Pastor’s Corner — March 20th, 2022
DSA Reminder: Living Out Our Core Value
Thanks so much for all parishioners who have already given to the DSA this year. If you haven’t given to DSA, and if you’re confirmed or older (parents might need to remind their kids, here), please give to the DSA either online or use one of the envelopes in the pew. Here are three good reasons to give:
• To support the charitable work of our Diocese and seminarian formation.
• Giving is one way of living out one of our parish core values, “I Am Third.”
• You can be part of our parish breaking our previous participation record, which essentially is a challenge to get more our parish family to participate actively in supporting the good work of the diocese, our larger Catholic family. Remember, the diocese has been quite generous toward us in helping us with our debt and I’d like to see us show our gratitude with as much participation as possible.
Thanks again for your participation in this good appeal.
New Discipleship Pathway and Staff Positions
This week I presented to the staff of the parish our new “discipleship pathway” that I’ve been working on with my leadership team since last summer. Think of this pathway as a comprehensive parish strategy that enables us to implement the unique mission of our parish within the larger vision for parishes in our diocese. Our team is really excited about this as it brings needed clarity to priorities on how we can more effectively fulfill our mission of making disciples here at St Pat’s. God is already doing great things here and it is only going to get better!
As this new pathway becomes effective this summer, we will be hiring two additional team members. The following positions were posted on the Diocesan website this week: 1) Engagement Coordinator (full time) and 2) Youth Discipleship Coordinator (full time). If you know someone who might be interested, please encourage them to apply.
Kevin Bailey, our current Coordinator for Youth Discipleship, will be moving into a new position (Director of Discipleship) and will oversee the new Youth Discipleship Coordinator. He will still be in charge of our improved confirmation program and still be involved in our dynamic youth ministry.
You’ll be hearing a lot about the discipleship pathway in the future. Stay tuned.
Brighton City Council Marijuana Vote April 7: Please Speak Out
In my December 12th bulletin article, I mentioned that our school principal and I wrote letters to several local townships and the City of Brighton to encourage them to protect the youth of our community from the negative consequences of marijuana use, by prohibiting marijuana businesses in their jurisdictions. Now the matter is coming for critical vote in the Brighton City Council, on a proposal on whether to allow commercial marijuana businesses in the city, at the Council Meeting to be held on April 7th.
All City Council meetings include the opportunity for public comment from any community member, and so I encourage you to please attend and speak up at this important meeting. Since all St. Pat’s parishioners have a stake in this community regardless of residence and are welcome to speak. If you cannot attend, you can write the City Council at brightoncitycouncil@brightoncity.org. (The location and start time of the meeting have not been finalized yet as I type this. For updates on this go here: ProtectBrightonYouth.wordpress.com)
Remember that our participation in civic and political life, big and small, are concrete ways we can fulfill our task of bringing the reality of heaven to earth. When inspired by Christian principles, we can make a difference.
Renovation Update
For those who are wondering, we are still waiting for various approvals at the Diocesan level before we giving a significant update to the parish on where we are on the renovation process. Thanks for your patience. Thanks also to the many generous families who have given to this project. If you’re inspired to give to this and want to be a part of beautifying our sanctuary, please don’t hesitate to give.
New Office Hours and Welcome Desk
Our parish office hours have changed a few times over the course of the past two years due to the pandemic. You may have noticed when we reopened the office after the Covid shutdown, we no longer had evening office hours. This was intentional because as a parish team, we have continually discerned how to best meet the needs of the parishioners, while at the same time focusing on our mission of making disciples and increasing our hospitality and staff presence on the weekends when most people are here at St. Patrick. Therefore, rather than Sunday office hours, we have decided the best way forward is to have volunteers and staff members greet and assist people as they come through the doors for Sunday Masses. This means our parish office hours moving forward will be Monday through Friday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM.
As I mentioned a few months back, to assist in the mission of hospitality, we launched our parish Welcome Desk in the back of the Church, and the ministry has been going quite well. It’s a great joy to see so many smiling faces welcoming parishioners and visitors alike to our parish on the weekends and living out our core value of Unconditional Belonging. In addition to our wonderful Welcome Desk volunteers, we’ve now added staff members on a rotating basis to assist on Sunday mornings with welcoming people, answering questions, and simply being present in order for you to better get to know staff members with whom you may not normally interact with on a regular basis. They will also be able to assist with the types of things typically done in the parish office such as scheduling Mass intentions etc. I believe this will be a great way for parishioners and staff members to interact with each other on a more regular basis and increase the sense of community at our parish.
Your servant in the Lord,
Fr. Mathias