Welcoming Fr. César Anicama:  On Monday, September 11, 2023 in the Monday Morning Memo that the Diocese of Jefferson City publishes each week, there appeared an announcement that most likely would surprise any parishioner of Mary Immaculate and St. Rose:  Bishop McKnight assigned an associate pastor, Father César Anicama, to our parishes.
Bishop McKnight had only called me the Wednesday before to give me the news, so it still was surprising to see it in print along with the other official appointments. First of all I would like to express my gratitude to Bishop McKnight and the priests personnel board of the Diocese for placing Father César here.

he official announcement reads:
REVEREND CESAR ANICAMA, from Associate Pastor of St. Vincent de Paul Parish, Pettis County, to Associate Pastor of Mary Immaculate Parish, Kirksville, with sacramental ministry at St. Mary Parish, Milan and the Mission of St. Mary, Unionville, effective 16 October 2023.

This appointment indicates that Bishop McKnight is very concerned about the pastoral care of the folks up in the Northern Deanery and has noted the urgent need of another priest to assist with the sacramental and pastoral needs of Milan and Unionville. Since the departure of Fr. Pat Dolan, we have managed to provide Sunday Mass and the Sunday Vigil at Milan, but Unionville has not had Mass for almost three months.

It is especially significant that Fr. César is a native Spanish speaker, having been born in Peru. This will allow the return of a Spanish Mass at Milan which is especially important given the large Spanish-speaking congregation around Milan.

Fr. César (pronounce it like this and accent the first syllable:  SAY-sar!) will also be a true associate at Mary Immaculate and our Mission of St. Rose. He will reside in Kirksville with me in our new rectory. Wow! I knew that having a larger house would make it more likely to have someone assigned here, but I was thinking of a transitional deacon or hosting a seminarian. To have an associate pastor will be a real blessing for all of us since there is so much potential for sacramental and pastoral ministry in our community. We will be able to share the sacramental duties to increase access to the sacraments, especially the Sacrament of the Sick and Confession, but also allow more opportunities for celebrating the Eucharist. Since the news of the appointment is so recent, I haven’t formed too much of a plan. Many details will have to wait until Fr. César arrives and gets settled in. We should be able to have the 11:00 AM Mass back at Mary Immaculate as one of the first changes.

I can say that having an associate will allow us to increase our priestly presence in all the activities of the parish, such as during the school day for our Catholic school but also participation in the parish school of religion both here and in Milan. Having another priest on staff will also allow us to share some of the administrative and leadership responsibilities, especially in working with the various councils and commissions of the parishes.

One aspect of having an associate is the financial. The Diocese has agreed to provide us with an associate and to pay his salary and benefits. Our parish will be responsible for room and board, parish mileage, retreats and the yearly priest institute costs. So we will have to adjust our budget to accommodate another priest but it will be a major gift from the Diocese to not have to pay salary and benefits. I appreciate this arrangement.

So that’s about all I can say for the time being. Fr. César will arrive around or on the 16^th of October, when his appointment officially begins.
 
Moving into the New Rectory:  We will have completed the purchase of the new rectory on September 20^th but I have not begun preparations for my own move until, as they say, the deed is done! The new house is in excellent condition so I expect I will be able to move in quite soon. I would appreciate any or all help that can be offered to assist me in moving to the new rectory. A few vans, pickups and a trailer plus some willing and able hands should make short work of the move, especially since it is only a 3 mile trip and the new house has plenty of space to move in to.

A final word about furnishings. Nothing is needed in the kitchen as I have all the dinner ware, cooking utensils and pots and pans that you could want. I’ll be glad to use the large fridge that is at the new house! The small house at 702 East Washington St. is rather sparse on furniture. We will need to get a few items. Folks might have some superfluous furniture in their house that we could use. One piece would be a queen size bed for the bedroom downstairs which Fr. César will use. I have my own bedroom set, so that’s not needed. We have two twin beds that can go in the guest bedrooms upstairs. We have a good dining room table and another dining table that someone has offered that we can place in the downstairs. Plus we have two nice sectional recliners that will fit in someplace, but we have little in the way of living room furniture. Once we have moved in, we can begin looking at some of the other furnishing possibilities. I know that folks in Kirksville are used to all kinds of furniture swapping given the large university population so we should be able to equip the house with minimal expense.

I’m looking forward to settling in and having an open house for folks to come to and see the place. Not sure when that would be, but we certainly will have that in conjunction with a house blessing.