2001 Presbyteral Convocation Diocese of Owensboro

The Church—Looking forward to the Future

and Having Regard to the Past

Convocation 2001 occurred at the beginning of the first year of the third Christian millennium. For the Owensboro Presbyterate this was a unique time to reflect on our historical moment as Church. We are rooted in the past with its memories and lessons. We stand in the present in which we are summoned to serve. And we look to the future being given us by God. While this temporal context is always the suspension in which the Church abides and serves, the cusp between the second and third millennia offers a special time for reflection. Yves Congar, OP, was intent on pointing out such a faith perspective. For him the time of the Church exists between the events of Christ’s Passover and his Parousia.

" In this situation everything done in the Church refers on the one hand continually to Christ and his cross, from which everything derives. Everything also refers, on the other hand, to the final harvest which the Church helps prepare. As St. Bernard says, the Church "looks both forward and backward" (ante et retro oculata–In Cant. Serm., LXII, 1; PL, CLXXXIII, 1075). The Christian present, with succeeding moments for each of the faithful as for the entire Church, takes its [present] meaning and content by this double reference to its source and term. What Christian hope looks forward to is, with its consummation, the manifestation of an eternity already present in time (1 John 3; Rom 5:2, etc.)." [Congar, "Histoire," in Catholicisme, Hier, Aujourd’hui, Demain, tome V (Paris: Letouzey et Ané, 1962).]

We prepared a specifically historical and theological reflection. The dynamic was not a deliberative one nor was there any expectation of reaching conclusions or of conducting business. Rather, we reflected on our historical moment: our past with the roots of how we got here, the present in which we serve, and the future into which God leads us.

Most of the presenters at Convocation 2001 offered their texts so that we might record this historic juncture in our diocese and church. Those texts are presented here, in the order in which they were delivered, for your continued reflection.

Continuing Education for Clergy, Diocese of Owensboro