Dear Parish Family, our Friends, Visitors & Seekers,

This is a different kind of letter that I am reading to you this morning.  Instead of writing a letter as if I was someone from today’s readings - I’ve decided to write you a letter from me.

A very good friend who is not a priest, recently asked if I could live my life all over would I choose to be a Priest again??

My friend was curious to find out if all the recent Church scandals and the accusations involving our own Bishop, had made me re-think my vocation.

Do you want to know how I responded?   I replied, “I would ‘most definitely’ choose priesthood - again and again- but I would fight with every ounce of my being to change one thing.”

“Oh?” my friend said, “And what would that be?”  I knew they were thinking that I would want a change in the rule of celibacy.  My answer disappointed and somewhat caught them off guard because it wasn’t for a change in celibacy.

The one thing I would change about Priesthood is: I would fight, with every fiber in my being, to change the way candidates for priesthood are chosen and trained.

The standard practice today that is accepted all over the world, is where a “person” who thinks they are being called by God, to Priesthood, presents themselves to a Diocese or Religious Order and after a lengthy discernment and screening process they are then accepted and begin their formation training that can last anywhere between 5-10 years,.  Mine was 6 years.  What I would radically change, is that an “individual” could not on their own present themselves - Instead their community of faith, their local parish family, after a lengthy discernment and screening process would present the candidate to the Diocese or Religious Order for their own discernment and screening.  And if they were accepted to study for priesthood - their faith community would stay in close contact with them, their parish family would be their primary support structure and if and when they were finally Ordained, their community of faith, their parish family would continue to be their support throughout their priesthood.

Why do I think this is so important?  For 22 years and 11 months of ordained ministry, I have grappled with the question: “Who shepherds the shepherds?”

You expect your priests to pastor you in the name of Jesus, our Chief Shepherd.

But who pastors the Pastor???

One thing I have learned in all my years as a Priest - is that I am also a sheep in need of shepherding.

Yes, I have a Priest support group and I meet with them once a month and I’ve been doing this religiously for 10 years.  This Jesus Caritas Fraternity has been very beneficial.  However, I believe that the faith community I came from and the parish family I serve - also have an important role in shepherding me; in ministry to me.

Our Parish Vision statement says: “...the Parish family of St. Justin, Martyr is committed to and passionate about caring for one another.”

I can’t physically shepherd each and every member but the parish family of St. Justin, Martyr can.  Who better knows the needs of the sheep than fellow sheep?  Many people tell me they haven’t gotten involved in the Church because no one has ever invited them!!!  I would love to see the day when people come up to me and say, “How can I serve?  Where is there a need?  Here are my talents; how can they best serve the flock.?”

I need a nurturing faith community to keep my discipleship balanced, focused and growing!!  Don’t we all?

Instead of an individual saying they want to be a priest, their community would present them and continue to love and nurture them throughout their journey.

Jesus is truly our Good Shepherd.  He is also the “gate” each of us has to enter.  Through our common baptism, through our common profession of faith, we have become the “flock” He Shepherds and we “do” have the responsibility to care for one another: the single, the celibate, the widows, the married, the young, the old, the middle aged.

I really don’t like waking up in the morning wondering “what else” will be in the paper today regarding the Church, or listen to local talk radio lampoon the Church I love.  I feel deeply for the victims of the crimes committed against them by priests.  I’ve been appalled along with you on the way some of these cases have been handled.

But instead of making me want to run way and hide and not wear my collar in public, these scandals have made me go back to the basics: to Jesus - the Good Shepherd.  These scandals have made me re-examine the way I listen to Jesus’ voice and how I follow in his footsteps, in my words, thoughts and actions.

These scandals are also making me “keenly aware”, as ever before, that priests are also sheep, who need to be shepherded, to be cared for. In the midst of all that is happening --

THANK GOD FOR JESUS, OUR GOOD SHEPHERD!  AMEN?  AMEN!

With much love,
Your Pastor/Servant Leader,

Michael

 Footnote:             This is not an original idea.  It comes from Stephen B. Clark’s book, Building Christian  Communities,  pp. 140-145.  Ave Maria Press, Notre Dame, Indiana. 1972

I am numb.  For the past several weeks, it has been a real chore for me to prepare a Sunday Homily.

Last week Fr. Robert Schaeufele resigned.  I knew Bob since 1973 when I entered the Seminary and he was still there - 4 years ahead of me.  From 1994 to 1998 I resided at Holy Cross Rectory with Bob.  Bob was one of my heroes, someone who was known to be a holy man.

On Friday night of this week I received a fax, giving me notice that Fr. Dick Allen, the Pastor of our neighboring parish, St. Matthew’s, resigned.  I knew Fr. Allen since 1971 when he taught my younger brother Danny in High School.  I admired Dick for the way he was brutally honest and spoke his mind - even when it wasn’t the most popular thing to do.

Last night I received another fax giving me the details of the accusations against Fr. Bob Morris - allegations he vehemently denies and is going to fight.  Fr. Morris, who has only been ordained 10 years is someone I knew as a seminarian.

I’ve noticed over the past few weeks how some people in the public areas where I  have gone  wearing my collar, have literally been frowning at me, as if to say, “We don’t want your kind around here!”

I am numb and I’m also more than a bit scared that someone could falsely accuse me and you, my Parish Family, would have to suffer the ignominy of having a Pastor who had been accused.  And although I would fight the accusations tooth and nail - people being human - would always wonder - well?? Maybe?  He does act a wee bit strange now and then.  I knew his energy was coming from somewhere - couldn’t it be from his fear of ever being caught? 

NO!!!  

That’s not where my passion and commitment comes from!!!

One of “you” recently said to me, “Father, we come to church to receive the Holy Spirit - we come to church to celebrate the Eucharist.  We come to church to be family!!!” I needed to hear that!  I needed to hear the basics all over again!!!   The events of the past month have distracted me.

If Jesus wanted a church free from all scandal - he should have never entrusted it to humans.

Jesus doesn’t want us to cause scandal - But when they do occur, they are moments for purification, repentance and renewal and not times to run away or get into a blame game or even worse, pretend that it’s not all that serious.

Peter reminds us in today’s second reading, who we have become because of our new relationship with Jesus through our Baptism; he reminds us of the basics: 

• You are “A chosen race,

• a royal priesthood,

• a holy nation,

• a people of his own.”

St. Paul tells us in the First Letter to the Corinthians, Chapter 12, that the Church is very much like a body and a body has many parts.  St. Paul reminds us that “if [one] part [of the body] suffers, all the parts suffer with it; if one part is honored, all the parts share its joy.”

Some of the things happening to the Church’s leaders today are consequences of sins and crimes committed long ago.  There isn’t a “statute of limitations” on un-confessed sin and its consequences.

The way some of these cases have been handled is  deplorable.  Right now there seems to be a “feeding frenzy” going on in the media and some innocent priests are being caught up in its awful wake.

What are we to do?  What do you say when a non-Catholic or an inactive Catholic at work, or in the neighborhood or a family  member questions and challenges you on why you are still Catholic or how can you belong to an institution that has dealt so poorly with these scandals!!

We then have to be reminded “of the basics” - of why there is a Church in the first place.

The church is a personal gift from Jesus.

The sins of the Church, be they great or small, are not his gift - but the 7 Sacraments are!!  The 7 Sacraments have the power to restore sinners into SAINTS in TRAINING!!!  The 7 Sacraments have the power to change strangers into a Community of Disciples who are committed to & passionate about the Teachings of Jesus Christ and His Church.  The Sacraments are 7 ways of experiencing Jesus’ gift - His unconditional Love that he poured out for us on Calvary!!!

When times get tough - instead of acting like a turtle and going into our shell - we need to remind ourselves of the BASICS and stand firm in our faith. Our Gospel today can’t be any more basic.

Jesus knew there would be difficult days ahead for His Disciples - and so he said, “Do not let your hearts be troubled; have faith in God and faith in Me.  “ Boy, is that a word  I needed to hear.  Can’t get any more basic - but there is more in today’s Gospel.  Jesus reminds us: “I am the Way, the Truth and the Life.”

     Notice, he didn’t say, “ I am a way, a truth, a life.”

     For the Catholic Christian Disciple, there isn’t anyone else.

You can’t get any more BASIC than this - but there is more in today’s Gospel.

Jesus said, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father.”  In Jesus we get to know what kind of God there is. When you see Jesus, you’re seeing God!!

God isn’t someone who is the “Man Upstairs.”  God is someone who wants to be known and experienced and we get to know and experience God by knowing and experiencing Jesus, his Son.  Can’t get any more basic than that.

I do not like waking up each morning, wondering what I will find next in the newspaper about the Church I dearly love.

One thing is for sure - these scandals and these false accusations are making me fighting mad.  No, I’m not looking to punch someone’s lights out.  Instead, it’s making me burn with the desire to proclaim the Gospel, to proclaim the basics:   that Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Life and if you want to know & experience God, come to know and experience Jesus, His Son

That’s the Good News we come to Church to hear and celebrate and you can’t get any more basic than that.

Amen?  Amen!
 

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(This Homily is written in the form of a letter “as if” St. Peter had written it.)

Dear Parishioners of St. Justin, their Visitors, Guests, and Seekers,

I am sure some of you are growing “weary” of reading the paper, listening to talk radio or watching TV news for all 3 seem to be focusing on the “Scandals” in the Church.

What “some” priests have done to children is deplorable, sinful & criminal.  What “some” dioceses have done in moving some of these priests around is also deplorable.

Now it is time to get beyond the “Diagnosis” to the Prescription.

If these two popular solutions had been in place 20 or 30 years ago - would all these cases have never happened?

Jesus gives us today in the Gospel His “prescription” for all the ills facing not only the Church, but our society.  The best way society can see that Jesus’ solution works is that we, as the Church, need to show the way.

The Church will never be “PERFECT” as long as it allows ‘sinners ‘ to join.  Sinners are “part” of our family - not the whole family.  Sinners shouldn’t be writing the agenda for the Church.  The Church is a community of Saints in training.

When sin does occur within the community - the community needs to forthrightly, yet humbly respond in the way Jesus taught us.  Jesus desired the eradication of the sin and the restoration of the sinner!!  Forgiveness involves “mercy”, not approval.

Yes, there are always consequences to our sinful actions and some of these involve tough love disciplining, and at times, even imprisonment.

But the “end result” must always be for the restoration of the sinner.   That’s Jesus way!  Look at what he did on the cross for the Good Thief, or for the woman caught in the sin of adultery.

So much time is being spent on the actions of a few that people are being distracted from the real work at hand.

Today, Jesus clearly defines what our role is in His plan of Salvation!!

No wonder - people want to be distracted, no wonder some people will use this current scandal to try to undermine all that the Church teaches, no wonder some people will use this current crisis for an excuse to leave the Church.

Jesus states very clearly and distinctly what he expects of each of his followers, from each of the members of His Church, from the Pope - all the way down to the youngest person in the pew!

     I’m sure you remember how Jesus summed up all the commandments into just two --

Jesus would later go on to give us His one and only Commandment:

What’s the one word that appears in all three commandments???

Sometimes I wonder if people use the word love too much.  The word love can be used so casually that it’s power and meaning can be diluted or watered down.

When Jesus spoke about love it was always in the context of how much God loves.

One of “your” popular writers has said, “Love is as love does.”*  In other words, love is a verb and not a noun!!

Did you notice that when Jesus said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments” he added something: “And I will ask the Father and he will give you another Advocate, to be with you always” John 14:16-17

Jesus promised that he would not leave us orphaned.  He promised to send us the Spirit.

The Spirit guides us, nudges us in the right direction.  The Spirit gives us the will power to obey the commandment Jesus has given us!!

You pray quite frequently at St. Justin’s the Holy Spirit prayer -

“Spirit of the Living God fall afresh upon us.  Spirit of the Living God fall afresh upon us.

Melt us

Mold us

Fill us

Use us!

Spirit of the Living God fall afresh upon us!!”

Do you believe that God desires to truly answer this prayer?!

That’s Jesus promise in today’s Gospel.

I was one of the ones chosen in our first Reading (cf AA 8:5-7, 14-17) to go along with John to pray with the people of Samaria for the power of the Spirit.  In the second reading I wrote, “Beloved, Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts.” 1 Peter 3:15

Sisters and Brothers, don’t let these scandals sidetrack your faith.  Let them be OPPORTUNITIES TO EXERCISE YOUR FAITH!!

Let Christ be your center or as your Parish motto says: Be Jesus Centered!!

Yes, you are living in tough times.  But Jesus knew there would be days like this for His Church to endure and even learn and grow from.

Remember, you have a “job” to do as a member of His body.  Fulfill it faithfully; be a light to those around you.  Encourage one another even your priests.

Jesus was serious when He said, “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”

The Church will be different when each disciple follows His commandment.

Remember, Jesus has sent you the Spirit as your Advocate.  Call upon the Spirit daily to be your strength to truly love Jesus by fulfilling His commandments.

I know from first hand experience that the Spirit can change a person’s heart.  I went from being a coward to being courageous.

I once was a major sinner who was changed into a Saint in Training!     And if it could happen to me - it could happen even to you!

Love,

Simon Peter

The Fisherman, ardent Apostle and Disciple of Jesus Christ

 * The Road Less Traveled, by M. Scott Peck, M.D.

 Copyrighted 1978. Published by Simon & Schuster.  Pg. 120

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