I am blessed to be part of the Priest Council and hear directly from Cardinal Robert McElroy about his hopes and dreams for the Archdiocese of Washington. There are about 25 of us on the council who work with the cardinal to represent our fellow priests and help the archdiocese make the best decisions.
Sitting on the council is educational, challenging, and inspiring. This has always been the case, but it is especially true right now as the archdiocese embraces new pastoral goals that are important to the future of our local Church.
A couple of months ago, more than 200 priests gathered at our convocation to discuss the future of the archdiocese. Led by Cardinal McElroy, we shared our hopes and ideas to help make sure the Gospel of Jesus is lived and spread in beautiful, wonderful ways.
After carefully reflecting on feedback from lay leaders at parishes that Cardinal McElroy gathered through listening sessions, we identified six incredible goals to try our best to implement over the next few years. Others and I have written about the goals before, but let me remind you of them here:
- Fostering a parish culture that piercingly invites people to a personal encounter with Jesus Christ
- Deepening formation in the sacramental life of the Church
- Forming the laity as missionary disciples
- Celebrating and evangelizing marriage and family life
- Reversing the avalanche of young people leaving the Church
- Caring for the vulnerable: migrants, the unborn, the poor, and the marginalized
Cardinal McElroy has since appointed a group of about 12 people – mostly priests and pastors but also lay members – to begin working on these goals and reflecting on what it means to be strong members of our community and followers of Jesus as individuals and parishes.
In fact, our parishes and parishioners – meaning all of us – are key to our archdiocese growing and being all God calls us to be. I hope and pray that when your pastor asks for your input and interest in taking a leadership role, you will say “yes” enthusiastically.
Parishes take on different personalities, so not every parish’s efforts will look alike. Pastoral leadership is strong in some areas, and parishioners tend to respond well. In others, the pastoral team of priests and staff may be a bit more overwhelmed, which is an opportunity for parishioners to step up and work with the pastor to help the whole parish grow in faith and mission.
The cardinal has clearly stated that, while the goals remain the same, each parish will implement them differently. We all need to ensure we implement them in ways best suited to each community.
Every parish should be discussing and working on each of the six goals. These are foundational elements of our faith. They show we care deeply about youth, marriage and family life, the poor and vulnerable, the sacraments, and loving our neighbor. And we do all of this because, as the first goal states, we have a “piercing desire” to know Jesus and to make him present in the lives of those around us.
I am excited about this opportunity and energized by the thought of what we can become as an archdiocese. I write about these pastoral priorities again because it is important that we take seriously what it means to be a baptized Catholic.
It means living out that baptismal call by loving God and our neighbor, through prayer, service, involvement, the sacraments, and our commitment to the Lord in all that we do throughout the year.
One of my New Year’s resolutions is to do my best to make Jesus come alive. I think these goals are all about that, so it might be a good resolution for all of us. We can make sure Jesus comes alive in the hearts of those who are part of our family, our neighborhood, our parish, and our archdiocese.
Just imagine if we all made that our shared goal. How different and beautiful our Church will be in the years to come.
(Msgr. John Enzler serves as the mission advocate of Catholic Charities of The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Washington and is a chaplain at his alma mater, St. John’s College High School in Washington. He writes the Faith in Action column for the archdiocese’s Catholic Standard and Spanish-language El Pregonero newspapers and websites.)
Link to Cardinal McElroy's report on Consultation and Pastoral Planning for the Archdiocese of Washington:
