With many changes with Mass times and locations to come, I know there have been a variety of emotions.  That is ok.  Any change means there are things that will be lost, even good things.  And those things have to be grieved.  Give yourself time and space for that.

But as your process that, over these coming days I encourage you to also do three things

1) Seek the Lord: Go to the Lord with your grief.  We can simply wallow in our emotions, but when we actually bring them to the Lord, it makes a difference.  He will compassionately receive whatever you bring to Him.  But then also listen.  Allow the Lord to speak His living words into your sadness, your fears.  Furthermore, a temptation in all of this is simply to abandon the Lord.  To walk away from Him and His Church.  To leave Christ’s Presence in the Eucharist.  To not go to Mass anymore.  To not go to the Catholic Church anymore.  Our faith also challenges us, to not simply take the easy path, but sometimes calls us to sacrifice and “go the extra mile” (literally) for the Lord.  We must remember that this is a faith passed down to us by the sacrifice and suffering of our faithful ancestors.

2) Seek Understanding: It’s ok to not like the decisions that were made.  But I encourage you to seek understanding: what are the reasons for these changes?  The steady decline in priests and number of Catholics in our Archdiocese for the last twenty years, as inspired the Archdiocese to be proactive…not to allow our churches to slowly wither and die … but to make some hard decisions now…to do some “pruning” so new life can grow and flourish in our churches.  Not only is it part of a bigger vision of fostering to create healthier parishes and priests into the future,  but also part of the bigger vision of a more “mission-focused”  Catholic Church.  This is a time when the Archbishop is trying to “rally the troops,” for us to “pull together” to more effectively proclaim the Gospel, to invite non-Catholics into the fullness of our beautiful faith.

3) Seek Possibility: With every ending comes new beginnings and new possibilities of what could be.  New friendships with those whose communities we will be joining.  What ways can our community that we love so much be a blessing to this new community?  What gifts can we bring?

Even though our church building may not have Sunday Mass, in what other creative ways can it be used as a place of prayer, of mission, of outreach throughout the week.  Maybe you form prayer groups, to meet during the week to pray together before the Blessed Sacrament.  Perhaps you will gather each week to offer a rosary together for your community.  Maybe you will gather to pray with and reflect on the upcoming Sunday Scripture readings.  Or are there other creative ways we can reach out to non-Catholics and invite them in to teach them about the Catholic faith?

Be a part of the creative solutions.

Peace,

-Fr. Kevin