Back in 2004, St. Pope John Paul said “I hope that the spirituality of Pentecost will spread in the Church as a renewed incentive to prayer, holiness, communion, and proclamation.” Here in Detroit, we are in the midst of this kind of culture shift in the Catholic Church!
Led by the Holy Spirit, Archbishop Vigneron has shepherded the Church in Detroit through an incredible time in history. After Synod 16, the Archbishop prayerfully discerned its fruits and wrote the beautiful Unleash the Gospel, giving an account of how we can move forward to allow the graces received in the Synod to transform us from inward-focused into outward, missionary parishes. The foundational conviction of the Synod is “that the Church in the Archdiocese of Detroit is resolved to obey the Holy Spirit and be made by him a band of joyful missionary disciples….This means that the Archdiocese, following the call of Pope Francis, is resolved to undergo a ‘missionary conversion,’ a change in our culture, such that every person at every level of the Church, through a personal encounter with Jesus Christ, embraces his or her identity as a son or daughter of God and, in the power of the Holy Spirit, is formed and sent forth as a joyful missionary disciple.”
For this to occur in our parishes and in our own souls, we need the same Holy Spirit who came at Pentecost to increase the fire of God’s love within us – such that we just simply can’t hold Him in! Each day, let us continue to return to the upper room, Brothers and Sisters, calling on the Holy Spirit to fill us, transform us, sanctify us, and send us as joyful missionary disciples here and now, for surely, this is God’s gracious will for His Church.
God bless you,
Fr. Patrick