Beloved brothers and sisters in Christ,
At the start of a new school year and my second year as your pastor, I feel the joy of new beginning and the poverty of my ability to meet all the needs of seven parishes and St Mary School. At times that seems like Mt. Rainier, but I remember many hiking and country skiing trips. I know that the way to reach the top is one step at a time and taking time to enjoy the view. My faith in my priesthood grows as I see Divine Providence in so many blessings this past year. We are certainly not stuck and many things point to an exciting future in each of our parishes.
We have a committed School Commission, a growing student body at St Mary School, the School Finance Committee is planning a capital campaign to assure annual funding, Pastoral Councils are active in each parish and Our Lady of Good Help is raising $50,000 to repair and paint the rectory. This is what stewardship of Time, Talent and Treasure looks like in action. Stewardship is growing our faith by being active in promoting the joy of the Gospel. Pope Francis is leading us to reach out the margins in prayer in dispensing corporal and spiritual works of love.
I feel compelled to ask you to be generous with your time and talent. I need you. I am spread so thin, that it has been impossible for me to address of all of the things that need to be done to have an active spiritual life in each parish. I need you! I need you as a teacher or aide in religious education. If each class is shared, no one is forced to give up their entire family or personal life for the year. I need you as a witness to the joy of the Gospel as lector, sacristan, usher, choir member, or altar server. If we share participation in the liturgy, we experience a more profound sense of reverence and worship. I need you, on a Pastoral Council. Each year we should bring on two new members, so that each Council stays fresh. Some have been serving for over ten years, due to the failure of others to take their turn in serving the parish.
Each spring we make the Annual Catholic Appeal to support the Archdiocese asking those unable to contribute Treasure to pledge their Time to pray for the Church and the Parish. This is a sincere call to prayer. If we pray at home, come to Mass and Adoration of the Eucharist, we will see that the needs of the parish and parishioners will be met. I am convinced that God is calling us to greater participation in his Church. I am moved to speak of God’s mercy in Confession and of God’s abundant blessings in Holy Matrimony to help Catholics come into full communion with God. Each time you hear a homily about submission to God and Church teaching you should remember that your priests and pastor are among you as ones who serve. Mercy and the obligation to serve are implied in the Gospel. Joy over God’s blessings make us glad to meet our obligations to God in his Church.
There is a way for each of us to grow in holiness and to personally experience the love of God who desires to cover us with the assurance that we are beloved. This is the great secret of the Holy Spirit—God wants to penetrate every heart with the fullness of his love. Knowing that we are a beloved son or daughter of God, heals the profound wounds that lay hidden in our hearts. If you sense that you are holding back or that giving yourself to God completely will somehow rob you of joy and happiness, you are experiencing the deception that flows from human woundedness.
I assure you that there is more to this Catholic way of life and each one of us can come into an encounter with the fullness of God’s love in Jesus. This is the power of the saints and the power of what Pope Frances calls the joy of the Gospel. Christ is present among us to heal us.
Your servant in Christ, Father Paul