{"id":307522,"date":"2020-09-09T01:00:03","date_gmt":"2020-09-08T23:00:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/usa-the-pandemic-takes-us-back-to-essentials\/"},"modified":"2024-05-15T20:41:21","modified_gmt":"2024-05-15T18:41:21","slug":"usa-the-pandemic-takes-us-back-to-essentials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/usa-the-pandemic-takes-us-back-to-essentials\/","title":{"rendered":"USA: the pandemic takes us back to essentials"},"content":{"rendered":"

For months, every day, a priest has been travelling miles by bicycle or pickup to be close to his community. This experience, lived together with a team of parishioners, is uniting and broadening horizons, while leaving also its post-pandemic effects. <\/em> \"\"If lockdown and social distancing rules oblige us to keep away as much as possible from assembly places, such as the parish church, why can’t the priest bridge the gap between us all? This is what Father Clint Ressler, a Catholic priest at the St. Mary of the Miraculous Medal Parish in Texas City, USA, is doing. Since the beginning of the pandemic, he has been travelling every day, far and wide all over the territory of his parish to visit his parishioners . Father Clint, how has life changed in your parish during this pandemic?<\/strong> It\u2019s true that the pandemic dramatically changed how all of us maintain and grow our relationships. I have a greater sense of how God calls us to co-responsibility.\u00a0 As a pastor, I feel lifted up and surrounded by a strong and dedicated team. Perhaps because we are more focused on the essentials of our mission there is a corresponding experience of joy and gratitude in seeing these efforts and their fruits. Prior to the pandemic my days were filled with people. Sometimes I would be too focused on projects or getting to my next meeting or ministry to truly notice, greet and be present to each person.\u00a0 Now, also because we all need and thirst for communion, authentic relationships, I am feeling more like a human \u2018being\u2019 and not a human \u2018doing\u2019. Many parish groups and ministries are connecting to one another more personally, whether by phone, social media and brief personal visits. I have the sense that our God-given need for communion finds its own ways around the difficulties. What have you been doing to maintain a close relationship with your parishioners?<\/strong> Perhaps because there are fewer meetings and a greater focus on the essential mission of the parish I have not felt as rushed as before the pandemic.\u00a0 I have also heard God inviting me to \u2018slow down\u2019, to trust Him and to be patient. Early in the pandemic I was visiting many parishioners on a bicycle or a pick-up. During those early months I would see sometimes as many as a dozen homes in a day.\u00a0 Now, I am going at a slower pace, so to speak, fewer visits but staying longer. Can \u00a0you share\u00a0 something with us about the most beautiful moment and the most difficult one you have lived during these visits? <\/strong> It is difficult to choose just one moment. One family had lost their home to a fire just a few days before I happened to visit them.\u00a0 The little children had lost their home but also all their toys.\u00a0 Their neighbor next door welcomed the family into their home.\u00a0 It was both the saddest but also the most uplifting visit. It continually strikes how this experience has suddenly changed Pope Francis\u2019 call to be \u2018missionary disciples\u2019 from beautiful words to something that could and needed desperately to be live. Would \u00a0this experience\u00a0 leave a positive impact on the life of your parish community, even when the pandemic is over? <\/strong> The pandemic brought many people to become more familiar with \u2018faith online\u2019. Parishioners have become more \u2018tech savvy\u2019 in general but also as regards to nourishing their faith. I have been personally edified by witnessing how our parishioners have cared for one another. I believe that after the pandemic we will see the fruits of this greater connectedness and concrete expressions of mutual concern. The pandemic has brought about a greater sense of solidarity, not only with the neighbors who live close but also a greater awareness and concern for the whole world.\u00a0 There is a universal sense that \u2018we are all in this together\u2019 and I hope that endures in the hearts and actions of everyone after the pandemic subsides. You \u00a0met the Focolare spirituality and you live it. How does it influence\u00a0 your life as a priest and a pastor, especially now during this pandemic? <\/strong> Leading a parish can seem overwhelming and complex, requiring discernment and tough decisions.\u00a0 However, if I just try to refocus on concrete love it doesn\u2019t seem so overwhelming.\u00a0 Of course, it all starts with union with God As a priest, especially as a pastor, I have been entrusted with a position of great influence and authority.\u00a0 At times, being the leader of others, I can fall into a \u2018business approach\u2019 that values efficiency, avoiding risks and valuing measurable \u2018achievements\u2019.\u00a0 The spirituality of the Focolare, and of the witness of Jesus, calls me back to service, humility and faithful patience. I have understood that the fundamental starting point for discovering God\u2019s will is for us to live with Jesus in our midst.\u00a0 In other words, we have to be \u2018Church\u2019, the mystical body of Christ.\u00a0 As we live and grow in these mutual relationships with God\u2019s grace, we can hear the little voice of the Holy Spirit.\u00a0 I think my life in the Focolare, ingrained in me over the years, a desire to bring this kind of discernment into the parish, with the parish staff, with the pastoral council, with every group and committee. <\/p>\n

Anna Lisa Innocenti<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For months, every day, a priest has been travelling miles by bicycle or pickup to be close to his community. This experience, lived together with a team of parishioners, is uniting and broadening horizons, while leaving also its post-pandemic effects.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":33,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"give_campaign_id":0,"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-307522","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-non-categorizzato"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307522","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/33"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=307522"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/307522\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=307522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=307522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.focolare.org\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=307522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}