And miles to go

by Bishop John C. Nienstedt

Ever since I saw her in "Funny Girl," I have been fascinated with Barbra Streisand and her musical (not political) abilities. In a recent album, she sings a song entitled "Holy Ground." The gist of the lyrics calls the listener’s attention to the fact that we are standing on holy ground.

The Mission Statement for our Diocese states we are "a people and a place." I would add, "a holy people and a holy place" or "God’s people and God’s place."

In visiting the 82 parishes and missions of the Diocese (and a few of our former parishes as well), I have felt that I was standing on holy ground. Here in churches and school buildings, our people - God’s people - sang hymns and offered prayers, were baptized and confirmed, married and buried, laughed, cried and had their sins forgiven. They arrived as immigrants by train and began to form a community from their common purpose. They agreed and argued, laughed and needled one another, told stories that were true and not so true and, in the end, learned to appreciate their life together. Above all, they were well served by dedicated priests and religious women who preached and taught them the truths of our Catholic faith, primary of which is that we are the Body of Christ: He the head and we the members. Church buildings reflect the reality of those who worship, teach, learn, serve and are ministered to within them. But the Church is the Body of Christ: He the head and we the members.

Our parishes are standing on holy ground. It has become holy by the grace of the Sacraments celebrated there, by the tears of the parents over their children, by the personal sacrifices of those who built and maintained those structures, by the dedication and devotion that was so evidently witnessed in the lived experience of faith.

Unfortunately, life does not stand still. Reality changes and the parish reflects part of the changes that do take place. Thus, I come to the end of my first full year as your bishop with a grateful yet burdened heart. My gratitude goes beyond words sufficient to thank the pastoral leaders and our lay ministers in parishes, schools, religious education, youth, Christian service and worship programs for their tremendous welcome of me. In all my visits, I have been greeted with great warmth and even excitement. It has been as overwhelming as it has been humbling.

Yet, my heart is also burdened with a great heaviness as I see the ecclesial landscape changing before my eyes. We have 20 parishes with less than 250 people. We have an aging cadre of ordained and non-ordained pastoral leaders. We have limited though still generous financial resources. But, we will not be able to maintain the status quo. Forces beyond my control are pressing for change: our holy ground is being altered beneath our very feet.

This summer I took part of my vacation to read the projections of the Minnesota Planning State Demographic Center’s Population Projections for 1995-2025. Those figures indicated a significant loss of population in 7 of our 15 counties: Lac Qui Parle, -28%; Big Stone, -28%; Lincoln, -24%; Yellow Medicine, -20%; Chippewa, -20%; Renville, -15%; Redwood, -13%.

In addition, I have had the worrisome experience of having to make priest assignments this past spring with a very tight number of active priests to place. And the projections for priests retiring may mean we have eight less priests five years from now than we have today.

I, therefore, project that in the next five years Sunday Eucharist will not be celebrated in at least a half dozen of the parish churches where it is presently scheduled. Now this does not mean I know which parishes these will be. Nor does this necessarily mean that those churches will close. But it does mean that we will not have sufficient personnel to celebrate the same number of Eucharistic liturgies we do today. This means that parishioners will be asked to drive further to celebrate the Sacred Mysteries.

Since we are a Eucharistic Church, Communion Services, though appropriate for emergency situations, are not a long-term solution. And my experience of rotating a Sunday Mass from one place to another every few weeks in a given area only confuses people and discourages their attendance.

Faced with such impending changes, we have entered an era where there are no blueprints or magical solutions. Yet, as the Bishop of the Diocese, I am committed to providing for the sacramental needs of all our people on a holy ground that may be different from that holy ground which they have known and come to love. This will involve pain for some, inconvenience for many and change for all.

The Committee on Parishes has for the past year been studying and discussing the idea of "Area Parishes." This idea seeks to utilize the cooperation of a number of presently clustered parishes to work together in providing for the liturgical, education, Christian service and administrative needs of all parishioners.

We have one example of an area parish in Swift County. I am proposing that we begin working on another one in the New Ulm area. Each may come to look and function quite differently, but that is okay. The goal is to eliminate duplicate services, meetings, and resources and to maximize our combined talents and resources. Our aim is to improve the quality of our worship, education, and service by joining forces together. United we can be more effective, in addition to being more efficient.

We do know that the uniqueness of our Diocese is the small size of our parish communities wherein people can get to know the others with whom they worship. We don’t want to lose that quality either. By being pro-active today, we intend to offer all of our parishes the best quality available.

Our overall vision is to maximize our strengths, rather than be paralyzed by our weaknesses. We need to cooperate, collaborate and share our gifts with one another. If we can tap into our good will and positive attitudes, the decisions will be experienced as an adventure. If not, I am afraid the bitterness could leave us irreparably divided.

From my travels this past year, I have experienced in our parishes a depth and vitality of faith that is truly remarkable. There are so many good people among us who are close to God because of their closeness to the earth. This gives me confidence that we can respond to the present situation with open minds and embrace the future with courageous hearts.

As the activities of our parish communities continue this year, I ask that the content of this article be discussed at the pastoral council and finance council of every parish and, where applicable, at the level of parish staff. I recommend some discussion of what the respective "Area Parish" might look like in each geographical location and what areas of parish life might be shared in a collaborative venture. Such a discussion is essential for those parishes that are considering new building or renovation projects.

It is my firm conviction that the most heartfelt prayer of Jesus in the Gospel occurs in the 17th chapter of St. John where the Lord prays that his disciples be "one" as the Father and He are one - so that the world will know it was Jesus whom the Father sent.

I believe that is still His greatest prayer. And I believe that this is our greatest challenge as present day disciples. I believe that it will also be our greatest source of "gratitude", "thanksgiving" or "Eucharist" in the years to come when we will still be able to claim: "We are standing on Holy Ground."

October, 2002

Falta Mucho por Recorrer

Por el obispo John C. Nienstedt

Nuestras parroquias están simentadas sobre tierra Santa. Han sido consagradas por la gracia de los sacramentos que se celebraron allá, por los llantos de los padres sobre sus hijos, por los sacrificios personales de aquellos que construyeron y mantuvieron esas estructuras, por la dedicación y la devoción que fue tan evidente presenciada en la experiencia vivida de la fe.

Desafortunadamente, la vida no se detiene. La realidad cambia y la parroquia refleja parte de los cambios que se llevan acabo. Con gran gratitud, no obstante con el corazón agobiado acabo de terminar el primer año como su obispo. Mi gratitud es bastante para agradecer a los lideres pastorales, ministros laicos de las parroquias, escuelas, educación religiosa, juvenil, servicio cristiano y programas cultos por darme la grandiosa bienvenida. En todas mis visitas, he tenido una calurosa bienvenida. Ha sido abrumador como modesto.

No obstante, mi corazón también está agobiado con gran tristeza al ver los cambios en el panorama eclesiástico. Tenemos 20 parroquias con menos de 250 personas. Tenemos un cuadro de lideres pastorales ordenados y no ordenados de edad avanzada. Contamos con recursos financieros limitados sin embargo aún generosos, pero no podremos mantener la situación tal como es. Fuerzas más allá de mi control presionan por el cambio: nuestra tierra Santa está siendo alterada en un abrir y cerrar de ojos.

Desde el año pasado el Comité para Parroquias ha estado estudiando y examinando la idea de "Parroquias del Area." Esta idea busca utilizar la cooperación de un número de parroquias presentemente agrupados con el proposito de trabajar juntos en proveer servicio litúrgico, educativo, servicio cristiano y necesidades administrativas para todos los feligreses.

Mi visión global es aumentar al máximo nuestras fuerzas, en lugar de paralizarlos por nuestras debilidades. Necesitamos cooperar, colaborar y compartir nuestros dones con nuestro prójimo. Si podemos tocar nuestra buena voluntad y actitudes positivas, las decisiones se experimentarían como una aventura. Si no es así, tengo el temor que el resentimiento podría dejarnos divididos irreparablemente.

A medida que las actividades de nuestras comunidades parroquiales continúan este año, pido que el contenido de este artículo sea estudiado en el consejo pastoral y el consejo de finanzas de cada parroquia y, dónde sea aplicable en los equipos pastorales. Recomiendo algun dialogo de lo que podría parecer las "Parroquias del Area" en cada localidad geográfica y en que áreas en la vida parroquial se pudiera compartir colaborativamente. Tal dialogo es esencial para dichas parroquias que están considerando proyectos de construcción o renovación.

Es mi convicción firme que la oración más cordial de Jesús en el Evangelio ocurre en el capítulo 17 de San Juan dónde el Señor ora para que sus discípulos sean "uno" como el Padre y Él son uno - para que el mundo supiera que Jesús fue el enviado por el Padre.

Creo que eso sigue siendo su oración más grandiosa. Creo que es nuestro desafío más grande como discipulos de esta epoca. Creo que también será nuestra fuente más grande de "gratitud", "acción de gracias" o "eucaristía" en los años venideros donde podremos aún proclamar: "Estamos en tierra Santa."