Do you remember Father Tom before his motorcycle?
Vocations are Everybody’s Business
Dear friends in Christ:
Years ago in The Texas Catholic Herald there was a little filler box that said “Vocations are everybody’s business!” How true! It should not be news that we are facing a severe shortage of priests today. The number of religious sisters has dropped even more. Parishes in many parts of our country and in other parts of the world are closing. At the same time, areas like ours are seeing an explosive growth of Catholics with parishes getting larger and larger and being served by fewer and fewer priests. I wish I had a magic wand to make vocations suddenly appear. But a magic wand is not the solution. The reality is that vocations have always been a challenge to the Church. Jesus knew this reality even during his earthly life and ministry. Knowing the challenge, Jesus has already given us the solution when he said:
“The harvest is plenty but the laborers are few. So beg the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest!” (Lk 10.2).
Twenty five years ago, St. John Vianney was the largest parish in Texas and one of the largest in the United States. We were blessed with three full time priests assigned to the parish, two priests to help on the weekends and three religious sisters on staff. Back then, we had a population of around 3,000 families. Today, we have 5,000 families with only one assigned priest, and we are not even the largest parish in our deanery! St. Elizabeth Ann Seton is more than twice our size. St. Cyril, Epiphany and St. Jerome all have more parishioners than SJV. We have been fortunate to have outside priests to help us, but that is becoming more difficult. I have asked the chancery that our parish be considered for an associate pastor (parochial vicar) in the future, but I know that the cardinal does not have a store room in the chancery filled with priests waiting for an assignment. Furthermore, there are parishes in even greater need than we are. We have a number of priests in our archdiocese who are past retirement age (75) and still serving in pastoral assignments and others nearing retirement. Happily, the vocations picture is showing some small positive signs both nationally and locally. Our parish is blessed to have five men in the seminary and two young women in religious life. But it is simply not enough. To meet the current level of priest personnel in our archdiocese, we need to ordain seven a year to the priesthood. This figure covers deaths and retirements but does not calculate for current or future growth. Over the last twenty years, we have averaged fewer than four ordinations per year. So we must beg, all of us, with all our hearts.
In addition to begging the Lord and praying to Him for more workers for his harvest, I would also like to say to any young man who may be considering a priestly vocation or young woman considering a vocation to the consecrated life, “Do not be afraid!” If God is calling you, He knows what He is doing! Trust God! This is a truly wonderful life! Does it have it hardships? Sure. What life worth living doesn’t? Is it rewarding and fulfilling? More than you can ever imagine! Do you have to be perfect to become a priest or a sister? Of course not (all you have to do is look at me or any priest or sister). You do have to want to be better every day and want to follow Jesus more closely. Perfection is not required, but love is. God gives us the grace to do his will. Are the priesthood and religious life a sacrifice? Yes. As a life of sacrifice, we realize that we can never out do God in his generosity to us or out do the sacrifice of Jesus for us! Why did I become a priest? Simple, I wanted to love and serve God, do something meaningful with my life and be happy! But more importantly, I became a priest because God wanted me to be happy in loving and serving Him and His Church. What about you? Do you want to be happy? Do you want to do something meaningful with your life? Do you love God and have a desire to serve Him and the Church? Pray to Lord and ask Him to help you discern if you have a religious or priestly vocation. The ultimate question is not “What do I want?” It is “What does God want for me?” What God wants from us is simple, it is “Yes, I will follow you Lord!”
Vocations are everybody’s business! What about your son or brother as a priest, or your daughter or sister as a religious sister? What about your friend who shows the qualities of a religious vocation? Ask them, encourage them, pray for them. “The harvest is plenty but the laborers are few. So beg the master of the harvest to send out laborers for his harvest!”
In Pace Christi,
Fr. Troy Gately
Thunderbirds Troop #598
The Boy Scouts of America began their charter, the Thunderbirds Troop #598.
Stewardship
Dear friends in Christ:
What a fantastic bazaar! Thank you to our more than 1500 volunteers, our generous underwriters and sponsors, our wonderful and dedicated staff and especially to Richard Fairly, the Bazaar Committee and the Parish Life Staff. What a great job! During these economically challenging times for the energy industry, which directly affects so many of our parishioners, we are grateful that so many continue to be so supportive of our efforts which aid so many people outside our parish who are less fortunate. There is not a week that goes by that I do not receive numerous requests for financial assistance from parishes, organizations and others seeking help. I only wish we had the ability to help everyone. Happily, we have been able to increase our charity work and grants over the last several years, even during economically challenging periods. We have more than doubled the number of recipients of our parish grants and increased the amount of our annual grants by ten times. We have also increased by multiple of more than ten times the amount given annually in sustaining grants to our sister parishes and area Catholic schools. The funding for these grants comes in part from the bazaar proceeds, but most of the funds come from our ordinary weekly stewardship.
There are many people throughout the Houston area whose lives are changed and made better because of our faithful discipleship and stewardship. We are indeed blessed by the Lord to be able to respond and to serve others.
Periodically, people ask about our parish finances. On our website, we have an Annual Report that includes a financial report on our income and expenses as well as other aspects on the status and health of our parish. By canon law (the universal law of the Catholic Church), the pastor is charged with the responsibility of prudently and faithfully managing the financial affairs of the parish. No pastor does this alone. By canon law and by archdiocesan policy, every pastor is to have a Finance Council to aid and guide the pastor in financial affairs. Further, here in the archdiocese, our financial records and activity are reviewed by the Chancery to ensure compliance with all laws, proper practices and policies. As pastor of St. John Vianney Parish, I am ably assisted by our Finance Department and Business Manager who assist in the budgeting, handling of all funds, record keeping, purchasing and accounts payable. As pastor, I, along with our Business Manager, Pete Prados and Finance Director, Belinda LeBeouf, make detailed quarterly reports to the parish Finance Council. There are also monthly summary reports to the Pastoral Council. Prior to any decisions concerning major expenditures both parochial councils are consulted. I am grateful to our dedicated and hardworking staff and to the Finance and Pastoral Councils for their wise counsel and sound advice. They all serve our parish well with their talent and expertise.
For specific details, you may refer to the Annual Report, but basically here is where we are at: We are doing fine, but we have been affected by the downturn in the energy industry and local economy. We have also seen a slight decrease in Sunday attendance due to construction, which has also affected our income. Our total income for the last year was down by about $400,000 (6.8%) from the previous year. By very carefully watching our spending and keeping some budgeted staff positions unfilled for the year, our expenditures were able to remain in budget and we were able to end the fiscal year (FY 15-16) without encountering a deficit. The Capital Campaign redemptions are on schedule and the construction project is within budget. As the construction bills come faster than the redemption payments of the capital campaign, a $5 MM bridge loan was secured. The loan is scheduled to be repaid within the term of the redemption period of the campaign. We do not anticipate any long term debt on the construction project. We have reached our DSF goal in pledges, but not payments though the pledged amount is less than the previous year. Checking with most other parishes in our area, our financial situation is actually better than most. Thank you for your continued support and dedication to our parish and for Living Faith, Changing Lives and Making a Difference!
In Pace Christi,
Fr. Troy Gately
Our Annual Bazaar is Here!
Dear Friends in Christ:
This is it! This is the weekend of our annual parish bazaar. For several hours, thousands of parishioners, neighbors and friends will all enjoy a wonderful day of fun, fellowship and of course, food! I sincerely hope that you will be part of the festivities and enjoy a fantastic day. A word of warning: Watch out for the long lines at the funnel cake booth and the pupusas booth! They are two of the perennial favorites and worth the wait, but all of our food booths have delectable offerings for every taste. Officially, the bazaar is only from around 10:30 a.m. until around 6:00 p.m. In reality, the bazaar is a yearlong endeavor. This day of fun takes more than 1500 volunteers to make it the great success that it has become. Headed up by Richard Fairly and our great Parish Life Department, the bazaar also involves all of our parish staff and departments, groups, ministries and organizations. It is the largest event of the year in which the entire parish comes together.
Some years ago the focus and rationale of the bazaar underwent a modification. Like many parishes and organizations, the net proceeds of the bazaar used to be designated for our ordinary parish budget. This meant it paid for the light bill, salaries, supplies, insurance, etc. There was nothing wrong with that. For some parishes and schools the bazaar funds are the only thing keeping them from having a budget deficit and falling in the red. After careful thought and consideration, it was decided that was not the best that we could do as a parish. The ordinary expenses of the parish should be covered by our regular, ordinary, weekly sacrificial stewardship. A deliberate decision was made that we would re-designate the proceeds of our bazaar so that they would be given totally to our charity endeavors. We would use these funds to add to our other charity work and assist those outside our parish. This meant the re-working of our parish budget. We sacrificed a little so that others might benefit a lot. But more than the financial aspects of the bazaar, we also changed the main reason as to why we have a bazaar in the first place. The primary objective of our bazaar is not financial, although that remains important. The primary objective is to build up the community life of our parish, to strengthen the bonds of friendship and work together for the common goal of making a positive difference for others. The bazaar is an opportunity for all of our parishioners, from all the different masses and groups to come together as one family. It is for our young and the old, our long time parishioners and our newest parishioners and everyone in between. We get to meet new people, renew old friendships and share some time together in a fun atmosphere.
In the Acts of the Apostles, there is a beautiful description of the early Church that we try to imitate here at SJV.
“They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles, the communal life, the breaking of the bread and to prayer” (Acts 2:42).
The bazaar is part of our communal life. We dedicate this Lord’s Day to offering God All Glory, Praise and Honor at Holy Mass and to spending this day with one another, having a lot of fun, some delicious food, sharing some laughs and doing good for others. As my East Texas relatives would say, “you can’t beat that with a stick!”
Enjoy the day and thank you for being such a beautiful parish!
In Pace Christi,
Fr. Troy Gately
… And still guiding traffic
Do you remember when Officer Red came to roost?
Is God Calling You to Serve?
Dear Friends in Christ:
A priest friend dropped by to visit the other day and was astonished at all of the activities going on at the parish on a weekday evening. Now my friend is pastor of a large and vibrant parish, but he was still amazed with all of our activities. Sometimes, because we are so close to everything and used to everything, we can forget how blessed we are with so many activities and offerings. Our many programs and ministries are indeed a blessing, but they do not just happen by themselves. Every activity takes the commitment, involvement and dedication of many people, parishioners and staff members. Nothing that takes place at our parish can happen without God’s grace and people responding to that grace.
Believe it or not, there is a method to the madness of our activities and programs. All of our activities, programs and ministries are structured around the example of the early apostolic church described in the New Testament. “They devoted themselves to the teaching of the apostles and to the communal life, to the breaking of bread and to the prayers.” (Acts 2:42) These are the four pillars on which all of our parish activities are based: Teaching (catechesis for youth and adults), Community Life (parish life, social service ministries), Eucharist (liturgy) and the Spiritual Life (pastoral care). Take a look at this bulletin or our website and see for yourself. Yet, as wonderful as these ministries and activities are, it still takes many people who are willing to be involved and engaged. In our parish of more than 15,000 registered parishioners, we have more than 3000 parishioners who serve in one form or the other in our parish ministries. Of course, some of our parishioners are elderly and homebound and can no longer get around and then we have the little ones and youngsters. That still leaves us with a lot of people able to serve in ministry.
What about you? Where is the Lord calling you to serve in our parish?
All of our ministries are eager to welcome others who desire to respond to God’s call. The opportunities to use your gifts and experience the joy of serving others are plentiful. Not every ministry is for everyone. God gives each of us certain gifts and talents. As St. Theresa of Calcutta teaches us ‘what one person can do another can’t but together everyone can do something beautiful for God!’ St. Therese of Lisieux teaches us that the Lord does not look at the greatness of our actions or even their difficulty, but at the love with which we do them. Our parish needs your love. One of the areas where we are especially in need of parishioners willing to serve is in the greatest act of all, our worship. We have need of more parishioners willing to serve as ushers, greeters, choir members and Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion. We are also in need of more parishioners willing to serve the sick, the youth and the poor. We are also in need of people willing to spend time in prayer (Eucharistic Adoration and Morning and Evening Prayer).
As you reflect on our parish ministries as structured around the four pillars of Teaching (formation), Communal Life, The Eucharist and Prayer, ask the Lord where He is calling you to serve. Look at the many gifts that God has given you and ask the Lord to help you share them in the service of others here in our parish. While many of us might say that we don’t have the time or the ability, the reality is that we can never out do God in generosity and the Lord never asks without giving us first His grace. If the Lord Jesus could multiple five loaves and two fish to feed thousands, think of what he can do with a couple of hours a week of our small effort!
In Pace Christi,
Fr. Troy Gately
Joseph’s Coat
Joseph’s Coat was opened honoring Father Joe, the outreaching priest.
Fun Times
Father Joe, seminarian Troy Gately, and Father Tom Rafferty entertained in the Activity Center.
Continuing the Vision
Dear Friends in Christ:
We are now entering an exciting phase in our building renovation project. The steel going up for the new bell tower and the marble floor being laid can now be seen. Soon the mosaics and the liturgical furniture will be installed and the new parking lot is nearing completion. There is still a great amount of work to do and it is going to be few more months before the project will be completed, but we can see things taking shape. As we move forward and eagerly look ahead, it is important for us to remind ourselves of a few important realities.
First, our building project is not about the building! This campaign was undertaken to commemorate our 50th Anniversary as a parish. It is officially called Continuing the Vision and that is what we are ultimately aiming to do. We aim to continue the vision of the mission of Christ in our little part of the world. This project, in which we desire to enhance our parish structures, is actually more about our desire to continually give God our best in everything.
D.O.M. – Deo Optimo et Maximo – To God the Greatest and the Best!
Our sacrifices and offerings manifest our desire of giving God glory in everything, in our service of others, in our words, in the liturgy, in the formation of youth and adults, in building up and celebrating our parish community, in our attitudes and in our prayer. Secondly, intrinsic and essential to our Catholic faith is that we are incarnational. Just as Jesus, the Eternal Word, assumed real human flesh to manifest God the Father’s love and to bring us salvation on the wood of the cross, our faith is not immaterial or void of matter. The Lord Jesus has given us the sacraments as means of his grace. We encounter that grace through water, oil, bread and wine, words spoken and hands laid. As Catholics, we are neither Quietists nor practitioners of Zen. We live and express our faith and beliefs with matter and form. We light candles and incense, sprinkle Holy Water, paint icons, build beautiful buildings, sing glorious music, carve statues, have processions, proclaim the word aloud with our voices, kneel, stand, make the sign of the cross, bow our heads and wear vestments. We feed the hungry, shelter the homeless, clothe the naked, instruct the ignorant, bury the dead, visit the sick and imprisoned, admonish sinners and comfort the sorrowful. We express ourselves and our faith in very demonstrable and material ways. We are not Manicheans or Albigensians or any of their modern day successors, who believe matter is bad or evil. We are Catholic. We reject the dualist notion that matter is bad or evil and only the spiritual and non-material is good. We believe the world was created good. While the world has been stained by the sin of man and suffers the effects of sin, creation remains a good gift to us from God, our creator.
Another important reality that we should keep in mind is that while we are indeed blessed to participate in this project and hopefully enjoy and benefit from the beauty that surrounds us and aids us in our worship of God, it is not ultimately for our own benefit. This is a gift to God and for all of those who come after us. It is an outward sign to all who see the cross high on the dome or hear the ringing of the bells that God is known and loved in this place and calls all people to Himself. This place is more than just a meeting hall. In Catholic theology, understanding and belief, a church has more than simply a utilitarian purpose. A church building is a monument, not to us or for us, but to the God who saves us. This place is a temple of true worship. We desire and pray that people years from now will be drawn to this holy temple and encounter the truth, beauty and goodness of the One God, Father of All, His Only Son, Jesus, the Redeemer of the World and the Holy Spirit, the Lord and Giver of Life.
In Pace Christi,
Fr. Troy Gately
A Christmas Tradition
Father Joe instituted Gift Giving Sunday. See comment below for clarification…
Communication and Evangelization
Dear friends in Christ:
As pastor, one of the biggest challenges I continually face (and there are more than just a few) is how to communicate effectively with more than 15,000 parishioners every week. If you will indulge me, I would like to list some of the obstacles to this one task. First, there is only one of me and more than 15,000 of you! Then there is the difficulty of me being at every Mass, meeting, class, event and function. My recent illness showed how limited I am. Conversely is the fact that not all of our parishioners show up every week (some for legitimate reasons, others – well…). Then there is the huge amount of information to communicate (the gospel message, parish news, theology, spirituality, social teaching, Church history, morality, larger church news, etc.). Added to this are the numerous means of communication (preaching at Mass, talks, classes, bulletin, website, mail, e-mail, internet, social media, etc.). I cannot fail to mention the three “official” languages in which Mass is offered in the parish: Portuguese – which I do not speak at all, Spanish – which I can read, but am limited in my speaking ability and English – which is difficult enough! One then must take into account, even when communication is attempted, not everyone hears the same message even when the same words are used! Although we have more means of communication than ever before, we also have less understanding than ever before! Obviously, for one person this is more than just a simple challenge.
Happily, communication does not have to be the exclusive responsibility of just one person. At St. John Vianney, we are greatly blessed with literally thousands of active parishioners and a tremendous staff who serve in roles of communicating our faith every day. Fortunately, the saving message of the Gospel of Jesus Christ is not the sole responsibility of the pastor. One of the great teachings of Vatican II is that the transmission of the gospel and the truths of the faith are not restricted to the clergy and vowed religious. That is true here at SJV and at every Catholic parish in the world. Priests, deacons, religious, lay ministers and all the faithful share in the vocation and mission of communicating, proclaiming and transmitting the gospel. This is called EVANGELIZATION, the sharing of the good news!
This means that there is not one “preacher of the gospel” at SJV but more than 15,000! Each one of us is called to be a preacher of the gospel in both word and in action!
Every Catholic has the responsibility to communicate the truth of the Catholic Faith, each and every day. But as the famous Latin dictum states: Non dat quid non habit (one cannot give what one does not have). For us to share the joy, beauty and truth of Jesus’ message of life and hope with others we must first possess it ourselves. It is part of our discipleship and the responsibility that comes with baptism that we continually learn about our faith, live our faith and share our faith. It is precisely in this learning, living and sharing that we grow in our faith!
Are you capable of accurately stating the basic tenets of the Catholic Faith? Can you answer simple questions correctly about the Bible? How comfortable are you to speak knowledgeably about the Catholic Faith with a non-Catholic friend? Please do not be embarrassed if you cannot answer “yes” to these questions, but please do something so you can. We have tremendous Adult Faith Formation Programs, from bible studies to marriage enrichment programs, from Church history to Church doctrine. We have an array of prayer groups, support groups and ministries.
In Pace Christi,
Fr. Troy Gately
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