St. Peter and collaborative ministry

A Reflection for Thursday of the Twenty-second Week in Ordinary Time

Find today’s readings here.

I love Simon Peter. The New Testament makes it clear that he is the leader of the early church. But it is also clear that he made many mistakes.

The calling of Simon Peter is one of those Gospel passages Christians come back to over and over. By his own efforts, he was unable to catch any fish. But with Jesus’ help, he catches fish in abundance. Peter, awed by the miracle, is both humble and frightened. “Depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man.” 

What caught my attention most recently is that Peter, his nets tearing, needed to call for help. The mission that God has for us is not something we can do alone. 

The sentiment is expressed by the term “pastoral de conjunto,” more common in Latino Catholic circles. The nuanced term can be difficult to translate, but refers to a collaborative, evangelizing ministry. Latina theologian Ana María Pineda has described it as a move away from an individualistic and competitive stance toward one of harmonious coordination. Bringing about the reign of God is only possible through personal and structural conversion. In our daily lives, we must choose to live in communion with each other if we hope to answer God’s call to mission. 

A “pastoral de conjunto,” like the early church, is countercultural to American individualism. It recognizes that we are social creatures by our nature. Self-reliance is an illusion. God calls us each by name, as Simon Peter was called, and each of us makes a personal choice to answer. But if we choose to follow Christ, we choose to follow him in community. God calls us to work together.