As we are nearing the end of the school year, we are also nearing the end of our fiscal year. This is a good time to bring you up to date on some of our temporal realities. First, I have no word yet on if or when we might get another priest. Pray for vocations and be patient in the Confession line! Secondly, this is a good news/bad news situation – Mass attendance has grown by 10% each of the last three years. That is wonderful! The bad news – more traffic. We have been studying ways in which we can address this “nice problem” of more people coming to Mass. Some changes will be taking place to better facilitate traffic, but they will take a few weeks to fully implement. As always, your courteous behavior, cooperation, patience, and understanding are needed and greatly appreciated. (If you would like to volunteer to help direct traffic, please contact Richard Fairly in the Parish Life Office.)
As mentioned, our Mass attendance has increased over the last few years. What has not increased is the number of donors to the parish. This has remained stagnant. We have had a rough economy during this time and so I know many people have been struggling with high prices and jobs. Our parish is a large parish with 5000 households. Some people think this translates to the parish not needing everyone’s financial support. Not so! Because we are a large parish, we also have LARGE bills! It seems every time I turn around there is another $50,000 bill for something. This summer we are replacing the carpet in the Church. That is around $400,000! Parking lots, lights, air conditioning, plumbing repairs, foundations and roofs – there is always something. However, our financial stewardship is not just about paying the bills. Our financial stewardship is part of our spiritual discipleship. As important as they are, we don’t just give to the needs; we offer our financial support in thanksgiving and as a spiritual offering and sacrifice for all the blessings we have received. We cannot all give equal gifts but we can all make an equal sacrifice and offer thanksgiving to the Lord.
We are in the process of re-organizing our Youth Formation program. Happily, our enrollment has doubled over the last several years. The model we have been following for the last few decades needs some updating. This year our staff has been addressing lesson content and curriculum. Next school year we will be implementing some changes to our Jr Hi and H.S. youth program that will enhance it and make things easier for our students and their families. Some of this is now possible because of the addition of Nazareth Hall and the Caritas Center. More information to come.
Lastly, the many activities, services, programs, apostolates and ministries we have depend upon our parishioners’ involvement, engagement and commitment. As members of God’s family, we all have a role to play in building up the Kingdom of God. None of us are called by God to be spectators or fans. We are called to be active members of His family, the Church. To be a follower of Jesus means we are called not to be served but to serve. There is not a single ministry in our parish that could not use more helping hands. Some ministries in fact are in great need. Liturgical ministries (ushers, greeters, Extraordinary Ministers of Holy Communion, Lectors, choir, etc.) Catechetical Formation (youth and adults), Social Services Ministries (ESL, Joseph’s Coat, Gabriel Project, Mission Teams etc.), Pastoral Ministries (Baptism Teams, Ministry to the Sick, Samaritans, Eucharistic Adoration, etc.) and Parish Life, are always looking for and need more people willing to commit to serve our parish. The Christian life is both personal and communal. We live our faith in both prayer and service. Where is God calling you to serve?