Eleventh Sunday in Ordinary Time
Pastor
~ I’m grateful to the many parishioners who have offered their support and prayers as I prepare to become the Pastor of both St. Margaret of Scotland and St. Pius V. This will be effective on July 1, but I have already been making plans and having many discussions with folks at St. Pius during this time of transition. There are still more questions than answers, but at least a few things are coming into focus. I am happy that Fr. Carl Scheble, the Vicar General for the Archdiocese (that means he is #2 after the Archbishop!) will be in residence at St. Pius V Rectory. His full-time job is at the Cardinal Rigali Center with the Archbishop and the Archdiocesan staff, but he will be a presence at St. Pius and will be available to assist with Masses there. I have spoken with a few priests, including Msgr. Turek, Fr. Tim Cook, Fr. Charlie Bouchard OP, and Fr. Tom Condon OP, who will be available to assist with Masses both here and there. Right now, I do not anticipate that the Mass schedule at St. Margaret will change, but there is always that possibility in the future.
As both St. Margaret and St. Pius will remain separate parishes, each will maintain their own parish staff and parish organizations, committees, and ministries (which means twice as many meetings for me! Yay!). But I hope that over these coming months, we will see if there are natural opportunities for our parishes to come together and cooperate, perhaps with our St. Vincent de Paul Conferences, our Justice Ministries, Becoming Catholic, Adult Faith formation, Family Faith formation, Youth Ministry, or other opportunities. I don’t want to mandate anything, but I hope that our parishes can cooperate in many ways moving forward, as we are certainly better together. More to come!
I have already announced that I intend to form a new Parish Synodal Council here at St. Margaret of Scotland (St. Pius V already has an active Parish Council). I want this new council to be something brand new, something innovative, and something forward-thinking! Any council of parishioners is advisory to the pastor, certainly, but I want this new group to engage our parish community in synodal discussion and conversations in the Spirit as we discern our future together. What should be our focus as a parish family? Where should we invest our time and energies? Is it in Evangelization, outreach, or service? Is it in liturgy or hospitality? Is it in promoting justice, peace, and human dignity? Is it the education and formation of our children, teens, families, adults, spouses? If it is all of these (and it probably is!), what are our priorities? Does our current Mission statement reflect who we really are and how we want to live out our faith? Do our current parish structures and organizations support our goals and efforts? These are big questions, but these are the kind of things I intend our new Council to discuss and discern.
If this is interesting to you, if you are feeling called to this kind of service and discernment, if you are interested in being part of this Council or learning more about it, I invite you to an Evening of Discernment this Thursday, June 18, at 6:30pm in the Church. That night, we will pray together, and I will outline in more detail my hopes and plans for our Parish Synodal Council. We will learn about Synodality, which Pope Francis and Pope Leo have prioritized as the way forward for our Church, and I will share some thoughts about what I hope this new Synodal Council will be for our community and what it won’t be. And we will certainly converse and learn and discern and pray some more. No one needs to make any commitments now, and all are welcome, but if you plan to attend, would you kindly sign up at smosstl.link/parishdiscernment or send me an email to let me know? After this meeting, we will continue to discern the selection, the makeup, the goals, and the timing of our new Parish Synodal Council. Please keep this work in your prayers as we move forward in faith. St. Margaret of Scotland, pray for us!
