How's Your Glass?

Diocesan Convention resolutions typically come in two flavors: things we deal with because the lawyers or the church hierarchy tell us we must, and things we deal with because someone is upset about something. This June’s convention will include both flavors. However, there are also one or two resolutions that, if folks are paying attention, ought to spark some really meaningful discussion.

Most prominent among these is a resolution from the Very Rev. Churchill Pinder, Chair of the Standing Committee, entitled, A resolution to implement a process of Holy Conversations within the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania. The proposition is simple: that over the next three years the Diocese engage in a structured process of discussion centered around three questions:

Who are we as the Diocese of Central Pennsylvania?
What has God called us to do or be?
Who is our neighbor?

I would suspect that this effort is an outgrowth of the strategic planning process in which the Bishop and the Standing Committee have been involved over the past year. But the questions the resolution asks offer a real opportunity because they can serve as a monitor of our attitudes about our church.

If the church is a place where attendance keeps falling, where the same people get elected to the vestry year after year, where balancing the budget means further depleting the endowment each year, and where you can count the young families on the fingers of one hand, then your glass probably looks half empty.

On the other hand, if the church is a place where attendance is at least stable, if there are new ideas for ministry and outreach (and if a few of them work), if there are kids around and they’re involved in the congregation, if the vestry and clergy are more inclined to say, “Why not!” than, “Why should we?” then your glass probably looks half full.

All congregations have challenges, and when the economy is down, everyone’s challenges are larger. But if congregations fail, it is because leadership, both lay and clerical, fails. Ultimately, we have no one but ourselves to blame. Neither the diocese, nor the national church, nor the economy, nor unpopular causes will cause your parish to founder. Your parish will succeed only when you overcome your fear and focus on showing God’s love to the world around you. This diocese has an abundance of stories that will back this up, and they come from congregations both large and small, that are willing to do the hard work that is required. Size is no determinant. But until you’re no longer afraid, your head and your heart just won’t be in the right place.

Whose problem is it?

Over the weekend, the Washington Post featured an op-ed from bishop Gene Robinson framed as a letter to the pope about the current abuse crisis in the Catholic Church. While Bishop Robinson is careful first to debunk the myth that homosexuals are any more likely to be abusers than the general population, he spends most of his ink describing the detailed process by which his diocese and the rest of the Episcopal Church seek to prevent abuse and to deal with it when it happens. You can read the entire piece here.

Taking ownership of a problem is usually the best way to ensure that it receives proper attention. We share the prayers of many Catholic faithful that the Catholic hierarchy will finally find effective ways to do just that.