Let's start!

I'm Fr. Ernie Davis, and I'm having the time of my life! It is crazy-busy, but thrilling, too. For the past year I have been pastor (actual title Pastoral Administrator, but more about that some other time) at St. Therese Little Flower in Kansas City. This is a gem of a Catholic parish, where the people are here because they want to be, the worship is genuine and full of joy, the people are friendly, and the parish is a cornerstone in the neighborhood. People sing the gospel from their hearts and live it in their lives. Some of the great pastors in our diocese left their legacies here, and we count a couple of bishops and even a cardinal amount those who have assisted here in their younger days. It is truly a privilege to be a pastor here.

And if this wasn't enough, we now have a growing group of former Anglicans and Episcopalians who are making this their home parish. Their arrival here stirred in me some feelings that may be similar to St. Paul's feelings as he wrote of his affection for as well as his hopes for his Jewish heritage (Romans 9:1-5). As happy, relieved, secure, and at home in the Catholic Church as my family and I have been for the last ten years, I long for the complete reconciliation of the Anglican Communion with her mother, that we can share the unity of the faith we used to share in the undivided Catholic Church. I'm also nostalgic for the beauty and grace of the Anglican liturgy. The Our Lady of Hope Society has stirred my passion. Why should we wait? The Pastoral Provision and the Anglican Use give us the possibility of welcoming our separated brothers and sisters into the fullness and richness of the Catholic faith.

How could that work at St. Therese? Perhaps God has been preparing a place here and smoothing the path for this to happen. For a number of years St. Therese was yoked with another parish, and in that relationship we had two early morning masses on Sundays, at 8:00 and 9:15. When Bishop Finn assigned a priest here full time, we tried our best to move the 9:15 mass to 10:00 - but for a number of reasons it just didn't work. That has left the late morning time-slot available for a new mass.

We have a group of former Anglicans and Episcopalians ready to begin their preparation for confirmation. So beginning on Sunday, September 7 at 11:15, we will celebrate the Liturgy of the Word from the Book of Divine Worship (the Anglican Use liturgy for Catholics from an Episcopalian or Anglican heritage.) Afterwards we will listen to a talk on a topic important to people thinking of conversion. A number of gifted people, many of them Catholic converts themselves, will be helping out. I'm looking forward to listening to them myself!

Matthew Teel will be giving a couple of talks. Folks at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Kansas City will remember him. He is a former Episcopal priest who converted to the Catholic Church in 2005. Rob Rodgers, from the Coming Home Network will also be giving a talk. He is a former evangelical protestant as well as an Anglican, now a Catholic, who works full time to assist protestant laypeople and clergy who are on the journey home. Fr. Eric Bergman from the St. Thomas More Society will be coming down speak with us so that we can learn from their experience. Check out the ourladyofhopesociety.org website for the full schedule.

In addition to welcoming those who are thinking of becoming Catholic, we need help from people who have already made the journey. We need choir members, cantors, and an organist; altar guild members, ushers, lectors, and extraordinary ministers of holy communion; altar servers, Sunday School teachers, and confirmation sponsors. Members of St. Therese will be helping out a lot, but we are a small parish and people are spread thin. This could be a chance to do something exciting and new, and I invite you to think and pray about joining us, even if it is just to help us get started this first year! You could be part of something historic! I'll try to keep you posted about our progress, and share a bit about myself and my journey.