From the Bishops There is something of you in this

Aug 26, 2010

One way of referring to the Church is to say that the Church is the family of God, and I think that if you look at what might be common in a lot of families, it translates well into the life of the Church that we are a family.

Part of my reason for going to every parish and preaching at every Mass is to communicate this truth. We are a family, and as family members, we have a certain responsibility to chip in for the sake of the vitality of our diocesan family.

It’s similar to a family in that in most families everybody’s got chores to do. And everybody has a certain ownership and accountability to the strength of the family, the prosperity of the family.

When I’m visiting parishes I identify the chores or responsibilities within the parish. But I’m also sharing the chores or needs on a diocesan level that will not be accomplished unless people all across the Diocese respond. In areas of faith formation, we can respond through the St. Katharine Drexel Catholic School Fund and the St. Maria De Mattias Fund. In the area of our seminarians, we can help educate them through the Seminarian Education Endowment. And together we must respond to repair and update the buildings on the Cathedral campus, which, you can say, is our family home. It’s where we all hail from.

I think that part of the benefit is that notion of ownership that you can see or meet a seminarian or a newly ordained priest and say, “There’s something of me in that person. I helped.”

Or when you see students of our faith, whether in parish programs or in a parish school, you can say, “I contributed to that. I provided for that education about faith that includes humility and charity and justice and a sense of community such that these young people grow up into better citizens, better spouses and parents on account of that formation. I had something to do with that.”

Or when you see the Cathedral years from now in its beauty and its accessibility and its safety and its being of service to people in the community, you can say, “It reflects me too because I played my part. I did my chore. I helped to bear a share of the responsibility for the mission of the Church.”

Everybody has a different chore.

Somebody came to me after one of my parish visits and said, “I’m on a fixed income. I don’t know if I’m going to respond in any significant way to this invitation.” And I said, “The important thing is a response – not the level of a response. You certainly can respond in storming heaven in prayer for its success, and even if it’s a dollar, there is a response. There’s something of you in this. You have borne a share of responsibility for the Church’s mission.”

Some people are able to do more. Some have come forward and given significant financial gifts, and it’s because God has blessed them and enabled them to do so and has inspired in them both the generosity and the awareness that this is part of the reason why God has blessed them – not only to benefit themselves but to benefit others as well.

So I think my time is well spent in visiting every parish and preaching at every Mass to communicate this message: We are a family. And like in a family, everybody plays their part. We play our part to make light work of all that needs to be done and to shore up the vigor and vitality of the life of the Church and to give each of us a sense of ownership.

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