HUNTLEY— The word of God has been the same during thousands of years but what “we have to examine ... is the way we approach the world (today),” said Deacon Keith Strohm, the main speaker during diocesan Ministry Day, Oct. 3 at St Mary Parish, here.

 

Deacon Strohm continued, “The hope of the Gospel is the hope the Kingdom of God, and the hope of the kingdom of God is about multiplication, it is about generation, is about new life.”

 

For that reason, he said, “We need to let go of habits. We want to bear fruit. We need to pay attention to the soil we are planting. 

 

“The soil is different today,” he said, “than it was 15 years ago or 20 or 30. The fertilizers that worked 30, 40 years ago no longer work today.” 

 

It was a return visit for the deacon, who led the Rockford Diocese Ministry Day gathering last year.

 

Deacon Strohm said this year he was “not talking about changing Church teaching,” nor “the moral principles of the Christian life.” 

 

Instead he talked about changing paradigms “from an institutional faith to an intentional faith; from a culture of engagement to a culture of encounter; from a focus on maintenance to a focus on mission; from programs to people; from avoidance to accountability.”

 

More than 250 people from parishes and schools around the Rockford Diocese listened to the deacon talk about the topic “Rebuilding Foundation: Pastoral Leadership in a Missionary Church.” 

 

The annual event was a time to learn, pray, and socialize. Deacon Strohm offered a healing prayer. A blessing before lunch showed the diversity of the diocese by being offered by four people who spoke in Polish, Tagalog, Spanish and English. 

 

“I’ve seen a lot of interest in  my parish staff, and I look at and analyze what can we do different. I regret that we don’t have a wider section of parishioners here that would be able to help us, not just our staff,” said Father Andrew Mulcahey, Pastor of St. Laurence in Elgin.

 

Ministry Day information was important for participants like Anabel Rivas, secretary for the diocesan Regional Education Office and for St. Mary Parish in Aurora. 

 

“It is a lot of information, very good,” she said. “It opens our eyes to the truth in our parishes. I’m anxious to put it practice in my parish.”

 

Father Paul White, pastor of  Church of Holy Apostles in McHenry, is already working to change paradigms. Five years ago he started the Family Faith Formation program at his parish.

 

“It totally transforms the way we do religious education,” he said, “thus helping to teach the parents how to teach their children and is transforming the way we do everything in our parish.” 

 

The main change was that instead of dropping their kids for first Communion classes,  “they come with their children and participate.”  

 

This is relevant, he said, because “70% of the kids practice their faith if the father is included and 30% if is just the mother. We see more fathers than at any other time,” he said.

 

After almost seven hours of training and socializing, Mary George, from St Rita of Cascia Parish in Aurora, said she was  “excited, motivated, empowered. It has been a great day. We have to be sensitive with the people that we are with and where they are in their lives, and how we speak to them,” she said.

 

Kevin Fuss, director of Research and Planning for the diocese, said it “was really amazing to watch the energy in the room. ... The mission of every (parish) is to bring souls to Jesus and to watch as people discover new ways to do that. It’s really an awesome thing.” 

 

Fuss, Jeanne Fraser, Tara Kaufmann, Ellie Nelson, Mary George, and Father Timothy Piasecki, pastor of St. Mary Parish in Aurora, were part  of the Ministry Day planning team. Dorothea Barger and Kristina Riedelsperger helped during the day.