It was a joy to be with my brother, Mike, at the beginning and end of this past week. He flew in from Baton Rouge to be with Mom so that I could go on retreat. We had a few meals together and caught up on how we are doing in our lives. Mom goes to in-patient hospice this coming week while I take a week of vacation. Thanks for your prayers. I will be praying for Crescent Parishioners!
Mass at Class Reunion This weekend is my Class of 1984, Badin High School (Hamilton) fortieth class reunion. For the first time in forty years, the reunion will include Mass, as we begin the reunion Saturday with Mass and a tour of our alma mater. I am very pleased that Mass is a part of our reunion and feel blessed to have been asked to preside, even as I regret missing the Saturday afternoon COR Mass. Fr. Dave Sunberg, a friend from seminary, currently assigned to several duties at Mount St. Mary’s Seminary will be presiding at COR for me.
Mass Time Subcommittee As our parishes prepare to become one over the next couple of years, one of the changes we will encounter is a new Mass schedule. Even before that time, we will be going from three priests to two priests, which will dictate the first evolution of the Mass Schedule. Currently, we have eight Masses. Since a priest is allowed to preside at two Masses a day, that means we need to diminish our Mass schedule by two.
Two weeks ago, I sent letters to a dozen parishioners whose names were recommended to me by pastoral councils. I asked for the names of smart, holy and respected parishioners who could help. Over the past week, I have been calling those parishioners. I hope that the first meeting will be in November. The committee will need to discern a leader, procedure and then set about making one or more recommendations regarding possible Mass schedules with one less priest in our parish family.
Name our Parish Efforts Please see the note from PLT member Bill Lennard after my bulletin contribution. I have tried to predict a timeline for the naming of our parish a couple of times now. Since I have done so without success, I am going to retire from making forecasts! I thank Bill for not only making a new forecast but also for leading this synodal process! Please pray for the PLT and Name Our Parish Committee.
Sincerely and with Love in Christ, Fr Pat
Dear Crescent Family Parishioners
The Parish Leadership Team, in conjunction with the Name Our Parish (NOP) Committee, is engaged in a synodal discernment process to recommend the name we will use when we formally merge our parishes. The process is grounded in prayer, focused on listening to one other, and involves engaging trusted advisors.
The process started with 85 names suggested by parishioners. Parish Councils and the Name Our Parish committee, led by Joe Schnelle, were then asked to provide input on the names to the Parish Leadership Team. Based on this input and dialog within the PLT, the list of names was reduced to 19.
Further discussion by the PLT reduced the list to 9 names. The PLT is now working, with input from the NOP committee to identify 3 to 5 names as finalists.
Once the names of the finalists are selected, parishioners will be given the opportunity to provide input before the PLT makes the final recommendation for the parish name. The recommendation for the parish name will be submitted by Father Pat to the archbishop for his approval.
We had expected to finish the naming process by the end of October. But due to other parish family priorities and that there is not a need to force a rushed decision, we will not meet the October target. At this time, we expect to gather final parishioner input by the end of this year.