‘My bucket list from heaven’:
$50,000 grant will lead priest on journey of a lifetime
A statue of St. Paul stands outside the Basilica of St. Paul Outside-the-Walls in Rome, which is believed to have been built over his burial place. Father Stephen Banet, pastor of St. Jude Parish in Indianapolis, will be following in the footsteps of St. Paul, including a trip to Rome, during an upcoming sabbatical funded by a grant from Lilly Endowment Inc. (File photo by Sean Gallagher)
By John Shaughnessy
Father Stephen Banet laughingly calls it “My Bucket List from Heaven.”
For the next four months, the 60-year-old pastor of St. Jude Parish in Indianapolis will get to live several of his longtime “dream” experiences—thanks to a $50,000 grant that he and his parish received from Lilly Endowment’s 2009 Clergy Renewal Program for Indiana Congregations.
Leaving Indianapolis on Aug. 18, Father Banet will begin a series of whirlwind adventures that he hopes will renew him and further revitalize the parish he has guided for the past seven years.
Start with his trip to Russia, Germany, Sweden, Denmark and Finland to visit religious and cultural sites.
“That will be good for my own spirituality and also bringing back to the parish that sense of living in different cultures,” Father Banet says. “It will show the unity of our faith and the diversity in which we practice it.”
Then he will travel to the Dolomite Mountains in Northern Italy, “where some of the most ancient finds of civilization have been discovered.”
Father Banet plans to use such journeys as an educational tool for the students of St. Jude School, who can learn about the geography, history and religion of foreign places as they track their pastor’s adventures.
“I will hike and reflect in the midst of God’s creation, connecting our past with the present,” says Father Banet, a priest for 32 years. “At the same time, this will give our parish students the opportunity to compare these mountains with the Rocky Mountains.”
In Italy, he will also attend two week-long cooking schools in the scenic Tuscany area.
“So much of the ministry of Jesus was centered on ‘table’ sharing,” Father Banet says. “This opportunity will be a great way to broaden my knowledge on how to cook meals that I will in turn be able to share with the parish, friends and family upon my return, connecting what happens at the altar in the church with the altar-table in the home.”
With a laugh, Father Banet adds that the cooking lessons will be especially appreciated by the people he invites to the rectory for dinner, including one fellow priest who smiled and gave him a review of “no stars” after eating one of his Italian dishes.
He will also visit Greece and Turkey, following in the path that St. Paul traveled as he shared Christ’s message with people.
“To complete Paul’s steps, I will travel to Rome and spend time at the places where Paul last preached and was martyred,” Father Banet says. “That’s one of the greatest things I’m looking forward to—to be immersed in those areas, to connect the Scripture with our lives and how we live those words.”
If it all seems like the trip of a lifetime, Father Banet is the first to agree.
“In applying for this Lilly Endowment grant, a senior vice president for religion at the Endowment challenged participants to consider ‘What will make your heart sing?’ ” Father Banet recalls. “I must say that receiving this grant is humbling. It is a ‘bucket list’ come true and would never have been able to be realized without Lilly Endowment Inc.”
Father Banet’s reference to “the bucket list” recalls the 2007 movie of the same name that tells the story of two men making a road trip to do a list of things they have always wanted to do.
The Lilly Endowment started the clergy renewal program in 1999. Since then, 336 grants have been provided to Indiana congregations. Thirty grants—ranging from $50,000 to $26,000—were made this year. St. Jude Parish was the only parish in the archdiocese to receive a grant this year.
“We hear wonderful stories from pastors and congregations that have participated in this program in the past 11 years,” notes Craig Dykstra, the Endowment’s senior vice president for religion, in a press release. “The pastors tell us that their sabbaticals have given them new energy for ministry, and often a fresh vision for how they can do it better.”
The program should also help to continue to revitalize St. Jude Parish, Dykstra believes.
“Church members usually gain new appreciation for all that their pastors do,” Dykstra says. “They also discover talents and capacities for ministry among themselves that come to the fore during their pastor’s absence.”
Father Banet hopes his four-month sabbatical will be a win-win experience for him and the parish. A fan of Stephen Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Father Banet believes his sabbatical will renew him physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally.
“The feeling is if you’re renewed as a leader, that energy will re-charge the parish, too,” he says. “The parish will use the renewal program time to assess its strengths or gifts, and take more personal responsibility and ownership of our faith community’s journey.”
During Father Banet’s sabbatical, the parish will be led by Father Donald Buchanan, a diocesan priest and retired U.S. Navy chaplain who previously has assisted at St. Jude Parish on various weekends during the past few years.
“That is also very much a gift,” Father Banet says. “Not only was he willing to come, but he said he would be there the whole time. It says an awful lot about the parish that he would like to be here.”
After returning from Europe, Father Banet’s sabbatical will continue in three phases in the United States.
He will spend 10 days at Our Lady of Florida Spiritual Center to reflect upon his experiences in Europe. Then he will return to Indiana for the most personal part of his extended journey. He will visit his family’s home in Floyds Knobs to celebrate Thanksgiving with his parents, Odell and Berniece—a visit that will also let him take part in an early celebration of his father’s 90th birthday.
The last part of his trip will take him to the Jesuit Spirituality Center at St. Charles College in Grand Coteau, La.
“I will participate in a directed retreat for further growth in my spiritual life by assimilating the experiences I have gained from these renewal activities. I will then return to the parish [in] mid-Advent,” Father Banet says.
He views the extended trip as one more blessing in his life as a priest, a life that has been marked by many blessings.
“This is a gift to me and a gift to the parish.” †
