Itinerary

Part 1 - Tanzania 

July 19-August 12

Part 2 - Uruguay

August 20-October 4

Part 3 - Spain 

October 12-October 27

Part 4 - Italy

October 28-November 22

Part 5 - Holy Land - Israel

November 23-December 15


The sabbatical will be divided into five parts, each with a distinctive program and goal, united by the overall goal of sharpening my skills at priestly ministry and deepening my spiritual life.

Part 1 – Appreciating the missionary Church through missions in Tanzania. I plan to visit missions, a retreat house and Religious communities in Tanzania – to gain an appreciation and understanding of the emerging Church in the global south, specifically the ways of forming disciples for the Lord. With the pastor of the Bwambo village mission, Fr. Beda Kiure, who is also a medical doctor, I hope to experience the day-to-day life of fellow Christians in Africa. 

Part 2 – Learning pastoral Spanish. With many Latinos living in our Archdiocese, there is a need for priests who can offer sacramental ministry in Spanish. I plan to enroll in an intensive Spanish language program in Uruguay, and live with a community of priests in Montevideo. The goal here also connects with that of Part 1, developing an understanding of the emerging Church in the southern hemisphere.

Part 3 – Connecting with our Christian roots through pilgrimage. With a few good friends, I plan to walk a section of the ancient pilgrimage route to Santiago de Compostela in Spain, El Camino (The Way).  We will walk about 200 kilometers, from Ponferrada to Santiago de Compostela.  

Part 4 – Continuing to connect with our Christian roots through pilgrimage to various shrines of saints in Italy. Plans include visits to St. Mark (Venice), St. Anthony of Padua, St. Josephine Bakhita (Schio), Blessed Pier Giorgio Frassati (Turin), St. Charles Borromeo and St. Ambrose (Milan), St. Gianna (Mesero), St. Francis and St. Claire (Assisi), and St. Peter (Rome). Also, the Eucharistic miracle at Orvieto.

Part 5 – Personal Retreat in the Holy Land. Capping off my sabbatical will be a retreat in the land of Our Lord’s birth, life, death and resurrection. I plan to spend extended time at the shrines where the mysteries of our faith took place, including Bethlehem, Nazareth, Mount Carmel, Ein Karem, Mount of the Beatitudes, Mount Tabor, Sea of Galilee, and Jerusalem.

Through this experience, I hope to deepen my love for Our Lord Jesus Christ as well as my commitment to being his priest. I hope to use this blog to occasionally post reflections and photos of my sabbatical experience.

I hope you will follow along with me on this sabbatical journey.



Sabbatical 

In the Book of Genesis we read: God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work he had done in creation (Gn 2:3). The Sabbath rest on the seventh day of the week (Saturday) is based on God’s own rest. With the birth of Christianity, the Sabbath rest was moved to the first day of the week in honor of the Lord’s resurrection. The new “Lord’s Day” for Christians then became Sunday. Besides a Sabbath rest every seven days, there was also one every seven years. In the Book of Leviticus we read: For six years you may sow your field, and for six years prune your vineyard, gathering in their produce. But during the seventh year the land shall have a sabbath of complete rest, a Sabbath for the Lord, when you may neither sow your field nor prune your vineyard (Lev 25:3-4). Based on the biblical injunction of the Sabbath rest, the concept of sabbatical has evolved in modern times as a period of rest, rejuvenation, and study.

 Our Archdiocese has a policy that priests are eligible for a sabbatical after each seven years of service in the Archdiocese: “A sabbatical is a period of time away from a priest’s regular assignment, typically lasting from six to twelve months, for the purpose of enriching his ministry. The sabbatical gives a priest the opportunity to acquire additional theological understanding, pastoral skills, and to focus on personal growth. Additionally, it offers a priest the chance to be renewed through rest and a change of pace. It is not meant to be an extended vacation, sick leave, or leave of absence. My last sabbatical was in 2002, twelve years ago. In January of last year, I asked Archbishop Nienstedt for permission to take a sabbatical in 2015, and I received his permission.

I began the planning by inviting four parishioners to help me plan my sabbatical and to write a grant proposal to pay for the expenses of the sabbatical. These parishioners (Katie McNulty, Kathleen Foley, Michael Schwarz and Marian Briggs) worked for several months putting together an extensive application to the Lilly Endowment. The Lilly Endowment is a philanthropic foundation that awards grants to Christian congregations for the purpose of enriching the religious lives of Christians. We submitted the application in April, and received word in August that St. John’s had received a grant. 

Here is the announcement that we received: “St. John the Baptist Catholic Church and School in New Brighton, Minnesota, has received a grant of $49,912 to enable its pastor, Fr. Michael Skluzacek, to participate in the 2014 National Clergy Renewal Program funded by the Indianapolis-based Lilly Endowment Inc. and administered by Christian Theological Seminary. St. John the Baptist is one of 140 congregations across the country selected to participate in this competitive grant program. Established by the Endowment in 2000, the program’s grants allow Christian congregations to support their pastors with the gift of extended time away from their ministerial duties and responsibilities.

Ministers whose congregations are awarded the grants use their time away from the demands of daily ministry to engage in a period of reflection and renewal. The approach respects the “Sabbath time” concept, offering ministers a carefully considered respite that may include travel, study, rest, immersive arts and cultural experiences, and prayer.” For a list of the congregations that received grants, and information on the Lilly Endowment and its Clergy Renewal Programs, visit:http://lillyendowment.org/religion.html. Of the 140 Christian congregations that received grants this year, we are one of only seven that are Catholic. I thank the four parishioners who spent many hours researching and writing the grant application; it is truly a blessing for me and for our parish. I plan to be on sabbatical from roughly mid-July through mid-December 2015. Fr. Theodore Campbell, a retired priest of our Archdiocese, will be helping Fr. Jaspers with sacramental ministry while I am away from the parish.


2 comments:

  1. Did you have the opportunity to meet Father Michael O'Sullivan from the Catholic Church in Arusha, Tanzania. He is a wonderful man and comes to Assumption in St. Paul every year.

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  2. Since you don't have your mother to tell you -- SW and I are telling you to be extra aware, extra alert, and extra careful when you travel in the Holy Land. Especially on the leg of the journey when you said you have to rent a car and drive yourself to and from your destination. But of course, remember to have fun too! ;) -- LKH

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