---

Pope Leo XIV addressed the College of Cardinals last Saturday (May 10), laying out the first principles with the clarity of a mathematician (which he is). Referencing the Apostolic Exhortation “Evangelii Gaudium” (the “Joy of the Gospel,” 2013) of Pope Francis, he said: 

“I would like to highlight several fundamental points: the return to the primacy of Christ in proclamation (cf. No. 11); the missionary conversion of the entire Christian community (cf. No. 33); attention to the sensus fidei (cf. Nos. 119-120), especially in its most authentic and inclusive forms, such as popular piety (cf. No. 123); loving care for the least and the rejected (cf. No. 53); courageous and trusting dialogue with the contemporary world in its various components and realities.” (cf. No. 84; Second Vatican Council, Pastoral Constitution “Gaudium et Spes,” 1-2)

You want a blueprint for integral parish renewal? “These are evangelical principles that have always inspired and guided the life and activity of God’s family,” Pope Leo said. Every parish is that family — and a family for those without or away from family. Parishes seeking their true identity will find it when their Christocentric faith and enthusiasm spring from a vibrant Eucharistic life overflowing into evangelizing (“gospel-ing”) communities. 

In the homily during his first Mass as pope (May 9), Leo XIV characterized his pontifical role as “faithful administrator (cf. 1 Cor. 4:2) for the sake of the entire mystical Body of the Church,” that she may be “ever more fully a city set on a hill (cf. Rev 21:10) … that illumines the dark nights of this world … not so much for the magnificence of her structures or the grandeur of her buildings — like the monuments among which we find ourselves — but rather through the holiness of her members.” I think it is fair enough to infer that Pope Leo was talking not only about himself and the people in Rome who were fortunate to be with him during this Mass, but of all pastors and disciples, “(f)or we are the people whom God has chosen as his own, so that we may declare the wonderful deeds of him who called us out of darkness into his marvelous light.” (cf. 1 Pet 2:9) Pope Leo is referencing the common priesthood of all the baptized, each of us commissioned and responsible for the proclamation of the Gospel by the witness of our worship and in our daily lives. (cf. 1 Peter 2:5-9; Second Vatican Council, Dogmatic Constitution “Lumen Gentium,” 10) 

I would like to call attention to two particularly important components of our call to be evangelizing disciples, conversion and mission. Both of these words are full of much deeper meaning and implications than their ordinary usage. Conversion may be narrowly understood as a one-time movement — a turnaround — from a former attitude, way of life, or even religion. In a more profound way, it might be described as acquiring a new set of eyes, of seeing things differently. Faith is itself a way of seeing. It opens us up to a fuller view and experience of reality. Christian faith, fundamentally, is not about accepting a set of rules and regulations so much as it is trusting in a divine person, Jesus Christ, the Word Incarnate. More than a transaction, baptism into Christ is a life-changing relationship. 

“Change how you see; see how you change” is a motto that Rick Guidotti has used to characterize his mission as one who reveals through his art the beautiful and full humanity of the people whom he photographs, often reduced to the secular label “handicapped.” His vision reveals what a diagnosis often misses (cf. positivexposure.org), an image of God that Joseph Dutkowsky, M.D., extols as “Perfectly Human” (2022). 

Seeing Christ as our Lord and Savior leads to a conversion that changes not only outlooks but lives. We become authentically ourselves when we see ourselves in relationship with him — loved, forgiven, saved, transformed. While this happens at baptism, it must be continually reaffirmed since we tend to wander, settle down and get lost in our desires and delusions of temporal security. Our own deeds, institutions and structures become substitutes for the “Church’s one foundation,” which can only be Jesus Christ who must be the “primacy” of our proclamation. Conversion to Christ through prayer, sacrifice and the Sacrament of Penance must be a pattern in our everyday Christian life.

Mission is also a word that often invokes an idea much smaller than its full import. We may think of “a mission” as a place, a faraway and often exotic outpost, to which “missionaries” travel, something we might support with our prayer and generosity, but essentially left to others. In fact, every baptized disciple of Christ is commissioned to be a missionary! Our mission is not only to “come” to “church,” but to be the very presence of Christ in the world. When Pope Leo speaks of “the holiness of her members” he means you and me, not some elite band of professional evangelizers. 

Taken together, in the full sense of the words, missionary conversion of the entire Christian community is an intense, first-person activity where each and every parish — regardless of the limits of their material resources — can become outreach hubs. Remember, every parish started with a commission from a local ordinary, the diocesan bishop, to bring and spread the Gospel to a delineated territory under pastoral leadership. In the United States, typically, the commission was to a group of ethnic or national immigrants. Most parishes at first own no buildings. Only after years of planning and fundraising might they erect residences for clergy and religious, build schools and eventually churches. Over decades, as demographics have changed, many such structures become difficult or impossible to maintain. Sometimes, particularly in urban areas, the population is no longer Catholic or even Christian. The mission, however, remains the same, with or without the magnificence of the structures or the grandeur of the buildings, as Pope Leo reminds us. What defines our mission is the holiness of the members — the people who are parish family — and all of those who are our neighbors, wherever we meet them on their spiritual journey, especially “the least and the rejected,” of which in our own neighborhoods there are so many. Our mission is here. In our own homes. On our blocks. Across our own backyards. Right now.

---