CALLED TO BE CHURCH PARISHES REPRESENTED: Our Lady of the Assumption; Our Lady of Mercy; St. Ambrose; St. Clare’s; St. Francis de Sales; St. Pius X PURPOSE: PRAYER, AN EXPRESSION OF OUR FAITH AND COMMUNION WITH GOD FACILITATOR: SR. ANNE BRYAN-SMOLIN REPORTER: LILLIAN CUNNIFF Before the meeting began, Sr. Anne explained that the Rensselaer and Albany chapters of Catholic Charities have separated, and that the Albany Chapter is requesting that the Called To Be Church clusters of Colonie and Delmar reach out for volunteers to join them in a service program which would take place in December, geared toward helping families through the Christmas season. Each pastor will have that information, and anyone interested in helping should contact their pastor. It was also noted that there is no agenda for a December meeting. For those wishing to get together, it will just be a recap. The meeting began with Fr. Farano leading the prayer: SR. ANNE: Tonight, obviously, we are going to address the issue of prayer. We looked at liturgy the last time we were together, and now we will be looking at prayer. It is a sense of communication that we have in our body, and it comes in so many ways. So, what we are going to begin with is a large group discussion. On your page, you have the large group discussion half way down. We need to brainstorm how we pray alone, and with others, outside the Eucharist. And this might be a good way for us to begin tonight, because we'll first start with the whole group and then break into smaller groups. So, we need to think about that as we prayerfully share with each other how we all pray alone and with others outside the Eucharist. So, we're not talking about liturgy tonight, we're talking about prayer outside the Eucharist. It comes in all kinds of ways, verbal, and non-verbal. The prayer this evening suggested even a silent reflection, praying with nature –- there were beautiful choices of prayer tonight. But, let us brainstorm together, talk together for a few minutes. How do we pray alone and with others outside the Eucharist? Responses: SR. ANNE: I think this is an interesting topic. I'm going to be honest with you for a second. I think it's very interesting because I think the thing that we don't often talk about is prayer. It's such a deep part of us, and it's such a core of who we are. And we have a tendency not to really talk about it or share. And so it sometimes is a struggle even for us to look at how do we pray alone and how do we pray with others. SR. ANNE: Let us move with that into small groups. And keep the groups mixed up so that you can talk to each other in different parishes. And the questions that are at the bottom of your sheet where it says “Experience Of Prayer”. What forms of prayer does your parish community do well? Thinking of your own parish, that's what we want to do is kind of link parishes now. What are those forms of prayer, and personal prayer in your communal life, and what forms of prayer would you like to see offered in your parish? Remember we're not talking Eucharist now, we're not talking liturgy, just to make that clarification again. We want to look at prayer and how we can be able to do that. So, let's take a few minutes to be able to do that. Get six to eight at a table, but again mix up and make sure you know at least each other's name as you're sitting around the table. We have been together for several months now, and we know each other's faces, but we need to connect on all kinds of levels. And please have a recorder within that group so that you can help us understand the discussion in a few minutes. (The participants separated into four tables of seven to eight people at each table, for a 15 minute small group discussion.) The questions that you're supposed to be looking at are: PARTICIPANT: Forms of prayer done well, we talked about: And we haven't really gotten to the rest of it yet. PARTICIPANT: I think some of our discussion on question 2 was that there's a link between personal prayer and communal prayer, and it's about awareness of the presence of God in our lives, and one feeds the other. The communal prayer feeds the private prayer, and vice-versa. PARTICIPANT: Some of the things we talked about on the first question were: PARTICIPANT: On the first question, we talked about “Generations of Faith” and we realized that different parishes do it differently. I thought the way we did it was the only way, the best way. But there are different ways of doing that. The concept of bringing cross-generations together to become a common celebration is, I guess, part of faith formation. Other things that were mentioned are: There's an “Excel T” group, which is mostly focused on teens and teen liturgy, but it includes for the rest of the congregation -- Eucharistic adoration and Reconciliation once a month, Friday prayers, bible studies. We skipped number 2 because we wanted to be efficient and went to number 3. We talked about how different people have different ideas about things: And then one problem that was identified is that we may not be introducing our parishioners to the various forms of prayer that are available, not just within the six parishes, but in the diocese. And given that different people approach prayer or will find different types of prayer more acceptable to them, more moving to them, and also that you might be in different stages of your life, that when you have young children, prayer -- you know, religion, takes on a different meaning, and that's why it's good to have kids. SR. ANNE: And this last group, please. PARTICIPANT: A few different things on the first question: And on the second question: And we didn't do the third. SR. ANNE: Anybody want to say anything, make any comment, add, subtract, say something hit you, sparked another thought? PARTICIPANT: I was just thinking that – you know, I can understand when you say focus on prayer and not the sacraments. But the greatest prayer I think is the Mass, and all of the elements that we're talking about could be incorporated right into the Mass in different ways. And I know that we're focusing on separating prayer from mass, but I think... SR. ANNE: We're just putting the focus right on prayer, not liturgy. Other comments? PARTICIPANT: I don't think many people realize how important prayer is to their well-being. I don't know if we have done a really good job with that. I know I kid my friends. I'll do morning prayer, or I'll go to Mass, before I go and exercise. I tell them that I need to take care of my spiritual being because that one is eternal, and if I don't get that one right, I'm really messed up. And I don't know if people hear that these days, just that we are eternal beings and that we really have to exercise in that area. PARTICIPANT: There are wooden signs on some of the poles in Latham that say PRAISE GOD and JESUS LOVES YOU. And if you travel across the country, sometimes you see billboards and they say GOD IS YOUR FATHER, HE'S WITH YOU, and things like that. It would be nice if we could spread more in public on billboards or something. PARTICIPANT: I notice, just as an observation, I think our communal prayer ties into our private prayer. We become very head-oriented people, and we're very cognitive. And I think we ought to allow our prayer to be cognitive when, in our tradition, the prayer has been very sensate. I mean, the use of incense, the use of water, the use of various tangible earthly things. You know, smell the prism after Baptism. We got into this "a little dab will do you". And instead of smearing the baby's head with prism and really letting that smell and letting the parents –- I just did a Baptism, and in talking to the mother who had already baptized her first one, she said that the cap still smells like the prism from two years ago. And that's about praying with all of the senses. It's just not cognitive. PARTICIPANT: Last year, we had all the children who were preparing for First Communion write a letter to a eucharistic minister and we asked the eucharistic ministers to write back. And they were astounding. The eucharistic minister each wrote a personal letter to the child, but they told them not just what it meant to be a eucharistic minister, but they told them about their prayer life. And I made a copy of them because they were so beautiful. And whether the people who were sharing that -- maybe nobody ever asked them to share who was God for them, and they were sharing it with a seven year old child. It was beautiful. PARTICIPANT: For several years, St. Clare's had a program where they put the names of Confirmation students on a poster in the back of the church. And you took a child's name and you prayed for that child for the whole time until they were confirmed. And then you wrote them a letter telling them you had prayed for them. PARTICIPANT: One of the key things in our journey of faith is to have an awareness of God's presence in our lives, in which we realize that it's always about God and never about me and always about others. And that the more we stay in prayer throughout the day, the more we keep ourselves focused on what we're about and where we're headed, and that the whole purpose of our journey is really spiritual. It's not about materials, it's not about possessions. It's about the spiritual. So, it's about a relationship that we're building with God, and that relationship is only as good as our communication with Him. It doesn't have to be -- as Tom said, it's not a head communication necessarily, it's an awareness, it's a constant oneness with the Lord and trying to put ourselves into that oneness and remain there. So, we constantly bring ourselves back from distraction to then focus on the relationship that is the only true lasting relationship we have in life, and that's our personal relationship with God. And from that personal relationship, then we spread out and develop into a corporate relationship. But without that personal relationship, we have nothing to offer. And it's a constant awareness of the presence of God in our lives that changes everything within us. SR. ANNE: Anyone else? Some more things may surface as we keep on going, because now we are going to link it a bit with prayer and eucharist, et cetera, after we come back. So, why don't we now take a ten minute break. (A refreshment break followed.) SR. ANNE: Page 2 of your “Participant Guide” gives us some instruction. Perhaps it would be wise for us to listen together. “Think about the parishes in your local planning group as a case study. Thoughtfully consider what the future possibilities might be for the planning group regarding coordination of weekend and weekday liturgy schedules and other prayer and worship services to the maximum degree possible. What if you briefly reviewed schedules from now through year-end for all Masses, prayer services, penance services, and thought about how things might be changed with fewer priests, better use of worship sites, reducing expenses, and assisting people in the pews with understanding the need for change?” We were asked to also point out a few more things. So, let me point out a little bit here. Remember that the priests are limited to celebrating three regular scheduled liturgies per day, that liturgy should not be scheduled with half empty churches for convenience purposes, and that the coordination of Mass schedules within each local planning group is highly valued and requested in this “Called To Be Church” pastoral planning process. Also, look at the number of priests to be assigned to the Local Planning Group going forward. They suggest, for the city and rural parishes, that there be one less worship site in each group, and so to think out of the box. For suburban -- which is what we are -- for suburban Local Planning Groups, this case study exercise seeks to encourage greater linkage and coordination between and among all parishes, even though issues of closings and mergers are not as readily apparent. (A ten minute group discussion followed.) SR. ANNE: Some people want to know if the section that I read to you about the priests are limited to celebrating three regular scheduled liturgies, is per day. Canonically it is per day, it is not per weekend. Canonically, it still reads per day. FR. FARANO: I'm the one who said that canonically it was three a day because that always was my understanding. However, there is a discussion about that and right now I can't remember if there is a resolution of the discussion. But it had to do with pastoral planning and what was going to be recommended. But I think -- I could be dead wrong -- but I think, canonically, before it was always three Masses a day. However, liturgists might tell you that Sunday begins on the vigil; so, the vigil begins the Lord's Day. So, the vigil Mass would count as one of those three. There are those who would say that. But then there are others who would stick very strictly to three a day. SR. ANNE: Okay. I didn't mean to interrupt the discussion, but I just wanted to clarify that. Thank you. FR. FARANO: I bought this book because it looks good on my shelf. It says here: “Apart from most cases in which the law allows to concelebrate the eucharist a number of times on the same day, a priest may not celebrate more than once a day”, again apart from those cases where the law allows him to celebrate and concelebrate. “If there's a scarcity of priests, the law coordinator” –- which would be the Bishop – “may for good reason allow priests to celebrate twice in one day, or even if pastoral need requires it, three times on Sundays or holy days of obligation”. FR. WALDRON: There are priests who are regularly saying five right now on weekends. SR. ANNE: You're right. There are priests who are trying to cover several churches, and so they are saying five. We don't mean to get stuck on that one point, but we wanted to clarify it. Perhaps let us listen to the feedback, and then open it up for a few minutes of discussion from each group. Where is this group? What are you talking about? PARTICIPANT: We were talking about if one church has a Mass of the Angels, which is a Mass for babies who have died, little ones who have died, that instead of just one church having it, the other churches -- if Assumption has that Mass, then all of the parishes in our cluster would be invited to that Mass instead of each church having its own. And any special thing like that, you know, doing it in one parish, not necessarily in the same parish every year or whatever the time frame may be. PARTICIPANT: I think the other topic that we started to talk about is one of the reasons why we're all here, and that is eventually having to share these responsibilities. And our discussion was that, in terms of some of these Masses, like the Angel's Mass or some of the other services different churches have, that for all of our parishes, the sooner we start doing that, the easier it's going to be in this whole transition. PARTICIPANT: It was very dismal here. The idea was brought up of a mega-church, continuing to have parishes, but the parishes would come together on Sundays at fewer locations. Is there anything else we had to say about that? We were playing with that idea. PARTICIPANT: There would be one church where the liturgy would be offered on Sunday, and everyone from the cluster or whatever would come to that church. But the parishes would still be there ministering to other things, other sacramental things or whatever that do not require a priest, and perhaps have deacons within the community. But that people would actually come to one place for Mass. PARTICIPANT: I guess we kind of went around, but it sort of led us to the fundamental problem which is the lack of vocations, and maybe that's what we should look into to help us make the future planning a lot easier. That maybe that's what we need to be addressing. PARTICIPANT: I think that we all have to be realistic, too. It's unfair to ask the priest who will be assigned to the six parishes to say more than three Masses in a day, especially on the weekend is what we're talking about, and that we don't know how much support is going to come from say the Franciscans, from Siena, or in our particular case Our Lady of Mercy. We don't know what kind of additional support we're going to get from priests who are not assigned specifically to the parish. So, it makes it a little bit harder to come up with exactly how the Mass schedule is going to be structured. But I think we have to be realistic in that there certainly need to be cutbacks, and we can't be selfish when we look at each parish's individual needs and wants. SR. ANNE: The groups in this room are not as affected as many of the outlying areas, and we all know that. I have a really good friend who is a parish life director -- I won't name where –- and she talked about renting a priest every weekend, and the struggle of trying to even to get someone to be able to come. And that's not what we're experiencing. So, I'm just throwing that out as we're talking here. What did this group come up with? PARTICIPANT: One of the things that we discussed was we talked about daily Masses and trying to coordinate the times among the various parishes so that people would have more choice. And we also talked about the chapel on Wolf Road which helps, too, in this cluster. We also talked a little bit about trying to find some way for the diocese to perhaps come up with guidelines as to how many people there should be at a regular Mass, and have a Mass and when you shouldn't. I mean, this doesn't affect us so much because we're in the suburbs, and our parishes are all pretty big. But there are a lot of priests who say Mass on Sundays with 20 people in places like Troy and other places. And the location doesn't matter, but it's trying to balance the number of priests available and the number of people who want to go to Mass on Sunday. FR. FARANO: I would just like to remind us of something I think Dave (Noone) wrote in a memo. When we were talking about trying to do things together, a lot of times it's not that those of us here aren't willing to do things together, but to schedule things –- And people don't like to go from one parish to the other. I mean, that's right on. I think we have all tried that. So, in trying to do things together and sharing schedules and all, I think sometimes we have to give some attention to how do we present this to help people feel motivated, and that it's okay to go here or there, because you always like to go to your own parish. SR. ANNE: Okay. What does this surface for us? Because we're supposed to kind of brainstorm or look for ways that we could be able to have greater linkage and coordination between all of you. I see this happening in many ways, I have to be honest with you. But where are you? What else has surfaced? PARTICIPANT: I just had a thought. I know that it's not necessarily related to prayer, but it's certainly related to communication among parishes and offering - - you know, sharing what we have. And one way to do that I think is creating a web site for all of the parishes in the cluster, to have someone from each parish be on that committee, develop it together, and then promoting it among all of the parishes so that everybody buys into it as just one web site for all the parishes. And if you're looking for something in particular, you could go on it and see what was offered, and when, and where. PARTICIPANT: I know that in our bulletin at Our Lady of Mercy, we are often given a heads-up on something that's happening at St. Clare's or at St. Francis, and that would be one way to at least let people know what's going on at some of the other parishes. The Sunday bulletin is something most people read, usually before Mass. PARTICIPANT: The other LPG for suburban Albany which is Guilderland/ Delmar/Altamont, they include in their parish bulletins the Mass schedules for all of the Masses in their LPG. So, right in their bulletin they have contact phone number and schedule for all of the masses, not just their own. SR. ANNE: What other things are you sitting here thinking about? Because what we're trying to do is link it. PARTICIPANT: We were talking here about if we're doing more services together, and maybe rotating it around, but I think that we want to make sure people feel welcome. And it's hard sometimes to go to some place where you don't know anyone; you may walk in and not see anybody. But, even if it was held in different -- at one church, if the people who would maybe organize it in my church, then also participate in the organizing of wherever it's going to be, we would all feel like we have a part. We would all take an ownership in it. PARTICIPANT: Another thing, from another LPG, the Cohoes cluster, this past weekend the priest in Cohoes didn't celebrate Mass in their parish. They rotate it around to other parishes. PARTICIPANT: In some ways this meeting is about prayer other than the liturgy. And if we go with the idea that we're going to have fewer sites to celebrate the eucharist, but nevertheless have viable parishes, and Fr. Noone made the point, a lot of people are just coming to the liturgies. So, if we're going to have viable parishes, but not have the liturgy being celebrated in the parishes every Sunday, the question is how do you keep the parish viable? And some of that is having other -- you know, stepping up other activities that will bring people in, in addition to the eucharist which may not be celebrated in the parish on Sundays, or at least not regularly on Sundays. PARTICIPANT: I think we're jumping the gun badly. Having such a discussion as some churches not having Mass on Sunday, then we're jumping way ahead to pastoral planning…..that's closing churches. That's not what we're supposed to be doing at all as I understand. I don't think that discussion should even be going on. There may be other services during the week or other prayer services being joined together, but six parishes are supposed to be kept together as viable parishes. And if we don't have Mass in one of them and that's going to be a pattern, then that church is closed. PARTICIPANT: I was thinking that, if we want to get to know each other, what if greeters came to our Mass from St. Francis or St. Clare's and wore their name as coming from those parishes and giving out the bulletins. Or if eucharistic ministers from other parishes came, if we shared those ministries among our cluster, would that be a way to at least -- then if I went to St. Francis to Mass sometime, I may very well see the very same person who came to Our Lady of Mercy. I mean, I don't know if that's -- but it would be a way for people to become familiar at least. PARTICIPANT: I think we're going to have a massive job of education for the people in the pews. I don't think that there's anybody who lives in this area who doesn't realize what's going on, that there is a shortage of priests. But I don't think they're connecting it to themselves and how it's going to affect them. SR. ANNE: Again, though, it doesn't really affect this cluster as much. So what we're looking at is how we can continue the services in the ministry and perhaps link it with each other to be able to do that. It may be in some liturgy sharing, but it also is in other forms of prayer and services. Anybody else? PARTICIPANT: Well, I think it's going to affect us in a different way. It's not going to affect us maybe in the way it's affecting people in rural areas, but it's going to affect us. Because I think sooner than we realize we are going to be faced with changing our Mass schedules. And for a lot of people that would be like changing parishes. People who are committing to a certain Mass, and all of a sudden a parish that has five Masses is going to go to three Masses, there's going to be a major shift of the plate so to speak. So, I think we are going to be affected more than we think. And recently I've come across a phenomenon that I didn't anticipate, and that is this. We have a large number of retired guys (priests) who enjoy going on youth ministry in the parishes. So, on weekends, if we didn't have these retirement priests, we would really be hurting. Now I'm in a situation where I know retired priests -- a number of retired priests. And some of them have retired very recently and they're beginning to feel the pressure of this. So, now all of a sudden they're being called during the week to cover funerals, to cover weekday Masses, someone is sick and someone has got to go. And now all of a sudden -- you know, when you're in your own parish and you have 9:00 o'clock Mass, it's different than if I have to go over to St. James today, I've got to go over to Our Lady of Fatima, or I've got to go someplace else the next day. It's a little different. Now I have to cover on weekends. This week I'm covering Cohoes, next week I'm covering Lake George, the following week I'm down in Hudson. And like one of the fellows said to me, I know the community that I'm used to being the leader of liturgically, I knew that community, now I don't know these communities. And I can't exactly relate to this community the way I related to that community. And all of a sudden they can't even give the same homily because the communities are different. So, I think a lot of guys now who are -- at least if what I'm hearing is correct -- a lot of guys who were very enthusiastic about this, who found it really exciting and challenging to do a different kind of ministry, are beginning to establish a real downside to it. So, we may be feeling this in a way we didn't anticipate, feeling it more quickly than I think we thought we were going to. SR. ANNE: Other comments? Okay. And again then, we're just surfacing these things. And please remember that this is part of the process, and we're not supposed to be coming up with the tasks or the way things are going to be done, especially right now, all right? What you've done is a lot. So, just kind of relax a little bit. As we begin to close tonight, I just want the pastors for a few seconds to get out that piece of paper in regards to the Catholic Charities task. We'll meet here on November 6. And, remember, there's no meeting in December. So, you can have a free night and do what you want. (The closing prayer followed, led by Fr. Farano. The meeting concluded at 9:00 pm.)
LOCAL PLANNING GROUP MEETING
October 3, 2007
SR. ANNE: Why don't we get some kind of feedback from each group on what has been going on within these groups?