Dear Parishioners,

This past Saturday 60 members of our parish met to speak and listen to one another as we try to discern how to live the mission with which we have been entrusted. The passion and dedication to “servant leadership” was very palpable as people articulated their hopes for the parish and volunteered the best ways in which this could happen. Underlying the discussions was the realization that there are many different “voices” in the parish community that should be heard. We don’t all see “eye to eye” on issues that our world, our country, our church faces. The challenge today may be hearing “ear to ear”; i.e. creating a context for listening to one another in “good faith”.

As I was reflecting on this challenge of listening to different voices with often divergent opinions, I happened to be listening to Bach’s Well-Tempered Clavier. For a time I was enraptured by the different voices in the music, each with its own unique line, moving independently but also at times melding into a harmonic moment before going on it ways. The overall effect was mesmerizing and quite beautiful. I wondered if “polyphonic” music; “many voices” could serve as a model of holding together in creative tension the individual voices that need to be heard at this time in our parish community. As we begin another Lenten journey together in a few weeks, I’m thinking that a theme for our prayer might be “Lent – a Time of Listening – to the voice of God, the voice of Jesus, the voice of the spirit, the voice of the Other. These are just “my” thoughts. I’m always open to hearing “yours”.

Yours truly,

Fr. Bob