The last several days of talks continuously brought me back to the familiar preface prayed for Holy Men and Women: "You renew the Church in every age by raising up men and women outstanding in holiness, living witnesses of your unchanging love. They inspire us by their heroic lives and help us by their constant prayers to be the living sign of your saving power."

In all times and places, throughout history, when the Church's struggle to maintain and conform seemed most bleak, the Holy Spirit rescued us by allowing certain voices, of many and varied people&, to come to the forefront and provide the vision that was necessary to reflect, ponder and move forward- for the better. In other words, there is a constant need to put the paschal mystery into practice- dying and rising all the time.

I was especially inspired by the Assembly and Visitation notion of serving, throughout Church history, to bring about reform, past and present, to provide opportunity for discernment, of various peoples, in order to come to terms with a vision that would serve the well being of the Church, For example, the last Diocesan Synod provided a marvelous means of articulating a vision that would enhance the mission of the Church. I think we are ready for another one! It seems to me that without proper planning and preparation, we simply continue the terrible habit of "band aiding" - a temporary fix that will only frustrate us later on.

The other reality that I connected with was the feeling that our people, overall, are rather passive and indifferent with regard to Liturgical prayer and Ethical/Moral issues. It seems that many people, in the larger parishes, take the passive approach to prayer- unopened mouths, shrugged shoulders, arm in arm, and sit back be a spectator kind of thing. It also became obvious from a presentation given by Mrs. Jane Chiles that our people are indifferent to major ethical and moral issues. A study revealed that only 15% of the Catholic population are where they need to be with regard to convictions that are in line with the teachings of the Church. It seems to me that we priests' need to continue to spend a great amount of energy at a time when we have most of our people- the Liturgy! Vatican II declared that the Eucharist is the source and summit of our lives as Christian people. There is great potential within the Liturgy to challenge people to live what they eat. We need to take great strides in ensuring that our preaching is firm and in line with Sacred Scripture. Conversions are brought about through the spoken word. We need to continue to instill within our people the thought that the Eucharist should dictate all the decisions that we make. We are obligated to empower our people to share in the missionary e5orts of the Church whether that be at home, school or the workplace.

In conclusion, whatever will allow the Church's priests to become M-time, full-fledged sacramental ministers is what we priests need to let happen. The Priest is consecrated to teach, preach and sanctify That is it! The three-fold ministry of the priest is enough, in and of itself, if done well.

Continuing Education for Clergy, Diocese of Owensboro

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