Let's Talk About The Kingdom Of God And The Salvation Of Souls

Yes … let’s talk about the Diocesan Strategic Plan.

Wait … what?!

Elsewhere in this historic issue of the Message, you can read about the initial changes coming to our diocese as part of the plan; you can read the decrees that enable those changes in their entirety; and you can read Bishop Thompson’s thoughts on the plan, the changes and the future.

If, like me, you have heard the Bishop talk about the Strategic Plan, you know that he sees its goal as the kingdom of God and its mission the salvation of souls.

Here, I prayed before sitting down to the keyboard and creating this document. “God, You write this column. All I want to do is type.”

I said that prayer more than once over the course of a few days. Just before I started typing this, my phone went off with the daily reminder from an app I have called Ignio. It’s free, a Catholic social-media app that provides daily verses for contemplation, and also the Mass readings for that day. A separate, short passage from the Bible serves as the alert text when the daily content gets updated.

On the day I’m typing this, that alert text was Phillipians 4: 6-7:

“Have no anxiety at all, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, make your requests known to God. Then the peace of God that surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”

I am at peace typing this because I know God is providing the message. He started with that passage. I haven’t met everyone affected by today’s announcements, but I met many of you by attending all but one of the parish listening sessions since June 30. Some of you have been – probably still are – anxious about the future.

I believe God’s asking all of us to pray and be thankful – then be at peace because He’s got this!

I found another message to pass along in the biography of St. Vincent de Paul. Today (Sept. 27) is his feast day. There are a number of saints’ biographies posted across the Internet, but here I share information posted on the website of St. Vincent de Paul Church in Richboro, Pa., near Philadelphia. After noting that he changed his view of his priestly vocation over time – to one focused on helping and serving the poor – this biography describes St. Vincent de Paul’s “conversion” as “a gradual opening to the power of God's grace working in him, and allowing him to see his world more clearly in the light of Christ.”

Isn’t that how we need to approach this new chapter in the life of our diocese? Don’t we need to let it unfold gradually, believing in faith that God’s grace is working here, and allowing ourselves to see this “new world” more clearly in the light of Christ?

Finally – and again on the day I truly believe God wrote this column and let me type it – the Vatican Information Service posted a story about Pope Francis’ meeting with the clergy of the Diocese of Rome. When someone asked a question about pastoral service, our Holy Father talked about the need for true creativity:

“Creativity is finding the path to proclaim the Gospel … and this is not easy. It is not simply a question of changing things. It is something different, it comes from the spirit and passes through prayer and dialogue with people, with the faithful.”

The Strategic Plan has never been about simply making changes. To me – as someone new to this 12-county Catholic community – it’s clear that everyone who worked to get us to this point did so with an eye toward finding the path – here in the Diocese of Evansville – to proclaim the Gospel.

Our goal is the kingdom of God. Our mission is the salvation of souls. Our journey now has some new waypoints. More will follow.

So pray, be thankful, and be at peace because God truly does have this.

And stay faithful, my friends.