Pastor’s Corner — September 3rd, 2023
Parish Raffle Tickets and Save the Date
This week you’ll be getting in the mail tickets for our annual raffle. Like the past several years, our Parish Raffle will be held in conjunction with the St. Patrick’s Oktoberfest on October 1st (2pm-6pm) at the school across town. More on the festival later, but just a note to save the date.
I’m really thankful for the Knights of Columbus and the St. Pat’s School Dad’s Club who team up to host and administer the raffle and run the Oktoberfest accordingly.
In the mail you’ll be receiving tickets to purchase or sell for the raffle. Every dollar (after expenses) we raise in our Parish’s largest fundraiser remains at St. Patrick’s due to the generous contribution of Keehn-Griffin Funeral Homes who have fully underwritten 100% of our sizeable printing and postage expenses.
This is a significant fundraiser for the parish as last year we netted $60k for the parish. Thank you for your support of our Parish Raffle however big or small. Everyone’s contribution is valued.
Labor Day and the Spirituality of Work
During the Industrial Revolution, Labor Day was established as a holiday to honor and recognize the work of laborers and their contribution to society. Today Labor Day can unfortunately be reduced to just a day off in which we have lake time or BBQ’s with friends and family. In addition to contributing to society, it’s easy for us as Christians to forget the deep theological and spiritual meaning of work found in the bible. I believe it’s important that we rediscover this meaning as Christians, especially as we co-labor with the Lord in working in creation. In her article, “The Spirituality of Work: Perspectives from Pope St. John Paul II” Veronica Arntz draws out some of these implications, especially in the profound thought of St John Paul II who wrote an entire encyclical on work. (This is one my favorite encyclicals of his)
One suggestion for this weekend; read this short article and take some time to think about your job/work/career in light of its meaning to creation, the cross and the resurrection. Regardless of whether or not you like (or liked) your work, I think you’ll find it meaningful to see how it relates to your dignity and the gospel.
New Parish Council Members
On September 12th we will have our annual kick off meeting for the Parish Council in which we thank the outgoing members of our council under the solid leadership Pat Schuch and welcome our new members. Our three new members to the parish council are: Sally Belian, Phil Baumforth and Joe Serwach. Special thanks to Pat Schuch, Steve Grech, Mary Jo Germain, Lori Nickels and Denise DeRocher for serving on the council for three years!
New Rectory Ramble Forthcoming
Keep an eye out for a new Rectory Ramble coming out soon on our YouTube channel. And No, I’m not dressed as Willy Wonka in that one. (People who follow our social media channels will know that means)
St. Pat’s Online Merch Store
As mentioned at last week’s leadership summit, we are launching our online St. Patrick merch store! You will now be able to see our great selection of branded items directly on our parish website under the ‘Store’ tab. My hope is that people will be excited and proud to represent St. Patrick and all that the Lord is doing here in the wider community.
Your servant in the Lord,
Fr. Mathias