put our creative energies together, and create some-
thing new?”
Provincial leadership had been preparing for the
gathering for more than a year, and had encouraged
members to think and dream and talk about the pos-
sibilities for much longer than that. Even so, no one
really knew how the conversation would go once ev-
eryone had settled into those assigned seats at Techny.
“I don’t think anybody was sure what was going to
happen,” Fr. Hemmelgarn said.
There were people there who saw little reason to de-
lay what to them seems like a natural step forward into
a hopeful future. These included, certainly, younger
members who had gone through some or all of their
years of formation in a joint program shared by the
two provinces.
“This was the first official gathering between mem-
bers of the Kansas City and Cincinnati Provinces I’d
ever attended since I’d been even discerning in this
Community,” said Fr. Jim Smith, c.pp.s., a member
of the Cincinnati Province who was ordained in July.
“There have been informal events, but this was the
first official one where we were actually talking about
who we are and who we will be in the future. That was
weird for me—the weirdness being, ‘Why has this not
happened yet?’”
There were long days of meetings, bracketed by
profound shared Morning and Evening Prayer. There
was the sense that there was a lot of work to do, and
a short time to do it meaningfully. The group heard
prepared talks by members and Companions, talked
among the tables, expressed doubts and fears, dreams
and goals. They asked a lot of questions that as of now
are unanswerable.
For the first few sessions, there was a sense that
the future was hanging in the balance. But the future
can’t stay balanced; it continues to move forward, with
or without consensus, with or without a plan. Helped
by facilitator Kevin McClone of Catholic Theological
Union, the group began to sense that it had found a
common ground that perhaps was previously undis-
covered territory.
“There was an excitement there,” said Fr. Bill
Walter, c.pp.s., who at 83 was the oldest member pres-
ent. “I was surprised at that. That excitement: that
was something that I did not experience personally 10
years ago. At that time, I was thinking, ‘We’re going
along okay, so why change?’ But now I think we need
something new. We’re living in a different world. That
was a shift for me, and for some others too.”
Fr. Walter sees it in his own ministry at St. Francis
Xavier in St. Joseph, Missouri, a parish that was found-
ed by the Missionaries in 1891. The large and thriving
parish used to have three or sometimes four priests
on staff, but now has two—and he admits that at 83,
he can’t keep track of everything that’s going on there.
The reality of fewer priests and religious, at least in his
ministry, “smacks you in the face every day,” he said.
But a spark of new life may come from an examina-
tion: who are we, and what are we called to do? Most
acknowledge that the Missionaries cannot realistically
keep up with all of the ministry commitments they
now carry, especially as members continue to age. The
challenge is not to be crushed by those commitments,
said Fr. Mark Miller, c.pp.s., but to find a new way to
live out the common mission.
Sharing thoughts during one of the sessions
“The focus always has to be not so much on what
are we leaving behind, but how are we moving for-
ward? What is the purpose of our moving? How do we
define that as hearing and responding to the cry of the
blood?” Fr. Miller said. “We have to more and more
define ourselves with that kind of language so people
begin to understand that we have a mission, and that
sometimes this mission appears on the surface to be
somewhat different than what we’ve had in the past.
That’s one way of beginning.
“To me, it’s not just a matter of looking at our
internal structure. Rather, the question is, how do we
continued on page 6
November 2017 • The New Wine Press • 5