Ave Maria Pastorate’s Encounter Night featuring Dr. Mike Scherschligt.
By Laurie Stiegelmeier
Exile is the harshest form of correction. From a child’s time-out to an inmate’s solitary confinement, to political exile from one’s homeland, severing community is always painful. Created in God’s image and likeness, isolation violates an intrinsic aspect of our nature: communion with others.
A sharing of self
Dr. Jason Heron, S. Wilma Lyle Chair of Theology at Mount Marty University, explained Church teaching on community and its importance.
“Christians have the good habit of saying that every person is made in the image of God,” Dr. Heron said. “Sometimes, when we try to understand this startling language, we end up looking at our own faculties and powers and then assuming our Creator must be a bigger, more powerful version of us. For example, among all the animals, we are uniquely capable of rational thought. So, we think that being made in the image of God has something to do primarily with our mind. Or, again, among all the animals, we have a conscience. So, we think that being made in the image of God has something to do primarily with our moral life.”
While admitting that our intellect and conscience as the image of God is a fair and interesting argument, Dr. Heron says that Christianity’s radical insight of God as a loving communion is where we should start.
“The God whose image we are is a communion of Persons,” he said. “We are made by love and for love, by friendship and for friendship. Everything we say about having a rational mind and a conscience ought to follow afterward. We belong to a communion of love whether we’re very smart or not, whether we’re morally mature or not.”
Explaining this concept further, Dr. Heron said that while individual persons live in an array of changing communities over time, God is the communion of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit eternally. “When John writes ‘God is love’ in his first letter, he’s pointing to Christianity’s radical idea: The source and destiny of all reality is loving communion.”
Dr. Heron provides an interesting visual to illustrate his point. “We say with the Church that we believe the Lord is a triune communion of Persons. But when we think about God, when we pray, when we worship, etc., some of us may be imagining an old man who’s in charge of everything. In other words, a lot of people find it easy to imagine the Creator as an architect working at a desk, as a CEO alone in an office, as a general directing an army, as a judge alone on the bench, or as a president signing orders. But the Church asks us to purify our imagination of these insufficient metaphors.
“Thinking about community is a great place to start this purification,” he continued. “The Lord of all creation is not in any way an isolated, single, lonely person. The Lord of all creation is the communion of Father, Son and Holy Spirit. And by becoming Christians, we have been invited into that communion of love.”
Dr. Heron adds that rather than imagining a CEO or a judge who is taking time to listen to your petition, it could be helpful to imagine a dinner party, or a reunion of friends, or a group of musicians excited for you to arrive.
The Trinity as community
Everything Christians think about community should flow from the revelation of the Lord as Trinity, he stressed. Marriage, family and friendships are the early communities where we are schooled in love and service. “In his questions on the nature of charity, Thomas Aquinas says that as we practice loving those most visible and most intimately connected to us, we should grow in our ability to love those who are less visible and more distantly connected to us,” Dr. Heron said.
“The Church asks us to take friendship, marriage, family, society and politics seriously because each of these communities is a place where we do the work of being a person made by and for love,” he continued. “Each is a place where we learn to give ourselves and receive others. And each is a place where we can contribute to the common good.”
Explaining the common good, Dr. Heron says it can only exist if we live and work together. He says it is not like candy or pizza that diminishes the more we share; rather, the more we share love, justice, hope, friendship, accountability, truth, etc., the more there is for everyone.
“If I live in total isolation, I cannot share these goods with others, so there’s less for me,” Dr. Heron said. “But if I live in a wide array of communities, then I have ample opportunity to share these goods with others so there’s even more for all of us.”
Good things long to be shared, Dr. Heron said, adding that in the Christian tradition the triune God is good itself—always giving, always sharing the love that flows between them and welcoming us into it. He says the word “community” itself tells us it is fundamentally about sharing and loving.
“Com” comes from the Latin word “cum,” which usually means “with.” The Latin word “munis” can be an office, a role, a function or responsibility, but it can also be a gift.
“So, if you join these usages together, you can come up with something like this: a community is a group of persons who share their gifts with each other in such a way that everyone has a role and a responsibility,”
Dr. Heron said. “In other words, a community is where everyone’s unique personhood and contribution matters. A community is where you learn to receive the gift of others, and it’s where you learn that you are yourself a gift to be offered.”
We can’t do it alone
“God himself is a community of three persons; to live life is to be in community,” Father Shaun Haggerty, pastor of Ave Maria Pastorate, said. “Community is the fabric of our lives. It’s what makes life life.”
Father Haggerty, along with Missy Baumberger, Ave Maria’s director of discipleship and evangelization, and Nancy Werner, director of discipleship and evangelization for Divine Mercy Pastorate, spoke about the importance of community.
“Human beings desire connections that are meaningful and a place to belong—where you are known and your voice is valued,” Nancy said.
“Community is vital to the life of the Church and to the world as a whole,” Missy said. “Community in general and church community specifically help us step outside ourselves.”
On a theological level, Father Haggerty defined what makes church community different from other communities we belong to. “Community in church is important because it reflects the source of community—God himself. All community comes from God. As the Body of Christ, we need to come together to unite ourselves to God the Father through, with and in Jesus. We worship God, who is a community.
“On a practical level, church is different because we share the same moral beliefs,” Father Haggerty continued. “As the world becomes more secular, it is so nice to come together where we can share the same core values.”
Adding a humorous level, he said that church communities are perfect—we all agree, we all get along, and we never argue. In seriousness, he added, “We are all saints and sinners, and we’re all on a journey toward heaven and holiness.”
Forming new communities
In the past two years, Church communities in the Diocese of Sioux Falls have expanded from parishes to pastorates. Missy compared the changing dynamic to a couple who has a child. “Everything that once was is now new, beautiful and challenging.”
“These days our parishioners are not as neighborhood-based, making community-building even more of a priority,” Nancy added. “Our parishes can be a primary source of community life—if you attend. Presence is important in building community life.”
Father Haggerty echoed this, saying, “Community doesn’t just happen; you have to be intentional. Building trust is very important.”
Missy said that some difficulty from the change is because each family has worked hard over the years to become a parish community. “There is a heartbeat within what they have come to know and love; asking them to leave that causes great sorrow and a sense of loss. We can’t deny the pain that has come with some very tough decisions; it is a time of great sorrow for a couple of our parishes that will no longer have Mass. This is an opportunity for the rest of us within the pastorate to step up and be family to them, to really get to know them and welcome them in.”
“The primary difficulty is that change is hard, along with the notion that ‘we have always done it this way here,’” Nancy said. “The beauty of the Set Ablaze vision is we are really not asking people to abandon their parish but instead include pastorate life as part of their world, too.”
Father Haggerty notices the newness of smaller communities enlivening the larger by reminding them of the fundamental building blocks of any community—relationship and responsibility. The larger communities help the smaller to achieve things they couldn’t do on their own. He said that pastorates allow us to be part of a larger whole. “Easter Vigil is a whole new level when there is only one—it is much more vibrant when the church is full.”
Friendship is a start
“We believe to create and grow a sense of community in Divine Mercy Pastorate, we must increase engagement; it is the main way to spark church growth,” Nancy said. “Sometimes, we call the beginning stage ‘building a culture of friendship.’ Authentic friendship is key to a parish that prays, worships, laughs, grieves and walks with people of all ages.”
Among the wide variety of engagement events at Divine Mercy are Ignite the Night targeting families, a three-day Lenten Mission, twice-yearly Ladies Let’s Talk sessions focusing on prayer and testimonies of faith, Happy Hour with Father Paul for young adults, and Pastorate Trivia Night, which raises money for both elementary schools in the pastorate. In addition, staff enrichment is held yearly; staff also celebrate Mass together monthly, do book studies and celebrate their life events.
Ave Maria Pastorate holds a monthly opportunity called Encounter with the goal of not only encountering Christ but also each other through a focus on building the domestic and universal family. “These events are starting to show some fruit as new friendships are being formed,” Missy said. Evidence of pastorate community growth is a blossoming desire to learn more about the faith, formation of study groups open to all pastorate members, and strengthening youth groups.
Father Haggerty says we need to learn from, and be curious about, one another. “You may not even know your best friend yet, but you may meet in the pastorate.”
Evangelization is the goal
Father Haggerty noted that Sunday Mass attendance has been gaining despite the change in schedules. The pastorate has eight Sunday Masses, down from 11. The two Watertown parishes are down from six to five, Henry and Bryant no longer have weekly Sunday Mass, and Kranzburg has only Saturday Mass.
“It is uniquely surprising,” he said. “The only Saturday Mass in Watertown is the largest—standing room only. Kranzburg Saturday night has increased, too. There’s a new hodgepodge of people who wouldn’t have seen each other who now see each other regularly.”
Formerly, the two Watertown parishes hadn’t worked together; Father Haggerty says that he has only seen them grow closer since Set Ablaze. Missy sees a sharing of gifts among the parishes in the pastorate.
“People are just beginning to understand the wonderful opportunities that exist because we are more than one parish: centralizing services, a new pool of volunteers, and a wider scope of spiritual growth options,” Nancy said. “There are definitely attachments to ‘parish.’ However, we are noticing that there are cross-sections of all three parishes at various Masses, fish fries and events. We hope that is a sign that we are getting more comfortable and that friendships are forming.”
In addition to increased Mass attendance and increased adoration times, Father H
aggerty says the best marker of new community is good energy, a good spirit. Nancy describes it as “the vibe in the room.”
Commenting on people trying to do community without church, to make the spiritual journey just between God and themselves, Missy said, “That is never what God asked of us. Even from the beginning, God himself talked in a language of family and community. In Genesis, God says, ‘Let us make human beings in our image, after our likeness …’
“But he doesn’t let us stay there,” she continued. “He then calls us to the Great Commission in Matthew 28:19-20: ‘Go, therefore, and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, until the end of the age.’”
There can be no community of one. The responsibility is ours to image the loving exchange within the Holy Trinity in our pastorates, and to invite everyone into it.
Ave Maria Pastorate serves Holy Name and Immaculate Conception in Watertown, Blessed Sacrament in Florence, Holy Rosary in Kranzburg, St. Mary in Bryant, St. Henry in Henry, and St. Michael in Clark.
Divine Mercy Pastorate is made of St. Mary and Christ the King in Sioux Falls and St. John Paul II in Harrisburg.
Laurie Stiegelmeier is active in faith formation for all ages at St. John de Britto Parish, Our Lady of the Snows Pastorate. Above career and volunteer work, being a mother and grandmother is the most important and rewarding “job” she ever held.
