Envision, Enflesh, Empower
By Bishop J. Terry Steib, S.V.D., D.D.
(Page 1 of 2)
 Let
me begin with a question that flows from my
last NBCC article. How can a national organization effectively,
meaningfully, and practically empower the community of faith to sink roots
deep, deep like the roots of the acacia tree, into fertile ground and
thereby create revitalized local churches that deepen spirituality, enhance
parish life, promote social justice, enliven our youth and reclaim our
Catholic schools?
The plan
the NBCC developed for African American Catholics calls each of us to plant the
seed, nurture growth and establish roots not only globally and nationally, but
especially locally.
The first challenge then, is for the NBCC to develop
a strategic plan that envisions the restoration of hope and vitality to the
local community, the parishes where diverse communities worship and pray, love,
develop and die. Such a plan recognizes that stress, disconnection,
meaninglessness and the rapid rate of change disrupt and fragment all
communities. Hence, the NBCC's plan needs to provide a framework within which
local parishes can create communities where people are recognized, valued, and
respected for the gifts each person in the community possesses, learns to
recognize and then is led to share with the community.
The second challenge for the NBCC is to enflesh a
plan that assists local churches to develop and utilize the spiritual,
educational and social gifts of God's people within the local Church. This plan
requires that the NBCC partners with others committed to the Catholic vision and
mission of evangelization. We must then recognize, Catholic churches that we
acclaim as spiritually alive and relevant, educationally sound and dynamic and
socially active and just. This is where "the rubber meets the road," where the
roots run deep and the tree grows strong. We cannot take a programmatic approach
to a systemic problem. We cannot address the eight areas we selected as separate
components. They are international. All eight principals can only be addressed
by a community developed to bridge spirituality to parish life, to our youth, to
Catholic education, to social justice and to our membership in a universal
Church seeking peace in the world.
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