A new conference planned for January 2023 hosted by Evangelical Catholic aims to inspire and equip priests to better engage in the work of evangelization at the heart of their priestly ministry.
The conference comes as priests are leading an exceptional time of transition, said conference keynote speaker Msgr. James Shea. “The pastoral and evangelistic strategies that worked for a long time, under the influence of a prevailing culture and vision of Christendom, are falling short because the ground has shifted beneath us. … We are now in need of a new narrative vision as a Church, a vision of Apostolic Mission,” said Msgr. Shea.
“We work with hundreds of priests around the country, and all these priests have something in common,” said Jason Simon, president of Evangelical Catholic. “All these priests have a heart to reach the existential fringes of the world. And they all know that they can’t get there by themselves.”
Priests must be helped to see the need for transition in their strategies, said Msgr. Shea. “There is an urgent need to prepare priests for this and point them to avenues of ministry that will be ready to meet the opportunities of an apostolic time,” he said. “Priests will need to understand the dynamism of apostolic renewal in order to promote and nourish it rightly.”
Msgr. Shea’s strategy for apostolic mission is outlined in his book, “From Christendom to Apostolic Mission.” “The book (which is not simply my work but the work of a group of friends and scholars who just really love Christ and the Church) outlines eight principles and attitudes that are essential to an apostolic pastoral strategy.”
“In particular,” Msgr. Shea explained, “This conference will help to more deeply inspire an apostolic attitude, how to use institutions differently, rethinking priestly life, and the allocation of resources with apostolicity in mind.”
But Msgr. Shea’s vision isn’t his own program. The core tenets are derived from Jesus’s own example of investing time with a small group of friends. “He knew that he needed them to have his heart for people, faith in the love of the Father, and power in the Spirit,” observed Msgr. Shea. “The parish must prioritize Jesus’ methodology. It must deeply invest in small numbers of people at a time in order to form them to be vibrant, courageous witnesses for Jesus in the world.” For Msgr. Shea, small numbers of energized, well-formed lay disciples make much more of an impact than hundreds of lukewarm Catholics with no sense of mission.
Many challenges oppose the shift to the mentality of apostolic mission. “The institutions of a Christian age demand attention,” Msgr. Shea said. “They consume resources. They will compete with apostolic work for space in the budget and our daily planners.” Furthermore, there will be prevailing attitudes that call for priests to run programs to involve more people and distract well-formed leaders from mission. “Priests will be tempted to judge the fruitfulness of apostolic initiatives by numbers in the short term. The situation of decreased offertories and Mass attendance is urgent and tempts us to look for quick turnarounds,” said Msgr. Shea. “If Jesus took three years, we are wise to invest deeply in apostolic initiatives and give them time to bear 30, 60, 100 fold.”
Msgr. Shea’s efforts amplify the realization that the world has undergone a momentous change, a realization which is at the heart of Vatican II. “The Council was called to find ways in which it could still bring the deposit of faith to peoples who had lost the cultural and traditional faculties needed to hear the Gospel in a particular way,” said Msgr. Shea. “It wasn’t that the Church needed to change its established teaching or tradition, but rather that it needed to speak differently to the world so that the same timeless truths could be understood rightly again.” For him, the project of priestly renewal today is the work of adopting a new approach, an apostolic approach, one in which the Church goes out to the world, to meet people where they stand.
Priests looking to recharge their ministry and activate an apostolic laity can attend the conference in Dallas, Texas, Jan. 24-26. All are encouraged and invited to register for an optional pre-conference gathering January 23-24 sponsored by OSV Institute for Catholic Innovation. The theme of the pre-event is “Leading for Innovation,” where attendees will explore how to listen empathetically to the needs of the parish more effectively, ideate more quickly, and architect moments that matter.
