Inside ML

We are the church.

In January, ML sponsored a Lay Leadership Institute. It was a difficult event to plan and execute because the purpose was more to raise questions than to give answers. Some of the questions that we asked included: What is the difference between a lay "minister" and a lay "leader"? When we speak of "church" how can we include the ordained hierarchy in the definition without making them the WHOLE of the definition? When we speak of "institutional" church or "diocesan" church, how can we do so in such a way that we identify ourselves -- the lay faithful -- as a central part of the definition? When we look to the future of OUR parishes and OUR dioceses and OUR international, universal church, what can we do to shape these manifestations of ourselves so they look and sound and think like us?

It was an exciting week. At the end, it felt like we should not end. It felt like there is a lot more work to do around the idea of lay leadership. We did propose some "next steps" to take away with us from the institute. Some of these included forming listening sessions at all levels of church, creating leadership mentoring programs between parishes, creating more national and regional gatherings for lay leaders, creating a communication system to stay in touch with each other (e.g., fax, e-mail, newsletter), and developing ways to start conversations on these issues in our parishes and neighborhoods.

ML readers -- both lay and ordained -- are the type of people who have important things to say about these issues. You can help shape the agenda by becoming involved in the "next steps" around the issues of lay leadership in the church. What questions do you have? What solutions are working for you where you live and pray? What ideas do you have for your diocese and your region? Contact ML at 160 E. Virginia St. #290, San Jose, CA 95112 (or MdrnLitrgy@aol.com) and help continue the conversation.

Painfully cute

You've been to those "too cute" liturgies. Maybe the homilist tells one too many jokes. Or the pre-school choir elicits more "oohs and ahhs" than "alleluias." Or the red-white-and-blue decor for the Memorial Day Mass is justified "because it includes "white" for Easter, "red" for Pentecost, and "blue" because it's Mary's month.

If you start to feel that knot forming in the back of your neck, you are not alone. Johan M. J. Van Parys shares your pain. In "Upset Stomachs and Smelly Feet: What Makes Good Liturgy?" (page 10), he discusses what can happen when liturgical theology is at odds with pastoral praxis.

And ML continues to be THE resource for keeping up-to-date on the internet. Scott M. Fitzgerald begins a new column in which he reviews parish web sites. Turn your browser to page 28 to see what's hot on the net.

—NW