Last month, Bishop Paul J. Bradley began the first of 26 pastoral visits to the 26 Parish Collaboratives in the Diocese of Kalamazoo. The first stop on the “Loving God and Your Neighbor” pastoral tour was on Feb. 28 when Bishop Bradley visited St. Mark Parish, Niles. The day began with a series of meetings with Parish and Finance council members as well as the clergy serving St. Mark’s. The day also included the celebration of the Vigil Mass followed by a parish dinner featuring a talk by Bishop Bradley. The pastoral visit concluded with Benediction.
Each visit, centers on the theme of “Living the Mission of the Eucharist” first introduced in Bishop Bradley’s 2019 Pastoral Letter where he called for 2020 to be a diocesan-wide celebration of the “Year of the Eucharist.”
In his letter to the pastors, Bishop Bradley outlined his goals for the visits. He wrote, “My major goal is to spend some quality time with you and the members of your Parish Collaborative as we discuss and plan together for the ways to strengthen our faith, and to fulfill the mission of the Eucharist in the ways we live and give witness to our faith in Jesus in our everyday lives.”
Bishop also stressed the urgency to move from “maintenance to mission mode.” He wrote, “It is my hope that we will ignite the faith, a process that was so powerfully launched at our Eucharistic Congress last October. At the end of this year of meeting and praying with each Collaborative, I am confident that enflamed by the Holy Spirit we will be ready to: (1) Share the Good News of Jesus in new and creative ways; (2) Reach out to those in need — those on the peripheries as Pope Francis says — through the Spiritual and Corporal Works of Mercy; and 3) Be ready to evangelize one another, as well as those whom we need to welcome back to the practice of the faith, or to join our community of faith for the first time.”
* Each Parish Collaborative will have a custom schedule including visits to the Catholic schools as well as other Catholic agencies and outreach services in the area. Please visit your Parish for more details and the diocesan website: www.diokzoo.org.