A Community of Active Disciples

Dear Sisters and Brothers –

Since returning from my extended summer break, many have asked if I’m happy to be back. I very much am! In fact, last week, I surprised myself when I answered, “I am exceedingly happy to be back.” My gratitude to God for being a member of our wonderful faith community has never been deeper.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I loved my time away. In two weeks on the coast north of Paris, I read six novels, visited D-Day sites, and taught myself how to make a French omelet and sear salmon and steak in a pan. In the two weeks in Belgium, I cycled more than 350 miles throughout West Flanders (SO flat!) and was utterly charmed by medieval Bruges. Finally, I spent six days in relatively-rural Sweden getting to know third-cousins (our great-grandmothers were sisters) and doing family history (all peasant stock!). And in three days, I fell in love with Stockholm. But even though I miss getting up when I wake up, I am exceedingly happy to be back with you.

I am also exceedingly grateful to and thankful for our remarkable parish staff and parish leaders, who made my time away possible. I don’t have to recount for you how God has blessed us with so many disciples of Jesus here at St. Ignatius, who are good at what they do, generous, creative, fundamentally good people, and a great deal of fun to work with. They carry the mission of our parish in their hearts, and over the course of the summer, they moved that mission forward with purpose and competence.

Prior to leaving, I asked members of the staff to begin formulating the outline of a strategic planning process. Now that our lay leadership governance is back to its pre-pandemic vitality, and the church building is protected from the elements and stands tall again with renewed strength and beauty, we have the capacity and the bandwidth – and the obligation – to commit our abundance of parish resources to the tasks of becoming more deeply a community of active disciples and of proactively seeking the will of God for our faith community. As we design the process with our Parish Council and other lay leaders, Synodality will be a primary value that will shape and guide the process: we will be inviting all members of our community into the experience of looking and listening for the movements of the Holy Spirit as she impels us forward.

More is forthcoming later in the fall, but in the meantime, I am asking each of you to pray for us as we design the process. And, as always,

oremus pro invicim.