Pastor’s Corner — January 5th, 2025
My Overall Vision as Pastor
Last summer in a staff development day, I shared again with my staff the vision I have for the parish. While I’ve written a much longer (and more detailed) version of this around our core strategies that can’t fit in the bulletin, I want to offer you an abridged version of the vision I have for the parish.
St Pat’s is a place where people come to meet the living God. It’s where people come to know Jesus and are healed and saved by him. Not only is the parish alive with unmistakable signs of his presence in everything we do, it’s also a place of expectant faith where it is common to hear testimonies of people encountering his transforming love. It’s where people learn to hear his voice, where they discover who they are in him, and where people grow in following him with reckless abandon.
St Pat’s is a place where disciples of Jesus never try following him alone, but are connected with each other in meaningful relationships, supporting each other in this short life on the way to Christ. It’s where disciples of all ages grow to spiritual maturity, not only in their own relationship with God and each other, but in also knowing how to communicate effectively the truth of God to the unbelieving world around us. It’s a place of spiritual nourishment from which disciples are sent into the world to manifest the love of God in their marriages, workplaces, and local communities through the gifts and strengths that God gives to them in the Holy Spirit.
We’ve come a long way on this vision, but we have so much more work to do. Come, Holy Spirit!
Encounter Leaders Retreat
This week I’ll be gone for the annual Encounter Ministries Leaders retreat. Please pray for us. I’ll be back on Saturday.
Good News Cruise 2026
A few months ago, I accepted an invitation to be one of the speakers on the Good News Cruise 2026 which is a Catholic cruise for married couples. You may have seen the flyers for this or read about it online. I’ve never been on a cruise before, let alone a Catholic one. But I’m excited that we already have dozens of parishioners signed up for it.
Your servant in the Lord,
Fr. Mathias