Today we celebrate the primacy of St. Peter, the first shepherd of the Church. The Pope has an awesome and vefry difficult role in pastoring such a diverse, ever unfolding Church. And the Church is a sign and symbol of communion with God, and our brothers and sisters. Those who encounter the Church should be able to encounter the unity and community that the Church signifies. To be sure the celebration of the Eucharist and the paschal mystery is at the center point of this great spiritual body, the Church.
As we sent our catechumens and candidates to Rockford on Sunday, I am always reminded of the workings of the Holy Spirit in the Church today. Sometimes folks get caught up in stuff that is really not the Church. Everything from popular practices to ritual that is centuries old. Certainly the Church has not always been the best behaved. But our teachings have remained consistant, and our spirituality is deep and alive.
When I came to St. Mary parish so many years ago, I noticed that we needed to do three things. These have been my constant mantra. Catechesis, Evangelization, and Stewardship. These are elements that will continue to enliven and enrich the vitality of the parish. So many of the staff wanted me to know what other parishes were doing. I wanted us to develop our own identity. I really think that we need to demonstrate the catholic Church for the city of DeKalb. So that is sort of what we have been trying to do.
Today I went to Milwaukee to go church shopping. We had been given a donation for a monstrance. So I bought a nice tall ornate monstrance. The owner had talked to me also about votive candles. I really want to clean up our chapel, and having votive candles in there would be really neat. So I will eventually have to talk to the parish about all of this.
On this very wonderful feast, I have hopefully fed my portion of the Church. This is an outstanding time to think about conversion and newness of life.
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