by Father Jaime Zarse
Sometimes a question follows you.
For the past eight years, one has continued to follow me into all aspects of my ministry: What is an amazing parish?
I remember May 24, 2014, with great joy. My classmates, Father Anthony Saiki, Father Adam Wilczak and I were ordained priests by Archbishop Naumann, and our hearts were full of joy. Seminary was finally finished, and now the journey of priesthood had officially begun.
Now, 12 years and three very different assignments later — from the state capital, to rural America, to urban America — I have come to appreciate just how much a parish can shape the life of a person and a community.
Sometimes I think back to my life before the priesthood, especially my years as an athlete. At home, at school and on the field, expectations were clear. If I wanted to grow, I had to practice. If I wanted to compete, I had to work. If I made a mistake, I had to learn from it and try again. Some of that was right up my alley. Some of it was painful. All of it taught me something about pursuing greatness.
Yet, when it comes to parish life, oftentimes we are hesitant to talk about expectations, growth or even excellence. We can confuse meeting people where they are with simply leaving them there. That is neither loving nor just, and it certainly is not excellent.
Recently, I came across an article about the amount of time and money families invest in youth sports. It made me smile because I understood it. I loved athletics. But I also remembered something a wise pastor once told me: The chance that a child will become a professional athlete is extremely small. The certainty that each child will one day stand before Jesus is 100 percent.
That thought has stayed with me.
So, I keep returning to the question: What is an amazing parish? After all, the parish is the place where grace is dispensed for the salvation of souls. That seems like a rather critical mission to me and, therefore, the need for amazing parishes could not be greater.
The early church described in the Acts of the Apostles gives us a beautiful picture of what an amazing parish looks like: people praying together, celebrating the breaking of the bread, serving and sharing their lives with one another, while boldly proclaiming the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
If you ask me, we should take a page of that playbook.
I don’t think an amazing parish is simply a parish that has pews full of people, with beautiful programs and busy calendars. I think an amazing parish is a place where people encounter Jesus Christ, discover that they are loved by him, and are challenged and supported to become the saints he has created us to be.
It is a never ending process of stepping up the stairs with grit and perseverance, and doing it with joy.
That is the kind of parish I want to be a part of.
And perhaps that is why this question keeps finding me. Jesus deserves our very best. He deserves excellence.
If the rest of my priesthood manages to pass as quickly as the first 12 years, I will be meeting Jesus in no time. I cannot wait to hear from him the answer to this burning question: What is an amazing parish?
