The Pastor as Shepherd

Homily for the Fourth Sunday of Easter, Year A
The spring is always the season of personnel assignments in the Church. Earlier this week, I received the following letter from Archbishop Daniel:

Dear Father Augenstein:

It has come to my attention that in July you will have completed your one-year assignment as administrator of Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish. I am pleased to therefore appoint you pastor effective July 2, 2008 with all the rights, duties, and privileges belonging to this office.

While this appointment is for six years, my responsibilities as Archbishop may require me to ask a person to move or change his pastoral assignment prior to the completion of the six years. I ask your cooperation should this possibility arise.

Please be assured of my prayers that God will continually bless your work for the spiritual and temporal interests of His people at Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish and all your good work.

Sincerely yours in Christ,
Most Rev. Daniel M. Buechlein, OSB
Archbishop of Indianapolis

Notice of this appointment also appeared in this week’s Criterion. You may recall that since my arrival at OLPH last July, my official title has been Administrator. When a priest is named to his first parish on his own, it is the custom in our diocese to be named Administrator for the first year, and then after a year of mentoring and transition, to be named Pastor for a set term, renewable for a second term, while in reality there is little visible difference for you as parishioners between the two titles. But, from my perspective, this letter comes at a perfect time. The title Pastor literally means shepherd – and today we celebrate what is often called Good Shepherd Sunday because of the gospel reading we just heard. And so I’d like to reflect briefly on the role of a pastor as a shepherd in a parish.

A shepherd has two different kinds of responsibilities for the sheep that are in his care: he has a responsibility to each individual sheep, to make sure that they do not wander off and, if they do, to go and bring them back to the flock; and he also has a responsibility to the flock as a whole, to gather them together and lead them where they need to go to find nourishment and shelter. The Good Shepherd – Jesus Christ – has the same to goals: to care for each individual soul entrusted to him, bringing them back if they wander off; and he also has a responsibility to the entire flock, leading all of us to nourishment and eternal shelter. So, too, the pastor of a parish: the pastor has responsibilities toward each individual member of the parish, caring for each individual soul on the journey toward God; and the pastor also has the responsibility of guiding the entire parish community toward a common goal: the nourishment of the Eucharist and the other sacraments, and the shelter of heaven. Any work that a pastor does in a parish is not done in isolation – he works in communion with the Bishop, who is the shepherd of a whole diocese, and at the call of Jesus Christ, the one true shepherd of all the faithful.

Officially, in the charge given to pastors by the Code of Canon Law, we are to make our primary duty to carry out the offices of teaching, sanctifying, and governing (Canon 519). We are to teach – to proclaim the gospel and preach the good news; we are to sanctify, to celebrate the sacraments, especially Baptism, Eucharist, Reconciliation, and Anointing of the Sick; and we are to govern, to provide leadership and oversight for the many ministries and lay ministers within the parish. Of course, we cannot do this alone. We cannot do anything without the grace of God and the guidance of the Holy Spirit, but we also cannot truly shepherd a parish without the support and cooperation of the many lay ministers, volunteers, and parishioners who share in the life of the parish. It truly is a humbling privilege to be called to serve as your pastor, and I look forward to many years of teaching, sanctifying, and governing in this parish. But I do so only to lead all of us to Christ, the Good Shepherd and guardian of our souls, and to lead us individually and as a flock to the nourishment of the sacraments and the shelter of eternal life.