Resolved: To leave you on your own

Rochester's Bishop Matthew Clark issues a set of resolutions for his flock. Since none require him to lift a finger, I suppose my Rochester readers should interpret this to mean they're on their own in 2009 -- just like last year.

Let us resolve as one body in Christ to make a real effort to become better Christians in word and deed in 2009. By this I mean that we get more involved in the daily life of our parishes; that we go about our daily work and family life in a conscious imitation of Christ; and that we seek to learn more about our faith so that we can experience a deeper knowledge of God and the fruits of that knowledge.

This would include regular Mass attendance — every Sunday. Let us come to church not just out of a desire to fulfill this obligation of our Catholic faith but with a voracious hunger to worship the Lord in joyful community. For some, this might mean making a stronger effort to plunge into the Scriptures on our own, to attend a Bible study, to read good books and good Web sites about Christian life and practice.

For still others, this might mean a concerted effort to keep the spirit of the Sunday Mass in our hearts beyond the drive home from church. It will mean that we go to work each Monday as kinder, more compassionate supervisors or more cooperative, positive employees; that we ask God for the strength to leave our stress at the workplace as best we can and go home each day to nurture a warm and loving family life in the image of the Holy Family.

Let us resolve to practice good stewardship as Jesus asked us, to share our time, talent and treasure in every meaning of those words. For some, this would mean looking for and accepting opportunities to volunteer in our community, at our schools, at nonprofits, in our parishes. What a difference we might make if each of us and all of us together made a daily practice of asking people, “How can I help?” more than we ever have. What would happen if all of us truly pondered the material ways God has blessed us and chose to sacrifice to help not only people we love and know but complete strangers? What if each of us made a point of not letting a single day in 2009 go by without helping someone in need?

Let us resolve as a diocese to answer our president-elect’s call to become more involved, more active and more knowledgeable as Americans, regardless of our political views or how we voted this past November. Let each of us make a point of studying the issues that need attention or that call us to debate, from the economy and energy to defense and human-life issues and myriad others. Let it never be said that we failed out of ignorance. Let us read, study and question and stretch our minds, as citizens of a democracy ought to do. ...

In the comment box, a reader submits an open letter:

Dear Bishop Clark,

Let's be frank. I have actively practiced all those things you proposed in your New Year's treatise for many years now. I have said yes to just about everything asked of me by my pastor over the past 15 years. My family has gone to Mass every Sunday and supported our parish financially every week. I started a rosary group. My kids are altar servers. I studied the candidates and voted for those with pro-life records. It was the right thing to do. Still, what has this gotten for me?

You closed my school, my mother's school, and my kids' school, all in one fell swoop, so that you could balance your budget. You are crippling our parish with your unfunded mandates. The loss of the school has thrown our parish's CYO program into disarray -- what is winter without CYO basketball!? We are struggling to maintain an empty school building in a down economy. Then you and your staff imposed a $12,000 increase in our parish CMA "tax" the very next year.

I would like to see the leadership of our diocese practice the resolutions it preaches; not give lip service to some lofty virtues. It would help if there was some positive direction that the diocese was headed, rather than the death spiral we are currently in. Forgive my cynicism, but the hurt imposed by these painful changes runs deep. I and many others feel abandoned by our local church. While these resolutions sound nice, the sentiment behind them seems hollow.

If anyone knows how I can place a permanent, more elegant, countdown clock on this site, please drop me a line.