Our council leadership problem is not yet solved. It was announced during the December council meeting that we have new vacancy in a committee chairperson position. Ron Perger has regretfully submitted his resignation as communications chairperson due to increased work responsibilities. We all understand time constraints and additional work responsibilities. I feel I personally owe Ron an apology for nominating him from the floor at our annual meeting without discussing it with him first. But Ron has phenomenal skills in the areas of communications and public relations, and I felt moved to nominate him from the floor that day. Perhaps it was not the right fit from the beginning. If so, I hope Ron will accept my public apology here for nominating him from the floor at the annual meeting.

The communications committee is one of the most critical committees we have in this Community. The job involves getting the word out to our Community of events, liturgy schedules and upcoming meetings, along with illnesses and special needs of our members. We cannot afford to have another six-month vacancy in this position. We need for someone to accept the responsibility for overseeing this committee, and we need it to happen soon. The communications committee has a lot of hard working, devoted participants who already cover the daily and weekly responsibilities of that committee. But the committee needs a strong leader, one who will keep the Community council apprised of the committee’s ongoing projects.

As a lay-directed community, we will cease to exist if we do not have strong leadership. We have struggled as a council for at least the past three years in this area. In the spring of 2003, in my capacity as vice-president of council, I personally approached over 70 community members to ask them to consider running for council. A few of these individuals accepted the challenge last year, and a few more said they would consider a role on council in the next council year. Three of those who put under consideration running for council this year are representing us today as at-large members, for which we are very grateful.

We have a continuing problem with the lack of adequate leadership in our Community. We do not have enough people who are willing to step up to the plate to head up our committees. There has been at least one vacancy in committee leadership for each the past two council years. This council year, the membership chairperson position has been vacant for six months, and many pleas have gone out asking someone to serve as membership chairperson. No one has come forward. Once again, as has happened so often in our Community’s history, we have the same people doing the same jobs for years at a time. This is usually due to the fact that no one else is willing to contribute. It is too easy to let someone else do the work for us. But each of these committees is critical to the administrative health of our Community. We need strong leaders with a solid commitment to serve if we are to continue to exist as a lay-directed community.

Showing up on Sunday and participating in the Liturgy is great. But how often do you stop and think about all the work that goes into preparing the Liturgy? Someone organizes the readers, someone organizes the Eucharist ministers, someone organizes and plans the music, someone organizes the hospitality greeters at the doors, and someone serves as sacristan to organize all the people that everyone else organized. You begin to see the picture. And I have not even mentioned the ministries here at St. Malachi, such as the Back Door Ministry, Malachi Center, Monday Night Meal, Malachi Mart or Malachi House. For the most part, all of these ministries are staffed by volunteers. Not just from the Community, but a lot of Community members are involved in each of these ministries.

There are a lot of wonderful things that happen here. Take our Christian Formation program for example. We have one of the best, if not the best, program for educating our young people in the faith within the diocese. Other parishes have looked to us as a model for how a program should work. That is very exciting. Our Monday Night Meal is well known throughout the entire Cleveland area. Malachi House and Malachi Mart are also heralded as shining examples of outreach programs. I could go on and on here. Clearly we have much of which to be proud. And proud we are.

Exciting programs aside, we continue to suffer a lack of leadership within the Community, and this must be addressed. If we had a similar lack of people within our local and national governments, where would we be? Just imagine having no mayor, no county commissioners, no judges or even worse, no President? How could our country continue to exist if no one is willing to do the work? The same is true of our Community.

It is probably not fair to compare paid positions to volunteer positions, but I truly believe that our Community leadership positions are paid, just not in dollars. For everything I have contributed in time and energy as membership chair over the past years, I have received so much more in return. Some rewards come in the form of personal letters from new members thanking me for welcoming them to the Community. Some of the rewards come in the form of acknowledgement of a job well done. But most of the rewards are internal, such as personal growth, spiritual growth and new friendships. I have gotten to know so many wonderful people in this Community through my service over the last 24 years. And each one I have come to know has enriched my life in some special way. The Community of St. Malachi has become my family in every sense of the word. As a friend of mine said to me the other day, you only get out what you put in. I receive from this Community because I give to this Community. And I give because I care.

Recent studies have reported that middle class families are beginning to average spending $1000 per Christmas—and rising. I’m beginning to worry that if consumers let retailers continue to urge us into a rise of spending for Christmas that somehow the conditioning will introduce itself into memory along with other human behavioral characteristics. If so, then I’m wondering if the memory of Christ’s Birth will be cast aside in favor of the latest in TV and computer communication technology, as well as the ultimate in dress fashions.

Gradually, we’re being conditioned for this transition. Songs are being dry cleaned of religious dialogue in favor of Santa Claus and gifts—gifts—and gifts. The Plain Dealer is loaded with pounds and pounds of glittery department store Christmas bargains. Even the religious organizations bombard us with requests for contributions—BUT ! if the Birth of Christ is mentioned, it’s either in hushed tones or as an afterthought.

Guess the pandemonium that would occur if school vacations were cancelled in December in favor of a later seasonal vacation in March. Would anyone complain that they could not celebrate the Baby in the Manger? I don’t think so!, but I’m sure they would rage about cancelled vacations to Florida or Disneyland, or like Thanksgiving — the absence of a big family gathering and lots of goodies to eat. (Admit it, the Lord’s beneficence has already been superseded with a big fat turkey).

I have a suggestion to make because I value celebrating both the earlier Advent observance and the Birth of Christ on Christmas and rebuff and snub the efforts of Kaufman’s, JC Penney’s, and all the other purveyors of glitzy consumer goods — to dim the rationale of a profoundly Christian experience to a secular opportunity to improve the economy by selling dry goods and as Fr O’Donnell mentioned, a chance to get drunk if loneliness overcomes you.

My suggestion is not to resist the mind conditioning efforts of TV, radio, PD, or the retail consumer hucksters. Let them have their day!!!

I suggest that Christians settle on another date such as the Orthodox date of January 6 to truly celebrate the sublime Birth of Christ.

If five or 10 or 15 people are interested – contact me. I can be contacted by email at zorba2wo @ aol.com.