Bishop Daniel Felton: We are living in a missionary time

Believe in the Good News

(This column is one of many columns to come where Bishop Daniel will share his reflections on what it means to be living in a missionary time.) 

Dear Brothers and Sisters, 

We are living in a missionary time. We are a missionary diocese. We are missionary parishes and schools. We are missionary priests and deacons. We are all called to be missionary disciples. 

Mission. Mission. Mission. 

We are living in a missionary time. Our real call to mission is grounded in growing numbers of people who do not know, care, or believe in the person of Jesus, much less anything about him as our Lord and Savior. Fewer and fewer people make any connection between the Church as the Body of Christ and Jesus himself. 

Mission. Mission. Mission. 

We are living in a missionary time. There are 452,000 people living in our diocese. Of those 452,000 people living in our diocese, 41,500 are registered Catholics in our 71 Catholic parishes. Of those 41,500 registered Catholics in our 71 Catholic parishes, about 35% attend Sunday Mass regularly, and of that 35% about 7% are actively engaged in the parish, which equates to about 1,000 parishioners for the entire diocese. 

Mission. Mission. Mission. 

We are living in a missionary time. What is our mission? It is simply to bring the healing, hope, and joy that we can only find in the person of Jesus to the multitude of people in our families, parishes, and communities where we live who really do not care, know, or believe in Jesus — and as a result are hurting, hopeless, and anything but joyful. 

Mission. Mission. Mission. 

We are living in a missionary time. And yet, we continue to make believe that it is still like the “old days” when everybody knew Jesus, Masses were full, and families passed on their faith through their active participation in their parish and family life. In so many ways, we continue to organize ourselves and our mode of operating for another time and era that no longer exists. We keep doing the same thing, but not with the same results. We realized .001 % fruition (growth) to our diocesan Catholic membership last year. 

Mission. Mission. Mission. 

We are living in a missionary time. What an exciting time to be alive and to be Catholic. The potential for giving witness to the healing, hope, and joy that we can only find in Jesus is amazing and without limit. We are not put off by the challenge before us as a missionary diocese, parish, school, priests, deacons, and disciples of Jesus. In the early Christian Catholic Church, 99% of the people in the world did not know, care, or believe in Jesus, but 1% did know, care, and believe in the person of Jesus, and that is all the Holy Spirit needed to bring the healing, hope, and joy of Jesus to thousands of unbelievers who came to believe. Just read the Acts of the Apostles, or should I say read what could become the Acts of the Missionaries living in the missionary Diocese of Duluth in this missionary time. 

Mission. Mission. Mission. 

We are living in a missionary time. This is not the first time that we are living in a missionary time, as missionary parishes and schools, as missionary priests and deacons, and as missionary disciples. In fact, going back to our beginnings as a diocese in 1889, we have lived a good share of our existence in a missionary time. It is only in the last 75 years or so that we have lived differently. A hundred years ago, Msgr. Joseph Buh, a missionary priest of our diocese, was buried in Calvary Cemetery in Duluth. At that time, Bishop McNicholas acknowledged that he was truly a saint in his time, as he recounted the impactful ways that Msgr. Buh gave witness to Jesus Christ, and as a result the many people who did not know, care, or believe in Jesus became believers. 

Mission. Mission. Mission. 

We are living in a missionary time. Let the likes of Msgr. Buh intercede and pray for us, that we, too, in our own missionary time, may give witness to Jesus Christ and as a result may impact the many people who did not know, care, or believe in Jesus, to became believers. How is this possible? It starts with honestly believing that we are living in a missionary time. We are a missionary diocese. We are missionary parishes and schools. We are missionary priests and deacons. We are all called to be missionary disciples. 

Mission. Mission. Mission. 

Bishop Daniel Felton is the tenth bishop of Duluth.