Three: Schools: This is where it gets complicated.
The reorganization of schools will be happening this fall (I think). This process will not affect Holy Redeemer, at least in the short term. Holy Redeemer School is alive and vibrant.
But in other areas (I am thinking about the great-niece’s school) this is going to be a very difficult and painful process. Having run a school, I know that it is trickier than it looks. In the old days, you would just reload your faculty with a new batch of religious sisters. Those days are gone. Beyond that, there is much more demanded from a Catholic school than we previ- ously experienced. Not only are you concentrating on the basic academics and sponsoring a vibrant athletic programs, now you are asked to be on the cutting edge of technological ad- vances as well as offering a wide variety specialty programs for your students. Not to mention, schooling them in the ways of sanctity. We want to make them saints, don’t we?
The fall of 2023 might be the most complicated and thorny time in the history of the Archdiocese of St. Louis and the issue of schools will be at the forefront. In case you are wondering, I am a strong proponent of Catholic schools. I have seen them accomplish amazing things over my forty years. So I believe that we are up to the difficult challenges that lay before us.
Four: What is a parish?
If there is one brilliant thing that happened over the past year and a half, it is the idea that we as Catholics in the Archdiocese of St. Louis have thought about, prayed about, discussed and argued about what it means to be a parish. And the greatest thing that we learned is that we have to be less – ahem – parochial. From the very beginning of this process we have wrestled with what a parish is all about, our strengths and weak- nesses, what we do well and where we need vast improvement. We have learned that we need to become disciples, sharing the life and love we discover in our lives to a world that often looks for meaning in very meaningless things. We have begun to realize that we are all in this together and that what we share with our fellow Catholics is way more invigorating and life-giving than we could ever imagine.
Practically speaking, what this means for Holy Redeemer Par- ish is two-fold. First we must continue to build on the strengths we undoubtedly have. Our outreach to those less fortunate, both here in our local community and with our twin parish in Haiti comes to mind. Our small Christian communities, where searching sisters and brothers come together to make their way through the muddle and glory of our Christian lives is an amazing blessing. Then, there’s the formation of our young people, both in our day school and PSR, as they face a techno- logical jungle where we are both intimately and immediately present and yet still strangely alone and alienated. Second, we must strive to become active disciples of our Lord, sharing the hope, strength and vigor of our Christian faith.
In closing I think of the verses to a song from one of my favorite musicals, Les Miserables. It never fails to stir and motivate me to do more, be more, share more:
Will you join in our crusade, who will be strong and stand with me
Somewhere beyond the barricade is there a world you long to see? Do you hear the people sing,
say do you hear the distant drum?
It is the future that they bring when tomorrow comes!
That is truly a day when all things will indeed, be new.
“I don’t trust those trees. They seem kind of shady.”
“My wife is really mad at the fact that I have no sense of direction. So I packed up my stuff and right!”
“Why couldn’t the bicycle stand up by itself? It was two tired.”
“When two vegans get in an argument, is it still called a beef?”
“If a child refuses to nap, are they guilty of resisting a rest?”
“Did you hear about the guy who invented the knock- knock joke? He won the ‘no-bell’ prize.”
HAPPY FATHER’S DAY!
Fr. Kevin