A  PARISH  MISSION

INTRODUCTION

The title of my homily for today is, “A Parish Mission.”

Father Kevin MacDonald is preaching a parish mission this week here at St. Mary’s Parish, Annapolis, Maryland. The talks - the preaching - will take place at St. John Neumann Church - the bigger of our two church buildings.

You’re invited to make the whole mission: Monday evening to Thursday evening - at 7:00 PM - or any of the evenings.

He’s also going to be speaking at and taking the 12:10 Mass each day - so add Tuesday and Thursday to the 12:10 Masses this week.

A PARISH MISSION

The title of my sermon - this is more a sermon than a homily -  is, “A Parish Mission.”

The Redemptorists are the religious order who staff this parish - which started way back in 1853 - on Duke of Gloucester Street. [1]

We came to the United States from Vienna in 1832. We had been in contact with Frederick Rese - Vicar General of the diocese of Cincinnati since 1828. There was an obvious shortage of priests here in the United States. We ended up in all kinds of different places. [2]

We had started in Scala, Italy - a small, small village half way up a mountain above Amalfi - a beach town - 100 years before that - November 9, 1732. St. Alphonsus started in the Kingdom of Naples - before Italy was Italy - with 9 - soon it was down to 2 and then it restarted with more. 

A while later - 1784 - two outsiders - from way up in Vienna - Clement Hofbauer and Thadeus Huebl - came down to Italy and ended up joining us. After becoming Redemptorists, they were then sent back to Vienna - to start a branch up there. They couldn’t make a go of it in Vienna, so they went to Warsaw in Poland and then that branch took off.

They got bounced out of there - so they headed back to Vienna - from which they began to finally flourish a bit more - and were able to send 6 missionaries - 3 priests and 3 brothers to America - in 1832.

We ended up starting parishes for Germans in various big cities, Pittsburgh, New York, Baltimore, Rochester, Buffalo, etc.

We also preached some parish missions all along the way.

FOREIGN MISSIONS

Our province, the Baltimore Province, went to the Caribbean and Brazil as well.

I joined to go to Brazil - because a priest working in Brazil - came into our grammar school classroom in OLPH, Brooklyn, around 1950 - told his story - and asked if anyone was interested.  It sounded great to me - and so I raised my hand.

The idea was planted in my  brain.  The interest was in my dreams.

That’s the way it works.

That’s one of life’s questions: “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

I used to say, “Every little girl in America wants to be a vetinarian.”

Every boy wants to be an athlete - a magician - a guitar player - or a bulldozer driver.

PARISH MISSIONS 1994-2002

I have had many jobs as a priest: parish priest, retreat house preacher, novice master for future Redemptorists, preacher of parish missions, and now again a parish priest.

From 1994 till 2002 - 8 ½ years -  I had the gift of preaching parish missions all over Ohio, Pennsylvania, Connecticut,  South Carolina, etc. etc. etc.

It was a great job because I got to see the Catholic Church - especially in small towns with names like Holgate, Hamler, Leipsic, Napoleon, Galion, Paulding, Swanton, Miller City. And they were just towns in rural Ohio.

Looking back I ask the question every parent - every teacher - asks: “Did I do anyone any good?”

Did I help? Did I help folks to have a better life - a better family - a better spiritual life?  Did people get to know God better?

I haven’t sat down and counted the parish missions I have been part of, the retreats I have done, the sermons I have preached.

There is a poem by Walter de La Mere, The Listeners.  A guy travels through the woods - on a moonlit night - comes to a house and knocks - and nobody answers. And the speaker says, “Is there anyone there?”

Silence…. Then he says, “Tell them I came, and nobody answered, That I kept my word….”

I have given thousands and thousands and thousands of sermons and I often wonder: “Is there anyone there? Is anyone listening?”

How about you?

Is there anyone listening? Hello! [Wave hand.]

I don’t want this to be over personal nor am I fishing for “Oh yeah, we’re listening.”

I want to say, “This is a universal question that everyone of us is asking.”

Does anyone hear you?

ST. ALPHONSUS

St. Alphonsus de Liguori - an Italian lawyer - who became a priest - and  then founded our order - saw a need for preachers to go to places that lacked priests - and nobody wanted to go to listen to those poor people in the hills.

That’s how we got to Annapolis.

The Jesuits from Southern Maryland used to come up here and say Mass - but in general - Annapolis didn’t have a church here - so we ended up here.

Today I’m sure that would not be a problem. Somewhere along the line we stopped being a tiny town.

What did Alphonsus preach? What did he push? What was his message when he knocked on doors?

He has over 100 works published - and a lot of his sermons are in print - so we can read what he preached - especially in his parish missions. [3]

Let me line up 3 right now.

First message: practice loving Jesus Christ.  Our religion is personal. Our religion is a relationship.  Our God became a baby, human, with arms and eyes to reach out to people - like every baby does - like every adult does.

Second Message: pray. Alphonsus said, “Pray and you’ll be saved. Don’t pray and you’ll be lost.”  I have changed that message from not just the hereafter, but also for the here and now.

Third Message: God is not a condemner - a “Gotcha God”.  Our God is PAZZO - the Italian word for crazy.  Our God is crazy in love with us. Think Pope Francis when you hear that message.

CONCLUSION

That’s 3 messages we Redemptorists preach.

Come to the Parish Mission this week and hear Father Kevin MacDonald preach.

Come to the Parish Mission this week and hear God knock on your door and ask, “Is there anybody there?”

O - O - O

NOTES:

[1] Robert L. Worden, St. Mary’s Church in Annapolis, Maryland, 1853-2003.

[2] S. Boland, A Dictionary of the Redemptorists, Romae 1987, “United States”, pages396-397.

[3] Theodule Rey-Mermet, St. Alphonsus Liguori, Tireless Worker for the Most Abandoned, 1987