Homily for January 18, 2009

Second Sunday in Ordinary Time

As I prepared for my homily this week, three things were on my mind that I thought I shouldn't ignore, some of which I didn't necessarily want to talk about. But they're there, and I'm going to run the risk of being a little honest about how I really feel about some of these things.
The first is vocation awareness. In the bulletin you will see materials about the Called by Name program; it’s about vocation awareness. Second, you will see the materials about the Freedom of Choice Act and the campaign of the Bishops to urge us to write our legislators. And third, there's the inauguration of President elect Obama, a very historic moment in our country that ought not to go without notice. I'm just going to tell you how I honestly feel and hope I don't get reported or offend anybody.
The first chapter of John's Gospel is all about being called. People come to Jesus in response to different titles that they've heard. They each come for their own reason, and they're each called.
Well, my memory goes back – and I know I've shared this with you – to when I was in the sixth grade in this church and in this grade school and I felt a call to the priesthood. Everybody in the community supported that call. My teachers supported it and encouraged me. The priests and parishioners supported me. In fact, the person least supportive was my mother. I am not one of those you read about in the paper who can say my mother forced me into this. Up to a week before I was ordained, she said to me, "Honey, are you sure this is what you want?"
Well, it's been 42 years later, and yes, I'm sure this is what I want. Today parents don't encourage their young children to enter the priesthood or religious life. In fact, the studies that have been done indicate most parents discourage their sons from becoming priests. The community doesn’t support it. It’s not high on our list of priorities.
There are a number of reasons for that, and they're too complicated to go into in a short period of time, but I realize also that I don't encourage young people, even though I love being a priest. When I ask myself why, part of it is that I don't buy all the rhetoric that's used in the promotion materials.
I really believe that we all share a common call in baptism, that we are all called to ministry, and that the church belongs to all of us. When materials exalt the priest and separate the priest from the people as though we're up here and you're down there, I just don't buy that.
Now, I know there's a difference. If I called in sick today, you would have had a communion service, somebody would have led it, you probably would have read the readings, maybe somebody would have shared a reflection, but you wouldn't have had somebody from the pews come up and say Mass. We all know that we need the ordained person to do that. There is a difference but, fundamentally, all of these ministries are related. But let me share with you why you should pray for vocations and give some thought to it.
When I retire – and that's not something I have on my agenda anytime soon, but I am going to be 69 this summer – when I retire there will not be a full time priest assigned to Holy Cross. There aren't that many. If you look in the directory of the archdiocese, you will not find a single parish this size that isn't sharing a priest with one or more other parishes. So, when I retire, you will be sharing a priest with another parish. So I think we should all be praying for that. I'm not a prophet, but I think you all know that our numbers keep getting smaller and smaller in relation to the number of people in the parishes.
By the way, that's why this strategic planning thing we're talking about is very important to me. It's very important to me that whenever I leave, you know who you are and are not waiting for somebody to come in and tell you who you are. Now, whoever follows me might not appreciate that, but I believe that our relationship should be like a dance in which we are both partners and one of us is not a wet mop, if you follow me.
And then the Freedom of Choice Act. Now, I know and I heard from many of you, during the campaign the complaint that many Bishops and priests (not all, and not even the majority) and many pro life groups engaged in very thinly disguised endorsements of political candidates and made efforts to tell you that you couldn't vote for Obama. And that's just fact. We all know it, and we all know also that 52 percent of Catholics did vote for Obama. And I hear from many of you that you wish the Church would pay more attention to other issues. I share that feeling.
And yet, I also hear from all of you that, whatever your reservations, you will always eventually say, "but I am not in favor of this." You might not be for making abortion illegal, but you will all say, "I am not for it as a form of birth control," or "I'm not for partial birth abortion," or "I am not for" something.
Well, as you read the materials, realize that the agenda of the other side is absolutely unlimited and unrestricted access to abortion as an entitlement and as something that you would pay your tax dollars for; that that would be paid for by tax dollars, but maternal care would not; that the agenda of the other side is indeed very radical.
So I just encourage you, take the materials, read them over, ask yourself about the truth of what they say, and act accordingly. I do not believe that the Church is ever going to move lock stock and lock barrel in a single step. And I know the time is past when complicated issues can be “settled” by authority.
By the way -- I meant to say this at the beginning -- the bias I bring to ministry is spiritual direction. When I'm not here, most of my time in ministry is spent one to one listening to people talk about their journey with God. And I've learned over the years my goal is to help you discover where you are with God and to build that relationship. I'm not at all interested in telling people what it should be. And whatever your ministry, I would love to talk to you about how you find God in that, much more than telling you what it should be.
But I encourage you take the materials, pray over them, read them, check out for yourself what they claim and verify it, and act according to your conscience.
And then lastly, I think I sense there is a mood of hope and optimism in our country with the upcoming inauguration. I know not everybody shares that, but, am I right, is that your sense, that for many there is a mood of hope and optimism? I just want to encourage you to pray again for that.
I was deeply impressed as I watched the press conference with President elect Obama, President Bush, and former Presidents Bush, Clinton and Carter. What I was impressed by was President Bush looking Obama square in the eye and saying, "We want you to succeed." As we inaugurate a new President this week, all of us, regardless of our politics, can make that our prayer, that we want him to succeed.