June 25, 2010
The Christian Journey
Laypersons are called to the work of the church
BY FATHER JIM SAUER
Last weekend, Sister Eula Johnson, a member of the Sisters of Charity from Nazareth, Ky., spoke at our Masses as part of the annual mission appeal. She shared heart-touching stories about the missionary work performed by the Sisters of Charity in India, Belize, Nepal and Botswana.
In India, a three-year girl was abandoned at the door of the sisters’ orphanage. The paper attached to the child’s clothing gave her name as “Little Rat.” We can only hope that this child hasn’t subconsciously internalized her name “Little Rat.” The good news that each person is created in God’s image has yet to reach all corners of the world or the hearts of all peoples. Who will preach the Word of “our immortal dignity” (Christmas Preface) if not Christians?
Police lock up mentally ill women in the city jails in Nepal. To avoid poverty, many families sell their pre-teen daughters into prostitution. Their demeaning life, complicated by forced drug addiction, breaks their young minds in a few years. In 1979 after arriving in Nepal, the sisters convinced the authorities to allow them to care for the women. The sisters give them shelter and provide them with therapy, education and work. Their love restores their dignity as persons desiring to live a new life.
The sisters went to Belize in Central America in 1975. Belize’s population is 310,000 with one-half belonging to the Catholic Church. There are 17 diocesan priests and 13 religious priests serving 13 parishes. Catholics in the out-reaching countryside (8,870 square miles) may receive a visit from a priest once a year; otherwise, they depend on trained catechists. The ratio of Catholics per priest is 7,300 to one.
Sister Eula’s reflections struck me that the “priest shortage” is really a “relative” issue. Can you imagine a priest coming only once a year to your parish to celebrate Mass and the other sacraments? (Why, we even make a fuss when the weekend Mass schedule is changed!) With 54 priests in our diocese for 70 parishes, we are very blessed indeed, aren’t we? Many people in Belize and other third world countries walk for hours to attend Mass when “the priest is coming” — compared to the 45 percent of U.S. Catholics attending weekend Mass, even with the convenience of cars.
In the future, priests might not be as available as much as they are today when parishioners telephone if we keep adding parishes to their workload. However, closing parishes may also not be the answer to our problem. We may need to change our expectations of the priest AND broaden the ministry to include the laity (marriage preparation, praying with the dying, communion to the homebound, etc). The people of Belize learn to put their trust in God and their fellow Christians because the priest can’t be present at a moment’s notice. Every society determines the expectations it places upon its clergy. Vatican II calls the laity — by virtue of their baptism — to share the Church’s pastoral ministry.
Have you noticed how overflowing “non-denominational” churches hire “full-time” paid “pastors/associate pastors” for “Youth,” “Marriage and Family Life,” “Music Ministry” and “Parish Outreach,” to organize these ministries? They then engage the help of church volunteers. I am so thankful to the many dedicated women and men who volunteer hours in parish work while holding down full-time jobs and family responsibilities. But so many of them are beginning to say they do not have the time and the energy anymore; and they lack the training and ideas to do justice to these much needed ministries in our parishes if we want our Catholics to remain active members.