Sunday, September 11, 2016

Twenty-Fourth Sunday in Ordinary Time - September 11, 2016

For well over a year now, at Bishop Zubik’s request, we have been concluding the Universal Prayer at Sunday Mass with the prayer for the initiative On Mission for the Church Alive. Bishop Zubik knew that it was important to begin such a major initiative with prayer, as over the past months a number of studies have been going on to prepare for the future. Today, as will be the case in the next few weeks, there is a special insert in our bulletin concerning this initiative. I urge you to read that insert, and I would like to devote my column over these weeks to what is happening.

Today’s supplement to the bulletin is titled Things are Going to Change. On a superficial level, I hope that statement is obvious to us. We sometimes act as if everything should be the same as we remember from our younger days, but the world is changing all around us. We have to be faithful to the eternal truths that point us to an unchanging God, but we have to live those truths in a changing world. It is sometimes difficult to keep the balance between the eternal that we old on to and the circumstances in which we express it.

One of the changes we have seen is in the number of people coming to church each Sunday. This is not a problem just within St. Malachy Parish or any other parish. It is not limited to Pittsburgh, nor is it an issue with the Catholic Church. Throughout our society, all across the country (and in much of the world), our society is becoming more and more secular. There are fewer and fewer people coming to church each week, and there are fewer young men entering the priesthood. That is a reality that the diocese has to deal with, and On Mission is looking for ways to sustain the Church well into the future.

At the same time, however, we have the unchangeable truth that our faith is founded on the dying and rising of Christ. He has called us to Himself and has given us new life. This gift is not a private privilege that we keep to ourselves. Christ also told His disciples to “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.” (Matthew 28:19-20) So On Mission is not a way of circling the wagons and waiting for the end. Bishop Zubik is not leaving us with the message, “Last one out, turn off the lights.” Rather, this is a way of saying that we have to make the best use of our energies and our resources so that we can be the sign to our culture that Christ is still with us. It may seem that they are not listening, but the Letter to the Hebrews describes the Word of God as “living and effective, sharper than any two-edged sword.” Even if we do not see the end result, we know that God will not abandon us.

In coming weeks, we will see and hear more about On Mission for the Church Alive, and you will hear about how all of us can take part. Today for the first part of this series, I simply entreat you to live the faith and trust that God will guide this process. As a bishop says to a newly-ordained priest in the ordination liturgy, “May God, who has begun the good work in you, bring it to completion.”
                                                           
                                                                                                    Father H