Pastor’s Corner — February 11th, 2024
Thank you, Nancy Coffey!
It’s bittersweet to share with you a note to the parish from Nancy Coffey:
I’m writing to share with you a significant decision in my life. After four years of joyful service as Liturgy Coordinator, I’ve decided to retire this month. My years at St. Patrick have been some of the most fulfilling and rewarding of my life. I am deeply grateful for the support, love and fellowship that each of you has provided me during my time here. The decision to retire was not an easy one, but it comes from a place of love and responsibility. My Mom, who has been a source of inspiration and strength throughout my life, requires care that I feel called to provide. This season of my life is dedicated to being there for her, just as she has always been there for me. My family and I look forward to staying connected as St. Patrick Church parishioners. I plan to continue my service as a liturgical volunteer. May God bless you all, and may our paths continue to cross in His grace and love.
With heartfelt gratitude,
Nancy Coffey
I cannot thank Nancy enough for her tireless attentiveness and self-less service she has given to the parish around the Sacred Liturgy. She has played an indispensable role in helping us execute our liturgies so well. Moreover she truly typifies our core value of service (I Am Third), constantly putting the needs of others before her own. Her dedication to her family, which leads to her retirement also represents her living out our core value of family (Unconditional Belonging). While I’m happy she’ll remain a key volunteer and around the parish, she will be greatly missed by our parish staff. If you see her around the next week or two, please thank her for her service. Her last day is February 15th.
Anyone interested in being a part of our team as our part-time Liturgy Coordinator, helping us give glory to God through executing beautiful liturgies, please go here to apply.
Thank You for Your Financial Stewardship!
By now you should have received a tax-donation letter, outlining your donations to the parish for the 2023 tax year. We have had 1,733 individual families give to the parish this year. I truly honor everyone who, as good stewards of what God has given to you, chose to give some of your treasure to God by giving to his parish. I’ll say more about how your gifts furthered the mission of making Spirit-filled disciples in the fall when we publish the parish’s finances. But for now thank you!
I practice what I preach and I too give to the parish a certain percentage of my income on a regular basis. It matters a lot that we are doing God’s work at the parish and that it’s worth investing in. And as I preached about this fall, I will be increasing my percentage I’m giving to the parish as a way of trying to be a better steward of my resources. Thanks in advance for all of the sacrifices you make to help make St Pat’s effective in our mission.
Lenten Conversion, Fasting and Abstinence from Meat
As Catholics we believe that Lent is a special season of penance that helps prepare us to enter more deeply into celebrating the mysteries of Jesus’ passion, death and resurrection. Lent is a special time of deeper personal conversion in love. Therefore, we never undertake penances for their own sake; that would be silly. Everything we “give up” or every additional devotion we “add” must be for the sake of growing in greater conversion in receiving love from God or giving his love to others. Love is the point of it all. The Church enjoins penitential practices upon us because, as a good mother, she wishes that each of us love Jesus more perfectly. Lent is thus a perfect time to take seriously growing our spiritual life and our relationships.
If we were to compare how strict the Church practiced fasting and abstinence from meat just a few centuries ago to now, we would understand that what the Church is asking of us today is fairly weak. Below are the current Church norms for Lenten fasting and abstinence from meat here (from the USCCB website):
Ash Wednesday and Good Friday are obligatory days of fasting and abstinence for Catholics. In addition, Fridays during Lent are obligatory days of abstinence. For members of the Latin Catholic Church, the norms on fasting are obligatory from age 18 until age 59. When fasting, a person is permitted to eat one full meal, as well as two smaller meals that together are not equal to a full meal. The norms concerning abstinence from meat are binding upon members of the Latin Catholic Church from age 14 onwards.
Parking Lot Woes? Hopefully Not for Much Longer
If I had it my way, we’d have much more parking available at the parish. Already some Masses get so full that I’ve encouraged people to carpool to Mass. But we have to do with what we have. As we all can see it can get quite congested and dangerous in our parking lot around Door B (Main Entrance) before and after weekend Masses. So, last month we’ve announced at Mass a couple times (and put in in last week’s bulletin) that we are asking people to enter the large parking lot via Grand River and not to drive in front of Door B in order to create a less congested traffic experience for drivers and a safer one for pedestrians.
I received some good reviews from last week, even though I heard some were frustrated about the presence of cones. The orange cones are there on an ad experimentum basis to help us get used to different entrances to the parking lot.
• We are asking that if you want to park in either of these two lots, to please enter one of the two entrances off Grand River Avenue.
• Please try to not drive between the two lots before or after Weekend Masses. The cones are up to help us get used to this.
• Please only use Rickett Rd entrance for Sunday Masses only for handicapped parking, to drop someone off at Church under the carport (Door A entrance), and to park in the small lot.
• Please do not use the two-lane “Exit Only” to Rickett Rd as an entrance to the parking lot.
Lenten Breakfasts and Fish Fries
Keep your eyes peeled for the dates and times for our Lenten Breakfasts (Sunday mornings alternating times) and our St Pat’s School Dad’s Club Fish Fry, the first of which is this Friday, February 16th. More details can be found on the Upcoming Events page of the bulletin (page 5).
Your servant in the Lord,
Fr. Mathias