Seven Months Later...

This has been a period of withdrawal from the blog I have maintained on the Jesuit Centre of Spirituality site. The last entry was my Palm Sunday homily. Until recently I was in the habit of writing out many of my sermons. Under the pressure of an increased work load, I have gradually discovered that preaching without a written text (but not without preparation, of course) works just as well for me. There are hesitations and misfires, of course, but on the whole greater spontaneity, greater energy, greater contact with my parishioners.

What pressure am I talking about? In addition to being in charge of the Jesuit Centre of Spirituality in Halifax, I have recently moved from being sacramental minister to St. Patrick’s parish (Halifax NS) to being priest-in-charge, an unusual title in the Roman Catholic Church, but one with which the archbishop and I felt comfortable. At the age of 74 the title of pastor, which bespeaks some permanence, seems inappropriate; and the title of administrator does not reflect the essential aspect of my work which is pastoral.

Still it is true to say that much of the additional work I have taken on is administrative. Some of the pastoral outreach of the priest was already part of my work as sacramental minister: getting to know the members of the community, mingling with them, discovering their gifts and their needs. All of that is important if I am to celebrate the Eucharist with and for them. But now I have a formal responsibility to give leadership in the area of community. I am still learning how to do all these things since my ministry as a Jesuit thus far has been in teaching, academic and Jesuit administration.

The parish of which I am in charge has many challenges. The most obvious one is the state of the church building, which goes back to the 1880's, and which needs repairs and major restoration. But that is not the most critical challenge. The spiritual health of the community is the most critical challenge. On the whole the people of the parish, who come from all over the area, form a vibrant and welcoming community. This strength and energy and good-will needs to be shaped and directed towards effective collaboration on all the issues before us, including that of restoring the Church. The administrative arrangements already in place to manage the restoration have opened the door to elements of friction and factionalism which must be overcome.

Thus the focus needs to be more on the community than on the church building. What would be a greater disaster, losing our church building or losing our community? The community should hold the first place in our hearts and minds. Indeed strengthening the community might well be the condition of being able to mobilize the resources to restore the church building.

As you can see, there are many issues swirling around when I prayerfully reflect on my new task. To be continued...

Jean-Marc Laporte S.J.