Dear Friends in Christ,
I am away for a time of vacation this
weekend which was planned even before I found out that I would be appointed as your pastor! I’m sorry to be away at the beginning of our time together, but please know of my prayers for you as we begin this new mission in the Lord’s service. Shortly after he was elected in 2013, Pope Francis wrote a document entitled “The Joy of the Gospel”(Evangelii Gaudium). If you would like to understand the Holy
Father’s way of thinking, speaking, and leading, this is essential reading.
Today, I would like to share with you one paragraph that really speaks to me as I begin to discern how to lead our community. I encourage you to spend some time reflecting on where the Lord is calling us to go as we begin to prepare for our life of mission together.
“I dream of a “missionary option”, that is, a
missionary impulse capable of transforming
everything, so that the Church’s customs, ways of doing things, times and schedules, language and structures can be suitably channeled for the
evangelization of today’s world rather than for her self-preservation. The renewal of structures
demanded by pastoral conversion can only be
understood in this light: as part of an effort to make them more mission-oriented, to make ordinary
pastoral activity on every level more inclusive and open, to inspire in pastoral workers a constant
desire to go forth and in this way to elicit a positive response from all those whom Jesus summons to friendship with himself.” (Paragraph 27)
Sincerely yours in Christ,
Fr. Thomas Byrne