By Julie A. Miller
Catholic Herald

Spring conference theme: How to be salt and light

RICE LAKE -- How can Christians become the salt of the earth and the light of the world? How can the message from Matthew 5:13-16 become a part of families and parish ministries?

That was the theme of the annual diocesan Spring Conference April 27. Due to bad weather in many parts of the diocese the day-long event, held at Wisconsin Indianhead Technical College, was shortened slightly.

Bishop Raphael M. Fliss led a prayer service to open the conference. He was assisted by Deacon Michael Cullen of St. John the Baptist Parish in Rib Lake. Cullen recited the Gospel and gave a reflection on salt and light. Cullen said Pope John Paul II has also chosen the salt and light theme to bring to the youth who will gather in Toronto for World Youth Day this summer.

Light is a very powerful image in the Catholic liturgies, Cullen said. Christians live the faith by "allowing (Christ's) light to shine though you."

Cullen added that the salt part of the Gospel was more difficult to understand. When Christ said Christians were to be salty, Cullen said, he meant they are necessary to the world itself and are meant to give it zest. "We are meant to give something to the earth in our human community by our life."

In his keynote address Bill Huebsch talked about making more room for Jesus in ministry. He said it is easy to lose focus on the real purpose of ministry -- Christ.

Huebsch, a well-known speaker and author, has a master's in theological studies and has worked in parish ministry for many years.

There are three dangers in working in parish ministries today, Huebsch said. The first danger is that ministers might spend too much effort talking about religion. "I might study Islam. I might study the writings, the Koran ... That doesn't make me a Muslim, does it.?" he said, and knowing all about Catholicism doesn't make a person a Christian either.

"The danger is that we spend so much time promoting religion as such that we forget that there is something beyond religion." He said what is important is helping people meet Christ and form a personal relationship with Christ.

The second danger is giving students the idea that the faith is in a first century male Jewish rabbi. Seeing God as up in heaven somewhere leads to people praying as if God was a satellite that prayers bounce off and then come back to earth.

Huebsch said people need to pray as if God is among them. "Our faith is in the risen Christ who is really present and the risen Christ takes on many shapes and many forms."

The third danger is facing inward, focusing on the church, rather than facing outward where the mission of the church is. "The goal of the church is not to build up splendid parishes. ... The parish is only a means to get us to our end game which is to save the world in the name of Christ."

To accomplish the mission, Huebsch said, "We meet Christ. We turn our hearts to Christ. We share that in love with others and then we tell others around us what we are experiencing." Then that person meets Christ, and shares with others, and the cycle continues.

Huebsch said faith sharing, missing in many parishes today, is the way successful programs (TEC and Cursillo, for example) bring people to turn their hearts to Christ. Faith sharing, which is not out of the head, but out of the heart, should be a part of every activity, every meeting. If a parish makes faith sharing the principle way the Sunday Gospel is lived out for the whole week, Huebsch said, it makes the Sunday the Mass the fountain from which the whole life of the community flows.

Small group sessions followed the keynote address. Marcie Stokman, who has a master's in counseling psychology and is a stay-at-home mother of six, presented a session on becoming a salt and light family -- sharing faith in the family.

Parents hesitate to share their faith because they feel insecure. They think they don't know enough, Stokman said, but they know more than they think. She later added that parents can learn to use the Catechism and a concordance of the Bible to help answer the children's questions.

Stokman talked about practices in her own family. The first step is to create a nurturing environment, and an atmosphere of value in the home. Ways to honor the children each day include verbal affirmations such as "I love you" and "I'm proud of you" and nonverbal affirmations such as a mother's eyes lighting up when she sees the child.

Stokman said parents have the primary role in teaching the faith to their children. The teaching takes many forms -- having pictures and icons in the home, saying the rosary on car trips, observing the liturgical seasons.

The speaker for the plenary session was Sr. Joyce Miller, a consultant and speaker with a master's in religious studies and many years experience as a director of religious education. Miller is a Franciscan Sister of the Perpetual Adoration.

Miller used a lot of humor and a few funny props to make her points as she shared ways to help all of the parish staff work together to find ways as a team and as individuals to be the salt and the light. Miller's goal is to make good parishes better.

In her travels around the Midwest, Miller said she has observed a great hunger for spirituality among the people. Reinforcing a point made by Huebsch, Miller said, "We need to give them more spirituality, not more doctrine. ... It is not how much we teach them, its how much closer we bring them to a personal relationship with Jesus Christ."

In her hints for growth and for making a good parish better, Miller emphasized the need for change and asked, "Are you willing to go back and change some things that are old," and that have been that way for years?

Changes should give the work more "pizzazz" Miller said part of the job description of all parish staff should include bonding, growing and faith sharing. She suggested retreats (off-site) for staff, and parish councils to work on spirituality. She added that every staff must pray together more, play together more and work together. (That, she said, is not just doing your own job but pitching in and helping others accomplish what needs to be done.)

The change also includes changes in religious education class schedules. "It is my firm belief that you are not going to save the souls of those children, or the catechists, or their parents, by making sure you get 21 classes of catechism every year," Miller said.

More can be accomplished by having a family fun night one week, by adding a beautiful liturgy or prayer service another week, or by having an evening of reflection for all participants, from the youngest children through adults, she said.

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