Dear Disciples of Christ at Holy Spirit, St. Helen’s, and St. Mary’s,

On this Ascension Sunday (that’s right, Sunday in our Diocese and most of the Southern and Midwestern states), we not only give glory to God for His Son ascending into heaven, we glorify Him because He has entrusted to us the mission of His Son. The Acts of the Apostles proclaim, “…You will be my witnesses in Jerusalem…” The Letter to the Ephesians follows with this bold pronouncement, “…. And gave Him as head over all things to the church which is his body.”

You see, Ascension announces the “Great Commission.” We are sent to proclaim the gospel. We are to be His witnesses not just in Jerusalem but throughout the world. We have been empowered by the Holy Spirit to become those witnesses. The newly Confirmed early in the week attest to this empowerment.

Lumen Gentium addressed this truth about fully initiated Christians in its writings on the
laity. While the clergy have a unique role in the Mission of the Church, it is the laity (the
people in the pews) that are critical participants in this mission. For sixty years, the Church
has held that ordinary people have been called by their baptism to be witnesses to the
message and mission of Jesus Christ. It is not a clergy-oriented world but the age when
clergy and laity alike work to proclaim the message of the gospel.

St. John Paul II reflected on the coming Millennium and addressed what he termed, “The
New Evangelization.” Few people understood the ramifications of his message, but he was ushering in a new perspective on how we are to live as Christians in the world. We are called to give witness. We are charged with making the gospel message come alive in our own lives. We are expected to re-imagine how we live as Catholics in our churches, our
communities, and the world. The New Evangelization transforms our path to God.

We began hearing new language with seemingly foreign words like “evangelizers,”
“missionary disciples,” and “church as mission.” Classes at seminaries and colleges were
decoupled to help us navigate this new territory. Your own new pastor* has been taking those courses for over a year now. In July, he will attend classroom discussions as he pursues his degree in “New Evangelization.” That six-week intensive course will allow him to assist you and our Diocese in best understanding and implementing this new reality to which we all have been called. He will minimize the fear and maximize the potential that we all can reach.

Let us pray for him, the Mission, and our Diocese to be receptive to this challenge.
(*It is customary to begin as an Administrator of the parish, then later become pastor.)

Fr. Tom