There has been a decent amount of writing on the theology of reception. In particular since the Second Vatican Council. No doubt there is more development necessary, in particular as we come to understand our church in a pluricultural environment.
In certain circles I often hear about the uncomfortable delay between a magisterial teaching and its reception by the laity (Humane Vitae comes to mind). As a pastoral leader I know I have been frustrated by the dissonance between what I clearly saw was “the” path to take in a ministry and where parishioners may have been. Yet, I have often needed a reality check from my partners in ministry when making decisions for the well being of the parish. But when do I know I am right and when should I listen to the wisdom of the community?
One of the most helpful demonstrations of the pastoral significance of reception can be found in the U.S. Bishop’s document, Fulfilled in Your Hearing, paragraph 4 and 5 in the document on the homily in the Sunday Assembly. Paragraph 4 talks about knowing the needs and wants of the community. But how often do we as pastoral leaders who are new to a ministry or a parish community silently “know what is best” without really getting to know the people. Paragraph 5 speaks about Christ as being present in the community. We would do well to remind ourselves when dissonance occurs between the leadership and the community that Christ speaks through the community of believers.
I am often surprised by the lack of sensitivity of pastoral staff members as they become involved in a new parish community or ministry. I have heard the mantra quite often by a number of pastors how they have been supposedly taught “to wait one year before they change anything” only to find them making major changes in the community, often times without real consultation and collaboration. Now, I understand that by not changing a thing one would contribute to what sometimes can be rightly charged as inertia within our church. However, my observations as of late have been that we pastoral ministers are not well trained in the spiritual discipline of discernment - a pastoral skill necessary to determine when to act on making changes quickly, when to make them slowly, and perhaps when not to make a change at all. Perhaps even more simply, we need to take T I M E. Time to really know who we are ministering with before we begin the lofty plans we might secretly possess.
I realize this can be hard when a particular task or ministry could appear to be misdirected. But I do feel that making some swift decisions without tending to the relationships in the community misses the point of being a community of faith - where relationships should be of paramount importance. We can sometimes forget to take the long view because we are so used to organizational models and plans that replicate what is in the business world - models that at times are not sensitive to relationships. That is not to say that we do not have something to learn from the business community. But we can rarely supersede relationships in our decision-making and be the church that Jesus calls us all to be. Even when “the way things are” are so “wrong”, we can never loose site of the important reality of the relationship. Otherwise I have found that the idea is often times not worth doing. One caveat for sure is when we are not in compliance with the law. And even then we still need to be attentive to relationships!!!
As pastoral leaders we need to lead. But I think we (Yes, I include myself) still have a lot to learn about how to lead with real and authentic understanding of those we serve. And we need to trust and remind each other that God IS speaking to us as pastoral leaders through the community we serve.
