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Convocation delegates sent to unify in faith, imitate Jesus
By Catholic News Service, with additional reporting by Laura Ieraci
ORLANDO, Fla. (CNS) — Delegates at the four-day “Convocation of Catholic Leaders: The Joy of the Gospel in America” have their work cut out for them but they are equipped to do it, said speakers at the final plenary session.
At the July 1-4 convocation in Orlando, Florida, 3,500 church leaders, including more than 150 bishops, 300-plus clergy, religious and laypeople, gathered to set a new course for the U.S. Catholic Church.
The Hyatt Regency Hotel in Orlando was transformed into a huge parish hall with places for worship, prayer and discussion for the national event. Following a retreat format, each day started and ended with group prayer. Mass, the sacrament of reconciliation and eucharistic adoration were offered daily.
Many of the keynote sessions urged delegates to share their faith boldly with the world and within their own families and parishes, citing Pope Francis’ 2013 apostolic exhortation, “Evangelii Gaudium” (“The Joy of the Gospel”) and his call to Christian joy.
None of the homilists or speakers sugarcoated the challenges for the modern church and more than once speakers pointed out that Catholics are leaving the church in greater numbers, particularly young adults, than those joining the church.
Cardinals and bishops who spoke at keynote sessions or in homilies encouraged participants to bring God’s message of love to a divided world. Numerous breakout sessions provided the working aspect of the gathering.
Among the participants were three delegates of the Eparchy of Parma: Father Marek Visnovsky, pastor of St. Mary Parish in Cleveland; Deacon Daniel Surniak of St. Mary Magdalene Parish in Fairview Park, Ohio; and John Popp, administrator of the Byzantine Catholic Cultural Center.
Four Byzantine Catholic bishops also attended with delegations from their eparchies: Romanian Catholic Bishop John Michael Botean of St. George in Canton, Ohio; Armenian Catholic Bishop Mikael Mouradian of Our Lady of Nareg in New York; Ukrainian Catholic Bishop Bohdan Danylo of St. Josaphat in Parma, Ohio; and Bishop Kurt Burnette of Passaic. Father Maximos Davies of Holy Resurrection Monastery in St. Nazianz, Wisconsin, also attended.
The Byzantine Catholic contingent gathered for Divine Liturgy at St. Nicholas Byzantine Catholic Church in Orlando, hosted by the pastor, Father Sal Pignato. About 50 people attended the liturgy, including some Roman Catholic participants from the convocation.
Father Visnovsky said he was impressed with the number and zeal of convocation participants, especially of some of the elderly priests, and by the number of participants who knew about the Byzantine Catholic Church.
He said he was also surprised to learn the statistic that six people are leaving the church for every one person who joins. “It is literally becoming a missionary field,” he told Horizons.
One of the ideas that stuck, said Father Visnovsky, was “the difference between ‘real life in Christ’ and ‘managing well.’ People see in us either Christ or just someone who manages well.”
While the majority of participants were Roman Catholic, Father Visnovsky said “both Western and Eastern Churches are facing the same challenges, as far as people leaving to find something or someone else.”
“Why do we let people leave? What do we have to offer them?” he asked. “There is a saying: ‘You can lead a horse to water, but you cannot make him drink.’ But I always say that there has to be a way to make the horse thirsty. People are thirsty for Christ. If we do not have Christ, they will leave in search of something else.”
Popp said the three delegates learned “a great deal” at the convocation.
“Now comes the real work, which is to unpack what we received and share it with all of the parishes of the eparchy,” he said.
Throughout the convocation Pope Francis was pointed out as a model for modern Catholics in inviting others, especially those on the peripheries, to Christ.
Sister Kathleen Burton, a Sister of St. Joseph who is co-director of the Office of Faith Formation, Family Life and Lay Ministry Formation in the Diocese of Camden, New Jersey, said she was inspired by what she heard.
“There’s a renewed sense of evangelization and re-evangelization,” the delegate told Catholic News Service. “We’re being challenged that we don’t wait for people to come to us, but we’ve got to go out to them.”
For many delegates, seeing the church’s diversity was inspiring, helping them better understand the idea of the church as family.
At the end of the closing Mass, Archbishop Christophe Pierre, apostolic nuncio to the United States, called the event a “kairos” in the life of the U.S. church.
Photo caption: Delegates listen to speakers July 2 during the Convocation of Catholic Leaders in Orlando, Fla. Leaders from dioceses and Catholic organizations gathered for the July 1-4 convocation. Three delegates from the Eparchy of Parma participated. (CNS photo/Bob Roller)
As published in Horizons, July 30, 2017.
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