Pastor’s Corner — July 25th, 2021
Email and Social Media Communication
Most of you have heard me say I want parishioners to read the bulletin each week, especially my column. I publish important information and announcements in the parish bulletin. Unfortunately, however, the bulletin cannot be the only place where we as a staff communicate with the people of the parish. Recently, we have ramped up our use of social media and we will continue to do that. But since not everything important is appropriate for the bulletin (space and medium), I’d like to ask parishioners to make sure they are signed up for email communication, as it is becoming a major way in which we communicate timely updates, announcements, and important pastoral teachings. On July 11th, I published a Pastoral Note on Critical Race Theory and Catholic Education that doesn’t fit in the bulletin. If you missed it you can go to the Pastor’s Corner section of our website. To sign up for email communication, click here.
One Mission 3.0: Mission Accomplished!
Due to a major gift explained on the page 8 of the bulletin, we just achieved our $250,000 dollar for dollar match for the One Mission 3.0 initiative to pay down our debt. Thank you so much for your generosity! This means we’ll be making very large payment on our debt soon. There is more good news: because of our new deal we still have interest free payments until July 2022. Feel free to continue to use the green One Mission Envelopes in the pews to pay down our debt. We’ll have more information this fall about our plan to do a modest renovation of the Church sanctuary. Stay tuned.
Message from Kurt Hoover, Director of Faith Formation
Dear Parish Family,
I wanted to let you know that I won’t be returning in the Fall as the Director of Faith Formation because I have accepted a teaching position at our parish school! I’ve truly enjoyed my time working with your families in this context. I consider it a great blessing to have accompanied your families in the faith for the last five years. However, I have been feeling called for some time to make my way back into Catholic education. I was praying for an opportunity to serve the Lord in this way but he kept saying to me, “I call you, you don’t call yourself!” Finally, a few weeks ago, I was notified of an opening at our school and Jesus called me on!
I just want to say that I’m really excited that my return to the classroom will be for our parish! We have an awesome community, great pastors, and a fantastic school at St. Pats. I’m glad that I can continue to use my gifts to build up our families here in the parish.
I’m also excited that my family and I will be able to continue being a part of our community here. We’re here for Mass every weekend so you’ll see us around. You’ll also probably see me around Faith Formation once in a while as I’ll be assisting Kevin Bailey and the next occupant of my office during the transition and beyond.
Thank you all for your support and prayers over the last few years! Please continue to pray for me and our school that we might see Jesus do wonderful things in the lives of our children.
If you or someone you know might be interested in becoming the Religious Education Coordinator here, please apply here.
Your servant in the Lord,
Fr. Mathias