New to Prince of Peace

Well, I know some of you are wondering who this new priest is, I'm Fr. Matt Baum, or, just Fr. Matt.  It's good to be with you here.  Although I have to say, I arrived here officially on Wednesday, I started to unload my stuff, and sat down to prepare my homily.  I opened the lectionary and I began to read the first reading. 

"In those days, the LORD said: "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great,  and their sin so grave,  that I must go down and see whether or not their actions fully correspond to the cry against them that comes to me. 

I mean to find out."

Well, I can calm your fears, I haven't heard any great outcry against Prince of Peace or Northern Cambria!   But I am glad to be here…

At the same time, hopefully the Priests and deacons who replaced me at Immaculate Conception in Dudley, and St. Stephen in McConnellsburg, aren't standing at their respective pulpits this Sunday saying "The outcry was so great that I must go see if their actions correspond to the cries against them." 

In all seriousness, it is good to be here with you folks, and I look forward to getting to know and meeting all of you.  I've heard many good things, and I hear even the Bishop commented on how well the people sing here.  I've been impressed so far with the morning mass group and the praying of the Rosary before mass.  I'm still working on moving in and getting settled, so please give me at least another week or two until things really start to get going.

 I know there have been some difficult and tumultuous times over the last few weeks for this parish.  I'm sure there are a lot of different feelings about the pastor suddenly being removed.  It's not easy for a community to suddenly feel uprooted.  Even in the best of times, a change of pastor can be a difficult transition.  With all the emotions that go along with recent events, I hope we can work together to plan a way forward for our parish.

I keep looking at this Sunday's Gospel and thinking about how it speaks to us, right here at Northern Cambria.  I think the thing I keep coming back to for myself is something that someone said to me, just as I was moving in.  The gentleman looked at me and said, what are you plans for your new parish.  I asked him what he would like to see.  With a surprised look he said…"what do you mean, you're the pastor, it's your parish."   As I look at the Gospel, as the disciples asked Jesus to teach them to pray, as I look at this beautiful Church and realize that this Church was here long before any of us were born,  I want to start with this statement.  It's not my parish.  Before all else, it's Jesus's parish.  This is where God lives, and all of us are here to know, love, and serve Jesus Christ. 

Some of you may have read in the Catholic Register that when I was appointed here, I also serve at another parish, St. Dismas Parish behind the walls of the State Correctional Institute at Huntingdon.   I'll never forget something said at one of our prison chaplain trainings.   The leader looked at us and said, "how many of you think it's your Job to bring God into the prison?"  Nearly every hand went up.   At that he said, "It's not your job to bring God into the prison."   With that, all the chaplains about jumped out of their seats at them, expecting some sort of non-sense about how you're working for the government and there's separation of Church and state, or something like that.    Instead he looked up and said.  "It's not your job to bring God into the prison….because he's already there, and he was there long before you got here."   "Your job is to help men find the God that has always been there."

When I think of that, I listen to how God teaches us to pray in the Our Father.  He gives us the prayer and a few examples.  He reminds us that First, God knows us better than we know ourselves and he's with us always.  He calls us to recognize our own sins and ask for his help, to seek our daily bread without greed. He reminds us that God loves us above all else and wants to give us good things.  He wants to help us grow, to become more like him.  When we feel like he's abandoned us, all too often, he's still there, it's really us, who have abandoned him.  Then, if we ask and really listen, even if we ask wrongly, he will give us what we really need.  It may not be exactly what we want, but it will be what we need in that moment.

Ultimately, it comes down to the humility to know that there is a God, I want to know him, and I don't know him as well as I should.  I want to do better.  I want to grow always closer to him.  As a priest, that's always my goal, to help people grow closer to Jesus Christ, to develop their relationship with Jesus Christ, to receive Jesus Christ in the sacraments, and to come to know him in our prayer.  That's why we do everything that we do.

So over the next few weeks, I'm not going to make any big changes and try to bring God to Northern Cambria.  Instead, I want to get to know you.  Each of you.  How is God working in your life right now?  How is your prayer life?  What are the devotions and saints that you love.  What do you do right now, as Catholics, to work to develop your relationship with Jesus Christ.  I know from past history, there are lots of different ethnic groups here and lots of different traditions, and saints, and stories.  I what to hear how Jesus works in your lives and your families.

So with that in mind, I'm going to give you something to think about.  It'll be a couple weeks until I get a schedule together, but for those who are willing, I'd love to take an evening to stop over for dinner, to meet your family, and to really hear from you, where you have developed your relationship with Jesus Christ here at Prince of Peace and how you pray as a family.  Of course, it will take a while, and I probably won't get to everyone, but I want to get to know you so that we can walk the road together toward Jesus Christ.    Of course there will always be other challenges, things that get in the way, adventures to be had and problems to solve, but above it all, most important, is realizing that Jesus Christ is present here and wants a relationship with us.  So, let's together knock on his door, and ask him for what we need to live with him forever in eternal joy.