On behalf of the
parish staff and the Austin Paulists I want to wish all of you a very Happy Dr.
Martin Luther King Day (observed). May we all take this opportunity to reflect
on, and recommit ourselves to, the work of equality and justice. Amen!
Early this month (Mon through Wed, Jan
6-8) I had the opportunity to attend a Paulist Preaching workshop given at our
seminary in Washington, DC. It was for Paulists
and given by Paulists. And I enjoyed it very much.
The Paulists are a very small group
compared to the much better known religious communities in the Church, such as
the Jesuits, Franciscans, Dominicans, Salesians and so on. Paulists are only in
the US and Canada (and one church in Rome), and we number only about 130. Our
average age has been going up for some time so that I – after 35 years of
priesthood – am still in the younger half of the Paulist community.
And so the Paulist Fathers for the last
several years have been struggling with maintaining all of our commitments with
an aging, shrinking number of priests, as well as struggling with the rising
costs of education of our seminarians and caring for our elderly members. Like
many families we face challenges of trying to do more with less. It can get to
be a downer dealing with these shortages of personnel and finances all the
time.
But one positive thing Paulists are
known for is good preaching. I hope justifiably so. As you may have
experienced, no two Paulists preach the same way, so it is hard to say that
there is a distinctive Paulist style of preaching. However, there is (I would
argue) something distinctive in the approach. I believe Paulists try to reach
people where they are at, speak to their actual lives, and mostly don’t go on
too terribly long.
In any case, for me this preaching
workshop was a refreshing and uplifting change: to be dealing with one of our
strengths instead of one of the seemingly intractable problems we face as a
community of priests. All the presenters in the workshop were Paulists, and all
did an excellent job. Fr. Tom Kane, who teaches preaching to seminarians in
Boston, gave us an overview and context for liturgical preaching (preaching at
Mass). Frs. Jack Collins (who was stationed here in the past) and Jim DiLuzio
(who visited here 2 years ago) presented on mission preaching. Frs. Frank
DeSiano and Bruce Nieli (who now lives in Austin) gave a rousing presentation
on preaching that evangelizes, and Frs. Steven Bell and Ivan Tou (both formally
on the parish staff here) gave a presentation on preaching to college students
and young adults. It was all very well done.
Therefore it was an affirming and
uplifting experience.
On behalf of all the Paulists here on
the staff, I want to thank you for helping us in our mission to preach the Word
of God. St. Austin is a great congregation to preach to because people really
pay attention when we preach. No one is reading the bulletin, catching up on
their sleep, or chatting with their neighbor when we preach, and we very much
appreciate that. We also appreciate your comments, suggestions and even your
constructive criticisms. It helps us to know if our efforts are hitting home or
not. Thanks!
God bless!
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