Your Excellency,

If I were to ever have the pleasure of idle conversation with you, the subject of our discussion, if I were to lead it, would most likely have to do with tales of my 20 years in the Navy overseas, on ships, and in aircraft, or skiing, or space travel, or astronomy, or maybe even politics, or in my opinion the complete irrelevance of it in our daily lives if everything is going well. Eventually though, if the conversation were to go on long enough, I would stumble upon my life as a disciple of Jesus Christ, and my ever-growing appreciation for the ingenuity of Catholicism, which frame by frame often seems to be listing to one side or another, but in the long view always gets righted to survive when all else falls by the wayside or is rendered an obsolete “hipness” that is now “so 16^th Century,” or whatever Century you’d like to pick.

I remember various times over the years being overjoyed and sometimes even mortified when I witnessed Catholicism’s attempt to be “hip” in order to fit in with the modern fad of any era, only to look back now and laugh out loud at how ridiculous it all looked – but for the core of the Mass which has remained the same since even before Paul admonished the Corinthians who were not receiving the Eucharist in a “state of grace.” Since even those early ad-hoc Masses in which the Holy Spirit inspired Christians to gather and to not only remember the Last Supper, but actually be a part of it through space and time, it seems that God went far into space and time as Jesus came to visit us, and against that, it really isn’t a nuisance for anyone to travel just a little bit down the road and to spend just a little time in return to visit Jesus. But it seems to me that 20-40 year olds haven’t been going to Mass in numbers representing their representation in the overall population – a trend that does not only affect this Diocese, but perhaps the whole world so far as I can tell.

I made up my mind in the Spring of 2006 to follow a calling that is certainly short of a vocation, but far more than a fleeting idea. Instantaneously for several reasons all regarding insulation of the official Church’s image, culpability, and liability, I quickly decided that this project, the 20-40 Vision, would not directly involve the Diocese of St. Petersburg in any formal or official capacity. That way, as I see things very much the same way that St. Francis of Assisi must have when he got these kind of crazy ideas in his head, God and Church would get all of the credit when things when right, and I would have no one to blame but myself if things didn’t go so well. You must believe me when I tell you that I certainly don’t want any credit or glory for any of this – if God is not glorified then it is all a vain and unwise waste of everyone’s time – even God’s time allotted to me if I were to even try to carry on this mission with selfish interests at heart. All roads must lead to Christ lifted upon the High Altar, or they lead to dead ends and wrong-way turns.  I don’t know how many stories you’ve heard about me since my arrival here in 2003, but good or bad, most of them are probably true. But over time I’ve learned that Mass is as necessary as leisure, oxygen, sleep and water as part of the balanced human life. Most importantly, Jesus seems to have intended for the Mass to be a starting point in our lives – not an end. The testimonies of many people I’ve spoken with are sometimes as drastic as the life of Mary of the lakeside town of Magdala near the Sea of Galilee or Tiberius (depending on your perspective). One thing is for certain. Life can be perceived as a good one without Mass, but with Mass it is always an infinitely better life.

I think I’ve told you the story of a 15-year old Autistic kid whose grandparents go to your Cathedral. I sympathize with the prayers of the family that the boy somehow “snap out of it” to be “a little more normal,” but I always respond that they should take a blessing from God for what it is. That kid can’t sin, will never offend God, and his “handicap” allows him to see truths in the Mass that most of we “smart” people miss. He can not carry on a conversation by any means, and he is usually about 5 minutes ahead of the priest at Mass, and he knows it inside and out, in both Latin and in English. Once in a while in any Church he will roam around until he finds the IXth Station of the Cross, and even if it is not labeled with words that he can’t read anyway, he will say “Jesus falls the third time,” and then a tear will form in his eye. He has never been baptized Catholic so far as I know and the rest of his immediate family is now Protestant. His caretaker is the one who takes him to Mass, and for that kid, it’s like going to Disneyland. When the Eucharistic Prayer begins, he becomes completely silent and observant, and seems to be watching angels flying around from time to time that we can’t see. He is indescribably joyful at the Sanctus like at no other time in his life. Because of this kid, I can no longer be “blessed (by being one) who does not see, yet still believes,” for in this kid, I’ve seen all the proof anyone would ever need, and ignorance can no longer be an excuse for me. He is, as I’ve said before, worthy of special Church scrutiny, for I believe that kid is a real Saint in the making.  Some people have complained that I seem to be a little too fixated during the Eucharistic Prayer, as if I am witnessing some real life or death drama before my eyes. Oh, if only I could have the complete understanding of it all like this Autistic kid does, but I do try to pay attention, learning a little more about God each time as I absorb every word of the Eucharistic Prayers – in any language. I have heard stories that this kid can sometimes be a disruption at home and in society, for any mention of the word “our” or “lady” he blurts out suddenly, “Our Lady of Lourdes – she loves you.”

So please trust in the sincerity of the calling to respond to the absence of the 20-40 year olds and my intent to do something positive with it.

Yet, although I knew my own answers to the survey questions posed, I still wanted to know if priests, religious, and a very select few trusted blessed laity I knew were on the same page.  With 12% of the surveys back to me, I have always trusted that God would want me to have the ones I would have by now as a fair representation of what your Catholic holy men and women – the real experts - were thinking.

Turns out we’re on the same page. Now, it’s just taking God’s time given to me and listening to the Holy Spirit as best I can, from day to day, towards the destiny of the mission, which of course is all geared towards glory and honor of God – not by preaching to or belittling the community, but loving the community, embracing the community, listening to the community, and whenever the opportunity arises, answering questions from the community not because I had thought of the answers ahead of time, but because through the Holy Spirit the Father in heaven will make sure I have these answers.

Thank you for your Pastoral, Bishop Lynch. In the survey results, which I appreciate from each and every responder, I have underlined my own choices. Some of the answers are actually stunning, but I trust that the respondents had their own rationale and motives in answering as they did, and I accept their answers as valid based on their own life experiences. Yet, to my joy, these “deviations” were the small minority, but always appreciated and accepted as wisdom nonetheless. In Question 2, many people chose two answers, and not one. I would have chosen the same two that led the survey results, but between those two, the top one is underlined.

I will continue to tabulate the results after they come in beyond today’s presentation, and at some reasonable time I will mail the tabulated results (not the original responses) into the Office of Father Morris, Vicar General. The originals are being tabulated and then destroyed to preserve the anonymity of the respondents.

Kissing the Sacred Ring,

JOHN SULLIVAN