What does it mean to be church?
That was the question that Bishop Edward Clark of Los Angeles found himself asking. Confronted with changing demographics, both within the parishes under his guidance, and the number of priest available to serve those parishes, it was important to start somewhere. “For many of us, it means being a member of a parish, a parochial parish faith community. Yes, we know that we are also members of a worldwide community, headed by the Pope and centered in the city of Rome. But usually we think of THAT church as the official church, the church of the Pope, the bishops and other formal church leaders. We usually see that church as…having little to do with the day to day living out of our faith as members of a local parish.
In reality, the church is the entire baptized people of God. Each one of us is fully a member of the church as is the Pope and all the bishops. Each of us, through baptism, is given a distinctive place and role in the church, and each of us is given a share in the mission and ministry of the church established by Christ.
As members of the Catholic Church, we are fist of all members of he “Universal Church”, the Church headed by the Pope and the college of Bishops, but equally including all who are baptized into Christ Jesus and living as His disciples. Secondly, we are members of the “Local Church”’ the diocese or archdiocese that is made up of the local bishop and all the baptized who are united with and around him in living out the faith handed down to us from the Apostles. Thirdly, we are member of our parochial or parish church, those who gather to celebrate together the Eucharist and the sacraments of Christ, who support each other in prayer and Christian living and who carry out the mission of Christ in the local community.
It is important for us to realize what it truly means to be church. We are called to concern not only for our parish community, by also for the welfare of our diocese and the universal church. As church, we need to develop a vision that is more than parochial. We need to lend our time, talent and treasure not only for supporting our individual parishes, but also for responding to the needs of our archdiocese and of the universal church. Our vision and life is to be members of the Archdiocese of St. Louis and of the Roman Catholic Church, and not solely as members of (St. Ann) parish.”
It is this framework of what the church is that is at the heart of a pastoral initiative to look at the utilization of priests as we plan for the future…
…to be continued.