Wichita parishioners recall Bishop-elect McKnight’s leadership

For the past two years, Bishop-elect W. Shawn McKnight has been working with the parishioners of Church of the Magdalen parish in Wichita to refine and put into practice his vision for the Church in the 21st century.

They have begun implementing an ambitious, three-year pastoral plan for the parish, which has about 1,500 registered households and is growing.

The work will continue after Bishop-elect McKnight takes up his new assignment, serving as the fourth bishop of the Jefferson City diocese, on Feb. 6.

The parish’s pastoral council has been assisting Bishop-elect McKnight with planning, overseeing, coordinating and communicating throughout the parish and school.

As soon as he arrived at Church of the Magdalen in June 2015, it became clear to the parish pastoral council that he had done his research.

Council President Maria Kozan remembers being “taken back and surprised by his knowledge of our parish as he was walking in.”

He led the council in conducting surveys and focus groups of men, women and young people of the parish.

He wanted to engage the people in the process of creating a three-year plan with key pastoral priorities and a timeline for all parishioners to would work together to accomplish them.

Mrs. Kozan was impressed with Bishop-elect McKnight’s ability to find the right parishioner for each task.

“He showed a knack for getting to know people, discovering their gifts and putting them in the right place to make our parish the best it could be,” she said.

The pastoral plan remains one of the highlights of Bishop-elect McKnight’s tenure at the parish.

It includes three priorities — formation for evangelization; reaching out to the margins; and active service, personal prayer and liturgy — along with specific pastoral objectives aimed at addressing these priorities over three years.

The formulation of the plan and seeing its first year of successful implementation has been a rewarding experience not just for Bishop-elect McKnight but the entire parish.

Mrs. Kozan said she appreciates his interest in engaging and caring about each parishioner.

“The thing I respect the most about Bishop-elect McKnight is his ability to really listen to what you are saying,” she said.

Church of the Magdalen parishioners are pleased that their voices were heard and that their gifts were given guidance to make the visions in the pastoral plan a reality.

Engaging young adults

Veronica Hill realizes that parishes don’t always know what to do with single, young adults.

She was ready to move on around the time Bishop-elect McKnight arrived at the parish.

“I’d attended faithfully for a few years, but as a single, new Catholic I didn’t feel like I had a place in our parish of 1,500 families,” Ms. Hill, stated.

Reluctant even to shake the priest’s hand after Mass because he always seems busy, she took a bold risk and asked for a meeting with Bishop-elect McKnight.

“In his generosity, he agreed to meet with me,” said Ms. Hill. “I lamented that although our parish had dozens of stewardship opportunities and ministries, none of them seemed to be a fit for me.”

The parish is large, but Ms. Hill saw few people her age getting active.

She wondered out loud if she might fit in better at a smaller parish.

Bishop-elect McKnight asked what she would like to do at the parish.

“I explained that I wasn’t sure, but my undergraduate degree and current field of work was communication,” Ms. Hill recalled.

What he said next was essential: “Please don’t go anywhere. I need your gifts. The Church needs your gifts.”

“In an age where millennials are often seen as a transitory, non-committal demographic, he asked to resist the urge to run from a place I didn’t feel I belonged and instead, invest myself deeply into the work of our parish by using my strengths and talents,” said Ms. Hill.

Soon thereafter, Bishop-elect McKnight formed a communications board to meet the growing needs of parish.

“I served on that board for the next two years,” said Ms. Hill. “I was able to write content for our website and bulletin, help with social media and consult on other marketing projects for our parish.”

Bishop-elect McKnight helped her see that the Church is a place for everyone and needs the time and talent of all people.

Ms. Hill believes Bishop-elect McKnight is one of the main reasons she is where she is today.

Beyond helping her plug into the parish, he helped write a recommendation letter that helped her land a full-tuition scholarship to graduate school and served as a reference for her current job, which involved oversight of a large diocesan ministry.

“In our first meeting,” said Ms. Hill, “he said something that has stuck with me: ‘The ministry of the Church should engage as many people as possible.’”

“I think of those words often in my own work and I marvel at how well (Bishop-elect McKnight) is able to engage many different people in the ministry of Jesus Christ,” she said. “I thank God often for (Bishop-elect McKnight), who helped form me to be a better Christian steward and missionary disciple.”

Hispanic community

In her first meeting with Bishop-elect McKnight in August 2015, Alejandra Cossio found out that 10 percent of registered parishioners in Church of the Magdalen parish at that time were Hispanic/Latino.

“Bishop-elect McKnight shared with me his interest of having a Latino representative as part of his parish council and invited me to be this person,” said Mrs. Cossio.

Honored and excited that the new pastor was interested in Magdalen parish’s small but growing Hispanic community, Mrs. Cossio said “yes.”

After appointing her to the parish pastoral council, Bishop-elect McKnight asked Mrs. Cossio to introduce herself in Spanish in a recorded phone message to be sent to Hispanic/Latino registered parishioners.

A couple of months later, all Latino parishioners were invited to attend a “meet and greet” event in the parish hall.

The event drew families from countries such as Mexico, Venezuela, Cuba, Colombia and Nicaragua.

It was a fun night. The people enjoyed Hispanic desserts, played a couple of traditional games and sang some songs in Spanish.

Bishop-elect McKnight then explained to them that he wanted serve the people and learn what they desired to see in Magdalen.

He also introduced them to Mrs. Cossio as their Latino representative to the pastoral council and invited them to share with her any requests or concerns.

This led to the idea of gathering to pray the Rosary in Spanish once a month.

Bishop-elect McKnight suggested making it a bilingual (English and Spanish) Rosary to make it inviting to all parishioners.

The pastoral council approved the idea. The bilingual Rosary is now prayed the first Wednesday of every month.

“We pray three Glorious Mysteries in Spanish and two in English and end with a hymn in Spanish,” said Mrs. Cossio.

Mrs. Cossio also served on the committee that put together the survey for women when the parish pastoral plan was being created.

Survey responses led to several pastoral priorities being set on behalf of the Hispanic community: adding images of saints to the church over time, occasionally having a reading proclaimed or liturgical music sung in Spanish at Mass, and introduce the schoolchildren to culturally significant celebrations.

In the first year of the plan’s implementation, the parish liturgy committee commissioned an artist to create a hand-painted image of Our Lady of Guadalupe.

The image was completed just in time for the celebration of the Feast of Our Lady of Guadalupe on Dec. 12.

“It brought us so much joy that Bishop-elect McKnight blessed the image prior to his departure because he was so integral in this dedication,” said Mrs. Cossio.

She believes Bishop-elect McKnight has faithfully done his part to make all of the Hispanic members of Church of the Magdalen parish feel at home.

“He has listened and been very supportive of our community needs,” she said. “He has helped me become a stronger leader and a better Catholic.”

On behalf of the Hispanic/Latino parishioners, she believes he has been “a true blessing for the Church of the Magdalen.”

Mrs. Alberti is communication and stewardship director for Church of the Magdalen parish in Wichita.