Dear St. Raphael Parishioners,

Jesus has a lesson about leadership in the Gospel this week. His apostles are arguing about which one of them is the greatest. This debate might have been inspired about Jesus talking about his death. The apostles might have wondered which one of them would be next in command. So Jesus makes it clear; first place among them goes to the one who best serves the others. Putting a child in their midst, Jesus reminds the apostles that the people who are most needy, unable to pay them back, are the ones most important to serve. This ideal of Servant Leadership has been the Church’s model ever since. 

We live in a time when many people are unhappy with their leaders, whether in government or the Church. Christ’s idea of Servant Leadership has never been popular among political leaders. Jesus himself warned that the leaders of this world often want to make themselves seem important. Their idea of leadership is “I’m the boss, everyone should do what I tell them!”. They speak self-serving propaganda instead of truth. The result of this is a great distrust of the government by the average person. Surveys show trust in the government is getting lower and lower.

The shepherds of our Church are supposed to show us a different way of leadership. We should value truth over self-promotion. We should center our leadership on the Gospel, not on earthly power or prestige. Those of us over age 20 remember the example of Pope John Paul II, and his style of guidance for the Church. John Paul II never encouraged violence, but he helped bring an end to the totalitarian rule of the Soviet Union in eastern Europe. The Church’s role in society is all the more important when citizens lose trust in their government. If our Church leaders don’t give an example of servant leadership, who will?

Mask Situation: Illinois requires masks for indoor assemblies, and St. Raphael is required to follow these directions at our Masses. A small number of people have not been wearing masks on recent weekends. Because we are close to the state line, some of our congregation is from Wisconsin. Attendees from Wisconsin may be unaware of this mask rule in Illinois, so I ask parishioners to be patient with this situation. Our ushers are telling people as they arrive, and we have masks available. I realize how tired people are after 1.5 years of this situation. We aren’t going to please everybody on this, but I am reluctant to have our ushers tell people to leave church. With the vaccine widely available and the state line so near to us, we need to have some flexibility.

God bless you all,
Fr. Matthew Kowalski