Clayton at Weight of Glory posted the following from the infamous St. Joan of Arc parish in Minneapolis.
I, like many of you, have had my own struggles with our parish transition and knowing that we have completed only part of the journey. I have known for quite some time about George’s retirement plans and yet it was a shock when it finally became real. I didn’t want to let go of him. I barely made it through my farewell remarks about George at the Friday night celebration without crying.
When I was asked to be on the transition team, I was honored and yet worried about keeping 4500 households happy when I knew we really would have much work and responsibility, maybe a little influence and no authority and no control. I feel a great weight from the worries that sit in the midst of our parish life about who will be sent to us and if he will be a fit. I’m hurt that it has to be a him and can’t be a her. I’m frustrated that after seeking out and interviewing 30 people that we haven’t secured the right fit. I have been confused and upset over Jim’s not being appointed. I can’t help the emotions. They just happen. But, spiritually, I have to decide what I am going to do with those emotions. There is the challenge.
For myself, I have continually found peace and faith and trust with my transition team partners. I have trust in the universe and the God that can hold us, just like the water holds the swimmer. I have vast trust in the resiliency of this entire community that no matter who comes here we will gain in our spiritual journey from that person in unpredictable ways. The new pastor will gain much from us and be influenced by us. That happened with George and with other pastors that we have had. It will happen again. I am not afraid that we will have an appointee who will challenge our deepest essence. We will remain Joan of Arc but in a new shell and we will all swim together. We are not alone. We are in a trustworthy world even when the temporary darkness seems threatening.
I feel called to act as a member of a peace church even when I feel threatened. I challenge myself to not create enemies where there are none. To the degree there is concerns with the hierarchy, I’m trying to practice love, the serenity prayer and integrate that with the Buddhist practice of nonattachment and I all I know from the Theory of Everything that I teach.
Clayton emailed me and asked "They’re looking for a new pastor, and I think it’s something like looking for a new Golden Calf to worship." Well he is right and I do wonder about the situation there. Is it really true that they are interviewing for a new pastor? As far as I know it would be the bishop who would appoint the pastor and the idea of this very heterodox parish interviewing and rejecting 30 people smacks of what occurs in many Protestant churches where the congregation votes on to approve a new pastor. The chance of this parish selecting a priest faithful to the church is about the same as Barbara Streisand singing at the 2008 Republican conventions.
The israelites fell into idolatry when instead of waiting for Moses decided to return to their previous Pagan practices while in Egypt. The parishioners of St. Joan of Arc’s will also not listen to the Pope or their bishop and have also returned to Pagan practices. The Israelites fell back into the practices of the society they were raised in and this parish has also fallen to the recidivistic practices of our society. Aaron in his weakness went along with the people’s requests even though he knew it was not right. I would not cast Archbishop Harry J. Flynn totally as an Aaron, but he has allowed this parish to fester and spread its error with minimal rebukes and even when the pastor was finally relieved the diocese said it was just a normal retirement.
Now considering that this parish is interviewing priests for "the right fit" it makes me wonder what their help wanted ad might look like.
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Wanted presider for a vital and progressive Catholic worship space. A successfully applicant should: Be over fifty with gray hair requested, but not necessary. Should hold to the spirit of Vatican II, but need not have read the documents of Vatican II. In fact it is the spirit that gives life and the words are of no avail to paraphrase what Jesus really meant. Have dynamic heterodoxy and be able to construct sermons using such words as inclusive, dialogue, empower, narrative on-the-fly without pre-thought. If male – be willing to apologize for the fact and to be totally supportive of priestesses. Have never been a member of the Cardinal Ratzinger Fan Club and if you went into mourning at the election of Pope Benedict XVI this is a plus. Be a subscriber to the National Catholic Reporter and Commonweal. Be flexible to the idea of dogma except in our dogmatic beliefs such as women’s ordination, that both homosexual acts and homosexual marriage are goods, and that abortion is a valid choice. Be able to conduct GLBT prayer services in drag. Have a devotion to Our Lady – Gaia that is. Eco-spirituality a plus. Be open to Jazz in a liturgical setting with members of St. Joan of Arc’s Cecelia Jazz society. Be able to help with and support our productions such as the upcoming Cabaret 2005. Be able to help people with spiritual healing. No we are not speaking about confession, but though our healing circle conducted by the Body/Mind/Spirit Ministry using healing energies such as Reiki or healing touch. Have not problem with he words gym and vestibule used together. Orthodox Catholic priests need not apply. |
Actually after reading their home page the above parody is mild by comparison. You would think with a parish of so many gifted individuals that they might be able to create a web site that wasn’t just plain ugly.
15 comments
Jeff,
The parish of St. Joan of Arc owes you a debt of gratitude. You’ve put together a comprehensive job description that’s right on the mark.
I posted an article this morning about Archbishop Flynn, because I think a lot of people jump to the worst conclusions about him simply because a place like St. Joan’s exists.
I got it! Find a very orthodox Catholic Priest that is willing to win souls. Then have him go undercover and create a false liberal resume. When he becomes Pastor simply dawn the Cassock and go to town!
Well it could happen… 😉
Looks like “Jim” the one she wanted for the job is a German priest-academic ala Herr Professor Doctor Joseph Ratzinger and Herr Professor Doctor Hans Urs von Balthasar – on the parish staff, he is pictured wearing a dark coat over a white shirt (no collar!) Just an observation.
I wish to echo Clayton’s comments about the Archbishop of our diocese. St. Joan’s is a difficult problem, and I do not in any way perceive the Archbishop as sympathetic to their misdirected causes.
Regarding interviewing pastors: We recently had a new pastor appointed to our parish (in the same archdiocese as St. Joan�s), and our outgoing pastor (who, like the incoming pastor was very orthodox), made it clear that all appointments of pastors to parishes are made by the Archbishop. Some transition committees may interview potential “candidates” and render their recommendations to the Archbishop. But such recommendations are not binding in any way. In fact, you see that frustration expressed in the original post from St. Joan�s.
Let us be sure to lift up the parish, its people, and Archbishop Flynn up to the Lord in prayer.
-mark
It seems to me that interviewing 30 people — most of them priests, presumably — to find a fit for a position you have no authority to fill is… um, not entirely consistent with trust in God, or even trust in the universe.
Archbishop Flynn has had 10 years to fix the problem.
10 years? Yes, but look at what else he has done. Just to name one thing, he has encouraged Perpetual Adoration which is occuring in about 30 metro area parishes. I think that is probably the biggest reason the archdiocese claimed 15 ordinations this year.
It doesn’t take a whole 10 years to encourage perpetual adoration. There was plenty of time to fix this problem.
BillyHW:
You’re speaking from your own experience as an archbishop, right?
In many respects, Archbishop Flynn is a contradiction. In reading Clayton’s piece that he references in comment #1, I agree with him on many points. The Arch is a pastoral man (having read, for example, his account of being called to baptize a dying baby), and as a priest I think that pastoral nature is necessary.
However, I don’t know that he’s what you’d call an excellent administrator. Clayton is probably more familiar with him than I am, and I think he’s absolutely right that he doesn’t get any support from his staff, but all the same it can be quite maddening living in this archdiocese. As I pointed out in another comment, this same diocese has not only St. Joan (and others in the same vein), but it also has the Latin Novus Ordo St. Agnes and the Indult St. Augustine. Go figure.
A number of years ago my wife had the misfortune of attending a funeral at St. Joan for the parent of a co-worker. It was an appalling experience, and my wife declined to participate in communion, fearing it was an invalid (as well as illicit) Mass. She spent the afternoon after the funeral explaining to all her non-Catholic co-workers that the Church should not be judged based on St. Joan. She wrote a letter to Flynn about the various abuses, and received what she considered a rather condesending reply. So despite all the good qualities Flynn may have, I admit I have trouble disagreeing with BillyHW. Why hasn’t the problem been fixed? Is he uncomfortable with confrontation? Does he feel that it won’t serve any purpose? Is it his staff that’s responsible for his sometimes strident comments towards the more conservative groups in the parish?
And, as BillyHW asks on Clayton’s blog, how many have been driven away from the Church because of what has happened?
Ultimately I have no answers, save prayer. All any of us can do is put our faith in the Lord that He will guide His Church in the right direction. In the meantime, give the Arch credit where credit is due, but never cease to pray and work for reform where it is needed. And especially pray for the parishoners at St. Joan, those who are being misled, and those doing the misleading.
Please, please, please let them have the chaplain from the hospital I work at. He’s the right age and likes to speak of “prayer modulalities.” (sp?) I’m not sure if that’s a progressive way of referring to the decades of the Rosary or what.
For the record, the staff issues of the Archdiocese here are being slowly cleaned up. Flynn inherited an absolute mess, and as can be gathered, he is far more of the “pastoral” type than the ranger… We may not agree with his timing, but we cannot deny that since he has been here the *trend* is in the right direction. He is not one to “fire” people, but he has tended to pick very good replacement staff. For example, currently the vice chancellor is a younger priest who studied in Rome and is one of the most stellar homilists and liturgists in the Archdiocese. The vocations director is a solid priest who actively seeks out men and women who place God and Church before their career ideals — he does not turn away people for being “rigid” or “too orthodox.” Chancery staffing issues are real, and I would love to see sweeping overhauls done across the board, but I also realize that this is not the way of this Archbishop (nor would it perhaps be the way of Christ…)
Many of us here in the Archdiocese see it this way — the trending line of Paul VI, JP II and Benedict XVI is similar to the way it has been here – Roach was a weak bishop and much heresy flourished under his watch, then came Flynn, who is readying the fields for a successor to come in and finish the job. Flynn, like JP II, is good at chess playing, at moving pieces around and carefully hoeing the ground, planting the seeds. Then comes the harvesters to tend to the crop and reap the harvest! We only pray that the man who is to follow Flynn is up to this task…
Flynn is only two or three years from retirement, and we have only one auxiliary bishop (and it’s pretty much taken for granted that he will not inherit the Archbishop’s mitre). There, as yet, is no additionall auxiliary bishop named, nor any ideas on a coadjuter bishop…. We are waiting on Pope Benedict, may the Spirit direct his every pastoral appointment with a sure hand!
I went to the St. J of A website and found this link to an event there: http://www.stjoan.com/er3fr.htm it reminded me of the funny movie “A Mighty Wind” and the cult that worships colors called WINC-Witches in Nature’s Colors. What a HOOT!!!!
You want a real laugh? Check out their Sunday bulletin which, on the fourth page, says:
“Rest In Peace
Penny
beloved dog of Fr. George Wertin
has passed on to eternal life.”
Rest in peace? A dog? Who passed on to eternal life?
Sorry, I think this parish is hopeless and beyond any temporal help.
Fr. O’Leary – we have found the perfect fit for you.