Bob Jensen

“That Christ’s Gospel truly would be preached, his parishioners devoutly would he teach.” This line, describing The Parson, comes from the prologue of the Canterbury Tales by Geoffrey Chaucer (1343-1400).

Most priests, at the time of their ordination, choose a line of scripture for a prayer card that summarizes their path to ordination and their hopes for their ministry. As a literature major, I chose this line from Chaucer. Maybe it foreshadowed my propensity of doing things a bit differently. Over the past 41 years, I have kept coming back to this poetic line to focus on my priesthood.

Over the years, I have discovered a great joy in teaching and helping others gain insight into their faith and the lived tradition of our Church. I must admit I had more opportunity as a younger priest than as a pastor for that part of the ministry. Still many occasions present themselves to do a little teaching, including these little bulletin blurbs. Most recently, the word from this quote that stands out to me is “devoutly.” It calls me to be respectful of the unique journey of faith each of us walks, taking people where they are at presently, and helping them take the next step to a deeper faith.

For the times I have failed to do that, I am sorry. For the times I might have helped, I give thanks, “that Christ’s Gospel truly (was) preached”.

For the past 37 years of my 41 years of priesthood, I have been a pastor and have been writing these pastor’s columns. This is my last one. I hope that this would serve as a summary: “That Christ’s Gospel truly would be preached, his parishioners devoutly would he teach.”

Three years is a very short time to be a pastor. It takes about three years just to get to know a community and the individuals that make up that faith family. It takes some time to understand the history and identity of a place. In addition, it takes some time for the community to get to know and be comfortable with a pastor. Each priest has his own unique style.

When I arrived at St. John the Baptist, we were just emerging from Covid. We were still masked and keeping our social distances. We were slowly coming back to in-person participation at Mass and rebuilding many of the parish programs that suffered under Covid. We also were able to take a bit of a breather from the heroic efforts to maintain the parish during the pandemic.

Having spent three years with you, we were ready to take off implementing the new parish priorities that originated from our parish experience of the synod. Some of that will continue but now there will be new needs as you begin to form a parish family with Holy Spirit in Kent. This parish will bring its vision to that process as well as receive Holy Spirit’s vision for being Church. It should be an exciting adventure.

In the big scheme of things, my three years with you may have served as a transition time between the long pastorate of Fr. Jim Coyne and this new phase of first sharing a pastor with Holy Spirit, Kent and then becoming one parish over the next three years. I hope you are in a better position to do that now.

This is meant to be a slow process. The first year is just getting to know one another. I appreciate the three years I had to do that. I look forward to hearing how you form this new parish family. You will be in my thoughts and prayers.

Every year, all the priests of the archdiocese gather at Ocean Shores for continuing formation. This year, we will be meeting this week. There are different aspects to continuing formation: spiritual, pastoral, human, and professional. This year we will be focusing on the spiritual. Archbishop Gustavo Garcia-Siller of the Archdiocese of San Antonio, Texas will be leading us in a series of reflections on encounter with Christ, fraternity in Christ, and Life in the Holy Spirit. Archbishop García-Siller was born in Mexico and came to the United States as a missionary in 1980.

There is always the ongoing human formation and time for us to foster fraternity and friendships with other priests. We remember those who have died this past year, and we celebrate those with major anniversaries of ordination. There is even a social time to honor those entering Senior Status.

Since I will be away this week with little time to prepare a homily, Joan Williamson will be sharing reflections next weekend. For the past few months and about once a month, we have been having a woman share reflections at Mass. This originated from our parish synod sessions and is supported by our new Women’s Commission. The women I have asked to share reflections have degrees in theology or related fields, advanced studies, or careers in Church ministry. They are able to bring an important perspective and are a reminder of the importance of women in the Church. All of these are done within the guidelines of the Archdiocese.