Institutional Church Talk
February 5 & 6, 2011
Sr. Phyllis Jaszkowiak

This upcoming year, there are two important requests that the Archdiocese will be asking of us.  The first one comes through the Vatican and is the request to begin studying the New Translation of the Roman Missal, which will be used beginning next Advent December 2011.  The second request is to enter into the Capital Campaign for the Archdiocese of Portland and will begin next month.

People have asked me why we need to pay attention to either of them.  I sometimes wonder that myself.  In answer let us take a quick look at what is church.  I use Avery Dulles’ book “The Models Of The Church” as background.

As we all know the church is more than just its structure or the institution.  It is also a community of believers, it is Herald or a proclaimer of the Word, it is servant that brings social justice to the world, and it is Sacrament, that which makes God visible and tangible to us.  Each of these ways of church are necessary, and the church would not be able to do its work if one or two were missing.

I want to focus on the institutional facet of the church.  Any human organization needs structure, whether highly organized or loosely organized.  This community we call church is no exception.  From the very beginning we organized ourselves.  This organization changed over the centuries to what we have now.  

As with all institutions, we always need reform, renewal and reorganization, otherwise we lose our focus and center upon ourselves instead of our mission.  Throughout the Church’s 2000 years there have always been those reformers who called the church back to Jesus and the Gospel.  We need that again today, and many think it needs change with much less hierarchal and more open structures.  

But we must admit that it is the institution that keeps the church going from century to century.  Without this thread we probably would not be here.  It is the institution that has enabled us to develop our liturgy and our rich theology, theology that continues to expand and bring new insights to us.  It is the part that keeps us one, and enables us to focus more clearly on our mission, to spread the Gospel to the whole world.

So when the New Translation comes and the Capital Campaign begins, listen to what is said always remembering that we live our everyday lives of faith making sure the other facets of the church work well, creating community, working for social justice, bringing the Sacraments to the world, and preaching the Gospel to every corner of the globe.


We as a parish are also an institution and we also need renewal.  On Saturday February 26th we call upon each and everyone of you to come to our parish gathering from 10 to 3 pm.  We have asked Will Hornyak, a storyteller and facilitator of groups, to lead us in this day, a day of remembering our past and forging our future.  We will provide lunch and there will be childcare.  There will be conversation, exchange of ideas, prayer and fun.  It is a day not to be missed.  We have sign up sheets at the entrances to the church, so we have a count for lunch and childcare.  So be sure to come on Saturday, February 26th as we begin “Renewing the vision of St. Charles: The next 100 years” spending the day together, intentionally, planning how we can best reflect the Body of Christ together.