Parish, the Thought

The calling to parish ministry involves a journey leading through lowland thickets and high plateau vistas. It's a vocation not for weak spirits. The parish presents general challenges rather than specialist endeavors. So, wearing one hat after another, the pastor may speak from the pulpit, join a team processing a current social concern, visit the intensive care hospital unit, and offer counsel at birth, marriage, or death--maybe all in one day. Clergy and non-ordained alike will find that Parish, the Thought provides a closeup insight into this ministry, telling the truth about the defeats and victories experienced over the course of forty years in the parish. This memoir spends little time in navel gazing. Rather, the author explores the humor, conflicts, ventures, and achievements that rise in his memory. The reader will detect a commitment to priestly and prophetic ministry, one that seeks to comfort the distressed and to nudge the comfortable out of apathy, encompassing the personal and public dimensions of the faith. All this as an adventure following the Pioneer, Jesus, the Christ.