Dear Friends,

I think that, even if I wasn’t a Catholic Priest, that I would find Pope Francis to be a very intriguing man.  There just seems to be something about the man that draws you in.  I have had more people, either ask my opinion of him, or tell me how much they like him.  I hear things like: “I am not a Catholic, but, I really like this Pope.” Or, “I have had my problems with the Church over the years, but I like what this Pope has to say”.   
 
What I like are the many images that the Pope uses when speaking about the faith.  He compares the work of the Church in the world to a field hospital. There was that beautiful image the Pope used when speaking of the role of a Pastor, when he spoke of the Pastor as being a shepherd who needs to take on the smell of his sheep. A most recent image has really stuck with me. The Pope said that, Jesus has called us to fishers of men, but we have become the keepers of the aquarium.  
 
It is this last image that I see as being one of the guiding principles of parish life in the future.  So often, we in the church, function as a service provider. People come to us, and we try to meet their needs. We marry couples, bury the dead and baptize children.  We visit those who call us, and counsel those who ask.  All of these works are important, but there needs to be more. We are called to go into the world and announce the good news. We are meant to be leaven for the world. We are meant to more than react.  We, as disciples, are called to actively engage the world. 
 
This should be our goal as we move into the future. We should continue to meet the needs of the people in our community, but we should also strive to find ways to become fishers of men. Let us pray that God will be with the people of Saint Mary’s and Saint Joseph’s as we move forward, so that we can become the people, the church, that the Lord has called us to be. 
 
 
                                                      
God  Bless,
Fr. Jack  Graham