We are approaching now the last week of October and the liturgical year is quickly coming to a close, as Advent looms quick on the horizon. We are grateful for the many of you who responded with generosity in enrolling for the various ministries of the parish at our Ministry Fair. If you missed the opportunity and are still interested, please make contact with the parish office. We are still especially in need of Ministers of Holy Communion to serve the nursing homes in our area. We would also like to be able to open the food pantry more than just three hours on a Wednesday. If you have any time to volunteer please let us know. Over the past year we have done some significant remodeling of the pantry so that both volunteers and clients feel safe given the protocols for the pandemic.
There have been some personnel moves here at the parish over the past week. First, Melissa Dayton has resigned as Director of Faith Formation for family reasons, so we are actively searching for a replacement for her. We are all grateful for the ministry she provided to our parish community. Her tenure, though short, did see a strengthening of the parish religious education programs, and some positive initiatives on the adult and family catechesis. We are fortunate to have a strong professional staff in the office, so we are able to cover the position until we find the right person to lead us into the future.
Likewise, we have brought Patti Dickens to the staff as a part-time Director of Stewardship. You are familiar with her as a past president of the Vincent de Paul Society, and as the Director of the Raine Foundation. Her responsibility here will be to assist the parish – church and school – in preparing for the future through securing grants, legacy gifts, and other contributions. Financial margins, which I will discuss in future missives, are always tight in parish and school work. Securing the future of the parish is an essential task of my role as pastor and certainly I am happy now to be assisted by a positive and successful associate in Patti.
As you know I was on the vocations circuit speaking tour for several weeks at the end of September and into October, as a prelude to the launch of the diocesan wide “Called by Name” program. The pending crisis in our diocese for a lack of available pastors and parochial vicars to serve the parishes looms large. It is not just through our prayers but also through our active work of promoting and encouraging vocations that we will succeed. This has become our responsibility.
As you know last Sunday we opened the Diocesan phase of the Universal Synod with Mass at the Cathedral. If you get the opportunity I would encourage you to read information about the synod on the diocesan website and in the Monitor. I especially encourage you to view the Mass and listen to the homily on the website. While Bishop O’Connell is always an excellent homilist, I felt that the homily he delivered last Sunday was especially poignant and powerful, and I told him so. You will find a prayer for the Synod in the bulletin and we will be praying it regularly each Sunday during this synodal process.
Overall, things are going well here with the church and the school. I am happy to say that the number of covid cases in the school is at zero, and that we are maintaining all of the protocols necessary to keep our students, faculty, and staff safe.