From Sept. 15-18, Bishop George J. Lucas and the priests of the Springfield diocese will be taking part in an annual Clergy Convocation held this year at Eagle Creek Resort and Conference Center, located on the shores of Lake Shelbyville, just outside Findley.
The convocation - a long-standing tradition in the diocese - will begin with evening prayer at 5 p.m., followed by dinner and fellowship. Although daytime sessions at the convocation are spent on serious aspects of the priesthood, informal gatherings are important to the priests as well, organizers say.
"Our diocese creates such distances from one another (because of its geography) that we try to work in some social time to spend with each other," said Father Richard Chiola, diocesan director for the Ongoing Formation of Clergy and pastor of St. Cabrini Parish in Springfield.
Although lay people know their priests as pastors, leaders and often good friends, the priesthood is a multifaceted existence, Father Chiola explained. "There are four basic dimensions of a priest's whole life," he said. "They are human development, intellectual development, spiritual development and pastoral development." These dimensions aid the priest in conducting three ministries which are the basis of the priesthood: to preach, to sanctify and to govern.
It is on these three ministries that this year's speaker will present, said Father Joseph Ring, vicar for clergy, pastor of St. James Parish in Riverton and priest moderator of Resurrection Parish in Illiopolis. The presenter for the convocation is Father Robert Barron, professor of systematic theology at Mundelein Seminary in Mundelein.
"Several of our priests have recommended him as a speaker and Bishop Lucas has great confidence in his ability to both inform and inspire us as he did the bishops (United States Conference of Catholic Bishops) when he presented similar material to them," said Father Ring. "His theme will be the three ministries of the priest as they are presented in (Pope John Paul II's 1991 letter) Pastores Dabo Vobis and the Basic Plan for the Ongoing Formation of Priests."
"That letter from Pope John Paul documents how priests should be formed in their seminary experience and continued to be formed in their priestly life, even into retirement," Father Chiola said.
Father Ring said Father Barron will develop the themes using biblical references to Christ as priest, prophet and king, and the way the ordained share in these ministries of Christ, the head of his body, the church.
"Pope John Paul II said, ‘A priest's humanity is the bridge by which he brings Christ to others,'" Father Chiola said. "For the last three years (at the convocation) we have been working on human development. We concentrated on how we worked together in the presbyterate with the bishop and each other. Of course part of that is the ability to be present to other persons.
"This year we will begin to focus on the intellectual dimension of a priest's life," Father Chiola said. "Next year we will be looking specifically at the ministry of pastoral care."