The Church and the Call to Holiness

(Msgr. Vincent J. Grimalia, V.G., Vicar General of the Diocese, continues his series of descriptions of the Church and their relevance for our Diocese and pastoral planning.)

For the documents of the Second Vatican Council to become alive and life-giving for individuals and communities, and to influence parish structures and activities, they must be studied together with continuing developments in the Church.

The Council drew attention to the universal vocation or call to holiness. The document, The Priest, Pastor and Leader of the Parish Community, is but one of many references that connect the call to holiness and pastoral planning, when it states: “The rediscovery in our communities of the universal call to holiness should be the basis for all pastoral planning and orient that same planning.” This insight is important for members of our Diocese to think about as we prepare to implement the Directives on Parish Pastoral Councils.

Every Catholic must understand that pastoral planning is different from other forms of planning. Recently, in an address to Canadian Bishops, Pope Benedict XVI affirmed the teaching of Pope John Paul II, when he said, “In your plan of pastoral renewal, you are faced with the delicate task of the reorganization of parishes and also of dioceses. This can never be carried out in an appropriate way by simple social models of restructuring. Without Christ, we can do nothing (cf. John 15:5). Prayer roots us in truth, reminds us incessantly of the primacy of Christ and, in union with him, the primacy of the interior life and of holiness.”

His Holiness further stated, “The parishes are, therefore, rightly considered above all as houses and schools of communion. Consequently, the reorganization of parishes is essentially an exercise of spiritual renewal. This calls for a pastoral promotion of holiness, so that the faithful remain attentive to the will of God, from whom we share true life, becoming participants of the divine nature.” 

Bishop Martino likewise has regularly reminded us that pastoral planning and spiritual renewal must be joined together. His pastoral direction reflects the thinking of Pope Paul VI, Pope John Paul II and Pope Benedict XVI. In calling for spiritual renewal and pastoral planning, Bishop Martino has also focused attention on the new evangelization of persons and culture, and the importance of cultivating vocations as an integral aspect of the new evangelization.

In a July 2004 pastoral letter, Bishop Martino outlined his thinking and gave a focus to Diocesan life, when he wrote: “I also ask you to pray as we begin to plan for the spiritual and pastoral renewal of our Diocese. This will be an arduous, but necessary, endeavor as we progress further into the new century and new millennium. The Holy Father has asked us to engage in a ‘New Evangelization.’ The message of our evangelization is not what will be new. It will be the perennial announcement of the Good News of Jesus Christ. However, it will be new in the ardor of our evangelization work, in the methods we employ, and in the ways we express the Church’s evangelization mission in the new circumstances of today. If we plan without first praying, we will rightly be condemned to failure.”

Making the connection between Spiritual renewal and pastoral planning even more direct, he wrote, “The spiritual and pastoral renewal of the Diocese of Scranton will mean that we need to look at every one of our structures, i.e., our parishes, schools, institutions, buildings and programs. Are these entities the right ones for the 21st century? Are these entities currently prepared to announce the Good News of Jesus Christ as Jesus intends them to do?”

At present, the Meitler Group is compiling current and pertinent data to help answer a variety of questions, e.g. ‘How many schools do we need?’ and ‘What can we do to make our schools even more effective in expressing Catholic Identity?’ At the same time, using Operational Directives approved by Bishop Martino, pastors and parishioners have been asked to look at themselves, their viability and vitality in the light of the evangelizing mission of the Church and the present circumstances in our Diocese. 

In September and October, there will be a series of meetings for all priests, deacons, members of current Parish Pastoral Councils, and in parishes without Pastoral Councils, parish leaders identified by the pastor. These meetings will explore the nature, purpose, process and procedures of Parish Pastoral Councils. These Pastoral Councils are to be seen within the context of the theology and spirituality of communion and mission. In fact, as Pope John Paul II has stated, these advisory Pastoral Councils are to be understood as one expression of Church as communion and mission. 

Bishop Martino has expressed his intention that all parishes have advisory Parish Pastoral Councils. He wrote: “I want to see our spiritual and pastoral renewal begin and beautifully reinvigorate our grassroots, our parishes. I will soon mandate a uniform Parish Pastoral Council in every parish. The Parish Pastoral Council will be the pastor’s chief advisory group – please note: ADVISORY group, not board of trustees – in planning for the parish’s renewed vigor in evangelizing all the people in the parish’s area . . . Once parish Pastoral Councils and Finance Councils are in place, all parishes will begin a period of Parish Self-Study. Through this carefully disciplined process, each parish will create a snapshot of how well it is fulfilling – or not fulfilling – sufficiently its mission to announce the Good News in Word, Sacrament and through a serving Community. Once each parish sees it strengths and weaknesses, its proud accomplishments and its inevitable deficiencies, it can plan with nearby parishes to see if there is a better way to serve ‘the neighborhood of parishes.’ Are joint efforts possible, for example, instead of overlapping separate efforts? Are our current deanery boundaries the most helpful ones for our evangelization effort?” 

This fall, parishes with Parish Pastoral Councils will be asked to renew themselves according to the Directives for Parish Pastoral Councils. Parishes without such Councils are mandated to establish Councils.

Preparing for the fall conferences and the important work that will follow these meetings, the seven pastoral priorities, identified by Pope John Paul II in the Apostolic Letter Novo Millenio Ineunte, will help keep the focus of pastoral planning and spiritual renewal connected. These priorities are: holiness, prayer, the Sunday celebration of the Eucharist, the Sacrament of Reconciliation, the primacy of grace, and both listening to and proclaiming the Word of God. These priorities will also help the spirituality of communion and mission become alive and life-giving for the Diocese of Scranton and its parishes.

First Priority: Holiness
In Novo Millenio Ineunte, Pope John Paul II directed the attention of all Catholics to the fifth chapter of the Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (Lumen Gentium), and the universal vocation to holiness. Holiness, he reminds us, is a gift – but he also notes, “But the gift in turn becomes a task, which must shape the whole of Christian life…”

Then, as if anticipating the questions of some people, Pope John Paul noted: “At first glance, it might seem almost impractical to recall this elementary truth as the foundation of pastoral planning in which we are involved in….Can holiness ever be ‘planned’? What might the word ‘holiness’ mean in the context of a pastoral plan? After noting the possible concerns, the late pope begins with this answer: “In fact, to place pastoral planning under the heading of holiness is a choice filled with consequences…The ways of holiness are many, according to the vocation of each individual.”

Second Priority: Prayer
Pope John Paul also stated: “Our Christian communities must become genuine ‘schools’ of prayer…it is therefore essential that education in prayer should become a key point of all pastoral planning.” Parishes and neighboring parishes cooperating together are being challenged to teach the art of prayer.

Third Priority: The Sunday Eucharist
The pope reminds us that both the Sunday Eucharist and Sunday itself, the Day of the Lord, should be understood and observed in a special way. Writing on the Sunday obligation, Pope John Paul II noted: “It is a fundamental duty, to be fulfilled not just in order to observe a precept but as something felt as essential to a truly informed and consistent Christian life. The Sunday Eucharist which every week gathers Christians together as God’s family around the table of the Word and Bread of Life….is the privileged place where communion is ceaselessly proclaimed and nurtured.”

At a time when there is a noticeable decline in attendance at Sunday Mass, his words remind us of the importance of teaching the meaning of the Eucharist, and our need and responsibility as Catholics to participate in the Mass every Sunday and Holy Day of Obligation.

Fourth Priority: Sacrament of Reconciliation
Pope John Paul II called for a renewed effort to explain the gift of forgiveness in confession and the need to help people come to a sense of sin. In our secular age, there is a loss of the sense of sin and responsibility to live according to the law of God.
In an address to Canadian Bishops, Pope Benedict XVI gave them encouragement: “Thus it is of great importance that the catechetical and religious education programs which you are implementing continue to deepen the faithful’s understanding and love of our Lord and his Church, and reawaken in them the zeal for Christian witness which has its root in the sacrament of baptism. In this regard, particular care must be taken to ensure that the intrinsic relationship between the Church’s magisterium, individuals’ faith, and testimony in public life is preserved and promoted. Only in this way can we hope to overcome the debilitating split between the Gospel and culture.” 

We have a responsibility as Catholics to life our faith in our daily life. Pope Benedict reminds us that we cannot separate our faith life and public life.

Fifth Priority: The Primacy of Grace
Pope John Paul states clearly, “If in the planning that awaits us we commit ourselves more confidently to a pastoral activity that gives personal and communal prayer its proper place, we shall be observing an essential principle of the Christian view of life: the primacy of grace.” Then the pope issued a caution based on understanding human nature and experience: “There is a temptation which perennially besets every spiritual journey and pastoral work: That of thinking that the results depend on our ability to act and to plan.”

Bishop Martino has directed that all Parish Pastoral Council meetings begin with time for prayer and reflection. In fact, the meetings of the Parish Finance Council and other gatherings in a parish would benefit greatly and be more effective if they begin with adequate time for prayer. Pope John Paul comments on the importance of prayer and the failure to remember that without Christ we can do nothing, “When this principle is not respected, is it any wonder that pastoral plans come to nothing and leave us with a disheartening sense of frustration?”

Sixth Priority: Listening to the Word
The Constitution on Divine Revelation is an important document to be studied during times of spiritual renewal. Parishes and their Pastoral Councils and Finance Councils could well use some of their time praying and reflecting on sections of the Constitution Dei Verbum.

Pope John Paul II, after reflecting on the renewed attention to Scripture in the Church, had advice for us as we participate in spiritual renewal and pastoral planning: “But it is above all the work of evangelization and catechesis which is drawing new life from attentiveness to the word of God…this development needs to be consolidated and deepened, also by making sure that every family has a Bible.”

Seventh Priority: Proclaiming the Word
Pope John Paul II reminds us that attentiveness to the Word of God helps us to rekindle in ourselves the zeal and passion found in the early days of the Church. He stated, “This passion will not fail to stir in the Church a new sense of mission, which cannot be left to a group of ‘specialists’ but must involve the responsibility of all the members of the People of God. Those who come into genuine contact with Christ cannot keep him for themselves, they must proclaim him. A new apostolic outreach is needed, which will be lived as the everyday commitment of Christian communities and groups.”

Every parish and every Christian institution, school or group has an evangelizing mission. Every group within the Church has an evangelizing mission.

Our Diocesan Pastoral Plan for Vocations connects evangelization and the pastoral care of vocation and the universal vocation to holiness in these words: “ ‘We the Catholic faithful … are called…’ This statement speaks of vocation; it says we are all called. Through parish self-study and pastoral planning for the mission of evangelization, we answer the call; we respond to our vocation. Evangelization then becomes our work of calling others to their call from God or, in others words, to their vocation.”

This approach has received strong affirmation in the words of Pope Benedict XVI to visiting Canadian Bishops on May 20, 2006, “Within the universal call to holiness (cf. 1 Thessalonians 4:3) is found the particular vocation to which God summons every individual. In this regard, I encourage you to remain vigilant in your duty to promote a culture of vocation.”