BasiliCAST 13: Fr. Daniel Griffith's Pastorate Retrospective

Gratitude and a Call to Deeper Discipleship: Fr. Daniel Griffith closes a four-year pastorate at The Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis, MN, a time characterized by pastoral leadership, community engagement, and stewardship of a landmark church. He will become the Vice President of Mission at University of Saint Thomas. 

Transcript

Welcome And Why This Conversation

SPEAKER_01 0:04

So uh welcome uh to our viewers of another edition of uh Basilicast, which uh I'm very happy that we have undertaken that uh project and that important way of communicating uh as a parish. I think our staff members who have been intro integral to that and also a parish couple uh who generously made this uh happen. One of the challenges was that we with luminescence and then uh the building project uh and all the work that it's required, uh it just takes a lot to produce these, and uh we hope to get more of them to you. There's a a great new one that that our our colleague Dr. Johan von Peers did on the windows, uh the exquisite windows. But I thought, uh, Janice, as I am preparing to end my ministry as pastor, that it uh might be helpful to just reflect on the last four years and and particularly with you, as we overlap in so many areas and have so many kind of shared passions, including restorative justice, to just uh talk with you and you have a set of uh questions uh to just reflect. And uh and again, you know, this is an opportunity to communicate with our wonderful parish community and even more broadly because people access this uh in many different places. So yeah, good to be with you.

SPEAKER_00 1:26

Thank you. It's an honor to be here, uh Father Daniel. And uh lots of mixed feelings as you leave, but it's good to to take this time together.

Gratitude And The Bittersweet Transition

SPEAKER_00 1:35

I I'd like to start by asking you to think about as you prepare to conclude your ministry here at the Basilica of St. Mary, what's been on your heart and mind most uh poignantly?

SPEAKER_01 1:46

Uh uh really w particularly the first word that comes to mind is gratitude. I'm just really grateful for the opportunity to pastor such a fine parish. Uh it's an honor. I can't think of anything uh more of an honor in the in the diocese here and because it's such an extraordinary parish. And I was able to communicate that to some parishioners the other evening. Uh just uh there's few parishes like the basilica in the country, and I I think we can say that with gratitude, not with a pride or any sort of kind of self-re referentiality, but in a in a grateful way, and and so that's been my overwhelming emotion, but also just um surreal is another word that I would point to, and also um bittersweet. Uh I I look forward to the work at St. Thomas, but I've made some really good friends here. Uh it's it's an honor always to be a pastor and to journey with people. And so the fact that it's I'm leaving after four years, you don't really think that way as a pastor. You think a minimum of six and and usually a maximum of twelve. Uh some pastors are extended to eighteen in in certain circumstances. I know Father John was here for more than fifteen years or fifteen years, Father Michael, the uh now Michael. Uh but um so to leave after four years, it still seems a little surreal. Uh and I think I don't want to speak for Father Tal, but it might be for him as well, because he was, I think, preparing to retire from St. Hubert and in Chan Hassan. But uh gratitude. Um and also w what I've communicated to people who I've become friends with and we've become friends, uh, is the friendship continues. You know, sometimes there's this great chasm thought between St. Paul and Minneapolis, and I'm only across the river. The other cool thing too is I'm with the mission work, and we'll get into the nature of what that entails, but uh there's a whole m Minneapolis St. Thomas campus that I will be part of. So I will part my ministry will take me to Minneapolis uh to to attend programming and do other things with the with the schools uh in Minneapolis.

SPEAKER_00 4:09

Yeah, wow, powerful. And uh certainly some of our uh parishioners also share some of those feelings as you as you named around being surprised, et cetera. Um as we look back at the last four years, uh what are some of the most significant highlights that you might articulate, or or maybe there's some important events that that took place that uh you would like to name?

Listening Sessions And Parish Priorities

SPEAKER_01 4:34

Well, the first that I would uh say i uh highlight uh were the listening sessions in my first year. Um I found that really very helpful. Um and it was really in a spirit of charity and and true dialogue. Um I wanted to to to know what was on the hearts and minds. And it and there were some really important things that it helped me discern that were really important to the people of God here at the Basilica, one being that the importance of entering into a relationship with our inner faith uh communities. Um and I had the uh another highlight was to go uh to the South on a civil civil rights tour uh that first January, and it was really very powerful and moving and sad at the same time. I hope the parish takes the opportunity to do that. I know I think you've been on one.

SPEAKER_00 5:29

Yes, yeah, we hope so too.

SPEAKER_01 5:31

I think it's just it's so educational and moving. But the listening sessions were really helpful.

SPEAKER_00 5:38

Can I just clarify those listening sessions were it with the parish? So you gathered with groups, many, many groups of per parishioners. I just want to clarify that.

SPEAKER_01 5:48

And there may be some friends of the parish who weren't registered, but it was they were well attended. People spoke passionately.

SPEAKER_02 5:55

Yes, they do.

SPEAKER_01 5:56

About the role of women in the church, the need to have more young families engaged, which I think we're we're starting to tick up in that area. Um and uh all sorts of different different values, inclusion, uh that are uh that mark the basilica, and I think they were articulating need to be part of, you know, in an intentional way the culture of the parish.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

Yeah. How about any events?

SPEAKER_01 6:23

Were there any particular events besides the trip to the Yes, a number, a number of events.

Major Events Joy And Grief

SPEAKER_01 6:29

Um I'll start with some of the more positive events. Uh the hosting of Luminescence, which was in my I didn't know it at the time, but my final year at the parish was really extraordinary. Um to uh to open the doors of our church, our historic church, to more than uh a hundred thousand people uh was great. I really commend our staff. Uh all worked even harder than we might have imagined. Uh some that they were really working hard, and I really thank the staff. Um we took a leap. I think it was a reasoned leap. Um I had I had seen the show slightly before we started in Bordeaux, France. And that was I I knew that we were with a professional, and we did our due diligence, and I thank Archbishop Hebde again. You know, the reality is that that now they're going to start in Philadelphia in a couple of in a couple of weeks. I just got a note from the the head of the North American luminescence, um, is that in most dioceses it goes through all sorts of processes and it's you know tends to be you know to the chief legal counsel, which is fine, it's good. Well we have the we have the advantage of our archbishop has two law degrees, a civil law and a canon law, and he's also not a bureaucrat. So I sent him the sent him the website, he said, looks like looks great, looks exciting, and we went for it. Now we did some internally we did a lot of uh conversation, but I just thank Archbishop for trusting his parishes and trusting his pastors. So uh that was a huge event. I remember about halfway through my time uh having uh uh a Puccini opera here, and that was amazing. Um and I just I marveled at the basilica and its approach to arts and and music. Um you know that was really uh an extraordinary event. Um and then on the on the sadder side uh you know, we hosted the the Hortman funeral, the funeral for Melissa and Mark Hortman. Um I think it was very moving. There's nothing more moving than a Catholic funeral, but it was celebrated in the midst of great grief and sadness at the at the senseless and brutal killing of two servant-oriented people and their dog as well, which was sad. Um and then we we hosted an interfaith uh gathering the night after the Annunciation shooting. In fact, I was literally packing for France in August, and that's when I I ended up going in October because I I knew, you know, that that I shouldn't leave. Um and so we stayed and we we had a good turnout, it was moving, it was truly interfaith um how we set it up, and um, and I've just that's one of the things that marks a basilica is the open doors mentality. We're not we don't claim to be a perfect parish, we're not a perfect per parish. There's room to grow, and and we might get into some of that, but those two events, as sad as they were, really provided the opportunity for the basilica to open our doors, and I think they were moving. And then on top of that, you have all these. My first year I would come away from the parish, and I'm going, my, there's no place like the basilica. I mean, that just the excellence and the beauty, uh having vespers on on certain feast days or anticipating certain feast days. I think the the weekend of my installation uh at a a friend who was in town, uh a couple of friends, and we attended the um the anticipation of of uh the Assumption of Mary, uh and uh just so beautifully sung and and I know he took note uh about the beauty and and you don't always see that in parishes, the level of excellence and beauty.

SPEAKER_00 10:38

Yeah, wow. Um it's been a quite quite a last four years amazing when you think about that time. And you've spoken already just really many ways around how uh the Holy Spirit has just been enlivened through

Strengths Excellence Devotion Welcome

SPEAKER_00 10:54

the community. And uh I'm wondering if you could think of what the most significant strengths of the Basilica are might be.

SPEAKER_01 11:04

Yeah, I think I really think the commitment to excellence um we don't always hit it, but we do a lot. And and it's and it's comes out of a place of deep care for the liturgy, for Christian outreach, which you've shepherded so beautifully for 30 plus years, uh with um our our different when we like we take on one of these projects, we we want it to be uh we want to be hospitable, we want it to be excellent, and we and I I think most of the time it's it's oriented from a place of praising God and and thanking God. And um like when we do the Marian uh hymn in May and October and we all stand, you know, I just think those touches are beautiful. The other thing I've said to Johan, which I so appreciate, is and maybe it's because Johan came from Belgium and didn't have some of the baggage that we had in the United States around the Second Vatican Council. But what I love about the Basilica is we prioritize rightly the devotional life of the church. The Eucharist is center, source, and summit, but the devotional life is so important, and Pope Francis and Pope Leo particularly, because they were very close to the people, really emphasize the devotional life of the church. And Francis, as he could do from time to time, he would scold the kind of high-minded academics who think that somehow we've transcended the rosary or we've transcended Marian devotion. Well, Johann has not ever gone down that road, just the opposite, and the parish, too, including Father John and Michael, emphasize the entire treasury of the church and um including the devotional life. And so I added to that. Um I didn't know Pope Francis's last encyclical was going to be to promote the sacred heart of Jesus and First Friday devotion, and and so I just I think felt inspired uh to bring that. Now, usually devotions as a pastor come up from the people, so I don't tend to impose those. I did comment that I thought it was unusual that we didn't have a weekend rosary, and so people immediately stepped up, and now we have a weekend rosary. So once a month on the first Friday, we do the litany to the sacred heart and we pray for healing. Um and it's beautiful. We have adoration, uh, and it's really been wonderful to see. Um and then after it was a surprise, after we started that, literally months later, Pope Francis came out with this encyclical promoting the sacred heart. That's another strength of the parish. I've mentioned the open doors mentality. Somebody asked me my first year, what's your biggest surprise as pastor? And I said that I thought the basilica was more progressive than I've found it. And we can be progressive in some ways, which are good, but we also uh my role is to always teach what the church teaches, to teach it with compassion, to teach it hopefully with thoughtfulness, to engage people where they are. You know, when you see a person, you don't see first an issue or some thing to be navigated, but a fellow human being with a common humanity and dignity, and then you get into well, how does the church come at certain issues? Um but then to also so I said to this fellow, we've got ever we have everybody here. Big umbrella. As a big umbrella, and it's a big, vibrant uh urban parish. And so you literally have the entire spectrum of people, and um I think that's a wonderful thing. And I think that as a pastor, and I I know Father Talbot will do well in this area, is you have to be able to communicate to that entire swath of folks. And I just think that's a strength of the parish. We've mentioned that open doors mentality and culture that all are truly welcomed, all are loved by God, as Father John said for years, wherever you are on your journey of faith, you're welcome. And the reason I continued intentionally to say that at the beginning of Mass is because I believe it. I think it's really important that Father John said that. And I've been touched, people have come up. My message at the end is just to remind people how much God loves them. And I think it's so important that people know that.

SPEAKER_00 15:38

Yeah, beautiful. Well, you have been a real um strength for us as you preach so clearly Catholic social teaching and ground what's going on in the world in our faith, and so all of all of those things have fit well together uh as the spirit leads.

SPEAKER_01 15:59

And it was great to be able thank you, Janice. It was great to be able to see already, because I know you have a really good working knowledge of Catholic social teaching, and I we we've grown in restorative justice. So you and I, when I first came four years ago, were excited about what we could do with restorative justice, and boy, you're you and your team have just taken it. Um people may not know this, but you and I often when issues come up where there needs to be repair of harm in the Twin Cities or the Archdiocese, you and I are working collaboratively because you're a trained facilitator and have an extraordinary instinct uh and and gifts for restorative justice. So that's becoming uh a strength. I would say Catholic social teaching is so important, and now we have this moment, and I bet you they'll have it linked when this gets published. But Pope Leo's new encyclical, uh, I look forward to reading it this weekend. Um I think it's gonna be amazing. It's already gotten great reviews. If more bishops and priests could teach, I know Father Talbot has a love for Catholic social teaching. I had done some programming out at uh his parish in White Bear Lake. Um and so uh, you know, that also is is a strength.

SPEAKER_00 17:16

Yeah. Well, it's it to be where one is at at this at the time one is there, it's no coincidence. Yeah. And uh, you know, certainly uh our times have uh been grateful. We've been grateful to have your engagement.

SPEAKER_01 17:33

Well, thank you. Yeah, the Holy Spirit knows so much more than we do, and then we look back. But I want to add two other strengths because this is so true, and it comes up in it came up in the listening sessions, and then I saw it as a pastor, is Christian outreach, which you lead, and liturgy and music. Some of the most beautiful liturgies in the country, and I've I've told that by priests who go that when priests are in a in an urban area on on a weekend and they're not they don't have mass, they go to the place that's gonna have the most beautiful liturgy. And I hear time and time again that basilica's liturgies and music are the most beautiful in the country. The Christian outreach that you lead is extraordinary. And you know, somebody said, Well, are we gonna, you know, early on they don't know if a pastor's gonna cut this or cut that. And they said, with regard to some of the outreach programs, and we're we're always refining what what is working and what needs to change, but I said, This is the essence of the gospel. I mean, to to help our neighbor who is in need to cut that out. Yeah. I mean, you you'd literally be cutting out the heart of the gospel.

SPEAKER_00 18:42

And the opportunity for so many of our parishioners to engage in that work is just so fundamental.

SPEAKER_01 18:48

Right, and it's it's life-changing.

SPEAKER_00 18:49

Amen. Yeah.

Where The Basilica Can Grow Next

SPEAKER_00 18:51

So think you've you've mentioned a little bit about this already, but like where might you see some growth for further flourishing for the parish as you uh get ready to transition out?

SPEAKER_01 19:04

Yeah, I think um we're we're doing a good job uh with with families. Melissa Strike's done a great job with the with the uh children's faith formation, preparation for confirmation. I would say getting more and more young people involved in the life of the parish. Um sadly, Izzy Peters is uh I'm happy for her she was engaged and she's gonna be headed out to Virginia with her fiance who's starting at the law school, uh UVA law school in fall. And uh Izzy was such an important link to the Basilica Young Adults. So that group has grown. So more and more investing in young families and in young uh Catholics while not ignoring uh other folks, I think is really an area of growth. I think also the basilica being comfortable going out, you know, out into the community, out into the neighborhood, not thinking that people should just come here, but what are those ways? Uh the the um uh uh Loring Park Arts Festival is a great job, and and our chair of our parish council really encouraged us to do that, to be present there. The more times we can do that, I'm on the uh the Minneapolis Downtown Council, and and I did a lot of that when I first came, is whether it was the Interfaith Group or the Downtown Council trying to link to the city. The challenge is that I was not in the office as much as you know staff would like, and I I understand that that's always a tension and uh and it was real. Um but I think the importance of the parish willing to go out into the city. We of course did it with our final block party uh on Boom Island and was a nice way to end uh you know, that long and and and good run. But I think that, and then I would say Pope Francis noted this when he was elected Pope. He gave a stirring, like two and a half minute uh kind of fervorino exhortation, and he cautioned the universal church to not become self-referential, that that the light that the church has is not her own, it's the light of Christ. And the church's role is to reflect the the light of Christ. I think a challenge for the basilica, particularly because of how what an impressive place it is, is to move beyond self-referentiality. And I'll give you an example. There's a fellow, he's a friend, he's at the parish, and um he just could not believe that the archbishop would move me from basilica to St. Thomas. And he's a lawyer, he's a lawyer. He said, I'm a lawyer, there's something wrong. And uh so we were, you know, we had some dinner, and I'm like, I'm not gonna say his name. He's a he's a really good guy. And he's direct. I told him at a gathering like. Last night that he's a truth teller. In this case, he wasn't. He was wrong. But just the idea that the St. Thomas relationship is really important to the Archbishop. And I did say to Archbishop, I assume that this is the only assignment that you would move me from the Basilica for. And he laughed and said yes. But we I think the challenge is to see that the basilica is extraordinary and there is a big wide world outside of the doors of our church. And how do we engage that? I think this Basilicast is a is a good opportunity to engage folks beyond the parish.

SPEAKER_00 22:40

Yeah, certainly our parish partnerships is crucial to continue to build those and strengthen those.

New Role At University Of St. Thomas

SPEAKER_00 22:46

So you've kind of uh moved into your role at St. Thomas. I know there's a lot of people who wonder, like, what specifically will your role as as the vice president of mission be? So I'm wondering if you could articulate that in a succinct way so people know.

SPEAKER_01 23:04

Sure, absolutely. Uh I'll do this succinctly. Uh in a in a sense, I'm pastor for the whole university. So there's uh you know, one one of the ironic things I've said is I'll actually be doing more traditional priestly ministry in this role than I'm doing. And part of that is just the we have the building project and the campaign layered on top of the other responsibilities. But um I'll be engaging students, faculty on the I'll be the primary mission officer for the university, meaning to integrate the Catholic identity and mission of the university. Thankfully, we have the really the primary mission officer is President Rob Fisher, and he's one of the most articulate people uh in the area of Catholic higher education and Catholic social teaching. But I'll be doing uh faculty uh seminars. We there's one called Engaging the Mission, where one quarter have read papal encyclicals teachings. We get into you know how they might integrate that into their areas. I think that's gonna be fascinating. Uh I'll be celebrating Mass, including on Sundays, uh daily mass, uh so there's sacramental work, um, and then leading the you know the campus ministry team. We also have a center for the common good that reports to me, and then I'll bring the restorative justice initiative will become university wide.

SPEAKER_00 24:31

So which is exciting.

SPEAKER_01 24:33

Yeah. But similar to here, the first thing is to um you know, is to listen and learn and and learn the job. I'm not teaching the first year just because I I I thought it was wise to just understand the job and then see if teaching it would be in the area of restorative justice and law if I can continue to do that. I h I hope to, but it remains to be seen.

SPEAKER_00 25:00

So do you envision any potential collaboration at this moment between the Basilica and uh St. Thomas that would be growing?

SPEAKER_01 25:09

Certainly in restorative justice, in Catholic social teaching. Already there's collaboration uh with uh Dr. Jacob Benda and Patrick and Sam and our choir, which you've you've been there at St. Thomas. So to broaden that, what about in the area of arts? Uh I I could see a really fruitful collaboration there. So, yeah, there's already so many cross connections between Basilica and the and St. Thomas.

Restorative Justice Across Church And Campus

SPEAKER_00 25:38

Just to pull a thread for restorative justice for a moment, can you see any potential um priority for for taking restorative justice more deeply across the archdiocese?

unknown 25:51

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 25:52

I think so. So I was reappointed liaison for restorative justice and healing when I got my release from the Basilica Letter. And so I'll have another three years in that ministry. And you know, to look at ways to broaden uh the message, what happens is uh there's a knowledge gap, and people will prejudge restorative justice without knowing really what it is or how it works, or knowing the positive story of its effectiveness. So, and a lot of that a lot of time that happens through storytelling, to share a story. So to get the message out, uh I look forward to the two of us continuing to collaborate um and uh you know see where the spirit leads us. But my primary focus will be uh the initiative at St. Thomas. And and that can also be uh uh a gift, hopefully, uh to the Archdiocese as well.

Hopes For Father Talbot

SPEAKER_00 26:51

Certainly. Well, not too much time left, but I'm wondering if you think about uh what your hope for Father Talbot might be as he begins his ministry later this summer at the Basilica.

SPEAKER_01 27:02

Yeah, I well Father Talbot's gonna be great here. He he's you know, I was commenting to another priest friend that I haven't spent a lot of time with Father Talbot in the last number of years because we've both been so busy. And uh we we were out on a you know a donor trip and he was meeting some folks. He just has such great pastoral gifts. He's a good listener, uh he's very bright, um, he's got a great sense of humor. He loves the church, he loves Jesus, and he loves the people of God.

SPEAKER_02 27:33

Amen.

SPEAKER_01 27:34

And um and I think uh my hope is that that he would be open to listening to what is on the hearts and minds now as we transition in, we have this great opportunity to come back to a uh a newly restored church, but also to be mindful of the what's going on in society and how that affects people. Yeah. You know, because there's so many things, uh sources of anxiety, whether it be wars or mental health struggles or uncertainty economically, uh people are struggling, or uncertainty with regard to AI and future of employment. So to where where does Jesus' gospel as a pastor uh bring light and truth and and healing in some ways? And um, he's a lively preacher, he's a gifted preacher. Um and so I think he will, you know, really it's not it's even beyond a hope, it's really a great expectation that he will uh just be a wonderful shepherd. The other reality is he's just gonna be here more often. He'll he'll he doesn't have the restorative justice assignment or the St. Thomas assignment, which I had while I was at Basilica, and um he'll be more in the office than I was. Uh I think that's gonna be a good thing. Um I'll stay on the building project and on the fundraising. Uh uh so we'll collaborate in that area as well. But I'm I'm really uh I can't wait till Father Talbot begins in in August later this summer.

SPEAKER_02 29:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 29:07

Uh and and I really am excited about where the Holy Spirit's gonna take the Basilica in its next next epoch.

Final Spiritual Charge And Blessing

SPEAKER_00 29:15

So you started by talking about gratitude that you had, and I just want to, on behalf of the Basilica staff and parish, talk about our gratitude as well for who you've been, how you have been, and all you've given to this parish. I'm wondering if you have any closing thoughts as that you'd like to share.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

Well, thank you for that, Janice. It's been a real privilege to work together, and I look forward to that continuing. You know, I would just say to the to the folks listening, I would just end on a spiritual note and really exhort all of us to lean into Jesus' call to be good disciples, uh disciples after the heart of our Lord. And I think there's a number of dimensions to that, and these will be some of my closing messages and my preaching. You know, daily prayer that's sustained and and and uh uh integral to our spiritual lives. I think uh having that beautiful friendship with Jesus, all of our popes talk about that in the beginning of their of their writings. Um, knowing that the blessed mother is a gift uh that she was given by Jesus to all of us, and she will intercede on our behalf. This building and the and the fundraising, this would not have happened had the blessed mother not been interceding richly on our behalf, and it's really extraordinary, almost miraculous where we are on both. So invite parishioners on the spiritual side to reach out to Mary. Um the Mass, it's the most important hour of our week to make it that non-negotiable Sunday Mass, uh, so important in terms of the grace. I love the fact that we've been able to shift beautifully to the to Teresa of Calcutta Hall. I thank our staff and all our volunteers for that. But then most importantly, just to know that that you are loved, I am loved, you are loved, loved by a God who created us, redeemed us, and and has a place in heaven at the end of our days for us. And that love will always sustain us. No matter where we are, what our life looks like, uh that is a sustaining and transformative love.

SPEAKER_00 31:21

Knowing that, leaning on that, leaning into that. What a blessing.

SPEAKER_01 31:25

Amen. So I just thank everybody at the Basilica. It's been uh a beautiful four years, it's been challenging, it's been moving, uh, it's been exhilarating at times, it's been exhausting at times, but it has been an honor of my of my priestly life.

SPEAKER_00 31:41

Blessings and peace to you, thank you.