A Blessed Mother’s Day this Sunday to all of our Moms! I will be at home this weekend for the festivities for my brother Randy’s diaconal ordination. After his ordination on Saturday morning, he will be serving at the Masses in our hometown of Fowler at Most Holy Trinity. He will be preaching for the 4:30pm on Saturday and the 8:30am on Sunday. I will be the main celebrant for Sunday morning and it is going to be an honor to have him serve as a Deacon with me. I asked him on the day off this past Monday if his first homily was ready yet – it was still in the works! I know it is good for a parent to see their children taking these steps, so it will be a busy but joyful weekend for my Mom. (We will do a party for her Sunday afternoon so Mother’s Day won’t be forgotten!)
In the bulletin the last few weeks, Deacon John and I have been talking about the upcoming Parish pastoral plans for both parishes to help us live more fully and intentionally our identity as Christians. Fr. Ginu will be going home to India for a visit the middle of May through early June. During that time, I will be covering all of the weekend Masses and I will be taking those homilies as a time to walk us through it – what is our identity both as an individual Christian and as a parish? What are steps we plan on taking to better live that mission? What are ways we can participate/expect to be asked to participate? (I must say that while covering all the Masses is tiring, it is really good to see everyone instead of only parts of the parishioners. I look forward to those weeks even though I will also be very ready for Fr. Ginu to return!)
As we roll out this pastoral plan, an important element in all this is hearing from you. What are things that you would like to see happen, something that you would like to help with, etc. Feedback is helpful and we will be reaching out for your feedback in a variety of ways. Sometimes people want to ask to help but haven’t had the right context – I want to help provide those contexts. Other times people are just waiting to be asked as we work on bolstering different ministries and parts of our parish life, myself or someone else just might be asking. I envision there being some short-focused surveys, the occasional card in the pew to fill out, and some times after Masses to meet with different groups and ask questions. You don’t have to wait either, please let us know if there is something you would like to be involved in or have a good idea for.
I don’t want to make it sound like this isn’t happening in any capacity. There are many who can be behind the scenes and don’t get the credit they deserve. For a recent case in point – I need to thank Tim and Lisa Brasher for redoing the landscaping around Sacred Heart Rectory. It looks beautiful and is something I am grateful they have an eye for – I do better with fields of alfalfa! They saw it could use some TLC and asked if they could help.
Peter Randolph moved in this past Thursday but is gone this weekend for Ordinations. You will get to meet him this coming weekend at all of the Masses. He will be staying with us through the first part of August. James will be with us through the first week of June and then be gone for just over a month. He will then be back the end of July for a few weeks.
God Bless,
Fr. Todd
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