One more lesson

Not a few of the high school students have asked me, since the announcement of my first pastorate, about writing letters to Bishop Lucas. Specifically, if enough of them write to the Bishop, would he change his mind and allow me to stay as the Parochial Vicar of St. Anthony of Padua Parish here in Effingham.

I am tremendously humbled by their signs of love and devotion and by their great desire to have me remain here among them; I would dearly love to remain with them. But at the same time, I am troubled by the mentality underlying such a thought.

The underlying notion is that if enough people complain loud enough they will be given what they want. It is the underlying notion behind the proverb, “The squeaky wheel gets the grease,” the equivalent of an adult temper tantrum.

I will not deny that in certain situations it is only right for a group of people to make their voices known and to demand that wrongs be righted. In the situation of my transfer, however, such a demand seems very much inappropriate. In this situation, as in many others, what is required of faithful disciples is not protest and argumentation, but humble obedience, trusting in the will of the Lord and the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

The desire to begin a sort of letter-writing campaign seeks to undo the will of the Bishop and would be a violation of the virtue of obedience that all of the faithful, both ordained and lay, owe to the Bishop. There is certainly nothing unjust in His Excellency’s decision to appoint me a pastor and, hence, nothing to rightly protest.

One of the students last night asked, “What about ‘If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it’?” I reminded him that the Bishop has to consider not only the needs of this parish, but of every parish in his Diocese. In his judgment I am needed more elsewhere than I am needed here. Even if we do not like his decision or understand it, we must accept it in faith and ask the Lord to guide us and sustain us in faith, hope and love. The Lord’s purposes will be revealed; sometimes we simply have to wait patiently for him to make them known.

Rather than asking Bishop Lucas to rescind his decision, I have suggested to these students that, if they want to write him, they thank him for allowing me to remain here as long as I have, mentioning what my ministry has meant among them.

Bishops only rarely hear from the faithful about what their priests are doing well and how the Lord is using them to touch people’s hearts (priests only rarely seem to hear this, as well).

I will be looking for an opportunity this week to discuss this with them, hoping to clarify whatever questions they have and to reassure them in faith. Please keep our young people in your prayers.