Christ Our Cornerstone |
November 20, 2005
The Solemnity of Christ the King
Dear Friends,
I am pleased to present this Vision Statement for St. James Cathedral. Early this year, I invited a group of nineteen parishioners to form a new Pastoral Vision Committee. Their task was to review the Vision Statement from the year 2000, to evaluate the progress we had made in realizing it, and to develop a vision for the next five years.
Now, I realize that vision statements have their limitations! A lot of work goes into them. They get printed and published—with any luck they even get read!—and then they tend to sit on a shelf.
But we need a vision statement nonetheless—for much the same reason that we keep a roadmap in the car. If we’re going someplace new, we most likely consult the map as we start out. And if we’re losing our way we take the map out again to regain our bearings. Think of this new Vision Statement as the parish’s roadmap for the next leg of our journey of faith. I hope you will take time to read it. Even though some of the places we will be going are familiar, others are new. And even familiar places can look different as the landscape changes.
And the landscape is changing. Our parish isn’t what it was even five years ago. We are larger and more diverse ethnically and economically, we have many more young families with children, and we come to the Cathedral each weekend from all over the Puget Sound region—from upwards of 150 zip codes!
We are also in the midst of celebrating our centennial—looking to the past to celebrate all that has been; looking to the future to see what our legacy will be.
But the changing landscape is not limited to our parish. Our city is undergoing change as people move from the suburbs into the downtown area in ever greater numbers. First Hill is changing as developers plan large retirement communities for seniors within a few paces of the Cathedral. At the same time, governmental cuts in social services are adversely affecting poor and homeless people who have long lived in the shadow of the Cathedral. Both these realities place increasing demands on limited parish resources.
Our world is in the midst of great change, too. September 11, 2001 brought fear, suspicion, and war in its wake; political divisions seem deeper and more hostile now, the so-called cultural wars are raging, and there are huge moral divides on social justice issues as well as issues dealing with the sanctity and the very meaning of human life.
Our Church knows divisions, too, and scandals have taken their toll. But there are many signs of hope: forty years after the great Second Vatican Council, lay people are becoming more aware that they are the Church: called by their baptism to holiness and active involvement. This awareness is producing an ever more educated and sophisticated body of believers, and it is resulting in a marvelous profusion of lay ministries in every part of the Church’s life: prayer and worship, faith formation, and service.
Five years ago the Pastoral Vision Committee offered our parish a vision they entitled Setting Our Path. I credit their efforts with sparking some significant progress we were able to make as a parish over those years. We undertook the Centennial Campaign, we created, in our new Pastoral Care Center and in the Hunthausen Fund, tangible symbols of our commitment to the poor, and we greatly expanded our children’s religious education program and our youth music program. This new Vision Statement represents more than six months of praying, listening, learning, debating and discerning on the part of the Pastoral Vision Committee. I am extremely grateful to each of them. Like you, they are people who love this cathedral parish and want it to shine.
I trust you will see your own dreams and hopes embodied in theirs and I invite you to commit yourself to doing all you can to help realize this vision. Together, we can make our parish even better than it already is: a beacon of hope in our city and a strong, prayerful, loving community of faith founded on Jesus Christ the Cornerstone who is “in our midst as one who serves.”
Father Michael G. Ryan
Pastor
Who we are
We are the Cathedral for the Catholic Archdiocese of Seattle and its Archbishop, the Most Reverend Alexander J. Brunett. We are a parish church for a vibrant faith community with a long history reaching back to Seattle’s early days. We are an inner-city parish reaching out to many who live on the edge of poverty and loneliness. We are a diverse community which welcomes, accepts, and celebrates the differences we all bring. We exist in the heart of the city, yet many of our parishioners come from considerable distances to worship here.
St. James Cathedral is a crossroads where ideas and challenges both old and new are explored in the light of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Our Cathedral is a center for many cultural and ecumenical events, which both reflect and help shape a vital metropolitan community.
ABOVE ALL, ST. JAMES CATHEDRAL IS A COMMUNITY OF PRAYER, A COMMUNITY OF FAITH AND CONTINUING CONVERSION, A COMMUNITY THAT SERVES.
A Community of Prayer
The
celebration of the Eucharist is the center of our life as a parish. When we
gather around the altar Sunday after Sunday, the rhythms of the Church’s year,
the rhythms of Jesus’ own life, become our own; they shape our thinking, color
our outlook, and make sense of our sorrows as well as our joys. From our
Eucharistic celebrations flows the richness of every aspect of our prayer.
BY OUR BAPTISM, WE ARE CALLED TO BE A PRIESTLY PEOPLE, A HOLY NATION, AND SO WE WILL…
▪ PARTICIPATE fully, consciously,
and actively each week in the Sunday Eucharist.
▪ STRIVE to be people for whom
prayer is our way of life, our “daily bread.”
▪ FOSTER liturgies and preaching of
the highest caliber, and encourage lay participation and leadership in Sunday
and weekday celebrations.
▪ ENCOURAGE our children to become
more deeply involved in the Sunday Eucharist, especially through participation
in the liturgical ministries.
▪ OPEN the Cathedral’s doors to all,
offering a place of beauty, solace, and peace.
▪ MAKE the Cathedral a gathering
place for the city in times of celebration or crisis by holding special services
and by providing a place to pray.
▪ SUSTAIN our arts programs so that
the beauty of music, architecture, and the arts can deepen our participation in
liturgy and help to proclaim the Gospel.
▪ STRENGTHEN our ties with people of
other faiths through ecumenical and interfaith services and gatherings.
A Community of Faith and Continuing Conversion
Baptism
is not a moment in time; baptism is a lifetime. Around the Cathedral’s font are
the words: “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s own
people, that you may declare the wonderful deeds of God who called you out of
darkness into marvelous light” (1 Peter 2:9). To lead others to faith is the
task not only of the preacher but of every Christian believer. And in order to
teach others, we must explore ever more deeply the mysteries of our faith, “the
depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God” (Romans 11:33).
BY OUR BAPTISM, WE ARE CALLED TO DECLARE THE WONDERFUL DEEDS OF GOD, AND SO
WE WILL…
▪ MAKE our ongoing personal faith
formation a priority in our lives, participating in the educational
opportunities provided by the parish.
▪ MAKE the education of our children
in the Catholic faith a priority by providing them with a strong Children’s
Religious Education program and a high-caliber Youth Music Program; and by
continuing to support the city’s central area Catholic schools.
▪ WELCOME new Catholics to the
Church through a vibrant Rite of Christian Initiation of Adults process that is
integrated into the life of the entire parish.
▪ WELCOME returning Catholics and
reach out to new parishioners.
▪ DISCERN our own gifts and talents
and nurture vocations to church ministry among our members.
▪ WORK with the faculty, staff, and
students at Seattle University to discover common opportunities for learning.
▪ MAKE USE of the Cathedral website,
publications, and other resources to explore and expound the mysteries of our
faith.
▪ BE CONVERTED to the full meaning
of Christian Stewardship as a way of life, allowing it to influence deeply the
way we share our time, talent, and treasure with our parish and the wider
Church.
A Community that Serves
“We
cannot delude ourselves: by our mutual love and, in particular, by our concern
for those in need we will be recognized as true followers of Christ. This will
be the criterion by which the authenticity of our Eucharistic celebrations is
judged” (Pope John Paul II). Service is not an option for us; it is a foundation
of our faith. We must reach out in love and compassion to others, and be a voice
in the community against poverty, violence and injustice.
BY OUR BAPTISM, WE ARE CALLED TO EMBODY THE CHRIST WHO IS IN OUR MIDST AS ONE
WHO SERVES, AND SO WE WILL…
▪ SERVE one another in love,
building a community of faith through mutual support and active sharing in the
life of the parish.
▪ MAKE service to others a hallmark
of our faith.
▪ SERVE the poor and those in need,
both through direct assistance and through programs which empower life changes.
▪ ADVOCATE visibly and vocally for
the poor, speaking out against injustice and working for the dignity of each and
every human life.
▪ OFFER pastoral care to the
homebound, to the sick, the dying, the bereaved, and those experiencing painful
life transitions, and continue to be a place of welcome and renewal for the
families and caregivers of those being treated at local hospitals.
▪ EXPAND AND ENRICH our programs for
the elderly in order to respond to the ever-increasing number of seniors in our
neighborhood.
▪ COLLABORATE with Catholic
Community Services and other local agencies in providing services and
opportunities beyond the scope of what we can do as a parish.
The Cathedral
Cathedrals have always stood in urban centers, fostering faith, forming conscience, and encouraging creativity. St. James is both cathedral church and spiritual center for the Archdiocese of Seattle. As an historic landmark in the heart of the city, St. James Cathedral attracts thousands of visitors every year from across the country and even across the world. Our Cathedral is also a wonderfully diverse community, a bridge connecting people of all walks of life. Here, people of all faiths and of no faith at all find a welcome.
BECAUSE WE ARE THE CATHEDRAL FOR THE ARCHDIOCESE OF SEATTLE, WE WILL…
▪ CELEBRATE liturgies that are
models for the whole Archdiocese of Seattle.
▪ STRIVE for excellence in all our
programs.
▪ NURTURE relationships with the
parishes of the Archdiocese connecting them with their Cathedral Church.
▪ WELCOME the entire Archdiocese on
great occasions such as the Chrism Mass and Ordination Masses.
▪ REACH OUT to the wider community
of the city and region…
▪ By hosting
regular ecumenical and inter-religious events;
▪ By our music,
and programs that foster culture and the arts;
▪ By keeping the
local news media informed about our ongoing liturgical life as well as special
events.
Our Commitment as Cathedral Parishioners
In the waters of baptism, the Church is born. Baptism makes us members of the Body of Christ and members of one another. Our baptism calls us to do what Jesus did: to pray without ceasing; to proclaim the Gospel; and to reach out in loving service to the poor and needy in our midst.
OUR BAPTISM CALLS US TO BE A ROYAL PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, GOD’S OWN
PEOPLE.
▪ We commit ourselves to full,
conscious, and active participation in the Sunday Eucharist each week, because
we know that the Eucharist is the source and summit of our Christian life.
OUR BAPTISM SENDS US FORTH TO DECLARE THE WONDERFUL DEEDS OF GOD, WHO CALLED
US OUT OF DARKNESS INTO MARVELOUS LIGHT.
▪ We commit ourselves to educate our
children in the Catholic faith, to welcome new and returning Catholics into the
community, and above all, to live lives of continuing conversion, deepening our
knowledge of our faith and tradition.
OUR BAPTISM CALLS US TO EMBODY THE CHRIST WHO IS IN OUR MIDST AS ONE WHO
SERVES.
▪ We commit ourselves to serve one
another in love, to reach out to the poor in the name of Christ, and to be a
voice in the community against poverty, violence and injustice.
Gracious God,
be with us as we put this vision
into action in our lives.
Help us to walk in Jesus Christ,
faithful to the promises of our baptism.
As we gather Sunday after Sunday
around the table of your Son,
may we grow together in faith, hope, and love.
We ask this through Christ our Lord.
Amen.
Cathedrals, like so many other human enterprises, are works in progress, unfinished symphonies. Like the God they are meant to image and honor, they defy easy definition and they never run out of possibilities. Place of worship, icon of the heavenly city, bully pulpit, center for the sacred arts, center for social services, crossroads for conversation and controversy, ecumenical center. The cathedral is all these and more… And for those really willing to look and to search, there is a greatness to be discovered in a cathedral and a whole world of opportunities to be explored... a cathedral will lose its soul the day it thinks it has realized them all.
What Sense Do Cathedrals Make?
Father Michael G. Ryan