Stewardship Renewal Packets: The Stewardship Renewal packets will remain through this weekend in the back of church. If you haven’t picked yours up, please help us out. As of last Sunday, we had 202 remaining to be picked up of the 403 packets made up for the families of the parish. Please return them after prayerfully considering your response. We would like to have all the commitment forms returned to the parish office by the end of November. The sooner we have everyone’s responses, the sooner we will be able to move on to the next level of parish engagement as we coordinate the generous offers of time and talent for our parish mission.
Mary Immaculate Catholic School: Our parish school continues to be a source of light and hope in our community. It was a little setback to have to cancel school the other week because of the high rate of COVID. We have been so blessed to continue our mission with minimal interruptions, and this was a reminder of just how hard it has been for so many dealing with the effects of the pandemic in their families and workplaces. I recognize how much I take for granted my health and the health of others. I know that Mrs. Gray and the rest of the teachers and staff will ensure that the curriculum objectives are still met. Continued collaboration and generosity by everyone in the community—staff, students, and family members—along with God’s help will allow us to meet our goals and surpass them.
Sacrament of Reconciliation: On Sunday, November 20 at 1:00 PM, the second graders will be celebrating the Sacrament of Reconciliation for the first time. I have met with all the students and most of their families, and am pleased at their enthusiasm for an encounter with God’s mercy. It is a special grace to encounter Christ so fully in this great sacrament of healing and forgiveness. The children remind us all of our human vulnerability to sin and the effects of evil. Confession, contrition, and penance are the steps we take towards God’s mercy. Absolution and the cleansing of our heart and soul is the gift that God gives us. Looking ahead, we will have our Advent Communal Penance Service on Sunday, December 11 at 2:00 PM at the Newman Center. There will be five priests available.
Parish Commissions: There is still much work to be done in setting up robust commissions to provide leadership and structure to our pastoral, educational, and sacramental ministries. The stewardship model of parish life envisions all parishioners taking a role in fulfilling our mission. There is a principle of stewardship that prefers committed volunteers who are equipped with the training and resources they need to accomplish their work. Some ministries require professional, paid staff to direct, but much of what needs to be done can be done with parishioners putting their time and talents to work. At the moment, the Worship Commission is the only commission that meets monthly. With the Time and Talent commitments, I pray that we find the leadership we need so that a Social Concerns Commission, an Education Commission, and an Administration Commission can once again be active in the parish so that we can effectively guide all parishioners in the ministries they are impassioned about and which so many are in need of.
Health and Safety: The Worship Commission met and reviewed the results of a survey of those who attended the 11:00 AM Mass. A significant majority indicated that they preferred to continue to require masks at that Mass. Given the recent outbreak of COVID centered in the school, it appears to be a sensible choice. The goal is to minimize the risk of transmission to those people who are immunocompromised and allow them to attend Mass in person. It is a sacrifice for sure, but the spiritual benefit is immense for all of us, especially in that this practice is over concern toward those who are most vulnerable among us. We will continue to review this decision regularly.
PSR Classes: I have been studying beekeeping for some years. While I don’t have hives of my own yet, I continue to learn about the amazing art and science of working with bees. Awareness of the problems that native pollinators and honey bees are facing has been growing. We are learning that we can’t take these keystone species for granted. Human interaction with the natural world is such that we can no longer simply say, let nature take its course. Our impact on the environment is such that we must be proactive in protecting the natural systems that have been so disrupted by human activity. And this is where I think of PSR classes, and indeed all faith formation. Each Wednesday evening there is a flurry of activity as the catechists arrive to get their materials and the young students come to learn about Jesus Christ and our faith. I The students soak up so much in such a short time, but week after week, a store of faith is built up in their hearts and the community of believers is strengthened. We are all called to be keepers of the faith. We do what is necessary to protect the precious knowledge of God within us. And finally after having gathered up so much from God, the best part comes: we get to share our faith with others.
Pastoral Planning for the Northern Deanery: As the dean of the Northern Deanery of the Diocese of Jefferson City, I am tasked with leading the next round of pastoral planning. Our current pastoral plans will guide us through the end of 2023. In the meanwhile, Bishop McKnight has asked the pastoral leadership of the five deaneries in the Diocese to collaborate on the next set of pastoral plans. We have been tasked with coming up with a “plan for the planning” by the end of November. The working group from the various parishes of the Northern Deanery will be submitting an outline of the process that the parishes of the Northern Deanery will use in 2023 to develop a new pastoral plan that encompasses all the parishes of the deanery. This is quite the challenging task, but it will be how we come up with new strategies to collaborate on our common mission as the Catholic Church in northeast Missouri.