Discernment

I have been away for a while...but I have a bit of a dilemma currently. My friend Pat is being ordained to the priesthood on May 17 and now I cannot attend his ordination. The easiest way to explain the story is to share the e-mail I sent him....

Hello Deacon Pat,

I just want to let you know how proud I am of the journey you have travelled to become a priest and how much I really want to thank you for listening to and responding to God's call to your vocation. Please know that you are always in my prayers.

I have to let you know, very regretably, that I am now not going to able to come on May 17 to see you be ordained a holy priest and I am really distressed about the whole thing.

As you know, my parish in in the middle of a, for some, painful merger where we lost our very beloved pastor, Fr Pat, and there are a fair bit of hard feelings at present toward the new administrator (a Franciscan, since the combined parishes---to be renamed in July--is now going to be the Franciscan parish in the diocese). I feel like the hard feelings a lot of people have are somewhat unfair, since I am able to appreciate the huge undertaking our new administrator is in the middle of, while a lot of older parishoners are just hurt their parish will no longer be what it once was--in name, at least.

We are in the process of putting together a parish pastoral council--12 people--six from each original parish--and I feel like it's very vital I be on this. They need the younger viewpoint. I was the youngest person in the room by at least 5 or more years at the information sesssion that the woman from our diocese ran. I am the future of this parish and my prayerful spirit can be an asset to them in the long run.

Here's the rub--the day of prayer and discernment to determine who will be on the council is May 17 from 10am-1pm. If I don't go, I can't be on the council. I feel very strongly that I need to pray about being a part of this council and feel that I can make a difference for the "parishes" now and in the future.

I hope you can understand this. Please know how sorry I am that I am going to miss this beautiful day of yours. I can't wait to see you celebrate mass very soon!!

Love and prayers, L


Luckily, Pat understood and supports me in what I need to do, which I knew he would.

I recently told my new pastor/administrator that I would no longer be working with the youth group after this school year ends. I don't feel like my gifts are best utilized in this setting and with this age group. I pray that the Holy Spirit will agree that I may be best suited to be part of the new parish pastoral council.

I'll keep you posted...