Cape Ann Parish Assignment

Each year and each summer, we are assigned to a parish to help develop our pastoral skills.  This year I am assigned to a pastor in Cape Ann, Massachusetts.  FR. J. is the pastor of two parishes (but not an official collaborative of the Archdiocese of Boston (yet)).   As a third year student, we are supposed to be at our assignment for 6 hours including travel time.

I leave early Sunday morning.  It is a 45 minute drive to the first parish and the 8:30 Mass.  I greet the parishioners as they arrive and have some short conversations with them.  I read or serve as an Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist, or just participate in the Mass with the assembly.  After Mass, I move over to the rectory and help with the RCIA program. 

Once RCIA is over, I drive to the other parish and join the Mass already in progress there.  I greet the parishioners as they exit Mass and then move over to the rectory there to assist with a confirmation class.  Once that is finished, I meet the pastor for lunch and discussion before I head back to the seminary.

I get to talk to a lot of people, help with some adult and teen faith formation and get to pick the pastors brain about the vocation that I will be doing in about 18 months.  It is a good assignment.

Reflections from a Labyrinth

Why do I stiff arm you, O Lord?
I walk alongside you, yet keep you at a distance.
Why am I afraid to let you close to me?
I know you have called me to be a priest and I want to respond to that call. 

So why do I keep you at a distance?
Am I moving towards you or away from you?
When will I allow your healing touch?

As I walked the labyrinth this year, I noticed how you were always at my side. 
Just like the poem, "Footsteps in the sand". 
Rarely, you were behind me or in front of me. 
Perhaps that is the way life is. 
You stay beside us most of the time. 
When we are focused on you, you are in front of us. 
When we turn our backs to you, you are behind us. 
But you are also behind us when we need a push or a kick in the rear.

The center object changes as I walk the labyrinth. 
God's presence also manifests in many ways. 
A card or call from a friend (not a hint).
A memory of a loved one. 
The face of a fellow companion on the journey. 
A particular phrase from scripture or another good book. 

God, I am not the man you need me to be, not yet. 
Perhaps I will be. 
Perhaps the gift bestowed at ordination may bring me closer to the man I need to be. 
But even if that does not happen, 
        broken as I am, 
               I give my life, myself, 
                    my all to you.

Updates from Maine

I have my head above water again here at the seminary.  We are in our last week before retreat, so things are winding down.  My last deliverable is a homily, then I can get current on my reading assignments and start packing.  Faculty will not assign anything to be due for the first few days when we get back.

If you also follow me on Face Book, you will have seen this article about my home parish in Maine closing it's doors.  It was a sad moment in time, but not at all unexpected. The other parish in my home town is younger, larger and more vibrant.  The handwriting was on the door (shades of Luther) in 1988 when our parish was split in two and a new parish was created in the next town over.  It left our parish in much poorer financial conditions. It just took 25 years to come to the final conclusion.  The finance committee suggested it, the other parish committees and pastor approved it and the Bishop accepted the recommendation.

I will not be praying a Mass of Thanksgiving at the parish that I grew up in.  I hope to pray it in the other parish in my home town,  If God's timing works out correctly, a brother seminarian from that parish can serve as my deacon for that Mass. I just got the quote back for refinishing that chalice, it was about 1/2 of what I expected.  God is Good, All the Time.

The family in Maine are reasonably stable.  Between my niece (God bless her) and hired home health care aids, somebody is in the condo with the family for at least two hours every day.  Eyes on is a good thing.  I hear of little issues, but I sleep better knowing that good people are checking up on my family.