Thoughts From Along The Road To Conversion

During his homily at the Oct. 12 White Mass for the medical community in our area, Bishop Charles C. Thompson made a statement that inspired this column.

“The call to conversion is not an act of meanness, “he said. “Ultimately, it is an act of love.”

On the surface, that seems pretty straightforward – and I suppose it is. But I have been unpacking everything about that statement since the bishop said it.

Think about it; none of us ever achieve full conversion. We are sinners; it’s the very nature of our humanity.

One of the Spiritual Works of Mercy asks us to “admonish the sinner.” It occurs to me that the concept of a call to conversion somehow being mean might be founded in those words. But I don’t buy the idea that there is anything mean about it.

I’ll suggest just the opposite, as Bishop Thompson did. And I’ll further suggest a perspective that will help you answer the call to conversion, and extend that call to others through your example.

Before addressing how we answer the call to conversion, it seems that we ought to look briefly at the definition of conversion. Webster is straightforward, defining conversion as “the act or process of changing from one form, state, etc., to another.” It seems to me that we can approach this as the act of changing from being in the state of sin to being in the state of God’s grace.

There are any number of ways we can take steps to make that change. Here are a few:

Be kind to others, especially those who have wronged you in some way.

Forgive … as you would be forgiven.

Meet others where they are, not where you want them to be.

Here are a few less-ambiguous, more concrete examples:

Give to those in need; maybe St. Vincent de Paul or one of our parish ministries.

Step up to adopt a family or child during Catholic Charities Christmas Giving Program.

Volunteer for a position in your parish (e.g., lector, cantor, Extraordinary Minister of the Eucharist, etc.).

All of these ideas also will help you to make a call to conversion to everyone you know through your example. The hope is that others will see what you’re doing and, in the process, open up the doors to their heart soul just wide enough for the Holy Spirit to get a foot in. If you can accomplish that, the Spirit will do the rest.

Our diocese recently bid prayerful farewells to three priests who most assuredly have already heard “Well done, good and faithful servant.” Father Jim Blessinger, Father Gus Busch and Father Hilary Meny laid down their lives to answer God’s call … to serve and shepherd us.

From here, God provided a sign that these three holy men are with him in Heaven by choosing a beautiful church in a small, Southwest Indiana town to host a funeral Mass concelebrated by a Cardinal-designate and two bishops. I dare say few parishes anywhere can make such a claim.

I truly believe that Cardinal-designate Joseph W. Tobin of Indianapolis, Bishop Charles C. Thompson of Evansville and Bishop-Emeritus Gerald A. Gettelfinger of Evansville provided a collective sign of God’s joy in his faithful servants’ earthly service. He brought them together at Sts. Peter and Paul in Haubstadt to concelebrate the third of three funeral Masses for priests over a six-day period in our diocese.

Rest in peace, Father Jim, Father Gus and Father Hilary.