by Anthony Schefter, Editor
On July 1, 1997, the first day of the Catherine of Siena Institute’s existence, I sat in our borrowed office upstairs at Blessed Sacrament Church, the Dominican parish in Seattle. My task was to answer the telephone (not many calls that day) and to delve into Washington State law in order to figure out what we had to do to achieve civil recognition as a nonprofit corporation. The first-ever Called & Gifted Workshop, to be held at St. Olaf's Parish in Poulsbo, Washington, was three weeks away. There were handouts to be prepared, brochures to be designed, and lots and lots of photocopies to be made. I knew that this was a small beginning to what we all hoped would become a successful enterprise: teaching lay Catholics about their authentic role in the Church's mission to evangelize the world, and helping equip lay Catholics to carry out that mission.
Our work has great potential and yet is, at its heart, very small. We call people to take up the place in the Church that they already have and use the spiritual gifts, skills, and talents that they already have been given. We don't give them the place or the gifts; our Lord does. We are not "empowering" people; they already have the power to represent Christ to the world. We are merely making people aware of what they possess. We help to equip Catholics by passing on the teaching of the Church on such subjects as the lay office, charisms, and moral decision-making. We don't tell people what their charisms or vocations are; we help them to discover these for themselves in light of the revelation transmitted by the Church.
We plant seeds in people's hearts and minds, articulating to them the call of our Lord that has been repeated to us in recent years by our Holy Father, "You too go into the vineyard" (Mt 20:4; Christifideles Laici 2). Because we are calling people to the Lord's vineyard, our work has what I call a "leverage effect": We awaken people to a deeper understanding of themselves and a better appreciation of God's call in their lives, and as a result they are able to bear disproportionate fruit in the lives of their family members, friends, and colleagues. Because a Christian stands in Christ's place in his or her relationships with others, a Christian has potentially great power in other people's lives—power to heal wounds and move hearts in assent to the Gospel. Making people aware of this truth so that they can begin to act intentionally in Christ's place is at the heart of our work. The work we do is small, while the work Christ does through those whom we teach is great.
Leverage is a concept from the business world: It refers to
the use of borrowed money to allow a cash-strapped organization
to make an investment it otherwise couldn't afford, in the hope
that the small amount of seed money will yield a much greater
return than would be possible without borrowing. I like to work
for the Institute because I know that every brochure I design and
phone call I make has great leverage. Our "seed money"
is the teachings and call of Jesus, and the vineyard where we
plant our seeds is our workshops. Christ himself provides the
leverage through the work of his Spirit in the lives of ordinary
people like you and me, sent to labor in the larger vineyard of
the whole world, a world which waits eagerly for the Good News of
salvation. We expect a tremendous return on our investment.