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11/05/00
Pastoring with Courage and Prudence:
how would Jesus do it?
ABCs Nightline last week devoted two programs to a story from
St. Nicholas Parish in Evanston. A young man of the parish shot
and killed another young man. Young men (and sometimes women)
are members of gangs as well as members of parishes, and this
was a gang-related killing. The reason this all too frequent occurrence
became a story worthy of national attention is because the grace
of God and the good heart of Father Bob Oldershaw, St. Nicholas
pastor, transformed sin and tragedy into forgiveness and love.
As I listened to Father Oldershaw explain on television that his
heart, moved by the murder of a young man by another young man
of his own parish, prompted him to be present to the murderer
and to the victims family, even though he wasnt sure what he
could or should do, I learned again that pastoring is first of
all presence. Often the priests of the Archdiocese complain to
me that they lack the time to be present to people because of
the press of administrative concerns. On some days, I also feel
that I am more pastor to paper than to people. Through Father
Oldershaws presence, the Holy Spirit was able to work in the
hearts of others and bring a conversion from isolation and sin
to forgiveness and grace.
Through good pastoring, God reconciled the murderer and the murder
victims family. This reconciliation brought St. Nicholas Parish
to a new sense of unity, a unity tried now by tragedy and therefore
deeper than a unity based only on success. Pastoring effects conversion
of heart and mind and soul. A pastor is given by Christ to call
people to conversion, to change, for the sake of life with God
here and in eternity. Sometimes one hears how the Church must
change in order to conform her teaching and discipline to what
people today expect. Sometimes that is true; more often than not
its the reverse that is true. Jesus didnt ask people what they
expected; he called them to change. People would expect a murder
victims family to demand vengeance. Only Gods grace, a grace
stamped with the image and likeness of a man who prayed for his
enemies and gave his own life for their salvation, can move victims
to forgive.
How to pastor well when the people in front of you dont seem
open to change and when the Church believes that she cant change
is a great challenge. The change in sexual mores in the last 30
years complicates lives in ways that leave pastors sometimes stymied.
A case in point: more than 50 percent of all first marriages are
now between couples already living together. How does the priest
counsel them? Cohabitation is not a canonical impediment to marriage,
but the evidence shows that the divorce rate is about 50 percent
higher for couples who live together before marriage than for
those who dont. There is a higher incidence of domestic violence.
Living a false life is poor preparation for the kind of total
self-giving demanded in Christian marriage. It would seem necessary,
therefore, even apart from the pastoral need to encourage people
to stop sinning, for the priest simply to tell a couple to stop
living together before marrying.
In the document that came out of the Synod for the Family in 1981,
Pope John Paul II spoke about the economic, cultural and psychological
factors that lead couples to cohabitation. Then he added: The
pastors and the ecclesial community should take care to become
acquainted with such situations and their actual causes, case
by case. They should make tactful and respectful contact with
the couples concerned and enlighten them patiently, correct them
charitably and show them the witness of Christian family life
in such a way as to smooth the path for them to regularize their
situation. In other words, it is pastorally a mistake to ignore
the fact that a couple preparing for marriage are cohabiting.
Their situation demands that the pastor be present to them, taking
everything into account and calling them to conversion as he prepares
them for marriage in Christ. Figuring how to do this in each case
means that the pastor is personally involved in the lives of his
parishioners.
Again and again, in the case of people not married in the Church,
in the case of people using artificial contraception, in the case
of people who are petty but habitual embezzlers or involved in
the corruption on a minor scale that can invade government departments,
in the case of people caught in habits of sin, the pastor has
to figure out how to be present and how to call people to a new
life. There is no formula for this, and some of the best discussions
among priests occur when different responses are given to similar
cases. What is always clear is that the pastor has to be present
with the Gospel in its integrity, with the power of the sacraments
and with his own desire to bring people to Christ. Presenting
the fullness of the Gospel is a matter of salvation. Observing
the discipline of the sacraments is a matter of ecclesial communion.
Governing people to keep them in Christ is a matter of pastoral
prudence and personal courage.
Fortunately, by the grace of God, the Archdiocese has hundreds
of good pastors for the hundreds of thousands of Catholics in
Cook and Lake counties. Not only is each person unique, but the
parishes as such demand particular attention. In the suburbs and
Lake County, many parishes are oriented to the service of what
our faith would see as normal families who need what Catholic
parishes have been providing for many years; but the parishes
are often huge. In Chicago itself, the pattern is sometimes more
diverse. Young professionals, some married and many not, are moving
into the city and are often more diffident toward the faith than
were their parents. African-American Catholics have a long history
which doesnt always give answers to todays difficulties. Hispanics
bring a deep Catholic sensibility which isnt always respected
here. New immigrants from Poland have to find their way with Polish
Americans, and immigrants from Asia demand a type of presence
that Chicago priests werent always prepared by their seminary
training to offer. In some parishes, the pastor has to speak Polish
and Spanish as well as English. In every case, the pastor tries
to welcome and be present, even as he calls for conversion. Thats
what Jesus would do.
Finally, part of pastoring is to pray each day for ones people.
Many times a day, people will ask a priest to pray for a sick
member of their family or for a special intention. During November,
I receive cards from people responding to the Annual Catholic
Appeal. They list intentions which I take to the Lord, especially
when I pray the Divine Office (the Liturgy of the Hours). The
intentions are short, but each contains the cares of a life based
on faith. I am asked to pray for newly married couples, for people
diagnosed with cancer or with Alzheimers disease, for children
and grandchildren who no longer practice their faith, for a son
who is missing, for a widow grieving the sudden loss of her husband,
for someone who has lost a job. Prayer is a form of presence not
only to the Lord but also to all those the Lord places in ones
care. Praying for others moves the priest himself to conversion.
Praying for his people is the most important thing a deacon, priest
or bishop does for them. You are in my prayers; please keep me
in yours.
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Francis Cardinal George, OMI
Archbishop of Chicago
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