So after hearing the testimonials and description of how our Catholic Church in the US must be renewed with the zeal of intentional disciples, Day three of the Convocation of Catholic Leaders needed to delve into exactly HOW we take this to the streets as the Pope has asked us to. It was important to understand that this is not just a request for behavior modification. It is a radical and complete change in how the church approaches every facet of its activities. No longer do we ask “How can we get people into the church?” but instead move ourselves out of our comfort and connect with people where they are, on the peripheries. And guess what? The peripheries of love and acceptance can be found right in our pews just as much as in the disenfranchised and disconnected.
Supreme Knight Carl Anderson, the head of the Knights of Columbus, spoke about all the effort of the KoC in going out to the peripheries locally, nationally, and internationally. He said that our faith is not just some set of readings and doctrine that can be easily recited and understood. It is a deep and true relationship with Jesus in a communal and fraternal love. That community is so important. If people do not feel included, loved, and accompanied on their life journey, they will not believe. And we cannot wait for perfect holiness to start this radical step. He concluded with Vince Lombardi’s famous quote:
we will chase perfection, and we will chase it relentlessly, knowing all the while we can never attain it. But along the way, we shall catch excellence.
A panel of experts on the concepts of the peripheries of the church helped us understand that not only every single person is part of a periphery of the church, but that we must be careful about the language of the periphery. There are some groups that can feel that their cultural struggles are not included in the dialog when they are considered outsiders, including immigrants and refugees. Each group has a unique history and a context that language can and should be inclusive of. Archbishop Gomez of Los Angeles provided a national context to the peripheries and how wide the chasm can be for some to find their faith and home in the Catholic Church. He said that peripheries is a unique concept from Pope Francis, since the word is not found in the Catechism or any teachings until Our Holy Father brought it to light. Peripheries can be geographical (rural, third world countries, etc.) or sociological (poor, neglected, homeless, prisoners, etc.). More often, however, they are existential, where people no longer think they have a purpose or meaning. People that think society does not value them. We must minister as a field hospital to all peripheries. He called for the Catholic Church to declare all of the United States a Mission Territory. Go out with love and caring to show God’s love by our actions of support and accompaniment.
After those rousing words, we had two separate breakout sessions to learn how to accomplish these feats from experts and other leaders. It was enlivening to hear just how far we as Saint John, have been moving in this exact direction. From the transformation of our Family and Youth Ministries into our Parish Mission and Catholic Youth Organization, to the direct actions our parish takes on a daily basis to accompany the poor, the home-bound, and our own Parish Family.
We made some amazing connections and relationships around the country that will bring even further depth and breadth to what we will be accomplishing in these next years for this wonderful community.