As you have probably heard or seen in the news, the Archdiocese of Chicago is undergoing a process called Renew My Church, which calls for both a spiritual and structural renewal of our parishes. Originally, our parish was scheduled to begin this process in fall of 2021. However, we received word last week that the Archdiocese of Chicago has decided to accelerate this process, and we will now begin the discernment process this fall. In preparation for this process, we invite you to re-visit a series of articles written by Fr. Steve earlier this year, which are posted below.

Lent & Renew My Church

Originally published in The Steward on March 1st, 2020 

As we enter into the Lenten Season, one theme that faces us clearly is change. We know that everything changes, and we will always have to deal with change throughout our lives. How we choose to handle change is very important. We can simply allow change to happen to us and live with the results or we can step in and try to direct some of that change so we have a role in it and a say in how things will move forward. Then the change can be more of a positive experience.

During Lent, we look to make these positive changes in our lives. We think about how we want to be a different person when we leave the Lenten Season and enter into the new life of Easter. Then we guide our Lenten practices to help us make those positive changes so that when we head into the Easter season this new (or renewed) self can be our daily life. For example, if I would like to come out in the Easter Season as a person who shows his gratitude more clearly, I will take the Lenten Season and focus on that. So, every day I might spend extra time in prayer to reflect on events, things, and people I am most thankful for in my life, and once a week I will say thank you to someone, or for something in my prayer. After six weeks of practicing this I am looking to make this way of life the new me. Or, if I want to be someone who is less negative and the person who can be more positive with others, building them up, I will make this the focus of my Lent. I will take time for each week thinking about one person with whom I would like to be more positive. I will pray about them, and consider what makes them a gift in my life. Then I will make sure to let them know what I see about them that is very good. After Easter, I will try to continue this new approach to my life.

Now this brings us to another important topic. The Church in Chicago is presently going through a kind of Lenten Season. We need to refocus ourselves and rededicate ourselves to the mission that Christ gave us. When Cardinal Cupich came to the Archdiocese as our Bishop, he called us to remember this and to refocus ourselves. He called this program Renew My Church. Because some of our neighbors have been directly affected by this program, and some of our family members have encountered the results, I have been receiving many questions about the Renew My Church program and what it might mean for us at St. Benedict

Over the next few weeks, I will be taking time in the bulletin to talk about Renew My Church. We can look at why we are doing it and what it will mean for us here at St. Benedict.

The first thing to realize about Renew My Church is that it is a two-part program. The first step is structural. We will first be looking at the footprint of the Archdiocese and adjusting the number of parishes we have so that each of our parishes can have long-term viability. Then, once this has all been adjusted, we will be looking at the second step, which is even more important. In this step, all the parishes will be looking at the mission we have been entrusted with and how we can do this better. We can say we will be looking at our vitality. The program puts this vitality in a simple statement: Make Disciples, Build Communities, and Inspire Witness.

Next week I will talk more about the “why” and a little bit of the “how” we will be making the structural change. If you want to see more information about Renew My Church you can go to the Archdiocesan website: https://www.renewmychurch.org/

Renew My Church: Continuing the Discussion

Originally published in The Steward on March 15th, 2020

This week I would like to continue our discussion of Renew My Church. Last week I included the message about the Covid-19 Virus and precautionary steps all Archdiocese of Chicago parishes are taking to help protect against transmission of the virus. This week I would like to return to the question of Renew My Church. Two weeks ago, I mentioned that Renew My Church is a two-part process. The first part is to adjust the physical footprint of the Archdiocese. The second part will focus on spiritual renewal. 

A first question that comes to mind is why. Why do we need to do this? On the Renew My Church website, you will find many statistics to explain this more completely, but at this time, I will give a briefer answer. When we enter the process I will publish many more facts and statistics. But the first part of the process is to adjust the number of parishes we have in the Archdiocese. There are several reasons.

First, we do not have enough priests. The average age of a priest in the Archdiocese is 62, and the number of priests below our retirement age of 70 is rapidly dropping. The result is that in a matter of years we will not have enough priests to be pastors at all of our parishes. Some of our parishes are very large and we need to have at least one associate priest. However, some of those very large parishes already do not have an associate and will not be getting anyone soon, so the pastor may be all by himself. This creates a problem for him being able to have a day off, or to find coverage so he can get in a vacation. Many of our retired priests continue to work at parishes thankfully, and for the time being that is helping us out. At present, the largest number of priests by 10 year age group are over 70. The second largest is the group between 60 – 70. The third largest is between 50 – 60. If we do not make some adjustments now we will have much greater difficulty in the very near future.

The second reason is that we simply have too many Church buildings here in the Archdiocese. We built many buildings and parishes during a time when there was a large immigration. Different parishes had priests who were from the various cultures and therefore were prepared to help those communities in their faith journey. This is no longer such a need. There are parts of the city where Church buildings are only a matter of blocks apart, are now serving the same community and are financially strapped because neither has a strong enough population base to support the different Churches. If you look on the website, you will see that here in the Archdiocese we have over 300 parishes as of January with 2.2 million Catholics. An Archdiocese like Los Angeles with 5.5 million Catholics has only 280 parishes. Other cities like us have also been involved in processes like ours to reduce the number of parishes to be a better fit. The number becomes a problem because we have fewer parishioners at a parish and they have large buildings to maintain and do not take in sufficient money to maintain all the structures. If we had fewer parishes with more parishioners, they would have more income and can do a better job with our facilities. If the money we have all goes to maintain a building, then we will not have enough money to hire staff so that we can do ministry. Ministry is the primary reason we exist. Without ministry, our parishes will not be vibrant and will be unable to “Go out and tell the whole world the Good News of Jesus Christ”.

Another reason we need to consider renewing the Church on a spiritual level is that less than 25% of our Catholic population actually goes to Mass on Sunday. Each year in October, every parish takes a count of all the people who attend Masses those weekends. Each year that number has been going down. Even parishes that are presently larger will find themselves with an issue down the line if they are not able to turn things around now.

Think about this: over 75% of Catholics are saying they do not find the personal relationship with God, the guidance of the Scriptures, the gift of Holy Communion, and the joy of a community of Faith worth their time and effort each Sunday in Mass. Clearly, we have a lot of work to do to invite others to share our joy in a spiritual family. That is why the second part of this process will be to rebuild the Church on a spiritual level.

Next weekend I will be writing about how the Renew My Church process will work and where it fits in our future.

Some people have asked me what we can be doing to prepare for Renew My Church. I would say that we should do what Christ calls the Church to do. We need to live our Faith. We should also think of inviting others to Mass. Help them to see the gift that Faith can bring to our lives. It is also important to be welcoming to those who might be coming to, or be interested in our community. If you see someone at Mass you do not know, say hello and welcome them. Let people know we care about them and are glad to have them as part of our community, even if they are just visiting family for the weekend. After all, they chose to worship with us! We know what a wonderful community we are, we need to help others find out about us.

We can all continue to grow in our Faith. Every one of us can use the opportunity to grow personally in our discipleship. Consider participating in a program like Alpha and encourage others to do the same. You can join a Spiritual book club. Get together with some neighbors and friends. Then ask any staff member for suggestions. We would be happy to recommend some materials you can use for personal growth. You can also use online resources like Augustine Institute or Dynamic Catholic.

To learn more about Renew My Church please visit the website: www.renewmychurch.org.

Renew My Church: Continuing the Discussion (Part III)

Originally published in The Steward on March 22nd, 2020 

In continuing our discussion last week of Renew My Church, I began by reminding us that this is a two part process, with the focus of the first part being to reduce the physical footprint of the Archdiocese. The second part will focus on spiritual renewal. In the article from last week, I focused on the “why” we are moving forward with the Renew My Church process. This week I would like to focus a bit on the “how” the process will take place. Starting several years ago, the Archdiocese broke down all the parishes into 97 groupings. Those groupings were then broken down into waves. A certain number of groups are then activated each year as a wave is started.

The group that we belong to includes: St. Andrew (Addison St) St. Benedict (Irving Park Road), St. Mary of the Lake (on Sheridan Road), and Our Lady of Lourdes (on Ashland Ave). Our grouping is part of the wave that becomes active in 2021. Therefore, our process will take place next year. You can say that the process has three parts. First comes the discernment part, where we need to decide how we can best move forward together as a group (this will happen in 2021). Second, we will need to create the result of the discernment. If for example two parishes decide to merge, or two parishes are closing and a new parish is being created from those formerly two parishes, or parishes will continue to stand alone but with fewer clergy and needing to work more closely

with each other, that new operation will need to be implemented (This happens once the previous decision is made. It will happen between the end of 2021 through 2022 and as long as it takes to put the decision into action). Third, we will need to build that new reality. Parishes will be called on to become more vibrant. They will be asked to evangelize and build God’s Kingdom more fully in their local neighborhoods. We will need to become more creative in how we live our Faith. We will also need to be sure our parishes can be financially stable for the future reality. This phase never ends, it is a constant renewal we will need to be involved in forever.

What will these new vibrant parishes look like? 

Cardinal Cupich spelled out his vision some time back. He said a vibrant parish would be marked with 7 qualities.

The parish stands on a culture of evangelization. The parish would have ongoing formation and discipleship, and it will have vibrant worship. There will be a rich community life, and a commitment to service. The parish shows a passion for vocations, and it will have faithful stewardship. How does St. Benedict measure up? I guess this is a good question for all of us to ask ourselves. St. Benedict, like all parishes, is a family of people. We are all responsible for building the best possible parish. What can we work on, and how can we grow? I invite you to consider these questions prayerfully this week, and we will delve into this more fully next week.