Greetings in Christ, all! We are officially in my favorite time of year: fall. I love the colors and the beauty of it all, but most of all, I love the temperatures.
So, I wanted to address the Restoring the Temple Campaign with you all, but before I do, I have some joyful news to share.
The diocese contacted me late last week and asked if our two Parish Families would be willing to host Fr. Bill Wegher. Fr. Bill is a priest in our diocese whom many of you may know, but the deal is this: he is more or less rebuilding now from some struggles with alcoholism and was hoping to live in a community of priests in this process. When I was told of this, I felt blessed that our bishop would ask us to take him in. So, more than likely, even before you read this article, Fr. Bill will have moved in at Holy Family Rectory. This is all very last minute and because of that, I do not have any concrete information about what he will be doing, but I will share that as we go. The key is that he will be a bit limited by an inability to drive and making sure to give him time to heal up and get stronger. My hope is that we will be able to maybe even add some sacramental opportunities at St. Mark, as Mass attendance continues to grow there during the weekdays…praise God.
By the way, I have a theory about how we ended up in a wonderful spot of going from fearing having only one priest at two parishes to having three priests at two and it involves you guys praying like mad when we found out we were losing Fr. Dan. Bless you good people for your faithful prayers!
So, I want to close out with a word about our Restoring the Temple Campaign.
I’ve learned a lot about all that led us up to this point and, what I’m hearing is that many people do not feel like they were given updates or that they would get updates that ended up changing. The result, it seems, is that a lot of people in our Parish Family are hungry for information about the Campaign.
It is my hope that, by sharing updates as we go, I can alleviate these concerns. As a priest I’ve done a lot of campaigns and renovations and each one I’ve done has taught me a few principles that I try to hold to. I will share them with you now.
First Principle: Trust the Experts. I have advanced degrees in Philosophy, Theology and History, as well as some other degrees. None of them are geared toward anything remotely resembling construction, fund raising, planning, etc. The result of that is that when someone wants to pitch an idea to me about what we should do, my usual response is to bring it to the Building Committee and hash it out with them.
Second Principle: Only One Meeting Per Meeting. Whenever there is a meeting, it is inevitable that folks gather afterward to talk about what happened: that is a good thing. What I try to do is make sure that I am not at the post-meeting meetings. Why? Because that can be misinterpreted and, frankly, I could unintentionally conflate what we discussed in committee with what was discussed afterward. As the Pastor, I want to make sure my communications are with the whole team as much as is reasonably possible.
Third Principle: Communicate and ask people to reward it. It is my goal to share with you what I know and, where it is possible/appropriate, what I am thinking. I feel it important to share with you all what I am worried about, what our challenges are, what we are going to do and how we are going to do it. I try very hard to be open about what is going on and share it.
Fourth Principle: Pray. I need us all praying as much as we can for and about this campaign. I know that some of us are worried and some are upset with how this unfolded and the answer to all of this is to pray. Pray that God guide us and pray that we respond as best we can. Pray that God help us to do what He wants, not just what we want. Pray, pray, pray.
This is how we will do this: Together, guided by the Holy Spirit and filled with generous hearts. I will give you all I have, in the name of Jesus, and together we will restore the Temple.
Bless you all…I’m grateful to God that I get to be your priest.
Fjk