While none -
save God alone - can “project” the movement of his Holy Spirit and the
impact of this movement in the lives of his people, the nearer we draw to
deepest parts of ourselves, the greater the interior movement which aligns
our own sense of vision with that of God’s. In this alignment, as members of
the Reformed Catholic Church – in the spirit of our patron the late Pope
John XXIII we might also speak of our ecclesial identity as, “The Catholic
Church Ever Re-forming,” there can be no detesting, that growth, and at an
incredibly unprecedented rate, is perhaps the element most constant in this
period of our history. Many beautiful words have been used to describe the
evolution of the Catholic Faith realized in each of our hearts and manifest
in who we are, individually and collectively, as the Reformed Catholic
Church. Metropolitan and Presiding Archbishop Phillip Zimmerman makes use of
the rich symbol of the Church as a Fifth Pillar of the Catholic Tradition.
In this same vein is the term “New Pentecost,” used to describe what is so
enamoring to watch – the realization of the Gospel anew and the translation
of that Gospel into our own “Gospel Lives.” Indeed, the Spirit is well at
work in the hearts of God’s faithful people, gifting this Tradition
with a charism of
emergence and a call to be agents of
Transformation. The vocation to
be witnesses of the Dream of a God whose Love, manifest in Christ, knows no
limits, is that absolutely fundamental point of unification and communion
within this international body.
While the
“real” can feel at times to smother the “ideal” in any Family of Faith,
genuine discernment in this community has brought the Reformed Catholic
Church to a place in our lives, as her ministers, in which our faith must
be one of surrender to what is clearly a movement of the Spirit far greater
than any one of us or the whole of us collectively for that matter.
Without the human capacity to understand this grace, we marvel nonetheless;
our lives - grounded in faith, nourished in hope and embodied in love as the
living bricks of a New Paradigm in Catholic Christendom. Absolutely
fundamental to fully engaging ourselves in this Holy Mystery are two
essential elements. First, we must grasp with solid understanding the way in
which the spirit of our Catholic Faith, kept alive through the words of
those who have gone before us, remains no less a part of us today. On a
second note, with growth in understanding comes a greater clarity as to how
it is that we, within our own times, are called to embrace and proclaim the
Living
Church of which we are eternally members.
Ministry within
the context of each of these essentials necessitates a preparedness and
ongoing formation into that which God calls us to be liken to himself in
whose image and likeness we are each created. Saint Athanasius, one of the
earliest defenders of the Catholic faith uttered this profound statement
which speaks to the very heart of the matter; of matter re-formed and
redeemed: “God became man, that man might become God.” These are perhaps the
most radical words spoken in the orthodox Tradition of the Church
as is related
to the Incarnation. We surely never “become God” in the fullness of Holy
Mystery, and yet, what is being said here is both a proclamation of
the Gift of God’s very Self as well as a call to respond to this most
Precious Gift in the way in which we live our lives. As members of the
Reformed Catholic Church, and as her clergy in particular, we may draw a
connection between these most ancient words and the reality of the grace
that is now present to us.
Christ was
neither first incarnate in the human form of Jesus of Nazareth, nor does he
cease to be incarnate in our lives today, every day. In the beginning was
this Word, the Holy Logos incarnate in some measure in everything that was
made and unto the end of time is this Word also present in the encounter
with his Holy Gospel, in the most Blessed Sacrament of the Altar and in the
hearts of his faithful people. Christ is incarnate in each of us, Living
Members of his Mystical Body and heirs of his eternal Kingdom. None of
these, however, are “givens.” Each manifestation is an invitation and a
call; our lives must be the response – our willingness to allow ourselves
once formed by him, to be reformed by him every day, growing ever more
deeply into the stature of his Person.
As clergy and
religious, in particular, having given our lives – without qualification –
to the work of Jesus Christ, we must be always ready to take whatever steps
necessary so as to live in a perpetual “yes.” Yes, Lord, we are
yours – your most humble servants made worthy to preside at your
Table by your unfathomable Mercy and Love. It is in this perpetual
“yes,” that the Reformed Catholic Church looks with joy to one of the most
recent developments in clergy formation. Spiritual Directions:
Navigating the Heart of the Catholic Faith is in the
developmental stages and will be set to take flight with the Synod of 2008.
The Program is a Spirit-Centered sequence of studies for the purposes of
initial and/or ongoing formation of RCC clergy, religious and – where
appropriate – laity.
The format of
the Program will assume a modular sequence of a total of 4 units, each
completed utilizing structured syllabi and course materials, online
technology for the purposes of unifying the formative experience and
opportunities for Program intensives in select diocese for the pilot run of
the Program in its first full sequence. The underlying premise of
Spiritual Directions is essentially two-fold:
a.)
To provide RCC clergy, religious and laity with a comprehensive navigational
tool designed to survey the history of the various spiritualities of the
Catholic faith
b.)
To
logically draw from the course of studies, in addition to a strong
foundation in theory and practice of Catholic spiritual traditions, past and
present within the Catholic fold, training fundamentally for the purposes of
pastoral application
“Education,” if
it means no more than letters after one’s name, is anything but formation in
this Church. Instead, let us seek spiritual formation and direction,
expanding the educational formation in the process; to be exercised in the
only place where this truly serves its purpose: in ministry to the people of
God!
This Program,
along with several other areas in development in RCC Formation [see Front
Cover Letter of Archbishop Zimmerman] , seeks to provide for the clergy of
this Church opportunities for comprehensive, engaging and on-going faith
formation. The people of God deserve nothing less than the very best that
this Community of Faith can extend to them, in light of the formation of
every minister of the Reformed Catholic Church.
As
the developmental stages are implemented information on the Spiritual
Direction Program will become available.
A Spirit-Centered sequence of studies in the
Christian Tradition can claim no Teacher, save the One in whom we glory,
Jesus Christ.
The Steward and
Spiritual Director of the Program will be Father Michael Abair, M.A., R.Y.T.,
of Pilgrim Sanctuary in NJ. Fr. Abair’s primary ministry is that of
spiritual direction and scholarship in the area of Christian Spirituality,
for which he was trained at the Graduate School of Religion at
Fordham
University in the tradition of the Society of Jesus (Jesuits).
In 2008 increased
opportunities for ongoing clergy/parish education and formation will be
available.
Please be sure to keep up to date with the tools provided to you in these
viable Programs; each at work for the Greater Glory of God!
