Pastor's Points: "Fraternity"

Pastor's Points: "Fraternity"

In mid-September, priests serving in the Diocese of Raleigh had the chance to gather for our annual retreat week at Wrightsville Beach. This year was especially significant as it was the first time we would be with Bishop Luis for the retreat. 

The week is well designed as we are allotted a good amount of free time each afternoon to enjoy the beach and, more importantly, to enjoy one another's company. We are a vast diocese and we only get to be together as a presbyterate a few times a year. The retreat week allows us to spend quality time with one another in a very relaxed atmosphere where we can pray together, take in some of the local cuisine and reconnect with one another as brothers. This fraternity is very important. We are connected to one another by virtue of our ordination. We are brothers.

This idea of fraternity is extremely important in various aspects of our lives. We have a need deep down for connectedness, for friendship, for companions who share our common story. Think of it like this: when you go to a convention filled with people from your profession, you understand one another. You understand what the life is like, the common issues or problems. You have a “language” of sorts that is spoken. The same can be said of our family life. Members of a family understand one another. You know where you have come from. You know the story of one another’s life. 

When you think about it, this is all true of our life as a Christian people.  We are all in the same club.  We have the same basic story. We come from the same place. We all have a connectedness to one another through our common Baptism. We are one family of faith.    

That family of faith is lived out in specific ways.  One of those ways is through the parish community.  We come together and form this parish of St. Thomas More.  We are part of this family.  We form this fraternity where we speak the same language of love, of hope, of trust, of our belief in the resurrected Christ.    We are a particular manifestation of the Body of Christ here in Chapel Hill. 

I am grateful for all the ways that our fraternity is shown in the daily life of our parish community.  God has called us together at this time to boldly proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ through the witness of our lives.  We do this as we seek each day to be true to our mission to Pray, Serve and Spread the Gospel with Joy.