Parish Pastoral Council Meeting tonight

Tonight, at our monthly meeting of our Parish Pastoral Council, we had a lively discussion about our current practices regarding Confirmation, Holy Communions, and who should celebrate these sacraments and when and how we should celebrate them. The major factor influencing our discussion was the recent celebrations of First Communions and Confirmation, and the FACT that most of the families present at those celebrations have not been at a regular Sunday Mass in months or years. Archbishop Reece had to stop the distribution of Holy Communion 4 times because people had received Communion, and walked away without ingesting the Sacrament! I had the experience of holding up the Sacrament, saying, "The Body of Christ" and receiving no response, or people grabbing the host out of my hands, or saying "Thanks." Needless to say, I am not a happy camper these days.

Needless to say, as I stood beside the Archbishop at the Confirmations, I was appalled, and embarassed beyond belief. Truth be told, I wanted to transfer to a missionary outpost in the South Pacific to become a missionary, rather than to stay as the pastor of St. Anselm. It was bad! I'm not blaming anybody but myself for this situation. I'm very grateful for all of the hard work of our staff in the Religious Education program, and our many committed volunteers, teachers and aides.

The problem of initiating young people into the Catholic Church when their families are not regular participants in the liturgical life of the Church is a serious problem. In the Diocese of Trenton, we've noticed a marked increase in parishes reporting this problem. It's time that we tackle this problem. I know this as a long-time member of the Diocesan Liturgical Commission, and a volunteer in the Office of Worship for the Diocese. It's a problem for our Religious Educators, our liturgists, and our pastors throughout the entire Diocese. We need to come together to combat this situation.

I've posted a picture of the sower sowing seeds, from the Gospel story. It's a reminder that Jesus is the sower, and we are the ground where the seeds land. Some of us are rocks, some full of weeds, some of us are good soil ready to receive and nurture the good seeds to enable the seed of faith to grow into abundant food and fruit.

Let's pray that in the coming days, we can all be united in our efforts to become a stronger, more vibrant community of faith, as disciples of the Lord who truly know Him, love Him, and Follow Him.