Parish Secretaries Can Help Keep the Doors Open

Parish Secretaries Can Help Keep the Doors Open

I have been enjoying our Holy Father's daily homilies. He gives such down to earth advice and teachings. Many of his words nourish me.

So you could have knocked me over with a feather when last Saturday he started talking about parish secretaries!

Really? Why was he talking about us?

The gospel reading was a favorite of mine from Mark: Let the children come to me; do not prevent them, for the kingdom of God belongs to such as these. (Mk 10:14)

Pope Francis was talking about people who approach the Church should find the doors open. He said so many people want to get closer to Jesus and "… we think of so many Christians of goodwill who are wrong and that instead of opening a door they close the door of goodwill."

Then he mentioned parish secretaries … twice!

"Think of the good Christians, with good will, we think about the parish secretary, a secretary of the parish..."

And he gave two examples of parish secretaries closing the door. He gives an example "of a single mother who goes to church, in the parish and to the secretary she says: 'I want my child baptized'. And then this Christian, this Christian says: 'No, you cannot because you're not married!'"

And another example of people wanting to get married and the parish secretary says 'Oh, well, have a seat. If you want the Mass, it costs a lot..."

Oh dear. We parish secretaries do have a reputation, don't we?

So how do I respond? The last thing I want to do is come off as being defensive. After all he did call us "good Christians, with good will."

The truth is that I absolutely agree with our Holy Father about welcoming all who wish to find Jesus and keeping open the doors of faith. After all, I am a Benedictine oblate. Hospitality to others is an important part of Benedictine spirituality.

St. Benedict had a lot to say in his rule about how to live in community. Some of his (paraphrased) instructions include:

Show equal love to everyone.

Do not act in anger or nurse a grudge.

Express opinions with humility.

Welcome all guests as Christ.

Ahh. There it is. Welcome all guests as Christ.

I do my best. I have never said those things that Pope Francis talked about, but I also know that I am not perfect. I know I fall short some days in the welcoming department.

And I know I cannot possibly do my job without praying. A lot. Every day.

So I turn to Jesus over and over and over. St. Benedict wrote in his Rule that the disciple should "prefer nothing to the love of Christ."

Sounds like something Pope Francis would say.

Copyright 2013 Colleen Spiro