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PAGE 9—The Southern Cross, September 6,1984
•Father Michael Smith
From The World Of Theory To Real-Life Practice
BY GILLIAN BROWN
When Father Michael Smith was first assigned to St.
Anthony’s Parish, in Savannah, five years ago, his brother
priests teased him about moving from the world of theory
the real-life world of practice.
For eleven years beforehand he headed the Diocesan
Department of Christian Formation, and in that role spent
much of his time telling others how to develop parish
communities which would be well educated, spiritually
renewed and liturgically correct.
“They always laugh when you don’t put into practice
what you had been telling them to do,” he said when we
talked to him shortly before his fifth anniversary at St.
Anthony’s.
The parish he was assigned to was not the middle-class
Suburban center that he had half-way expected. It is a
small church established in the early days of the century
by the Society of African Missions for the Black
community. “Most of the people are from the industrial
side of Savannah. The men are factory workers or
longshoremen, and many of the women are working in the
school system or in hospitals. They are comfortable but
not affluent,” he told us. “We don’t have many highly
educated people. Just a very few are college or
post-college.”
The biggest difference was being with the same group
of people all the time. “For eleven years I think I rode
^around the world at least twice, in the van. I was travelling
^tll the time and meeting a few people in each place, but I
only saw them periodically. In the parish you have much
more of a sense of people growing. You can see it most
vividly in children, but also in adults as they change their
attitudes and their approaches to life. That’s the part I
enjoy most; being with the same group of people on a
consistent basis, and feeling part of their day-to-day
lives.”
Instead of pushing for stringent requirements for
sacramental preparation, Father Smith found that he was
inclined to be much more permissive, as a pastor, than he
^|had been as DCF Director. “Part of it was the sense that
God’s grace is free. God is not a demanding person. He is
an inviting person, and he offers people gifts. He wants
them to respond freely to it. So my approach now is to
invite everyone to come to the sacraments and then be
supportive in the follow-up phase. Instead of using the
carrot-and-stick approach I indicate the carrot is free ~
enjoy it. But there is a certain response, or life change,
that is expected of you, and our role is to help you live
that out.”
Preparation for Baptism for instance, or for marriage,
has become an opportunity to “take people where they
€ re and help them feel that God and the Church have
omething to offer.”
“I still believe in commitment, and in our parish one of
the things I have put into practice is trying to make each
step along the way a moment of decision for parents and
young people. All of our preparation for sacraments is a
voluntary thing. We encourage people to sign up. When
they feel they are ready they come forward before the
congregation and present themselves for the sacrament. I
feel it is important that they are accepted by the
community, and so at certain points they are called on to
A make a public commitment. We have a bulletin board, and
^wvhat they do is come up and put their names on the
board which is kept at the door of the church so people
can see these candidates. ”
As a pastor, Fr. Smith believes in the principal of
formation through “doing” rather than through studying.
“We started a children’s choir to allow the Catholic and
Public School children to do something at the parish level
together. We have sacramental programs together and a
summer vacation bible school where the Catholic children
are often a help. Sometimes the children learn more by
FATHER SMITH is shown in photo at right
with his parents at the celebration marking his
Fifth Anniversary as pastor at St. Anthony’s,
doing things than they do by going to class. They learn
about liturgy by being part of a choir. They learn about
Christian love by doing service for their neighbors. For the
high school this year I have been stressing service projects,
to develop the service dimension for them. They had a
great time putting on the Bible School for the
neighborhood children. They visited nursing homes,
helped put on a picnic for the parish, provided the
entertainment.”
“Education in our parish has taken the form of Bible
study led by a Protestant minister. We have between
fifteen and twenty people almost every week year round.
They are a very refreshing group. It is a very
down-to-earth rather than an abstract kind of study, but
it’s very enriching. I look forward to going to it.”
Another area of education is discussion of issues related
to family life such as teen age pregnancy, sex education,
and parenting skills. There is a fair response (mostly from
women) to these programs which are offered to the whole
community.
Renewal movements as such did not get an enthusiastic
response from parishioners at St. Anthony’s, he found. “I
tried to sell them at first, but no one else seemed
interested. Eventually I think I realized there was a very
strong sense of family among the people already. Many
have lived there for years and already know each other
well. It is a very close, warm community. Plus many Black
Catholics have joined the faith as adults or converts, so
their personal commitment is already higher.”
A strong sense of outreach or “mission” is lacking in
many Catholic churches, Father Smith believes. At St.
Anthony’s, the outreach to the community is being built
up in many services to the wider community, from voter
registration drives to the opening up of playground
facilities to neighborhood children. Government surplus
commodities are distributed to eligible needy persons by
parishioners. This year a young football team will hold
twice-weekly tutoring sessions in the parish hall to ensure
team members will keep up their grades in school.
Though he has given up many of his former outside
commitments to speak or lead retreats, he has added on
an activity by going weekly to the Coastal Correctional
Institute with a group of Catholics from around the
county. “I am called to contribute to the overall
community. I see crime as one of the major problems in
the community, and dealing with people who have been
involved in crime is an important way to contribute to the
solution of the problem.”
Trying to help an ex-inmate re-establish himself in
society after discharge from prison is a frequent challenge.
Savannah. Children’s choir which sang is pictured
at left.
He encourages them to look through the newspapers for
jobs, and lends money for bus fare. “Just getting to where
the jobs are supposed to be is almost impossible for many
young men with no money and no car or bicycle and
sometimes no decent shoes. I think most of us take for
granted the availability of a car. We forget that if you
don’t have transportation there are many jobs you can’t
take. There is simply no way to get to them.”
His vision of the parish, and what a parish should be,
has changed in five years. “I think we have sometimes
made the church an end in itself and tried to have all
people’s energy and activity center in the church. But now
I believe that the church should instead be a place of
refreshment and inspiration for the real work of God in
every-day life, in the family and on the job. The real
Christian is the leaven in the world, and not just a
super-active church person.”
The image of the family is the one which he returns to
most often when thinking about the parish. “It includes
all kinds of people and all stages of growth, and they all
have to put up with one another, including the priest, and
bear with one another and encourage each other.”
His rectory is seen as the parish family house, and on
some days there are so many peoole in and out that
there’s little sense of privacy left. But basically, that’s the
way Fr. Smith wants it to be. “I feel if we are called
‘father’ we ought to practice hospitality to our family and
neighbors and make them feel welcome. Ultimately most
of the people are there when you come and they will be
there when you go. The parish is much more theirs than
yours. You meet people who have been in the same
church for sixty years, and it is rather humbling -- so
much of their time and energy and money has gone into
it.”
His membership of Jesus Caritas, an international
priests’ fraternity movement grounded in the spirit of
Charles de Foucauld, has been a source of strength to him
over the years. Brother Charles was a contemplative who
lived in the world, in the midst of people, Fr. Smith
explains. “He saw himself as a brother to all people, and
he practiced what he called universal hospitality, trying to
make everyone feel welcome. He thought this was the way
to show God to people, by simple friendship and
brotherhood.”
“If you are present to God in prayer you will also be
present to people in friendship. I guess I have found this
way of life a good base for parish life, giving the
enrichment of prayer, the sense of God, the vision and
strength that God provides. ”
• First DCCW Leadership Training Conference At Augusta
BY SHIRLEY LA VECCHIA
St. Mary’s on the Hill, Augusta, was the site of the first
Leadership Training and Commission Workshop for
1984-85. The members of the Council of Catholic Women
from around the diocese were welcomed by Lucile Ussery,
DCCW president. Ann Proctor, DCCW Church
Communities Chairman, led the prayer service after which
I)ot Kitchens challenged the participants with the
Question, “What is this thing called Leadership?” Mrs.
Kitchens is DCCW Organization Services vice-chairman -
DCCW Notes. column.. She distributed a leadership
checklist/test and suggested the ladies use the test results
to define areas of strengths and weaknesses.
NCCW Province Director, Carroll Quinn, and DCCW
Organization Services Chairman, Claire Kempton
explained the NCCW structure system. Ann Bell, DCCW
Organization Services vice-chairman, covered the duties
and responsibilities of officers and commission chairmen.
The following diocesan commission
chairmen/vice-chairmen gave over views of their respective
commissions: Church Communities - Ann Proctor; Family
Affairs - Judy Crais; Community Affairs - Margaret
Jackson; International Affairs - Mary Jo Louth;
Organization Services - Claire Kempton with her
vice-chairman Carroll Quinn and Dot Kitchens; Legislative
Information - Eileen Morris.
Following lunch round table discussions focusing on
individual commission and leadership roles gave everyone
an opportunity to share and interact with DCCW
Commission Chairmen and officers/presentors in their
special area of interest.
A second workshop is scheduled for Saturday,
September 15, at St. John the Evangelist in Valdosta from
10 to 3:30. . ,