Dear Father Steve,

As you begin your work among us as our third pastor, we thank God for the many gifts you bring to St. Julie Parish.

Under your guidance may we continue to advance in love and holiness.

Blessings and good wishes,
Your parishioners, your family at St. Julie

How lovely is your dwelling place
Lord, God of Hosts,
Blessed are they whose strength
is in you,
in whose hearts are the highway
to Zion.

Ps. 84

5/20/01

This weekend, at 12:15 p.m., Bishop John Gorman, Auxiliary Bishop of Chicago and Vicar for Vicariate 5 will join us for Mass. At this special Mass, he will preside over the liturgical rite by which the third pastor of St. Julie parish will be installed.

Of course, I have been pastor here since February 1—the effective date of this assignment from Cardinal George. The installation publicly and liturgically celebrates that fact.

There is not any one way to answer this question. Each pastor probably has his own “take” on this question—as does each parishioner.

Of course, every parish wants Jesus Christ to be their pastor. And actually, they wouldn’t be far from the truth. (I’m not claiming to be the Lord!)

The One who truly shepherds his people is Jesus Christ. The rest of us, from pope on down to bishops to pastors to lay leaders of particular ministries simply are instruments of Jesus in shepherding his people.

If we begin with that simple and profound fact, then—no matter how each of us differs in describing what a pastor is or what he does—we will not go too far astray. In the end, it is Christ, the Lord, who provides for his faithful people.

In using human instruments, Jesus gives us the grace needed for ministry. Without grace it would be impossible to stay focused on what I think are the two most important issues for a pastor:

The way I see it (and remember, there are other valid ways to describe the role of the pastor), a pastor should use all of his abilities, all of his strengths (and perhaps weaknesses, too) to help people be

• effective followers of Jesus who surrender to God’s grace and the formation/guidance offered by the Church (the issue of discipleship), and 

• fruitful followers of Jesus who use their time, talent and energy for building up the kingdom of God in the world (the issue of stewardship).

A pastor needs to be a person of prayer, someone who takes the time to be alone with the Lord each day, in spite of the pressing demands of a parish.

A pastor needs to listen to the teaching Church and he needs to listen to a people and a parish who can teach him.

A pastor should challenge others with the good news of Christ, even when they do not want to hear it, even when it is inconvenient, even when it means hardship for the one who does the challenging.

A pastor should continually remind himself that he is not “the boss,” or a manager, or the head of the branch office, but rather, that he leads as did Christ, by serving the needs of others.

A pastor strives for unity in a parish, doing all that he can to assist a Eucharistic people, become the Body of Christ in the world, rather than allow isolated ministries function on their own without solidarity or community.

Therefore:

He’s got to remember he will make mistakes and that, in spite of his weaknesses and mistakes, Christ will continue to shepherd his people.

He’s got to realize that he can’t do it alone. Good pastoring implies collaboration and assistance.

Rev. Steve Lanza,

I deeply appreciate all the hard work—the many hours of work—that everyone put in so that the installation Mass and reception this past Sunday came off flawlessly. The efforts involved in the liturgy itself, the music, the party with great food and drink, the hospitality our parishioners showed to our guests from St. Mary of Vernon, Our Lady of Perpetual Help, St. Michael and Notre Dame de Chicago parishes all contributed to a wonderful day here.

And that Lladró statue! What an amazing depiction of Jesus. I am grateful to the parish pastoral staff, the extended staff and the parish pastoral council for this lovely gift. It will continue to remind me of the One who nourishes us, brings us together and urges us to share our gifts with one another.