A New Catholic Reformation
Ecclesia semper reformanda… the Church is always in need of being reformed. This is because the Church, while made holy by God Himself, is also built of living stones; all those baptized into the death and Resurrection of the Lord Jesus are the living stones of the Church of Christ. But despite our freedom from sin in Baptism, we remain earthen vessels with a tendency to disordered self-love of many kinds. And because we are in need of constant conversion and lifelong reformation, the Church is always in need of being reformed. Ecclesia semper reformanda.
The tragic scandals of 2002 have reminded the whole Church of our constant need for conversion and reformation, and while we are scandalized by the sinful and criminal malfeasance of all too many bishops and priests, in a sad way these faults confirm a doctrine at the heart of the Gospel: "All have sinned and are deprived of the glory of God" (Rom 3:21). But sin is not the last word.
The Lord Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, and Beginning and the End, and Christ began His public ministry with a clarion call to conversion: "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand; repent, and believe in the Gospel" (Mk 1:15). And this is precisely where we can begin a New Catholic Reformation, the place where all genuine reformation begins: personal conversion away from sin and to the Lord Jesus and fidelity to His Gospel. Without the conviction that comes from a personal decision to follow Christ in the Way of the Cross, there can be no true Christian living and hence no evangelical freedom from the power of sin and death and the mystery of evil in our lives.
I want St. Mary's Church to be a vibrant center of passionate, evangelical Christian living and teaching and thus to be a beacon of authentic Catholic reform. Each man, woman, and child in our church can contribute to this project by being transformed by grace through faith from a parish member by convention to a Christian disciple by conviction, and this process must start with a conscious choice to see and understand the world from the point of view of the Gospel, rather than judging the Gospel from the point of view of the world. Such a commitment means the end of cultural and cafeteria Catholicism and the beginning of convinced Catholicism, and this in turn requires our willingness to surrender our entire lives in the obedience of faith to the Gospel, which is the power of God unto salvation for all who believe (cf Rom 1:1-17).
I invite every parishioner to participate fully in the life of the Church and to use every means of grace in pursuit of a New Catholic Reformation at St. Mary's. As we work together to help each soul in our parish family live more deeply and completely in the Paschal Mystery, I ask your generous cooperation in responding to the call of the Lord Jesus to make disciples of all nations, starting right here.
Father Jay Scott Newman
Pastor