Announce the Gospel, Equipping the Household of Faith

"Where We Have Been, and Where We are Going"

A year ago, Bishop Boyea promulgated his pastoral letter, Go and Announce the Gospel of the Lord. In it, he addressed the decline in Mass attendance, and called us to respond with new fervor to the New Evangelization. Now, he has written a follow-up: Where We Have Been and Where We Are Going. FAITH asked Bishop Boyea to tell us more about his hopes for the Diocese of Lansing, and for the Household of Faith.

Your recent letter is titled Where We Have Been and Where We Are Going. Can you tell us where we have been and where we are going?

For the past year, we have been praying to the Holy Spirit, asking for guidance. My deep hope is that everyone has used this time to develop a deeper relationship with Jesus, and that we are now going to be very open and attentive to what the Spirit is telling us. I want to tell you that I don’t know what that is – it may not be clear and it may not be right away. That is why we need to continue our prayerful listening – so that we can discern the direction God wants us to take.

Can you refresh our memories on the three sections of your pastoral letter?

First is the Household of Faith – our brothers and sisters who are active members of our parishes, whose faces we see at Mass on Sundays. We need to build up our community of believers, and we need to equip others to deepen their own relationship with Christ so they can reach out to those who have left, and those who have never heard the Good News. As disciples, we must call others to Christ and welcome them.

The second part of the pastoral focuses on the Lost Sheep – those members of our family who have wandered from the faith. We must be witnesses for Christ to them – through our prayer, example and encouragement.

Then there is the Court of the Gentiles, those who have not heard the message of Jesus, or who do not believe. We must witness to them, and to all of our society. We are not to be separate from our culture; we are all called to conversion. And through our own conversion and deepening relationship with Christ, we help society to be its best.

You have outlined several actions that we should take as the Household of Faith – what is involved in each of them?

Who are you hoping will attend the assembly for Church workers that is being held in the fall? What are you hoping will be the outcome?

The diocesan assembly this fall is for the leadership groups of every parish, our Household of Faith. That means priests, deacons, consecrated religious leaders, finance councils, parish councils, directors of religious education (DREs), pastoral workers – everyone who is involved in parish leadership. These are the people who are on fire for the Church, and we want to help expand that. We want to train people to go from maintenance to missionaries!

In 2016, we’ll reach out to those who are members of our faith communities who are no longer with us and invite them back to the celebration of the Mass and the sacraments that are the life of our Church. We are going to focus on how we are calling them back, and how we welcome them when they return.

Then, in 2018, we shall reach out to the Court of the Gentiles, those who have never heard the Gospel, or who are unbelievers.

Can you give us a look ahead to the other sections of the pastoral? What are the plans to address them?

Honestly, I am not sure where all this is going, but I do know that the Holy Spirit wants us to do what we are doing this day and tomorrow. We need to rely on him to guide us – our task is to be open to following where he leads.
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