After the better part of the last two weeks being spent away from my parishes, re-entry into parish life has been a bit overwhelming. There are so. many. things needing planned for the coming sacramental year, as well as behind-the-scenes leadership work for the current parish councils, the formation of an all-new Parish Family Advisory Council, and the capital campaign to pay off the new roof in Port Townsend.

It is likely no coincidence that the Lord presented me with an opportunity at Ignite NW to give a talk on how parishioners can create or build up things in their own parishes. The engagement of Catholics in parishioners has been on the minds of many of us – clergy and laity alike – as we continue forward in both recovering from the trials of COVID-time and entering here more locally into the work of Partners in the Gospel. Though it is practically cliché to say so, it really is true that the majority of the work of any parish is done by an embarrassingly small number of people…..and in the process, fragility is introduced; all it takes is one or two key people dropping out of ministry for things to grind to a crawl.

Image what might happen if every capable parishioner committed themselves to one hour – just one! – of ministry or volunteering at their parish. I’m not talking about the ‘you can call me anytime’ kind of volunteering, which puts the onus on others to find us, but the kind of volunteering that pro-actively seeks out a need and commits to being a regular part of the solution. Imagine having 150 guaranteed hours of help at our smallest parish (Saint Anne), 350 guaranteed hours of help at our largest parish (Queen of Angels), 300 guaranteed hours of help at Saint Joseph or 250 guaranteed hours of help at Saint Mary Star of the Sea (our medium-sized parishes).

Those numbers, by the way, are the rough average attendance numbers of each of those locations per weekend. Assuming 8 hours for sleep, there are 496 useful hours each month – less than half of what we might have available if everyone gave just a single hour of their month. 

But at the end of all of this, it isn’t about filling some kind of quota of hours or expectations – it is about responding to the invitation of the Lord! Would that each of us would start by simply opening our minds and hearts to Him, asking the simply question of ‘what do you want of me, Lord?’

July 20 – It has only been late in my faith that I discovered to my joy that the Church celebrates among the saints so many figures from the Old Testament. In retrospect, this is obvious….but it had simply never occurred to me to  consider them under the title of ‘saint’. Happily, the Church eagerly reminds us of such things and so today we celebrate Saint Elijah. Our confidence in his sainthood is found foremost not in his own impressive history of faithfulness and ministry, but in his appearance to Jesus on Mount Tabor (see Matthew 17). Honored first by the Lord’s chosen people Israel, he is especially venerated in Eastern tradition, from whom the Western Church has taken its cue in doing likewise. Parishioners here on the Olympic Peninsula – among whom are many lay Carmelites – will also know him as a special patron to the Carmelites.  Read more about him at the Carmelite website.

July 22 – Only recently elevated from the rank of memorial to feast, today the Church celebrates Saint Mary Magdalene. Freed from demonic oppression (Luke 8), she faithfully followed the Lord throughout His ministry and lovingly accompanied Him even to the foot of the cross. How fitting that it was Mary Magdalene who was the first witness of the resurrection of the Lord, being the first to find the empty tomb and being the first to whom the Lord appeared after His resurrection. Read more about the ‘Apostle to the Apostles’ at the Vatican City State website.

July 25 – The feast of Saint James the Greater (or Elder, depending on translation) holds a special place in the life of the Church here in our archdiocese. Patron saint of the Archdiocese of Seattle, we have not one but two cathedrals named after him! Our original cathedral of Saint James was established in Vancouver in 1838 – it still stands today and continues to serve Catholics in the region. In 1907, with the permission of the Holy See, the current cathedral of Saint James was established in Seattle, with its doors opening on December 15th of the same year. May we follow Saint James’ example in responding eagering to the call of the Lord to follow Him. Read more about him at Notre Dame’s website.

July 26 – Tradition holds that the parents of the Blessed Virgin, Saints Joachim and Anne, were initially childless – a source of great grief for them both. According to the Protoevangelium of James, an angel revealed to them that God had a much larger plan for them than they had dared hope. In their joy and gratitude, Joachim and Anne took great care in raising their daughter and eventually decided that she would be consecrated to God as a virgin in the temple. Of course, we know now what they did not – that the fullness of God’s plan for their daughter was yet to come! Nonetheless, we thank Him for His providence in ensuring that Mary would have such loving and devout parents. Read Father Steve Grunow’s reflection on the grandparents of Christ at Word on Fire.