LISTEN TO THE SPIRIT

The Diocese of Albany recently launched its “Remade for Mission” initiative which highlights spiritual renewal and parish revitalization. It will challenge Catholics to go outside of their churches and bring the message of Jesus Christ to the masses.

The tri-parish Catholic Community of Immaculate Conception in Glenville, St. Joseph’s in Scotia and Our Lady of Grace in Ballston Lake held their first synodal meeting to discuss the Remade for Mission process. 

The meeting, held last month at Immaculate Conception, was one of the first to take place across the Diocese. As the process unfolds, vicariates and parishes are encouraged to speak with their parishioners about what Remade for Mission is, what it’s asking of Catholics, and how churches can come together to find a more sustainable solution to being Church going forward.

“Our first meeting was talking about mission, what is the mission of the church, and who is the mission to,” said Father Thomas Konopka, M.Div., LCSW-R, pastor of St. Joseph’s, who led the Sept. 16 meeting. 

In the second part of the meeting, Father Konopka broke down the practicalities and data of the three churches in the area. “How many people come to church on a regular basis, the size of our churches and talking about what people are hearing,” he said.

Three more tri-parish meetings are to follow, discussing discipleship, mission and the state of the churches, before the parishes will formulate a recommendation plan for the Diocese.

Father Konopka has been serving the tri-parish community since 2022, but says the three parishes have been functioning as one unit for years. Having done so is beneficial, he says, as their set of churches — like so many other parish clusters across the Diocese — are called to come together and have a hard but honest discussion about the right path forward. 

Father Konopka, also executive director of the Consultation Center, said his background in social work has been more helpful than anything for this process.

“This is all stuff I’ve learned as a social worker,” he said. “The whole process of change and engaging in people who are ambivalent about change, but then letting people who don’t want to change be OK.”

Father Konopka knows that change — in any group setting, but especially at church — is hard given the rich history and identity tied to so many parish buildings and communities.

“We’re not asking people just to change a Mass schedule,” he said. 

But change can be beneficial: “I believe we’re at a point in our country where the church needs to be reborn, at least in the Northeast,” Father Konopka said. “We’ve been doing the same thing for so long, and it doesn’t work, but we keep trying to do it.”

But what are the right changes to be made and how does the church best adapt to carry out its mission? To answer that, Father Konopka said we first have to listen, communicate and pay attention to the Holy Spirit; that will help us with finding the next steps forward.

 “What is the Spirit calling us to be?” he said. “I said to the folks at the first meeting, we are the Apostles who have to sit in the upper room and we have to wait. Because we’re not going to jump to problem solving tonight, we have to wait and we have to listen. I’m trying to ground us in good, solid listening to the Spirit and Scripture, and sharing with each other about our faith.”

More concrete planning will come eventually, but for now, parishioners and Catholics are called to come together to speak on and listen to each other’s concerns and hopes for their parishes. That grounding and listening — and establishing a community of trust and honesty — is crucial before any recommendations and future planning can be made. 

“We’re jaded a little bit, and we have a hard time breaking out of our molds,” he said. “The Spirit is going to break through all of this stuff, and I believe that if we’re open, it’s like the Advent reading, the seeds will sprout from the stem of Jesse; a new church will be born. It won’t be in my image, it’s going to be what God wants for us.”