On the rectory wall there is a newspaper clipping from 1899 that starts off by saying, “St. James is the richest and most influential parish in the city.” My guess is, after 123 years and all the merging and re-configuration of Renew My Church, that St. James is now the smallest and the poorest parish in the Archdiocese. Not that this is a bad thing. St. Paul says, God chose the weak of the world to shame the strong. As the parable of the talents teaches, it’s not how many talents that you have which matters, it’s what you do with your talents. The challenge is for us with the gifts, however small, that we have to bring gospel hope and love into our neighborhood and city.
