(Editor's note: At the recent annual Parish Convening, Bishop Hubbard spoke about six needs parishes must fulfill in coming years. The needs were surfaced by the parishes themselves during pastoral planning. Response to his speech was so positive that many of those in attendance asked for the text of his remarks. Others not in attendance who heard about his speech also wanted to know what he said. Relevant portions of his remarks follow.)

I would like to focus on six major needs which emerged from the pastoral planning process and from my four-year parish visitation program: needs, which if not addressed constructively and aggressively can severely impede the vision of the Church as a community of collaborative ministry where each member is challenged to see his or her baptism as a call to holiness and ministry.

These critical needs -- in priority order, given the number of times surfaced in the cluster plans submitted by the parishes -- are: leadership training for the laity, youth ministry, adult education and formation, evangelization, liturgical formation and ministry training, and the development of social justice ministry.

1.

In the past, by and large, those opportunities were available only to our clergy and religious whose theological and pastoral education was supported by their diocese or religious community. Lay people, however, were pretty much on their own, often lacking the fiscal resources and community encouragement to achieve the training and find the positions that would support them in their life's journey as family members raising children.

But in our age of collaborative ministry, it is imperative that we in the Church develop a full continuum of both formal and informal educational and formational opportunities for lay people so that they can garner the appropriate theological knowledge and pastoral skills needed to exercise effectively their ministry as catechists, religious education directors and coordinators, youth ministers, parish outreach workers, pastoral care and family life ministers, and parish administrators.

Already in our Diocese, we have the Formation for Ministry program and St. Bernard's Institute to assist in this task. But if this need for lay ministry development is to be addressed adequately, then more resources for training and for assisting candidates financially will be needed.

Already, I have a task force at work to define the criteria and professional standards that will be required for people to become qualified as Church ministers, to determine the ongoing formation and education programs that must be available to them, and to assess the fiscal resources that will be needed both for their education and for the compensation which these lay ministers will require.

2.

* Ten years ago, there were two youth ministers in our Diocese; today, there are 45.

* We have developed a Diocesan Youth Council, which fosters plans and activities among the various youth groups in our Diocese, and has input in recommending to our Diocesan Pastoral Council and to my office, policies or programs that can best meet the needs of youth.

* Twice a year, we offer the Christian Leadership Institute, which provides young people with the skills and insights they need to be peer leaders in their respective schools and parishes.

* A number of our young people have been trained to serve as spiritual leaders for Confirmation retreats and other prayer experiences for teens.

* The Journey and Albany Diocesan Drug Education Ministry (ADDEM) programs provide similar opportunities for young people to grow spiritually and to become peer leaders.

Although we have made a good beginning in youth ministry, we are only tapping the surface of what can and must be done. A problem that many parishes face is not having the funds to hire a youth minister or not having a pool of young people large enough to make the program an alive, dynamic experience. This is why I think the cluster interaction can be extremely beneficial: having one minister to serve two, three or four parishes and bringing the young people together on a regional basis.

We at the diocesan level need to provide greater training for youth ministers as well as professional standards and guidelines for hiring. At the local level, the development of youth ministry in the parish or in the cluster must become a priority.

Also we must be prepared to involve our teens in the day-to-day life of the parish here and now: as lectors, Eucharist ministers, ushers, cantors, musicians and choir members, and in activities of service to the poor, sick and homebound. Not only will such programs solidify the connection of our young people with the Church, but they will also pave the way for them to be active and participating leaders in the Church of the 21st century.

3.

That reality reinforces the pressing need in our Diocese -- and in the entire Church as well -- to look upon understanding our faith as a lifelong journey which requires education and formation throughout the entire life cycle.

There is no task which is more urgent in our Church today than imparting religious truths and religious values not just to children and adolescents, but especially to adults. For it is the adult community which must model how the Christian life is lived in practice.

Adults cannot remain fixed at the catechism level of childhood. Such a level, while sufficient for a younger age or a different time, is hardly adequate to cope maturely with the complex faith and moral challenges of the present, especially in our increasingly secular age where fundamental religious beliefs, values and traditions are being questioned, ridiculed or rejected outright.

All within the Church, then, especially adults, need updated teaching or instruction and ongoing spiritual formation which can help to make God's living word relevant and meaningful for our everyday lives. How to do this, of course, is the great problem. In our society of two working parents or of working single parents, in our video age of TV, VCRs, computers and the Internet, and in our milieu of so many options and numerous family and community demands which compete for people's time and seem to offer more attractive alternatives, our traditional methods of fostering adult faith formation -- like lectures, missions and retreats -- more and more fall upon barren ground and attract only a corporal's guard.

We must be more creative in utilizing modern communications -- perhaps reaching people more in their homes through cable programming, home videos or the Internet -- and employ more experiential forms of learning, such as the RCIA process or small faith-sharing groups, such as those Cursillo, Marriage Encounter and the charismatic renewal promote.

Each parish or preferably each cluster must seek to come up with a plan for ongoing faith formation which is innovative, flexible and responsive to the needs and life situations of the people in our local parish communities.

4.

Yet with all the concern about evangelization, there seems to be little follow-through. To me, it's not so much a lack of programs or resources that is at the root of the difficulty; rather, it is the need to foster in parishioners the inner confidence to share their faith with others in an informal, non-coercive and non-judgmental manner.

For despite the clear mandate we as Christians have to share the message and mission of Jesus with others, there are many obstacles to fulfilling this command. Two of them are particularly noteworthy in the contemporary milieu:

* The first is that the growing secularization of our age has eroded a sense of the spiritual in our lives. For far too many, human life today is lived without reference to the transcendent; to that which lies beyond what we can see, hear, taste, touch and smell. That translates into a rather mechanistic or functional approach to life that cannot deal with questions of ultimate meaning. Possessions, power and pleasure easily become our dominant societal values, and a competitive model of human relations becomes the way to achieve them. This secularization of our age dampens both our energy and enthusiasm to evangelize, as well as the receptivity of those with whom we would share the Gospel message.

* A second noteworthy factor which impedes our motivation for evangelization is a cultural phenomenon. With all the emphasis that our society places on choice, pluralism and individuality, the idea of sharing the Good News with those who have never heard the message, or with fellow Catholics or Christians who have been alienated from the Church or become indifferent to the practice of their faith, seems arrogant or at least insensitive on our part.

In other words, we have become somewhat uncomfortable in sharing our Catholic values, beliefs and traditions with others because we are afraid that will be offensive to them; because we are afraid that we may seem judgmental or condescending, failing to respect their religious choices, decisions or convictions.

I hope that our parishes and clusters will make a determined effort to help parishioners appreciate the Gospel imperative given to each member of the Church to share our faith with others, especially by example and through a low-key, non-threatening outreach to family members, neighbors and co-workers who have strayed from the household of the faith or who are totally unchurched.

5.

On a practical level, dioceses approach this matter in a variety of ways. Some seek to preserve vibrant parish communities that are capable of a life-giving celebration of the Eucharist even if they must compromise on the frequency with which that celebration occurs. Others seek to reconfigure parish communities to ensure, as much as possible, the weekly celebration of the Eucharist.

As for our Diocese, I have discerned that we should not develop plans for our parishes or clusters which include "priestless Sundays." I realize that often on weekdays, communion services are already being conducted when a priest is away or unavailable. This I applaud. Also, in the case of an emergency, people should be trained and prepared to conduct a communion service for the congregation.

However, in planning regular weekend liturgies when the priest may be unavailable because of vacation or a sabbatical, I believe that adjustments should be made that would insure a full Eucharist at each liturgy, even if this may mean reducing Masses or encouraging people to attend Eucharist at a neighboring parish.

As far as I am concerned, the Eucharist is at the heart of our Catholic Christian heritage. It is at Eucharist that the Church come together as Church. It is at Eucharist that we are reminded of who we are and what it is we are called to be. It is at Eucharist that we are energized to change our wants, our wills, our loves and our desires. Therefore, our people have the right to a full Eucharist each weekend; and when this does not occur, I fear that in the long run we may lose our Catholic Christian identity.

If we are to do this in a constructive way, however, this will mean that priests and parishioners alike must work harder in seeking to make our Eucharistic liturgies meaningful, prayerful experiences. The liturgy itself must be well choreographed so that the Scriptural readings, the homily and the music are harmonized to underscore the theme of the Eucharist for that day, and so that each person participating knows the role that he or she has, the time to exercise that role, and the way his or her role is coordinated with the others. It is particularly imperative that the ordained minister does not assume or usurp the liturgical roles and responsibilities which properly belong to the laity.

This will require functioning liturgy committees for each parish whose members are well versed in sound liturgical principals and practices, and who make the time and take the effort necessary to plan and coordinate each weekend liturgy, seeking to ensure personal and communal participation.

A great deal of work needs to be done in this regard. That is why at the diocesan level, we are moving the position of director of the Office of Prayer and Worship from a part-time to a full-time position, and are re-establishing the Diocesan Liturgical Commission with a charge to develop resources and training programs to assist parish-based liturgy committees.

As this revitalization unfolds at the diocesan level, I urge each parish community to make the development of such liturgical or prayer and worship committees a priority. Otherwise, the central act of worship in the Church, the Eucharist, will fail to reflect the fullness of its power and the prime opportunity we have each week to engage the members of our parishes will be impoverished.

6.

* be it opposition to the death penalty, which is exercised disproportionately among the poor and minority groups;

* be it health care reform, that seeks to ensure access to comprehensive medical care for all Americans, especially the working and non-working poor;

* be it challenging zoning ordinances that seek to deny those with AIDS, mental illness, or developmental disabilities or those addicted to alcohol and drugs the right to live in our neighborhoods; or

* be it familiarizing ourselves with the legislative agenda of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops or with our state Bishop's Conference that seeks to address the needs of the poor on a wide range of issues, such as prenatal care, decent housing, adequate public assistance benefits, or alternatives to incarceration.

As chairperson for the Public Policy Committee of the New York Sate Catholic Conference, I know full well that when we advocate on behalf of these and other issues with those in state government, they often feel free to ignore our concerns because they believe that we are like generals without armies and thus it won't cost them at the polls.

If our Catholic Christian vision and philosophy of life, especially as it pertains to the poor, is to be translated into reality, then it is imperative that our parishioners become aware of the issues confronting our society, be educated on these issues, and be willing through letter or personal contact to let our elected officials know of their support of or opposition to particular public policy concerns.

Therefore, I have asked each parish to establish a public policy network which will seek to acquaint our people with the critical social issues facing our state and nation, and encourage them to become active in supporting the application of the Church teaching concerning these issues in the public policy arena.

In conclusion, addressing the needs I have mentioned and exploring the solutions I have suggested will demand renewed determination, zeal and enthusiasm on the part of all. These are challenges that do not readily admit of facile solutions. We might want to cling to the status quo or to retreat to the serenity of a previous age where life and ministry in our Church seemed more stable, more secure, more clear-cut; to a time when there seemed to be a consensus in the Church, where roles were clearly defined, where answers appeared black and white, and where the ideological litmus tests, mean-spiritedness and lack of civility that polarizes people and poisons the debate in our contemporary climate did not exist.

But we can't turn back the clock; we can't hide our head in the sand and pretend that the knotty problems and perplexing challenges which the Lord has laid at our doorstep do not exist. They are real and the tensions and ambiguity which they produce cannot be ignored.

On the other hand, we are not the first generation to face such challenges. Rather, the history of salvation is replete with the stories of heroic people responding to the challenging needs of their time:

* Abraham, faced with sacrificing his son Isaac;

* Moses, torn by fidelity to God's directives and by the obstinacy of the chosen people;

* Mary, seeking to reconcile the announcement of the Angel Gabriel with her solemn commitment to virginity;

* Jesus, begging that the cup of suffering be removed from Him; however, not as He willed but as the Father willed;

* Paul, confronting Peter on the perplexing question of whether gentiles were to be bound by Jewish dietary laws;

* the monks of Western Europe and Northern Africa, keeping alive the flames of faith during the Dark Ages;

* Catherine of Siena, confronting the pope on the need for reform;

* Ignatius of Loyola, combating the awesome threat posed by the Reformation;

* Isaac Jogues and his companions risking martyrdom in their quest to evangelize our native Americans; and

* Maximilian Kolbe, laying down his life to spare the lives of his fellow prisoners at Auschwitz.

Those and so many other examples serve to illustrate that the problems and tensions that we face are not necessarily the most serious of all time, but only seem so because we have not experienced the problems, challenges and crises of other periods in Church history.

We must face the present and the future not with fear and apprehension, not with timidity, indifference or complacency but with hope and optimism, the hope and optimism that comes from knowing that we are God's people and that the Lord will never abandon us but will always be present to us and give us the guidance, the strength, the insights and the motivation we need to develop effective ministerial and pastoral responses to the challenges of our day.

I am confident that with the leadership and commitment of people like you we can embark upon a future filled with hope: one based solidly upon the life stories of our ancestors in the faith and open to the ever new possibilities God holds in store for us.

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