| Envisioning Ministry for the
Future
Pastoral Letter for the Clergy, Religious and Laity of the
Diocese of Pittsburgh
Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ:
Envisioning ministry for the future is one of the challenges
we face in the Diocese of Pittsburgh as we move into the new
millennium aware of the circumstances of our day. It is necessary
for us to address together how qualified and effective pastoral
ministry can continue in this local Church with fewer priests
today than we had two decades ago and, therefore, with greater
demands and responsibilities placed on them.
The August 6, 2004 issue of the Pittsburgh Catholic published
my pastoral message “Fewer Priests, Not Necessarily
Less Ministry” where I spoke of envisioning our needs,
and what that means in terms of fewer priests available for
pastoral ministry. Earlier, in December 2003, the Pittsburgh
Catholic carried a feature article highlighting this concern.
This same issue has been the subject of discussion at the
Priest Council and the Diocesan Pastoral Council. It has also
formed the topic of conversation a number of times at deanery
meetings throughout the diocese beginning last February. As
I have visited parishes this same concern has been expressed
by many of the lay faithful.
Since 1992 our diocesan priests have convened every three
years for a multi-day convocation to address significant issues
related to priestly ministry, solidarity and spirituality.
These convocations afford the priests an opportunity to discuss
in an environment of mutual concern such issues as preaching,
collaborative ministry in the Church, responsible and effective
pastoral leadership, promoting priestly vocations and forming
a priestly identity in the likeness of the Good Shepherd.
From September 27 through 30 the triennial multi-day convocation
of priests will be held at Oglebay Resort and Conference Center
in Wheeling, West Virginia, to discuss the many dimensions
of priestly ministry and to envision pastoral ministry for
the future in our diocese. This discussion will include the
necessary collaboration of lay faithful, the needs associated
with less priests in our diocese, and better ways to exercise
pastoral ministry in light of present day challenges.
The 2004 convocation is the first major step in a diocesan-wide
consultation that will involve priests and deacons, religious
and lay leadership in parishes, and strategy sessions at the
deanery level to examine how we will continue to provide effective
ministry in the future. At the conclusion of the multi-day
convocation each deanery in the diocese will study ways to
enhance pastoral ministry. Out of that reflection will come
proposals tailored to meet the needs and resources of each
deanery throughout the diocese.
Much has already been done to address the needs of our diocesan
Church. In four of my earlier pastoral letters, New Beginnings
(1988), Renew the Face of the Earth (1989), Future Directions
(1993) and Building the City of God (1994) reflections were
offered about the challenge of living our Catholic faith in
the realities present in Southwestern Pennsylvania.
Fifteen years ago we began the diocesan-wide parish reorganization/revitalization
process which combined and reduced the number of parishes
in some areas. In 1990 we created the Institute for Ministries
which made leadership formation available to the nearly 40,000
lay faithful involved in ministry. Resources, including the
“Lay Ministries Handbook for Parishes and Institutions”
(1994) and a “Hiring Handbook” (1999), have proved
useful for maintaining qualified and effective ministry.
In 1995, parish revitalization efforts which focused on spiritual
and pastoral renewal included the production of the “Parish
Resource Manual” that identifies all the elements necessary
for vibrant and healthy parishes; the “Handbook for
Deans” which is a useful tool for evaluating the ministerial
quality of parishes, and the “Policies for Financing
Elementary Schools” that redistributed the cost of Catholic
education throughout the diocese. In the following year the
diocese implemented the program “A Future Full of Hope:
A National Strategy for Vocations to the Priesthood and Religious
Life in the Dioceses and Archdioceses of the United States”
which helped parishes develop initiatives to promote priestly
vocations.
The renewal of the permanent diaconate continued in our
diocese with an ordination class of 33 deacons who completed
a formation process that began in 1995 and concluded in 1999.
The diocesan office for the diaconate is currently finalizing
a proposal for future ordination classes as we await final
approval from Rome of the United States Bishops’ directory
for the diaconate.
A very significant part of the renewal of the diocese in
its structures and ministry took place during the 19th Diocesan
Synod that convened from Pentecost 1999 through Pentecost
2000. Goals, recommendations and statutes were implemented
as a result of the Synod to guarantee effective and quality
ministry. Concomitant with the preparation for the Synod was
a clergy distribution study (1998-1999) which identified projections
and statistics regarding the number of diocesan priests in
the future and the deanery planning project (2000-2001) that
studied how ministry was being carried out in each deanery
in the diocese. In 2002, the diocesan-wide parish-based stewardship
initiative was created to assist parishes in the development
of programs to support effective and qualified ministry.
All of this served as remote preparation for the process
on which we will reflect at the multi-day clergy convocation.
The more recent efforts to respond to the circumstances of
our day include the establishment of an ad hoc committee to
examine some of the issues raised by individual parishes and
deaneries in 2003 and during my visit to each of the deaneries
in February of 2004. This was followed by a visit to each
deanery by the clergy office to review the current situation
as expressed by the priests so that we could more adequately
prepare for this September multi-day convocation.
As we begin this consultation it is essential that we do
so in light of who we are as Christ’s Church and what
it is that he has established as his new Body. Fundamental
to an understanding of the Catholic Church is the recognition
that Christ established it according to his will and that
baptism is the sacrament of faith by which one becomes a part
of the new Body of Christ and a member of his Church. At the
same time Christ instituted the priesthood to continue his
unique ministry as head of his Church. Thus we find in baptism
our configuration to Christ as a member of his body, in ordination
to the diaconate a configuration to Christ as servant, and
in ordination to priesthood and its fullness in the episcopate
a configuration to Christ as head of his Church.
When we reflect on ministry, initiatives that support programs,
and our role in building up the kingdom, it is important that
we remember our relationship to one another and to God as
members of his Church. As Christians our primordial identity
as believers is found in the sacrament of baptism. This sacrament
incorporates the person into the Body of Christ giving a share
in God’s life. The early Church understood from the
outset the necessity of baptism for membership in the Church.
The writings of Saint Peter and Saint Paul as recorded in
the New Testament speak to us about being reborn in Christ,
becoming a new creation, receiving the Spirit into our hearts
(Gal 6:15; 2 Cor 5:17; 1 Peter 1:23; 1 Cor 12:13; Rom 8:15-16).
On the day of Pentecost, for example, Peter preaches to the
crowd: “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the
name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins”
(Acts 2:38).
The Catechism of the Catholic Church reminds us that in baptism
one is not only purified from all sins but made “a new
creature, an adopted son of God, who has become a partaker
of the divine nature, member of Christ and co-heir with him,
and a temple of the Holy Spirit” (1265). From the baptismal
fonts is born “the one People of God of the New Covenant
which transcends all the natural or human limits of nations,
cultures, races and sexes” (1267). “Reborn as
sons of God the baptized must profess before men the faith
they have received from God through the Church and participate
in the apostolic and missionary activity of the People of
God” (1270).
All of the baptized are called to share their talent, time
and treasure in building up the Church. In the priestly, prophetic
and kingly dignity which characterizes the baptized, all members
of Christ’s body have their own responsibility and role
in carrying out the mission of the Church. It is in this complementarity
of vocations, charisms and ministries that the Body of Christ
is strengthened.
In his vision for the beginning of the new millennium, our
Holy Father, Pope John Paul II, spoke of the diversity-in-unity
that marks the Body of Christ. He then recognized the variety
of ministries serving the Church and the world. In his letter
Novo Millennio Ineunte he wrote: “The unity of the Church
is not uniformity, but an organic blending of legitimate diversities.
It is the reality of many members joined in a single body,
the one Body of Christ (cf. 1 Cor. 12.12). Therefore the Church
of the third millennium will need to encourage all the baptized
and confirmed to be aware of their active responsibility in
the Church’s life. Together with the ordained ministry,
other ministries, whether formally instituted or simply recognized,
can flourish for the good of the whole community, sustaining
it in all its many needs: from catechesis to liturgy, from
the education of the young to the widest array of charitable
works” (46).
Some of the faithful are called to manifest in religious
life the outpouring of God’s gifts on the Church. Our
Holy Father in the post-synodal apostolic exhortation Vita
Consecrata, The Consecrated Life, speaks of the religious
life as a call from God “to show that the Incarnate
Son of God is the eschatological goal towards which all things
tend, the splendor before which every other light pales, and
the infinite beauty which alone can fully satisfy the human
heart” (16).
The same document reminds us that in the consecrated life
“it is not only a matter of following Christ with one’s
whole heart, of loving him ‘more than father or mother,
more than son or daughter’ (cf. Mt. 10.37) — for
this is required of every disciple — but of living and
expressing this by conforming one’s whole existence
to Christ in an all-encompassing commitment which foreshadows
the eschatological perfection, to the extent that this is
possible in time and in accordance with the different charism”
(16).
The Church has understood from the time of Jesus Christ
that some are called from among the faithful to minister to
the whole Body. Christ, at the Last Supper, instituted the
ministerial priesthood as a distinct sacrament; thus the priesthood
of the ordained is different from the priesthood of the baptized.
This sacrament of holy orders allows one to participate in
Christ’s mission in a unique way. It makes the recipient
an authentic, authoritative and special representative of
Christ the head of the Church.
Saint Paul points out that the Holy Spirit is the source
of the division of labor in the Church and that the offices
are quite distinct (cf. 1. Cor. 12.4-11; Rom. 12.4-8). The
division of work follows a design set by God. Some are called
to serve as priests, others to serve in different roles —
but all are called to build up the Church of Christ (cf. 1.
Cor. 12.27-31).
Christ is the true, invisible head of his body which is the
Church. Yet just as the Body of Christ is made visible and
manifest in all the members throughout the world, so too is
it manifest in the presence of Christ the head of the Church
specifically in the priesthood which carries on the ministry
of Christ as head of his body the Church.
The first task of the priest is to preach the Gospel. Each
believer — disciple — is obliged to preach the
Gospel.What distinguishes the priest’s role is that
he participates in the priestly office authenticating the
proclamation as truly the witness and message of the Church.
He is the spokesman for the living tradition that, guided
by the Holy Spirit, presents and applies for us today the
Word of God made flesh in Jesus Christ.
The priest is prophet and pastor. He stands in the midst
of the faith community as the good shepherd whose voice is
recognized as that of Christ. For this reason, his proclamation
of the truth from the pulpit is balanced by his compassionate
care of the flock when they come for counseling and sacramental
confession. It is not an exaggeration when the Church says
that as the priest proclaims the teaching of the Church, he
speaks with the voice of Christ.
The second work of the priest is to lead or shepherd the
faithful. The priest is to facilitate the building of Christian
community among those he serves. Today this takes on a special
meaning because it is precisely in the area of building community
that much of the re-dimensioning of priesthood is taking place.
To build a Christian community is one of the functions of
the priest because it was one of the priestly works of Christ
and was passed on to his Church as a continuing obligation.
However the priest is not the sole person responsible for
carrying out all the details in building up the faith community.
With the emergence of numerous lay ministries and the development
of lay involvement in the life of the parish, much of the
work of the parish priest is less “hands on” and
more “supervisory” and “empowering.”
Where once the priest was expected to direct, coordinate,
or at least, be present for almost every activity that was
carried out in the name of the Church, now it is increasingly
recognized that the responsibility and work of building the
parish community and helping it function is shared by many.
The principal work of the priest as community builder is
spiritual. The priest, therefore, should see his objective
as involving primarily the faith and charity life of those
entrusted to his pastoral care. His specific area of concentration
is that of building a faith community strong enough to live
the love of Christ so that the whole community is permeated
with the Spirit of Christ. As a true priest of the new covenant
the priest is expected everywhere and in all times to be the
shepherd of God’s people. With special love the priest
provides the spiritual food necessary for salvation for those
entrusted to his care. Whatever faith community is given to
the priest it is here that he feeds the sheep.
The third function of the priest is to celebrate the sacred
mysteries. He is to preside at the Eucharist through which
the believer participates in the paschal mystery. It is in
this work that the priest most clearly manifests now the eternal
reality of the Kingdom of Christ in glory. It is precisely
as he acts in the person of Christ that the priest breaks
through the bonds that confine this temporal order and, in
a unique and transcendental way, acts in the name, the power
and the person of Christ himself.
Traditionally, the priest has been called “the dispenser
of the mysteries of God.” Whatever else the priest is,
he is the source of sacramental contact with Christ. The framework
within which the Christian reaches God is a sacramental one.
It is the priest who makes Christ the Savior sacramentally
present. The priest celebrates the sacred mysteries through
which the Christ of the Passion and Resurrection is made really
and truly present in our time and world.
It is the ordained priest, acting in the person of Christ,
who brings about the Eucharistic Sacrifice (cf. Lumen Gentium,
10). Our Holy Father writes so clearly about the purpose of
the ministerial priesthood in his encyclical on the Eucharist:
“In persona Christi means more than offering ‘in
the name of’ or ‘in the place of’ Christ.
In persona means in specific sacramental identification with
the eternal High Priest who is the author and principal subject
of this sacrifice of his, a sacrifice in which, in truth,
nobody can take his place... The assembly gathered together
for the celebration of the Eucharist, if it is to be a truly
Eucharistic assembly, absolutely requires the presence of
an ordained priest as its president... the community is by
itself incapable of providing an ordained minister... It is
the Bishop who, through the Sacrament of Holy Orders, makes
a new presbyter by conferring upon him the power to consecrate
the Eucharist” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 29).
Our diocese is blessed with so many people who commit themselves
to carrying out the mission of the Church. What is needed
now is a recommitment by lay faithful, religious and ordained
ministers to work together in order that qualified and effective
ministry is guaranteed in sustaining the work of the Church.
Since the mission of the Church is not solely the work of
priests but rather a co-responsibility involving both the
ordained and lay faithful, we recognize this opportunity to
explore collaborative approaches to ministry.
The Oglebay convocation will begin a process of reflection
and discernment involving the entire diocesan Church about
how best you and I can be Church to one another and for the
people of Southwestern Pennsylvania. We are facing the reality
of less priests in this diocese but less priests does not
mean there has to be less ministry. The pastoral ministry
of the Church is, indeed, the primary work of the priests
and bishops who stand in the person of Christ as head and
shepherd. However, the building up of God’s Kingdom
on earth, promoting effective and qualified ministry, sustaining
healthy and vibrant parishes is the work of the entire People
of God.
As the Bishop of this local Church it is my responsibility
to encourage all of the faithful to live out their vocation
in building up the faith community. In his recent post synodal
exhortation on the ministry of bishops, Pope John Paul II
explains: “The duty of Bishops at the beginning of a
new millennium is thus clearly marked out. It is the same
duty as ever: to proclaim the Gospel of Christ, the salvation
of the world. But it is a duty which has a new urgency and
which calls for cooperation and commitment on the part of
the whole People of God. The Bishop needs to be able to count
on the members of his diocesan presbyterate and on his deacons,
the ministers of the Blood of Christ and of charity; he needs
to be able to count on his consecrated sisters and brothers,
called to be for the Church and the world eloquent witnesses
of the primacy of God in the Christian life and the power
of his love amid the frailty of the human condition; and he
needs to be able to count on the lay faithful, whose greater
scope for the apostolate represents for their pastors a source
of particular support and a reason for special comfort”
(Pastores Gregis, 74).
It is in this spirit that I ask the faithful of this local
Church to begin a process of consultation and reflection on
how this diocesan church can best exercise the pastoral ministry
of Jesus Christ in a most effective, competent and joy-filled
manner. This will mean that difficult questions need to be
asked and answered, commitment to undertake responsibilities
pursued, that more lay faithful discover their vocation within
the Church, that young men be open to serving the Church as
priests, that married couples live a prayerful, spiritual
life raising children in a truly domestic church, that single
women and men embrace the Christian vocation, that religious
women and men continue their witness to the Kingdom, and that
priests invest time to their own spiritual life and continuing
formation.
One of the measures of a healthy diocesan Church is the dynamism
of its parishes. In the last sixteen years nearly 25,000 women
and men have been initiated into the Catholic Church in this
diocese; I have ordained over 70 men to the priesthood; tens
of thousands of young people have received the sacrament of
confirmation; even more have been baptized. Where is this
faith sustained — where does one come regularly to meet
Christ as Savior and Lord? For most of the faithful this takes
place in the parish.
In his post synodal exhortation to the Church in America,
Pope John Paul II explains the goal of parish life: “The
parish is the privileged place where the faithful concretely
experience the Church... The parish needs to be constantly
renewed on the basis of the principle that the parish must
continue to be above all a Eucharistic community” (Ecclesia
in America, 41).
It is in the parish that the priest celebrates the sacraments,
where people are spiritually nourished and hear the Word,
and where the faith community thrives and grows. Indeed, the
experience of faith and spirituality can be nurtured in many
ways but the parish is the normative experience of Christ’s
Church and therefore becomes a central point of interest for
all believers. “The institution of the parish, thus
renewed, can be the source of great hope. It can gather people
in community, assist family life, overcome the sense of anonymity,
welcome people and help them be involved in their neighborhood
and in society” (Ecclesia in America, 41).
Fewer priests does not mean less ministry. As we discern
how best we can sustain and strengthen our parish life with
fewer priests a number of questions can help frame the discussion.
For example: are our liturgies prayerful celebrations fostering
full, conscious and active participation of all people? Do
we have all necessary liturgical ministries including women
and men, young and old, people of various ethnic and racial
groups, people with disabilities? Is our liturgical music
participatory? How active are the pastoral and finance councils?
Are they truly collaborative and consultative bodies? Are
there ministries directed to the homebound and hospitalized
as well as those in nursing homes? Are there sufficient numbers
of catechists to sustain a qualified religious education program
for children, adult faith formation and those seeking full
communion with the Church? What are the ministerial needs
of this particular parish community? In what ministries should
the parish invest its limited resources? Are there ways that
parishes can partner with one another in responding to shared
needs? Each of us individually can also ask ourselves how
might I use the gifts God has given me for the good of my
parish community?
We also need to be aware of the many ecclesial career services
that have developed in recent years in the Church. For example,
we have a number of full-time parish employees ranging from
directors or coordinators of religious education to business
managers, from youth ministers to directors of music and maintenance
personnel. Almost half of our parishes have a parochial school
and thus employ a principal, teachers and staff. All of these
together form a collaborative effort to best serve the ministry
of the Church within the parish.
At the heart of the Church is the Eucharist. As the encyclical
letter on the Eucharist teaches us: “When the Church
celebrates the Eucharist, the memorial of her Lord’s
death and resurrection, this central event of salvation becomes
really present and ‘the work of our redemption is carried
out’… This is the faith from which generations
of Christians down the ages have lived” (11). The gift
of the Holy Eucharist is what sustains, fashions and forms
the parish community. Without the Eucharist the faith community
is incomplete.
Our Holy Father also reminds us that: “The People of
New Covenant, far from closing in upon itself, becomes a sacrament
for humanity, a sign and instrument of the salvation achieved
by Christ.” Thus the parish community is involved not
only with its own interests but also the interests of the
wider community. The Holy Father continues: “From the
perpetuation of the sacrifice of the Cross and her communion
with the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist, the Church
draws the spiritual power needed to carry out her mission.
The Eucharist thus appears as both the source and the summit
of all evangelization, since its goal is the communion of
mankind with Christ and in him with the Father and the Holy
Spirit” (Ecclesia de Eucharistia, 22).
These reflections I offer as an introduction to a process
of consultation that includes in an initial stage the clergy
convocation later this month. The ongoing process will continue
in the deaneries and parishes of this diocese. More information
will become available as we gather and disseminate it through
the efforts of your pastor and in the pages of the Pittsburgh
Catholic.
In Spring 2005, I hope to receive recommendations from each
deanery on how best to sustain pastoral ministry in its parishes,
institutions, and faith communities. My intention then would
be to share the fruit of this process in a pastoral letter
which will provide some direction as we move into the future.
In concluding these reflections I ask for your prayers in
this important moment. In your prayers I ask you to include
all of the priests who during the convocation will begin this
journey considering the issues of effective, qualified ministry
needed in our Church today. We will join you in the prayer
that we will be open to the power of the Spirit who asks all
of us to be generous with our gifts, talents and lives.
This is our moment. In every age in the life of the Church
it has fallen to the faithful and clergy of that specific
time to respond to the issues and the circumstances of the
hour. This is our moment. These are our circumstances and
we need to address them motivated by faith, guided by the
power of the Spirit and directed by the teaching and received
tradition of the Church. Out of this will come, with God’s
grace, a fruitful development that will only enrich this diocesan
Church and those whom we serve now and in the future.
We can “set out into the deep” with confidence
and courage as we are challenged by Jesus and reminded by
our Holy Father. Whatever we undertake if we do so with prayerful
faith and confident respect for the mission entrusted to the
Church we can succeed. We are confident of this because it
is Christ who walks with us as we set out into the deep —
into the future — filled with faith, hope and love.
Asking God’s blessing on this effort to envision ministry
for the future and on all of the faithful of the Church of
Pittsburgh, I am
Faithfully in Christ,
Bishop of Pittsburgh
September 3, 2004
Saint Gregory the Great
Pope and Doctor
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