homily - 11th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle C - Luke 7:36 - 8:3

This weekend I am on a mission appeal in the Archdiocese of Indianapolis at the parish of St Michael the Archangel.  Here is the homily I am preaching this weekend.  

      Paul, that great missionary for our faith, calls us to more than the observance to the law.  There were many in the early Church who were like Simon, the Pharisee, in the Gospel.  Simon had good intentions.  He wanted to learn from Jesus.  But he saw his faith as the observance of law, as an intellectual assent.  In contrast, we have the woman in the Gospel who enters into a relationship with total surrender and with humility, who acknowledges her sinfulness and asks for forgiveness. Her act of faith and love still speaks as a testimony to us today of what it truly means to be a disciple of Christ. 

      As Paul went out to the world as a missionary, preaching the faith to the people in the area surrounding Ancient Israel, the Office for the Propagation of the faith here in the United States sends out those of us who are serving in ministry in the mission territories to different diocese throughout our country to talk about our missionary experiences.  Our work in faraway lands is an important part of proclaiming the Gospel, but perhaps we forget about the mission territory in our own land.  As was mentioned, my name is Father Lincoln Dall.  I am a Diocesan priest from the Diocese of Jackson, mission territory in our own country.  

       In fact, you probably picture Mississippi as being in the heart of the Bible belt in our country, which is true.  We have a large Diocese geographically, taking up most of the state, all except that cluster of counties around the Gulf Coast.  In fact, our Diocese is the largest geographically in the United States East of the Mississippi River.  However, even though we are so large geographically, our Diocese has the lowest percentage of Catholics in any Diocese in the United States, estimated to be about 2.3%. There were priests in the state of Mississippi during the time of the Spanish explores, until the time that the Spanish settlements were disbanded in the territory of Mississippi.  Our Diocese was established in 1837 by Pope Gregory 16th.  Currently we have about 100 parishes and missions, but most of those churches are rather small, reflecting the rural nature of our state. 

       I have been a Diocese priest for 8 years. My first assignment as pastor in the communities of Yazoo City and Belzoni in the heart of the Mississippi Delta, the cotton growing region that is formed along the Mississippi River.  While stationed in the Delta, I served 3 parishes and two prisons.  I remember telling a priest in California that the territory I served in the Delta encompassed about 1,400 square miles, his jaw just about fell on the floor.  However, in those two counties, there was only about 37,000 people. 

        For the past 3 1/2 years, I have been serving in the city of Tupelo in NE Mississippi.  The parish where I am pastor, St James the Greater, is actually more than 100 years old.  During most of our parish’s history, we had been served by priests from a Benedictine monastery in Culman, Alabama a couple of hours away.  Tupelo had been a very small Catholic community throughout most of its history.  However, in the 1970s and 1980s, a lot of Catholics moved down from the Midwest for jobs, from places like Illinois and Michigan and Missouri.  And in the past 10 years, we have had an influx of first generation Americans from places like Mexico, the Philippines, and Vietnam.  

       You can probably tell from my accent that I am not originally from Mississippi myself.  I actually grew up in Chicago and Los Angeles.  After having been a missionary in Canada and South America for 7 years, I felt God calling me to be a missionary in my own land.  For more than a century, the majority of our priests in Mississippi came from Ireland.  There are also a lot of priests from different parts of the US who like me felt the call to be of service in the missionary territories of our own country.  We have different priests from religious orders serving in our Diocese - the Redemptorists, the Society of the Divine Word, the Trinitarians, the Norbertines, and the Christian brothers.  And recently we have had a lot of priests arrive from India to help man our parishes.
       I want to thank all of you for the opportunity to share with you our experiences in the Diocese of Jackson.  We are all brothers and sisters in Christ and it is important for us to be in solidarity together in proclaiming God’s kingdom here on earth.  Thank you for your prayers and your support.