“Father, our meetings aren’t good.”

To be fair the meetings weren’t good. I had only been at the parish for about 5 months, but I had been internally (and externally) complaining about our team meetings since my first attendance. They were unorganized, had nothing to do with the actual work I did, and almost always wrapped up with 20 mintutes of gossip. We had good people on our team, but the meetings were far from productive for most of us. I decided that if that trend was ever going to change, I needed to approach the issue head on. I read everything I could on the Amazing Parish website, practiced the conversations in my head for a couple weeks, and decided to meet with my pastor. Father was typically super-approachable, warm, kind, and patient; I was certain he would be excited by my energy and practical solutions. It was time for a 1-on-1 meeting.