Parishioners examine prophecy

Those words, spoken by Bishop Howard J. Hubbard last weekend, kicked off the annual diocesan Parish Convening, held at LaSalle Institute in Troy.

Parish leaders gathered to participate in a day of dialogue, ritual and music that embraced the theme, "Would that all God's people were prophets."

During morning reflections, Rev. Robert Roos, Diana Conroy, Fred Boehrer and Kim Harris reflected on what being a present-day prophet means to them. In sharing their stories of ministry, they drew participants into a deeper understanding of how they can be prophets to the larger community, and work for peace and justice on a parish level to effect change in the world.

In planning the convening, the Diocesan Pastoral Council wanted to hear from parish leaders regarding how their parishes need to move forward in the new millennium. During the course of the day, people broke into small groups for reflection before gathering again for a "town meeting" discussion.

According to Janice Bibb-Jones of the Black Apostolate in Albany, it was a spiritually awakening day for her.

"I like the idea of sharing individual perspectives among the Catholic community. I found that we really all share the same concerns for the poor, the deprived and for all social injustice.

"We all need to put aside our own biases and join together to help those in need. We definitely need to look and listen more, and go beyond ourselves. You don't have to be a priest to share the word and goodness of God with others."

Elena Dominguez of St. Patrick's Church in Albany, has definite ideas about what it means to be a prophet: "I am following my path to God, and it is through love. I pray and try to listen to what God is telling me to do, and hope that I have the courage to do it, no matter what."

Mrs. Dominguez feels that God's love is the thread that binds all people together. "Love is in my Spanish group at church, just as it is in every other parish group; but I do not want to be singled out or put into any type of group. I want to be known simply as a child of God."

According to Jim Gallagher from Our Lady of the Assumption parish in Latham, the general consensus of the town meeting could be summed up by a quick course in computers.

"Everyone has a program which they use to run their lives," he said. "They set it up and live by it day after day. What we say and what we do is determined by the parameters we have set. If we want to make change, whether it is in our own personal life or in the lives of others, all we have to do is change the program. It's as simple as that."

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