A Catholic Clergy Perspective: TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (A): GOD’S VINEYARD WAS CREATED FOR HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE! WE ARE CALLED TO EMULATE IT BY FOLLOWING IN HIS WAYS! by Deacon Jim Merle

Friday, October 2, 2026

TWENTY-SEVENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME (A): GOD’S VINEYARD WAS CREATED FOR HIS CHOSEN PEOPLE! WE ARE CALLED TO EMULATE IT BY FOLLOWING IN HIS WAYS! by Deacon Jim Merle

During formation as a deacon, we were taught to balance our commitments by not taking on more than we can manage. A handy hint we were given was to use one calendar to balance church and personal matters to avoid duplications and/or overbookings. It works most of the time except for unexpected items such as injuries, illnesses and deaths which need immediate attention.

Looking at our Gospel and readings for this 27^th Sunday in Ordinary Time it seems like the people in those days did not keep track of their actions. They let their promises to God about being faithful to the Covenant God made with Moses fall to the wayside to the point of disobedience and facing severe punishment.

To understand Jesus’ vineyard allegory, the vineyard is Israel, the tenant farmers are Israel’s leaders, the householder is God, the servants are the prophets and the Son is Jesus. We initially see God’s love, mercy and forgiveness for His chosen people. As time passed, people disobeyed God to the point of killing prophets and even Jesus by crucifixion.

Today, our Catholic vineyard is our Church represented by Pope Leo XIV, bishops, priests, deacons, religious and laity in archdioceses and dioceses. The Covenant is now between the Blessed Trinity and all who were initiated with Baptism, Eucharist and Confirmation and those who practice their faith by being present to one another as God is to us.

And, yet there are still negativities that exist in our Church that make people question if this is a faith they want to follow. Various Catholic publications write about global Catholicism that include communities facing different political, economic and cultural pressures. Debates over liturgy, women, sexuality, social justice, migration, war, poverty and environmental responsibility take place within this diverse setting.

Church leaders also balance universal doctrine with pastoral decisions made by bishops and local churches. Global media makes those internal disagreements more visible than in earlier eras.

Because of this, we are seeing Catholics leave the Church more than ever to embrace other faiths or none. Some condemn what they have witnessed while others take stands that have no merit other than accusations heard from third party Christians and non-Christians. Much like the Pharisees, they make empty appearances but do little to clarify what is happening to change things for the better. By doing so, Catholicism is slowly becoming an absentee faith as witnessed by the dwindling numbers throughout the world.

On a positive note, the Diocese of Orange, California, in which I serve, has decided as part of celebrating their 50^th anniversary to be a positive force for the future. In August they rented a major sports arena used by professional hockey and arena football teams to kick off an evangelization meeting of 58 parishes and 6 centers representing 1.3 million parishioners.

As Auxiliary Bishop Timothy Freyer said in his invitation, it would be a time of “inspirational testimonies, great music, fellowship, prayer and a time of renewal and outpouring of the Holy Spirit” for those whose “faith is on fire, stuck in a rut…to those who have doubts…wondering where God is in one’s life. Come and allow the Lord to meet you where you are at and to show you that there is more to your life, this time of ‘There’s More.”

Jesus has given us a path to follow so that all believers have an opportunity to become involved by emulating Jesus in all that He does as God’s son and as our Messiah. But to do that, we need to put aside those parts in our life which cause us to fail.

Bishop Freyer added that “we recognize that the Lord came, and He said in John’s Gospel that we would have life in abundance. Not just life of mediocrity, not just getting through the week to get to the weekend, not just passing the days, but have life in abundance, to be overwhelmed by His love and then to share that love with our brothers and sisters.”

We need to simplify our relationship with God by first listening to how He wants us to live our life by understanding the Gospel message He delivers every time in word and action. The key word to remember is Love. Everything God does is based on His love starting with creation and then in the everyday circumstance of our life.

If we can put aside areas we believe are problems, and instead embrace the positives of our thoughts, words and actions in our presence to others, God will become our center allowing us to follow His ways as our ways. The vineyard will then produce amazing fruits of Christian life, much more than attempt at external, token, gestures of conformity to God’s will.

Let us take this week to look at where we are shortsighted when it comes to making change for the better in our faith. Take an attitude of simplicity by trusting fully in God’s words and actions so they become ours automatically to produce immediate results of leading a Christian life. As God’s people, we are all called to be active members of the Body of Christ, the Christian community and the Church. It becomes the fundamental purpose of our lives.

Reading 1:     Isaiah 5:1 – 7
Psalm:            80:9, 12 – 16, 19 – 20
Reading 2:     Philippians 4:6 – 9
Gospel:          Matthew 21:33 - 43

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Bishop Kevin W. Vann, JCD, DD, D MIN

He was ordained on May 30, 1981, and was assigned to graduate studies in canon law at the Angelicum in Rome, with residence at the graduate house of the North American College, the Casa Santa Maria dell’ Umilta. Pope Leo XIV, when a priest, also attended these classes at the same time. Upon returning to the Diocese of Springfield, Illinois, Father Vann participated in the work of the Diocesan Tribunal and the Tribunal of Second Instance in Chicago. He served as pastor of parishes ranging in size from 35 to 1,300 families, two which had large schools. He taught canon law at Kenrick Seminary. Before he was named bishop, he was pastor of Blessed Sacrament Parish in Springfield, Vicar for Priests and the Diocesan contact for Hispanic Ministry. Bishop Vann was ordained and installed as the third bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Forth Worth, Texas, on July 13, 2005, at Texas Christian University’s Daniel-Meyer Coliseum. In Texas, he collaborated closely with other bishops through the Texas Catholic Conference and Region X, which includes dioceses of States of Texas, Oklahoma and Arkansas. He is the former Texas Bishops’ Liaison to the Texas Mission Council and Texas Catholic hospitals. And, through the U.S. Conference of Bishops, Bishop Vann was a leader in the Texas Conference of Bishops, providing leadership for various initiatives at the national level, including service on ad hoc committee which assisted the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) to guide the incorporation of Anglican groups into the Catholic Church of the United States. On September 21, 2012, Pope Benedict XVI announced Bishop Vann’s appointment as the fourth bishop of Orange, the 11th largest diocese in the country and the second-largest west of the Mississippi with 1.3 million multicultural Catholics. He continues to lead the historic effort to transform the former Crystal Cathedral from a world-renowned center of Protestant worship into the West Coast’s most visible center of Catholicism.

Father Glenn Baaten

A priest of the ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter, a community with the Catholic Church made up of former Anglicans and Episcopalians. He Currently serves as Parish Administrator of St. John Henry Newman Catholic Church in Irvine and as Chaplain of Santiago Retreat Center in Silverado. His ministry within the Diocese of Orange, California, is a collaborative appointment by Bishop Steven Lopes and Bishop Kevin Vann. Fr. Glenn was ordained to the Catholic priesthood on June 24, 2016, the Feast of St. John the Baptist. His journey to the Catholic Church followed years of faithful ministry in Protestant communities. He was ordained a Presbyterian pastor in 1998 and served a PCUSA parish in Cincinnati, Ohio. After returning to California in 2010, he discerned a call to Anglican ministry and was ordained in the Church of England tradition in 2013. He relinquished his Anglican holy orders and, after catechesis, was received into the Church on Christmas eve of that year. Fr. Glenn has been married to Cathy for 42 years. They are the blessed parents of two adult children and grandparents of three. His ministry is marked by a strong commitment to evangelization, Christian unity and sacred beauty of the liturgy. As a follower of Christ these many past decades – most especially as a priest – Fr. Glenn is committed to sharing the grace and love of Jesus to all and living the depth of that faith in the fulness of the Catholic Church.

Deacon Jim Merle

Deacon Jim was ordained 20 years ago on April 30, 2005, and lives in Southern California where he has served the Catholic Church on parish, diocesan and national levels. He periodically writes Pastoral Letters for church bulletins, as well as articles for the Diaconate community’s “Bowl & Towel” and the diocesan newspaper in addition to “A Catholic Deacon’s Perspective,” recently renamed “A Catholic Clergy’s Perspective” with the addition of Bishop Kevin W. Vann and Fr. Glenn Baaten as periodic writers. On the parish level he has served at three parishes involved in helping with Sacramental training, Faith Formation and annulments. His diocesan involvements include a six-year term on the Diaconate Personnel Board, a founding committee member of the God’s Servants Committee (an educational component of quarterly meetings for active deacons), as a Master of Ceremonies at Confirmations, ordinations, installations and other ceremonies, an Advanced Master Catechist Certification to teach theological and certification classes and recently was selected to head up a Deanery Council of Deacons and their wives to support their ordination faculties and activities in each of the seven deaneries. On a local and national level, he coordinated the Catholic Campaign for Human Development (CCHD) diocesan board for 14 years. CCHD is the domestic social justice arm of the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB) which distribute parishioner’s donations for non-profit organizations to empower the impoverished, marginalized and disenfranchised who have social justice needs. In his early career he was a writer/reporter for a well-known Chicago newspaper, as well as owning a public relations/advertising firm. He is now semi-retired and works parttime in two professional practices he owns. On a personal note, he is married 57 years, helped rear four children with his wife, a grandfather to 10 grandchildren and a great grandfather to six great grandchildren.

BLOG INTRODUCTION

Scripture is like the eyes into God’s soul. Whether from the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) or the New Testament, we can garner, as best we can, who God is (what He feels and how He thinks in human terms). The original and current purpose of this blog, which began in 2019, is to take a three-year cycle of A, B and C Gospels and readings from each Sunday and provide a perspective as it pertains to our current lives as seen through the eyes of a Catholic clergy who serve Catholics in words and deeds per their ordination. Since completing the three-year cycles, it has been expanded to investigate the areas of Commentaries, Scripture and Theology. It is because of that the blog will now have writings from Bishop Kevin Vann, Ordinary of the Diocese of Orange, California, Father Glenn Baaten, a former Anglican priest, ordained into the Roman Catholic Church as a priest, and Deacon Jim Merle, who recently celebrated his 20th year ordination and started this blog. Bishop Vann and Father Glenn will author articles on a periodic basis based upon the time they have to devote to the blog. Deacon Jim will continue to offer weekly articles, still based on the three-year cycle along with various current events that challenge us to balance our humanity with our spiritual lives. The hope is that you, our subscribers, will see this as something of value to help you grow closer to the Lord.