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Recently I was given a tour of the ponds north of Boone, on one of those leisurely drives with a cup of coffee in hand. (No, I didn’t spill.) In the vicinity was the former St. Mary’s Church since converted to a family home. Serving the rural Catholic families north of Boone the Sacraments was usually offered by the associate priest of Sacred Heart. Though remodeled for a family home the building still resembles a church, a dignified structure then and now. Such reminds me of two other churches within our diocese long since vanished. Thirty years ago, while serving as the associate priest for Immaculate Conception Parish in Sioux City I learned of the existence of St. Jean the Baptist and Annunciation Churches. St. Jean the Baptist church, located downtown Sioux City, was established to serve the inner-city Catholics of French background. Annunciation Church, located in the so-called ‘bottoms’ served the working-class immigrant Catholics—many of whom lost their homes in the great flood of ‘53. With the reorganization of neighborhoods following the flooding and the church itself damaged, the building was then moved to Moville and re-established as Immaculate Conception Parish to serve that growing community of Catholics. (Aside from such diocesan church history, a most intriguing historical artifact of Sioux City—our Diocesan seat—is its one-time nickname: “Little Chicago.” Harkening to the bootlegging days during Prohibition, supposedly Al Capone would quietly venture to Sioux City, ‘laying low’ when the heat was on, so to speak. Indeed, he was born into a devout Italian Catholic family.)
Over the years since our diocese was established in 1902, change has been inevitable. When Pope Leo XIII decreed the establishment of Sioux City Diocese there were 50,000 Catholics in the twenty-four-county area, with 95 priests serving 84 parishes and 30 missions. My hometown parish of St. Joseph in Wesley began as a mission from nearby St. Benedict Church. St. Benedict church was closed in 2017 and subsequently tore down. And change has come to my hometown church now served out of nearby St. Cecelia Parish in Algona. Returning to my hometown last Sunday for my cousin’s funeral service at St. Joseph’s Cemetery, it was hard not to notice the gravestones, evidence of the many individuals who once participated in the Sacraments of our church. Faces have changed and yet the faith is still present though different than the days of my upbringing.
Occasionally I fall into the sentimental recollections of the “good old days.” And to be honest, looking at once was, the difficulty is believing in the grace before and around us regardless of how the path forward has changed. Within the obvious limitations set before her, Helen Keller was undaunted about the changes she needed to make. “Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. To keep our faces toward change and behave like free spirits in the presence of fate is strength undefeatable.” Which leads me to the changes in the landscape of our diocese, spiritually and physically. What has taken place in other parish communities is now set before our Boone County Catholic Community. I too struggle with change, trying to understand all that looks different from the time of my ordination nearly thirty years ago. And yet, we will remain a community of faith, a people of hope, graciously participating and guided by the Eucharist whether parishioner or visitor. Prayerfully our ‘town hall’ meeting this coming Thursday, April 7th, at St. Malachy Parish Hall (6:15) will give us the impetus, despite our concerns, to believe in the gift of the Holy Spirit guiding us forward in the face of change. Please feel welcome to be present this Thursday with your concerns and questions, and your faith in the Church that will continue to sustain us as we move forward. My mentor and good friend, Msgr. Merv Hood (God rest his soul) shared with me this insightful passage reflecting the faith of the late Bishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, martyred while celebrating the Eucharist. It helps, now and then, to step back and take a long view. The kingdom is not only beyond our efforts, it is even beyond our vision. We accomplish in our lifetime only a tiny fraction of the magnificent enterprise that is God's work. Nothing we do is complete, which is a way of saying that the Kingdom always lies beyond us. No statement says all that could be said. No prayer fully expresses our faith. No confession brings perfection. No pastoral visit brings wholeness. No program accomplishes the Church's mission. No set of goals and objectives includes everything. This is what we are about. We plant the seeds that one day will grow. We water seeds already planted, knowing that they hold future promise. We lay foundations that will need further development. We provide yeast that produces far beyond our capabilities. We cannot do everything, and there is a sense of liberation in realizing that. This enables us to do something, and to do it very well. It may be incomplete, but it is a beginning, a step along the way, an opportunity for the Lord's grace to enter and do the rest. We may never see the end results, but that is the difference between the master builder and the worker. We are workers, not master builders, ministers, not messiahs. We are prophets of a future not our own.
God Bless, Fr. Tim
