Greenville's Great!

I was in Greenville, SC, with Barbara Elliott teaching a Called & Gifted Workshop at St. Mary Catholic church. It was a great weekend. Perfect weather, enthusiastic participants, and wonderful hosts. Kate Tierney is a dynamo in Greenville, and her efforts are really bearing fruit. This workshop had representatives from twelve parishes, including three parishes from Charlotte, NC! Her hope is that Greenville can become a regional hub for hosting Called & Gifted workshops, interviews, discernment groups, and eventually supplying their own teachers for workshops that will be held twice a year. Many thanks to Kate, her husband, Jay, and their children, William, Margaret ("Mimi"), Elle Marie ("Elbow), and Rhett ("Richard Edward") for their wonderful hospitality and kindness.

Thanks, too, to Joann Miller and her husband, Mike, for their help and support of the Called & Gifted process, as well as the other many volunteers who made the weekend a success.

One of the great joys of teaching with the Institute is the opportunity to travel the country and encounter wonderful Catholics and their vibrant parishes. St. Mary's, Greenville, is a beautifully renovated church, and the congregation really sings and prays well together.

But St. Mary's isn't the only Catholic church in Greenville. On Saturday evening I went to dinner with Kate and Joann and their husbands for a little nouveau cuisine with a southern twist (think fried pickles and fried green tomatoes). We were joined by Fr. Patrick Tuttle, OFM, the pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic church, a small parish in the poorer section of town. If you click on the link in the title of this post, you'll go to their homepage. I recommend checking out the pictures of the "Parade of Hats" from this year's Easter celebration! Fr. Patrick's a wonderful, jovial friar, ordained the same year as me, who loves his congregation and is becoming an advocate for them in town politics.

Over dinner he spoke about an issue that's causing him some consternation. If I understand correctly, the city is proposing to develop some abandoned acreage in St. Anthony's predominantly black neighborhood. The plan is to construct a par-3 golf course, a rock climbing wall, and tennis courts. Fr. Patrick has gone to some meetings and suggested that if the city wanted to provide recreational opportunities for the black youth, golf courses and climbing walls might not be as popular as basketball courts and baseball diamonds. He fears the plan is to prepare the way for more development along a small creek that runs through the property that would be linked to some already completed downtown redevelopment, including high-end condos and homes.

While providing some needed urban renovation, it would also raise real estate prices and taxes, which will be a burden for the lower income families that live in the neighborhood. Fr. Pat is definitely on board with the vision the Church has for parishes. Our parishes are not just to provide sacramental ministry, sacramental preparation and pastoral counseling for Catholics. We are to be involved in the life of the secular community, bringing to the minds of our fellow citizens the full import of city planning and policies. We are to be involved in cooperating with local agencies that are working to make our towns and cities better places to live for all of us. We are also to help give voice to those who so often are not heard: the poor, the homeless, the immigrant, the racial minority.

Way to go, Fr. Pat! I was so intrigued by his description of the St. Anthony community, that after the 7:30 a.m. Mass at St. Mary's, I asked Kate and Jay if they'd take me over to St. Anthony's. We arrived just as Mass ended, and I was able to meet some of the great people at St. Anthony's. Next time I'm in beautiful, historic Greenville, I hope to attend Mass with the folks at St. Anthony's!