“The hurrier I go, the behinder I get.” I thought my mother came up with that quote, but it is attributed to Lewis Carroll. Right now, I know why he and my mother used the quote. There seem to be so many things happening and I am trying to keep up. So, I am going to try to help us all focus on two tasks that need to be brought to conclusion. Partners in Charity and our input for the Synod on Synodality (what?) which I have mentioned several times since last October.
For the last 20+ years we have always made our Partners in Charity goal during Lent. It is Easter Season, and we right now have Pledged: $33,593.00, 77% of our goal with $9607.00 remaining to reach our goal of $43,200.00. Parish viability is measured not only on how we are able to take care of our own expenses, but how we are able to meet our Diocesan responsibilities of supporting our ministries, charities, and education programs. If you have not made a pledge/donation to Partners as of yet, please let’s do this together.
Pope Francis has asked Catholics throughout the world to listen to where the Holy Spirit is calling us as a church in the 21st century. That is why I asked us all to be guided by the Holy Spirit during the Lenten Season and stressed how we listen to the Spirit by listening to one another and witnessing the happenings around us. There is an opportunity to give personal responses by going to this site: “Link for Individual Survey.” At the same time, we are also invited to have a dialogue and send the diocese our community response by the end of May. To do this the Pastoral Planning Team has devised two methods. First, for the next two weekends you can either use this LINK to share your thoughts online. Or if you wish, use the cards at the end of the pews to respond to the question Pope Francis is asking of us all: “What does the Holy Spirit expect of the Church in the 21st Century?” Return the card in the collection basket and we will be sharing what we are hearing as a community with you all.
Then, to give us all an opportunity to unpack our responses and dialogue as a community we will host a parish wide Zoom meeting on Wednesday May 11th from 7:30 -8:30 P.M.
So, let’s focus on two areas, making our Partners goal and participating in the Synod. As St. Francis would say, “If you want to live life free, take your time go slowly!”